I’ve got another pumpkin treat to share with you today!  And this one is ridiculously easy. 🙂 This pumpkin pie ice cream actually starts out with plain vanilla ice cream from the store, which makes it super simple to throw together. Just add in a few extras like pumpkin and spices and little animal cracker pieces, and you have the easiest pumpkin pie ice cream ever. And it tastes really good! I made this at my parents house for a family dinner we were having and everyone loved it. I was actually surprised by how quickly it disappeared. I made more the following day and that batch didn’t last too long either. This would make a great (somewhat healthy!) addition to your Thanksgiving table, or just make some for yourself to keep in the freezer. Either way I’m guessing it won’t last too long.

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I’ve got another great pumpkin recipe for you today! This chocolate pumpkin bread is sure to be a fall favorite that you make year after year. I got the recipe from a woman in my church who makes this bread every year to give out to friends and family. After hearing all the rave reviews, I knew I had to try the recipe for myself. Like most quick breads, this recipe is easy to throw together and tastes great. You end up with three loaves (although it would be pretty easy to cut down the recipe), which makes it perfect to be able to eat some and also give some away. The bread is nice and moist from the pumpkin and full of chocolate flavor and fall spices. We loved this bread and I’m pretty sure you will too!

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You are going to love these soft iced pumpkin cookies! I had some extra pumpkin in the house last week and Fall baking on my mind. I did some googling, and ended up discovering these delicious pumpkin cookies.

They are soft and cake-like and perfectly spiced. They are good by themselves, but the glaze kicks them up a notch and makes them absolutely delicious.

I served these cookies to some guests and to say they were a hit would be an understatement. My little 4 year old cousin took one bite and said “When I finish this one, can I have another one??”

These cookies are perfect for this time of year. If you love the flavor of pumpkin spice, you will love them. 🙂 Give these cookies a try – they will be loved by kids and adults alike!

Interested in checking out more pumpkin or other amazing fall flavors?  You won’t want to miss these 40 recipes!

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I know some of you may think it’s too early for pumpkin flavored treats, but I couldn’t help but share this pumpkin spice puppy chow with you! I made this last week on the spur of the moment after I saw pumpkin spice Hershey’s kisses in a local grocery store. I love regular peanut butter puppy chow, but this pumpkin spice version just might be even better! As with all puppy chow, it’s incredibly easy to make and also incredibly addicting to eat. I tried to give as much of this away as I could before we were tempted to eat it all, and let’s just say that nobody complained. 🙂 Because it’s made with both pumpkin spice kisses and pumpkin pie spice, the fall flavor really shines through, making this the perfect snack for this time of year.

*Note: If you’re looking for pumpkin spice Hershey’s kisses, I hear Target carries them. I personally found them at D&W Fresh Market. And of course, there’s always Amazon. 🙂

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I’ve got another Thanksgiving recipe suggestion to share with you today. I made these pumpkin bars at the last minute last year, ran out of time to take pictures, and immediately decided I had to make them again this year. And they’re just as good as I remember! They’re moist and light, and of course full of cinnamon pumpkin flavor. I also think the cream cheese icing is the perfect pairing. It has a little less cream cheese than a typical recipe, which makes it just slightly sweeter and less tangy than usual. All in all, these pumpkin bars are absolutely delicious! 🙂

Harvest Time Pumpkin Bars

Yield: Makes 24 bars

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 15 ounce can pumpkin
4 large eggs
1 cup canola oil

Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar, pumpkin, eggs, and oil. Beat in the flour mixture until well mixed.

Spread batter in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Once cool, frost with cream cheese frosting.

For the frosting: In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar to reach spreading consistency.

from Better Homes and Garden

How fun are these cookies?? I love the idea of pumpkin snickerdoodles! Pumpkin and cinnamon is already a great pairing, so combining the two in cookie form seems just about perfect. These taste a little different than traditional snickerdoodles, and their texture is a little fluffier due to the pumpkin, but I love soft, chewy cookies so I thought they were wonderful. However, if you’re looking for that classic snickerdoodle flavor, you’re probably better off making a regular snickerdoodle recipe.  If you’re just looking for a fun Fall pumpkin cookie though, this is the recipe for you.

The spices are on the mild side, but you can still clearly taste the cinnamon and nutmeg.  I loved eating these with pumpkin ice cream – talk about a perfect combination! Mike didn’t get to try these because he was traveling when I made them, and I think he’s a little sad that he missed out.  I may have to make a second batch just for him. 🙂

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

For the cookies:
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Dash of allspice

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the pumpkin puree, then the egg and vanilla until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Mix together the sugar and spices for the coating in a small bowl. Roll the dough into balls and coat in the sugar-spice mixture. Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a flat, heavy-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through. Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store in an airtight container

from Annies Eats

You had to know it would be coming. I mean, I’ve made apple bread, apple streusel bread, pumpkin bread, pumpkin gingerbread, etc. It was only a matter of time before I combined my two favorite Fall baking staples (apples and pumpkin) into one amazing muffin. These pumpkin apple streusel muffins offer the best of both worlds. They are moist and tender from the pumpkin, and they’re full of chopped apples. Tying both flavors together is a generous amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. In short, they taste great. Mike loved them, and so did everyone I shared them with. These are a must-make for Fall – pumpkin and apple together is a great combination. 🙂

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup (9 1/2 oz) canned pumpkin
1 Tbsp apple juice concentrate (or boiled cider)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped apples

Streusel
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus enough more to make it crumbly
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin, apple juice concentrate, and oil. Add to the flour mixture and stir until smooth. Stir in the apples. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, filling each cup 3/4 full.

For the streusel: In a small bowl combine the ingredients and mix with your fingers until crumbly. You may have to add a little extra flour to make it workable. Mine was still too soft to crumble very well, but I did the best I could without adding too much flour. After baking, you won't be able to tell. 🙂

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in a center muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

from the King Arthur Flour Baking Sheet, Autumn 2012

I am so excited to share this recipe for homemade pumpkin spice creamer with you. If you follow me on Facebook, I’m sorry I teased you with it last week! Since I normally drink my coffee in the morning while it’s still dark out, I had to set up a special photo shoot just so I could get some natural light. Luckily I am obsessed with this stuff, so drinking a second cup of coffee in the evening wasn’t too much of a hardship. 🙂

I hope you’re prepared because after seeing just how easy homemade creamers are, you can expect many more to come. I’m thinking maybe a peppermint flavored one for Christmas, and of course a classic French vanilla. But at the moment I am all about this pumpkin spice version. It tastes so good! It is full of Fall flavor and makes me think about pumpkin pie, and cinnamon, and spice cake all while I’m drinking my coffee. Now that I think of it, this could get dangerous. 🙂 But seriously, give this a try. It takes about 5 minutes to make, tastes amazing, and gives a nice hint of pumpkin spice to your morning coffee.

*Note: Mike is once again claiming to not like pumpkin. Plus he also says he is “too lazy” to put creamer in his coffee.  That doesn’t even make sense, but that’s all right – more creamer for me! 🙂

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Creamer

Ingredients:

1 cup milk (I used skim to keep it at least a little healthy)
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
4 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
4 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the milk, cream, pumpkin, maple syrup, and pumpkin spice. Heat over medium heat until it just begins to bubble around the edges. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate before using.

from Next To Heaven

My icing is clearly fairly soft in these pictures. Actually, it’s slowly melting off the bread. I was running out of daylight to take pictures and ended up icing the bread before it was completely cool. It made a mess, but still tasted absolutely amazing. 🙂  The bread itself is moist and dense with a great flavor mix of pumpkin and gingerbread. Add the spiced buttercream, which is like Fall in icing form, and you have a winning loaf of bread. This would make a great accompaniment to your Thanksgiving dinner, either as side or as dessert. The bread is good enough that you could even serve it without the icing…but I don’t know why you would want to. 🙂

Pumpkin Gingerbread with Spiced Buttercream

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Gingerbread
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 tbsp pure maple syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts

Spiced Buttercream Icing
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp milk or cream (you might need more or less depending on the texture you want.)

Directions:

For the pumpkin gingerbread: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a regular sized loaf pan and set aside. Combine the pumpkin, maple syrup, sugar, oil, molasses and egg in a medium-sized mixing bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Add the wet mixture to the dry, and stir well. Stir in the toasted nuts. Pour the batter into the pan, smooth out with wet spoon, and bake for 50-60 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

For the spiced buttercream: In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add in the sugar, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice and mix well. Add the milk or cream, in small amounts and beat on high until the icing is the consistency you want. Spread on cooled gingerbread.

adapted from Oh She Glows

I’m eating one of these pumpkin cupcakes as I type this post, and I can’t come up with too much to say other than “Yum”! 🙂 I love any and all pumpkin baked goods, and these cupcakes are no exception!

Mike and I both loved these cupcakes and they’re perfect for this time of year. The cupcake part is perfectly light and fluffy with lots of cinnamon-y pumpkin flavor. It’s actually really good all on it’s own!

The cream cheese icing, however, is definitely worth the extra work. It is sweetened with maple syrup and ended up being very soft and fluffy. The cream cheese/maple combination was absolutely perfect when paired with the pumpkin cupcakes.

I made these for a church potluck, and after Mike tasted one, he really had a hard time giving the rest of them away. Lucky for him, there were a few left over and he ended up with a second cupcake. 🙂

If you’re looking for a fun fall dessert, these would be a great choice – just be aware that you may want to keep them all for yourself!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

Frosting:
Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Directions:

For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350° (175°C). Line a cupcake pan with 18 liners.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl. Add the eggs 1 at a time to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition. Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners — you’re looking to get them 3/4 full. Rap the filled pans once on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.

For the frosting: In a stand mixer beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat on medium until fluffy.

*This recipe also works beautifully as a layer cake. To make a slightly stiffer frosting that holds up better on a cake, add an extra stick of butter and reduce the cream cheese to 1 1/2 packages.

adapted from Leite's Culinaria, as seen on Smitten Kitchen