Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Jamie from My Baking Addiction described these as tasting like her nana’s pumpkin roll and while I’ve never tried her nana’s pumpkin roll they didn’t taste like any of the pumpkin rolls I’ve eatened.  They were however still  very good.  Good enough, in fact, for my pumpkin disliking son, Jalen to gobble up two and tell me pumpkin’s not so bad.  :)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Bar

6 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (288 grams)

2 large eggs

1 cup canned pumpkin (240 grams)

1/3 cup water

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (220 grams)

1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice*

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Cream Cheese Layer

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar (48 grams)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

*Pumpkin Pie Spice mix, makes 1 tablespoon

1  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoons ground ginger

3/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with non-stick foil or parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1/3 cup water until well blended, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
3. In another bowl, mix flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until and combine until well blended. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan
4. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and  ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth.
5. Drop cream cheese mixture in evenly spaced portions over the pumpkin batter. Pull a knife tip through filling to swirl slightly into batter.
6. Bake in a 350° oven until center of the pumpkin batter (not cream cheese mixture) springs back when touched, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan, then cut into 24 bars.

Printable Recipe

~ Notes ~

~ I did not swirl my cream cheese filling directly into the batter.  Here’s how I did things.  I put 2/3 of the pumpkin batter into my pan and spread  the filling over it.  With the balance of the batter I dolloped it over the  cream cheese layer in small amounts and smoothed out as best I could.  After smoothing it out I then dragged a chop stick through the batters to get a swirled effect.

Pumpkin Cobbler

This is one of those recipes that I made  and really liked but wasn’t happy with the photos.  Here’s the thing about this pumpkin cobbler, it was very good and very easy and I feel kinda bad about not sharing it. 

My only complaint is that you can’t eat it hot.  It’s  best baked the night before and eaten (in my opinion) at room temperature, you bake it in a 9x13 pan so it travels well, and it uses a cake mix.  See what I mean?  It would have been  wrong for me to keep this to myself.  Other than refraining from trying to eat it before it has TOTALLY cooled to room temperature this is a winner.   Seriously, don’t do like I did and try eating it hot.  Like with everything I bake,  we tried eating this bad boy piping hot out of the oven and all we got was a burnt tongue and disappointment.  The pumpkin was “watery” and had not set up as you can kind of see in my photos but the following day it was a whole different dessert.  It was so good the following day that by the time I got home all but a sorry looking corner was left.

Here’s a few more thoughts on this recipe which I found on the blog, Me and My Pink Mixer (Check her out. She has a couple of other pumpkin recipes, like pumpkin cheesecake minis!). Like all my favorite recipes it is easily adapted to suit your taste.  Don’t want to use a box mix?  No problem; make your own cobbler or better yet how about more of a crisp. Don’t like yellow cake mix?  Try a spice.  Don’t hate pecans but love walnuts?  Add them.  You see where I’m going with this? 

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On Thursday I’ll be giving thanks for many things (family, health, the Yankees winning the World Series! ) one of which will be for you.  For the hand of friendship you have extended to me and for the time you take out of your busy day to leave me thoughtful and encouraging comments. I appreciate each one and they (you!) make my day.  I hope you have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!

Technorati Tags: cobbler,pumpkin

Finally….

Martha has come through!  If you read my last Martha cupcake post you may recall that I was on the verge of breaking ties with Martha and her cupcake book but these pumpkin cupcakes with its browned butter glaze has put us back on solid ground.  Did you catch that?  Browned butter glaze?  Yes? It’s even better than it sounds but honestly, the pumpkin cupcakes were wonderful on their own.   They were moist and tender but not overly so.  Darn near perfect.

Monica and I have been baking from Martha’s book for a few months now but this go round Babygirl actually whipped these up Friday night pretty much all by herself.  We made four mini bundts and six cupcakes which we left until the morning to glaze. 

No lie. I glazed (Ha, if you can call it that.) them Saturday morning and by that night they were gone.  All gone.  We’re still wondering  were they all.

Looking for the recipe?  Click here.  Double bonus you not only get the recipe but you get to drool over Monica’s stellar photos. 

Oh, yeah, my comment about the “glazing”?  Martha’s “glaze” was more like frosting and even when I added more cream to thin it out it was still thick.  Check out my bundts.  I seriously stink at glazes.  I either make them too thin  or too thick which wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t figure it out until after I poured it on.

Technorati Tags: browned butter,cupcakes,glaze,pumpkin

Easy Pumpkin Spice Swirled Brownies

I saw these on HoneyB’s blog and knew right away I wanted to make them.  When I checked out the recipe it seemed easy enough but to make them even easier I grabbed a box of brownie mix.  I could lie and tell you that I should have made homemade brownies but that would be a lie! The truth is I thought these were great and can’t imagine homemade making much of a difference.  Either way, homemade or boxed give ‘em a try! 

While the kids liked these brownies they were a bigger hit with the adults.  The one thing I really liked about these (besides being ridiculously easy) was that the  pumpkin spice swirl firmed up after the brownies cooled and added some texture to the gooey brownies.  Did I mentioned how easy this was?  Seriously if you use a box mix all you have to do is melt some pumpkin spice Hershey Kisses and swirl it into the brownie batter that you’ve already poured into the pan.  See?  Easy! :)

This is my submission to Flavor of the Month. Click here to check out this month’s pumpkin round up!

 

 

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Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

Technorati Tags: bars,brownies,pumpkin,spice