It’s the season of the pumpkin. Everywhere I look I see pumpkins and fall decorations.

Fortunately, I love pumpkin — pumpkin soup, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin cookies and, best of all, this pumpkin bread. It’s super moist and flavorful.

I used a fresh pumpkin that I roasted. All you do is cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out all the seeds. Place the pumpkin, cut side down, on a baking dish and bake for about an hour in a 350 degree oven, or until it’s fork tender. When it’s done, allow it to cool, and you can easily remove the skin. Mash it up with a potato masher and you’ve got incredible tasting pumpkin puree that you can use in all kinds of recipes.

This recipe makes two loaves and that’s a good thing. We ate the first loaf in one day!

The Best Pumpkin Bread

INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 cups all-purpose Flour
2 cups Brown Sugar, packed
2/3 cup Cane Sugar
2 cups Pumpkin Puree (fresh is best!)
1 cup Butter, melted
1/3 cup Milk
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Nutmeg, ground
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1 cup Walnuts, toasted and chopped

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter and sugar two 8 x 4 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, pumpkin puree, butter, milk, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg and ground cinnamon.
Mix until all of the flour is gone.
Fold in the nuts.
Pour batter into the prepared pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cover loaves with foil tightly.
Allow to steam for 10 minutes.
Remove foil and turn out onto a cooling rack.
Allow to cool completely.
Enjoy!

I’m a cheesecake lover. My husband doesn’t love it as much as I do… until now. This cheesecake was so delicious I happily gave half of it to our neighbors (or else we would have eaten it all). The neighbors really loved it. Here’s proof, in this picture of their little boy licking his plate.  haha

INGREDIENTS

For Crust:
1 stick Butter, melted
2 cups Graham Cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon

For Filling:
3 (8-ounce) packages Cream Cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ cups Pumpkin Puree (fresh is best)
3 Whole Eggs, plus 1 Egg Yolk
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg (fresh ground is best)
1/8 tsp Ground Cloves
2 Tbsp Flour
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For crust:
Melt butter and set aside.
In the food processor, process the graham crackers into crumbs.
Add in the brown sugar and cinnamon and pulse.
Add the melted butter and pulse until combined.
Press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan and up the side about an inch.
Set aside.

For filling:
Beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Add in the pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and spices.
Beat until smooth again.
Add flour and vanilla and continue to mix until well combined.
Pour filling evenly into pie crust.
Bake for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, or until the center is somewhat solid. Remove from the oven and let come to room temperature.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Serve with fresh whipped cream.
Enjoy!

It’s October 1st. Fall is definitely here and I’m happy about that. The summer here in Tennessee was brutal for a California girl like me. Especially since we don’t have our swimming pool in yet. Between the humidity, high temperatures and mosquitos, I spent the major portion of summertime in the house.

Anyway, yay for Fall ~ I woke hearing the rain outside my window. It had actually been pouring down all night long. Something about rainy weather puts me in a baking mood. I baked a fresh pumpkin and it yielded a lot of pumpkin puree. First I made a Curried Pumpkin Soup (which is a favorite in this household) and then decided to make a pumpkin cake. This is the recipe I came up with and now I can’t wait to make it for my entire family when they come for Thanksgiving!

The cake is so moist and has a nice Autumn spice flavor. Instead of flouring the baking pan after greasing it, I sugared it. I do this for lots of cakes that I bake and the result is a sweet crunch to the bottom of the cake… which in this case becomes the top of the cake.

The Browned Butter Icing on top is a nice change from the usual cream cheese frosting.

INGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp of softened butter, to coat the baking pan
2 Tbsp of sugar, to coat the baking pan

1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 cup Pumpkin Puree (I used fresh, but canned will work)
1/2 cup Cream or Half & Half
1 2/3 cups Flour
¼ cup Raisins
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground Allspice

METHOD
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 9” x 2” round pan.
Instead of using flour to coat the pan, use sugar.
Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the eggs and continue to mix until light and fluffy.
Add in the pumpkin and cream, mixing to combine.
Stop mixer and add in the remaining ingredients.
Turn mixer on medium low and mix just until all the ingredients are combined.
Pour mix into prepared baking pan and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes.
Allow pan to cool for 20 minutes and then invert the cake onto a round serving plate.
It will have a nice sugar crust, which will now be the top of the cake.
Once cake has cooled top with the Browned Butter Icing.

Browned Butter Icing

INGREDIENTS
4 Tbsp unsalted Butter
1 cup Powdered Sugar
1 to 2 Tbsp Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

METHOD
In a small sauté pan melt the butter over medium heat.
Whisk the butter and allow to simmer until it turns a light golden color.
Remove from heat.
In a medium bowl add the butter, sugar, cream and vanilla extract.
Whisk until smooth, and the desired consistency is achieved.
Smooth onto cooled cake top.