Pumpkin Party Dip

In the world that we live in of loving everything pumpkin, I needed to come up with a party dip that would be easy, yummy, and have the almighty pumpkin in it.  This was my creation.  It started with the awesome creation that I learned about last year of combining fluff and cream cheese.  Mix it up with some Fall flavors and pureed pumpkin and you are good to go.

I like this kind of fluff, because it is what I grew up with, but any fluff will do.  Don't worry if the ounces on the jar are one over or one less than what is the recipe, as long as they are close you will be fine.

Pumpkin Party Dip

Ingredients:

1 block of cream cheese

1 7.5 ounce jar of Marshmallow Fluff

1/2 cup of pumpkin puree

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of all spice

pinch of cloves

Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine all of the ingredients.  Mix  on medium speed until well combined, scrapping down the sides and bottoms of the bowl twice.  Spoon the dip into a bowl.

I like to serve this with ginger snaps and apples, but feel free to get creative and use whatever makes you happy :)  

Pumpkin Waffles

It is officially the season of everything Pumpkin...lucky us!  Pumpkin spice is one of my favorite flavor profiles and seems to make things I love taste just a little bit better.

I like mine with a little frosting drizzle instead of syrup.  The recipe for the drizzle is below.

So...no need for further introduction...

Pumpkin Waffles

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs
2 cups of milk
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 can pumpkin puree

Directions:
In a large bowl mix the flour, baking powder. sugar, salt, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs and milk.  Add the cooled butter and continue whisking.  Add the vanilla and pumpkin puree and whisk until well combined.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dried ingredients and whisk until well combined.

Cook in a waffle maker set to the longest cook time (around 4-5 minutes is what I usually do).

When the waffle maker cook time is over remove the waffle and top with frosting drizzle or syrup.

The waffle will be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.  Yum.

Makes 5-6 Belgian Waffles.

You can freeze leftover waffles (if there are any) and reheat in the toaster for later enjoyment.


Frosting Drizzle

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Mix the ingredients together and drizzle over waffles.

Simply The Best Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread is one of my all-time favorite Fall treats.  (Do I say that about all Fall treats?  Can you guess what my favorite time of year is?)

I have been making this pumpkin bread for the last seven or eight years and it is always everyone's favorite.  It is probably the recipe that I have been asked for more times than any other recipe.  I based it off of a recipe that I found in a cookbook that a friend gave me years ago and made a few tweaks that make it fit my families taste and my style in the kitchen a little better.

I often make this for my kids' teachers in the Fall or for friends or play dates.  When I am making it for others I often cook it in the cute, small disposable paper bread pans that you can get at the grocery store or craft store.  In fact, I should probably just start attaching the recipe to the loaf because of all of the loaves of this that I have handed out I think that I have only had two people not ask me how to make it.  

One year for Thanksgiving I made four loaves and they were all gone in mere moments.  The bottom line is that if you make this, it will be a hit.

A few things that I think that you should know...

1. The sugar and oil mixture will look like crushed ice when you mix it...it will never get creamy...don't worry.

2. This is my favorite "dry ingredients" bowl.  I don't even know if you can still buy it, my husband got it for me 4 or 5 years ago, but you can find one that is similar.  It is melamine which makes it really easy to handle, and it has the great pour spout which makes dry ingredients pour easily into wet.  It is technically a batter bowl, but try it for dry ingredients and you will see how well it works :)

3. I love Libby's pumpkin puree.  Like the old jingle says, "When it says Libby's, Libby's, Libby's on the label nothings better, better, better on your table, table, table."  A few years ago there was a canned pumpkin shortage and I went to the store nearly every day looking for it, when it finally appeared I became a hoarder and bought almost a whole case.

Simply the Best Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

3 eggs

15 ounces of pureed pumpkin

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour two loaf pans.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  

Beat the sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl until well combined. 

Add the eggs and beat well, then add the pumpkin and continue beating until incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well by hand.  

Pour the batter into two the two loaf pans and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the loaves comes out clean.

Let the loaves cool for 10-15 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling rack.  Wait twenty minutes, or as long as you can stand it (for me this is about 5 minutes) before slicing and eating.

Freezes well. 

Note: If you decide to cook this in smaller disposable loaf pans shorten the cooking time to 35-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle of the loaves comes out clean.

An Apple A Day...

When we lived in Wisconsin we had a beautiful old apple tree in our backyard that produced an insane amount of apples.  Like Strega Nona's pot, the supply of food from my tree was never ending.  For several weeks every Fall we would pick apples and make fantastic creations with our bounty.  My favorite by far though was always making apple sauce...

I am not a canner...I worry too much about food safety and was paranoid that I would not get it right and kill us all, so I almost always just made my applesauce for the refrigerator or freezer (except the one year when my expert canner friend offered to come over and help me...thank goodness for people who know things that I do not).

After trying a few different ways to make applesauce, I realized that my favorite is skin on, no sugar, touch of cinnamon, true perfection.

I love Texas, but I really miss my apples...

Elizabeth's Applesauce  

Ingredients:
However many apples you have (usually 3-5 pounds works best), cut from the core in a large dice
1-2 cups of water, you can always add more if needed
2 cinnamon sticks

Directions:
Place the apples into a large pot and pour in 1 cup of water.  The water should just cover the bottom of the pan around the apples.  If the water does not quite cover the bottom of the pan add an additional cup of water.  Bury the cinnamon sticks in the apples and place the pot over medium high heat.  When the mixture starts to bubble turn the heat down to medium low and simmer.

Cook the mixture until the apples are quite tender and then remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for 5-10 minutes.  When the mixture has cooled removed the cinnamon sticks and discard them.
Place an immersion blender into the applesauce and blend until you reach your desired consistency.  Spoon the applesauce in freezer safe jars and put them in the freezer until you are ready to use them.  (Make sure that you leave at least an inch of headspace for possible expansion during freezing.  They can also go straight into the refrigerator if you plan to eat it immediately...

But...

I feel that I would be remiss if I did not mention that the absolute best way to eat this applesauce is warm from the stovepot.  Try it, you won't regret it.

(NOTE: If you do not have an immersion blender you can use a potato masher, or you can put it into a regular blender.  If you put it into a regular blender you need to cool it for an additional 10-15 minutes and use caution as hot items in blenders can cause burns.)