Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I know I’m a little slow at getting around to it, but I’m finally adding one of my favorite pumpkin recipes to the mix.  I found this recipe on another blog called MoneySavingMom and then adapted it to suit our allergies and preferences.  I will give you my version as I believe it to be slightly more healthy and therefore I feel better about making it more often.  Just one little way that I justify adding chocolate to our everyday diet!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

4 Tbs. milled flax seed + 1 C. water (or 4 large eggs)

1 C. Sucanant or  other form of sugar as you prefer

1- 15oz. can of pumpkin puree

3/4 C. of oil

Mix together and then add:

3 C. of whole wheat flour

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1- 12oz. package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix thoroughly and drop into muffin pans fill about 2/3 full.  Bake @ 400* for 16-20 minutes.  Makes about 2 dozen.  These freeze really well for those of you who may not eat two dozen in a sitting!!  I sometimes freeze a batch and pull them out two at a time to put in Ben’s breakfast in the morning.  He eats on the go!  I’ll try to post a picture when the next batch comes out of the oven.

Pumpkin Roll

Not a great picture, but this is what it looks like baked in a jelly roll pan.

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe years ago.  She used to make pumpkin rolls to sell.  I’ve been doing some baking for one of my neighbors.  He asked me if I could make a pumpkin roll for some of his friends so I hunted up my recipe and tried it out today. It was much easier and quicker to make than I thought it would be. On my first try, I used a regular cookie sheet which was a size bigger than the size mentioned. It didn’t look quite as nice but it still tasted great.

3 large eggs

2/3 cups plain pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cups flour

Use canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) or if you have a home grown pumpkin, bake it in the oven first* then measure and blend with the other ingredients.

Mix flour, spices and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside. Measure cooked pumpkin, and place in blender along with eggs and sugar. Blend well. Add dry ingredients. Blend again until well mixed. Spray an 11 1/2″ X by 15 1/2″ X 1 ” Jelly Roll Pan with Pam or grease with Crisco. Line it with wax paper (or you can use a cookie sheet with sides if you don’t have a jelly roll pan). Then spray the waxed paper with Pam or grease with Crisco then dust with flour. Trim off any excess waxed paper so it won’t smoke in the oven. Pour the blended cake batter into the lined jelly roll pan. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 325-350. I used a lower shelf so it would not get too brown. Watch cake carefully because it suddenly puffs up when done. I had to poke mine with a toothpick to deflate it.

While cake is baking, prepare a clean tea towel spread out flat on the counter.  Sprinkle it with confectioner’s sugar, covering an area the size of your pan. I use a flour sifter to distribute it evenly onto the towel.

When the cake is done, remove from oven. Carefully pick up the cake by the two corners of the waxed paper (on the longest side). With the waxed paper facing you, carefully flop the cake face down onto the towel. Peel off the waxed paper.  Roll up the tea towel along with the cake starting from the short side, making it fatter rather than long.  Let cool over an hour on a wire rack.  When cooled, unroll it and top with cream cheese icing then roll it up again, being careful to roll it tight enough so there are no air pockets. I added a bit more confectioner’s sugar to the top with the flour sifter as a final touch.

Icing

Mix icing in mixer.

1   8 oz pkg. Philadelphia cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup confectioners sugar

Spread icing evenly then roll up again, this time without the towel. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze.

*To bake a pumpkin, cut in half, remove seeds and place on a cookie sheet or in a shallow pan with some water in the bottom. Bake at 350 for a half hour till tender.

Pumpkin Cake

It’s that time of the year again! The Lord has blessed our garden and we have a small pile of pumpkins from the garden to enjoy.  Tonight I’m going to make a pumpkin pie, but many of the others are destined to become pumpkin cakes and pumpkin bread.  My mother-in- law gave me this cake recipe and it’s one of our family favorites.  It’s best if you wait a day before serving.  Serve chilled.

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup oil

2 cups pumpkin  (or a 1 lb can)

Mix these together. Add in oil.  Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.

In separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

2 cups flour

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda*

1/2 tsp salt

Blend the dry ingredients with the wet ones. Pour into a greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 350 for 45 mins. Cool on wire rack.

Icing:

2 TBSP melted butter

8 oz pack of Philadelphia Cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup confectioners sugar

Add icing when cake is cool.

Keep in refrigerator covered with plastic wrap.

I have to do mine a little differently because I’m working with the fresh pumpkins.  Cut pumpkin in half. Clean out the seeds and bake for 30 mins at 350. I put mine  in a cake pan with water in the bottom. When you can stick a fork in it easily, it’s done.  Cool then scoop out the pumpkin and measure 2 cups. Puree in blender with the oil and eggs. Mix with the sugar and other  ingredients.

 

* There is no baking powder in this recipe, only baking soda.

Batido de avena, first take

So I tried the recipe I mentioned in the comments on Heidi’s post, for a “batido de avena” or oat shake. The recipe is from Ingrid Hoffmann’s cookbook Simply Delicioso, which I read in Spanish, but I promise I double-checked any uncertain vocabulary in this short recipe before attempting to make it and pass it on. I partly double-checked it because usually a “batido” is the equivalent of our smoothie; you blend the ingredients in a blender. With this drink you don’t blend anything and there is no fruit. In fact all you do is heat milk and oats (and pumpkin, see below) together, add cinnamon, then strain out the solids after a 2 hour or overnight chill in the fridge. I made it last night and stood over the stove reading this very funny and informative book by an ER pediatrician (I’m reading it partly in an attempt to feel slightly more in control of things when I babysit and the kids are running around incurring various injuries as they are wont to do) during the 10-15 minutes of constant stovetop attention.

I used 1% milk (one of the greatest sacrifices I make for our marriage, no doubt) and was afraid it wouldn’t be very thick, as Ingrid didn’t specify what sort of milk was used in the original, and if you haven’t noticed there’s a big difference between 1% and whole milk (oh how I miss thee). But I would be afraid to try it with whole milk—it would probably be like drinking a full-on milkshake first thing in the morning (this was in the breakfast section of the cookbook, I believe, and I drank it as such). Even with 1%, and though it didn’t look that thick the night before, after I strained it into my glass it had a very creamy, frothy texture just like a light milkshake. I guess that’s where it gets the name—from the effect rather than the technique. I’m drinking the rest of what I made now. It is a very refreshing drink and I will be making it again. I can imagine it heating up well for a more suitable fall/winter drink, too.

For this first try, I just used 2 Tbsp of canned pumpkin for the 2 servings I made. I might add more next time, but 2 Tbsp. does give it discernable pumpkin flavor. Plenty of earthy oat flavor, though it is kind of sad to use the oats for flavor and then throw them out. At least if it is like cooking vegetables in water, then some of the nutrients will still be in the milk, I think. Feel free to correct my simplistic reasoning here.

For two servings:
3 c. milk
1/2 c. old-fashioned rolled oats
2 Tbsp. canned pumpkin
1 Tbsp. sugar
pinch cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat the milk, oats, and pumpkin in a medium saucepan over medium heat until milk is starting to boil. Turn heat to medium-low and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, til thickened. Stir in cinnamon and sugar and chill at least 2 hours, or overnight. Strain milk through a wire mesh strainer or a colander with fairly small holes into a measuring glass or some sort of pourable container. Stir in the vanilla and serve.

P.S. This reminded me to try another oat and pumpkin recipe, the one Elizabeth posted here last year. And we recently discovered that pumpkin bread and vanilla ice cream are a Ridiculously Good combination.