Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies – Great Halloween Party Dessert Idea

21 Oct 2011 1 Comment

by busycookinthelou in Desserts Tags: , , , , , ,



Pumpkin. Why are there so many pumpkin recipes? It seems that October is all about pumpkins and apples. November is as well. I guess it could be worse, it could be all about brussel sprouts and olives. VILE! I guess it’s good that I love both apples AND pumpkins.

I was talking with a coworker yesterday about baking a pumpkin cheesecake, and she inspired me to make pumpkin cheesecake brownies. I’ve never made these or even tried them. But, I know I love pumpkin and I know I love brownies. They have to be a good combination. The inspiration for my brownies came from another blogger at Pass the Sushi . Her pictures looked yummy, so I knew this was going to be good. I did use my own brownie recipe, found here, but I followed her recipe for the cheesecake. What I didn’t do was follow her instructions. Oops! The cheesecake was supposed to be layered in the middle of the brownies. If you make the same mistake that I did, you will understand why she said to layer the cheesecake in the middle. The cheesecake is heavy and causes the brownies to sink. They still taste ok, but they certainly didn’t look as pretty as I’d hoped. I will write the correct instructions below, including using a smaller pan so you can get thicker brownies. I think these would be much better if they were thicker. But, they do taste really good, and the pumpkin cheesecake layer smells delicious.



Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
Adapted from: Pass the Sushi and Allrecipes.com
Printable Recipe

Brownie Layers

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cheesecake Layer

Cheesecake Batter:

6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×9 inch baking pan.

For brownie layers – in a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Spread half the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

For cheesecake layer – Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Continue mixing and add in egg, flour, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and cloves, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until well mixed.

Pour cheesecake mixture on top of the first layer of brownie mixture and then top with remaining brownie mixture.

Using a butter knife, slowly swirl the mixture to ensure that the brownie and cheesecake layers are swirled together. This is done by slowly pulling the knife through the mixture horizontally first and then vertically. Do not stir or mix.

Place brownies in oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan and toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Spiced Glazed Pumpkin Cookies – Recipe for the “12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies”

06 Oct 2011 6 Comments

by busycookinthelou in Desserts Tags: , , , , , , ,





It’s that time of week…the time when I post another Christmas cookie recipe. I know you’re excited…more reminders of Christmas! I should just start walking around singing Christmas songs and wearing an ugly, Christmas sweater; are there any other type of Christmas sweaters? Maybe I should remind everyone that there are only 6-7 more paydays until Christmas, that is, if you get paid twice a month. If you get paid monthly, well, I won’t even scare you with that. Just be prepared, the holidays are knocking on your door.

Last night I told the hubby that I had to get home to bake cookies, and he got a confused look and said “Why?” Well, is there ever a BAD time to make cookies? Cookies are one of those desserts that I never have to throw away. They always get eaten. Both kids and adults love them, and they are relatively easy to make. I joined this challenge for making weekly Christmas cookies because I knew it was an easy challenge for me. I can throw together a batch of cookies in as little as an hour (baking time included). Recently it has been taking me more time because I have to take pictures of everything that I’m doing, but I’m getting better at that as well.

So last night I decided to make Spiced Glazed Pumpkin Cookies. This was a combination of recipes and it was very easy to put together. I did have one incident during the process…Do NOT scrape down the sides of a mixing bowl with a rubber spatula while the mixer is still running. Let’s just say that there was a “flour shower” all over my kitchen. I had spiced flour everywhere, including on ME. Oh well, it was just one of those moments where you laugh and move on. Later, my daughter told me I smelled good, and I’m certain that it was the pumpkin spices. Maybe I have something with that…pumpkin pie spice perfume. I bet I know a few people that would wear it.

The step-by-step instructions are below along with the full recipe at the bottom.

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These cookies are delicious…I’m eating one right now! They are soft, moist and full of flavor. Anyone that likes pumpkin will like these cookies.

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2-1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, and 1/2 tsp salt.



In the bowl of stand mixer, cream 1/2 cup butter (softened), 1 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Beat in 1 cup pumpkin, 1 egg, and 1-1/2 tsp vanilla until combined. As you may be able to tell from my picture, I didn't cream the ingredients first. I guess it works either way.



Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low/medium just until combined.


Drop cookies on baking sheet. They do not spread much. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.



Cool cookies completely on a rack.



In small bowl, mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 2 tbsp milk. Add more sugar or milk to reach the desired consistency. Use a brush to spread on completely cooled cookies.



Prepare spiced glaze while first glaze is hardening. In small bowl, mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tbsp milk, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, pinch of ginger and a pinch of cloves. Drizzle over the top of the first glaze.



Serve once the glaze has completely hardened, or eat them right away if you can’t wait!



Spiced Glazed Pumpkin Cookies
Adapted from Sweet and Savory Tooth
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 heaping teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Spiced Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt.

In the bowl of stand mixer, cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla until combined.

Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low/medium just until combined.
Drop cookies on baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cookies completely on a rack.

In small bowl, mix powdered sugar with milk. Add more sugar or milk to reach the desired consistency. Use a brush to spread on completely cooled cookies.

Prepare spiced glaze while first glaze is hardening. In small bowl, mix powdered sugar, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Drizzle over the top of the first glaze.

Serve once the glaze has completely hardened, or eat them right away if you can’t wait!


Pumpkin Roll Recipe – Why wait to use canned pumpkin?

18 Sep 2011 4 Comments

by busycookinthelou in Desserts Tags: , , , , , , ,



This week I was disappointed because someone else volunteered to bring treats for our United Way breakfast.  When I heard the news, I cheered out loud, but inside I was a little sad.  I had no excuse to bake something.

But the person that was bringing the treats was making Biscotti.  Yuck!  I’m not a huge fan of Biscotti.  It’s really dry, and I don’t prefer dry and crumbly sweets in most cases.  I know that people like to dip it in their coffee, but I thought it had limited appeal for this breakfast.  Since I’m on the United Way planning committee, I made the executive decision to go ahead and bring something anyway.  I don’t think anyone cared either way…I mean…who’s going to turn down sweets?!

I went through my list of saved recipes on Allrecipes.com, and came up with this Pumpkin Roll.  It looked easy, and I have made it once before, so I was ready to get baking.

There were a few things that I messed up with this recipe:

1.  When it says to use a linen cloth or cheese cloth to roll up the cake, do it.  Once again, I thought I was exempt from this part of the recipe.  When I unrolled the dough, I learned why this was important.  The outside of the roll was covered in little pieces of fuzz.  Imagine a furry caterpillar…yep, now you get the point.  Thankfully I was able to rectify that issue by wrapping it in foil over night and then unwrapping it.  The fuzz all stuck to the foil.  Whew!!!

2.  Make sure you use the appropriate sized pan.  This was somewhat of an issue for me, and I had to trim the edges once it baked to make it look nice.

3.  Before rolling the dough up into the cloth, make sure it is all the way at the edge of the cloth.  If you don’t, the roll will not cool evenly.  You can see this in my pics below.

The pumpkin roll was mostly a success.  Everyone enjoyed it, and it was gone in a couple of hours.  Even though I think I over-mixed the dough, making it a little tough, no one really noticed.  But, I think that’s partly because of the cream cheese filling.  I’m pretty sure you could cover a dirty sock in that stuff, and everyone would eat it. 

I hope you will try this.  Just make sure you follow the recipe…unlike me. ;) Step-by-step instructions are below followed by the full recipe.

In a mixing bowl, beat 3 eggs on high for 5 minutes.



Gradually beat in 1 cup white sugar until thick and lemon-colored.



In another bowl combine /4 cup flour, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg



Fold flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture.



Grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan; line with waxed paper. Grease and flour the paper. Spread batter into pan; sprinkle with walnuts. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.



Immediately turn out onto a linen towel dusted with confectioners' sugar. Peel off paper and roll cake up in the towel, starting with the short end. Cool.



In a bowl, beat 6 ozs. cream cheese, 1 cup confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 1/2 tsp. vanilla until fluffy. Carefully unroll cake. Spread filling over cake to within 1 inch of edges.



Roll up again. Cover and chill until serving. Dust with additional confectioners' sugar, if desired.



Slice and eat!



Pumpkin Roll
Recipe copied from: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs on high for 5 minutes. Gradually beat in white sugar until thick and lemon-colored. Add pumpkin and lemon juice.

In another bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg; fold into the pumpkin mixture.

Grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan; line with waxed paper. Grease and flour the paper. Spread batter into pan; sprinkle with walnuts.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Immediately turn out onto a linen towel dusted with confectioners’ sugar. Peel off paper and roll cake up in the towel, starting with the short end. Cool.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, butter, and vanilla until fluffy.

Carefully unroll the cake. Spread filling over cake to within 1 inch of edges. Roll up again. Cover and chill until serving. Dust with additional confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

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