Tag Archives: pumpkin

Sweets: Cookies & Bars

pumpkin swirl brownies

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Nov 14, 2010.

Original post:

I started preparing these way too close to the time we needed to leave the house the other evening that I was scurrying around like a crazy lady trying to get them into the oven in record time.  I probably did set a record!!

I literally pulled them out of the oven, put them where the rest of the family couldn’t see them and left the house.  I didn’t get to enjoy them till the next morning, but it was worth the wait!

I borrowed the recipe from and adapted it slightly.

You can print it .

Sweets: Cookies & Bars

perfect pumpkin cookie

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Dec 18, 2010.

If you followed this blog back in 2010, you’ll remember how crazy I went with pumpkins! I cooked up a bunch and used it to make all sorts of cookies, muffins, bread and more.

 

When a I followed posted , I immediately saved the recipe and ta-da, have now shared it with you. I remember actually making them in my Grandma’s house in Idaho. Let me tell you, it’s harder to cook in someone else’s kitchen than I had originally thought! But it was enjoyable.

Print the recipe  (just slightly adapted from ).

Sweets: Breads & Muffins

non-vegan vegan pumpkin muffins

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Feb 22, 2011.

Weird title? Yes, well, I really wanted to try this recipe I found which happened to be vegan and I didn’t have “vegan chocolate chips” and other items, so this is just slightly adapted to what I had in my pantry!

It was very well-received by the husband and his football buddies over watching the Oregon game. I don’t say that to say, “look how good a baker I am…” but rather to remind myself of the details of the day I made these.  ;)
See my About page about why this blog even exists. 

 

For the true vegan version, where I found this recipe.

Here’s a  of what I did!

Sweets: Breads & Muffins

ribbon pumpkin bread

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Nov 17, 2010.

This was a simple fun recipe I made a few years ago.

!

Sweets: Desserts

pumpkin cake pops

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Oct 11, 2010.

I sure was cake pop crazy back a few years ago! These ones I copied from , but I’d bet they tasted just as divine.

Spearmint tic tacs didn’t appeal to me as a flavor/texture I wanted to include in my cake pop experience, so Mike & I went to the candy store. He found the perfect solution, which I humbly say looks more stem-like than Bakerella’s! Apple-flavored licorice – it’s even a “fall” flavor. ;)

Cake pops take a small eternity to make, so you better make a lot of them and then share them… Several dozen of these went to a big party (with zero photos!), but I managed to save a basketful for some close friends we saw the next evening.

Make sure you check out  for better instructions on how to make them. She’s the creator and pro!

Snacks & Appetizers

roasted pumpkin seeds

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Nov 5, 2010.

So, this was one of my most popular posts of all time. It was even featured on another  and I just had a lot of response! That makes it the most fun – when you make people happy with food you’ve created. :)

We even kept a tally in the house with all friends & family that came to visit over the next few days. I was curious to see which was the favorite flavor of these six recipes I created. Number Six won by a landslide… though that didn’t stop people from gobbling up the others!

You can print the six recipes by . I kept the portions small so you can make a variety of flavors if you want!

Sweets: Pies & Cakes

my first pies

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Nov 24, 2010.

Original text:

I found out several days ago that for our big family Thanksgiving gathering I was assigned pies.  I’d never made a pie in my life!  …But that’s not surprising as I really only began cooking a year ago off and on…

Fortunately, I had been obsessing with pumpkin and still had a lot of the puree left.  I quickly began the hunt through my mom’s recipe box.  My dad is actually the pie maker of the family so I knew I was probably looking for his handwriting of my grandma’s recipe.  I ended up finding it in a really cool notebook my mom put together years ago with random old recipes from various places (mostly my grandpa’s, I think).  Here is what the pumpkin pie recipe looked like:

It even has splattered pumpkin on it! Hehe.

I got the full story from my mom later – apparently they finally got tired of calling my grandma for 25 years every November, so a couple years ago he scribbled it down and kept it!  In case you are wondering what “MOLA” is, as I did at first, it means Molasses. :)

So, I made my first pie.  It looked like this:

By the way, start getting used to the dark dreary pictures for several months because I have no natural light to work with.  Welcome to dark and dreary Eugene, Oregon.  *sad face*  I brightened these pictures with the free program that came with my computer.  Sweet.

So my first pie maybe wasn’t the prettiest but tasted as wonderful as pumpkin pie can taste!  I must say I do prefer my family’s way of including the molasses…could be because I grew up with it or could be because it’s just better!

Okay, so all that happened last week.  Now I am in Idaho for the big day and I made my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th pumpkin pie over at my grandma’s this morning.  They were a lot prettier.  I forgot to take a picture of all 4 but here are a couple of them.

Oh, thank the Lord for wonderful blessed sunshine in the great state of Idaho!  Makes me happy and it also makes my photos look better. :)

Last but not least, my grandma (who doesn’t have actually written recipes for most things) talked me through my first apple pie!

 

Mike would like to think the “M” is for him (and we’ll just let him keep thinking that), but it was really for Mitchell – my family’s last name.  That’s how super creative I am. :)

I can’t believe I was once intimidated by pies.  Easy Schmeasy.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Print our family’s pumpkin pie recipe .

Sweets: Breads & Muffins

white chocolate & pecan pumpkin muffins

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Looking Back: Originally posted on Nov 12, 2010.

From the original:

I badly wish I could just transfer the smell of these muffins through my computer to yours.  Even if you don’t like the muffins (which would be difficult to believe), you would love the smell.

I often make tiny adjustments for our own taste preferences, but  was perfect…well, I made mini ones instead of regular, but that’s the only change I made.  You can check it out or just go straight to printing .

P.S. If you have a door to your kitchen, lock it.  I literally didn’t have all the muffins out of the tray yet before 3 people had eaten them.

Dressings & Sauces

pumpkin butter

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I’m re-sharing this one just for the archives. I’ve since seen several other recipes for Pumpkin Butter than would be fun to try one day.

We ate it in numerous ways…

On a bite of baguette –
On an English muffin for breakfast –

And so much more… here were ways we thought of to use pumpkin butter:

  • anything you would use jam on
  • a dollop with pork chops
  • oatmeal
  • grilled turkey or ham
  • scrambled eggs
  • cornbread
  • toast
  • vanilla ice cream
  • with yogurt & granola
  • roast turkey or chicken sandwich
  • biscuits

Can you think of any other ways to use this awesome sauce?

And, just to bare my soul to you and graphically describe my lack of creativity skills…here is how I packaged them up to share with a few friends:

Heh.

. I originally found it on a blog called Cooking With the Big Dogs, which no longer exists!