Pumpkin Cheesecake Shortbread Bars

Here come the pumpkin recipes!  I'm not such a big fan of fall, but I do love me some pumpkin!  I made these for a party recently and may or may not have consumed all the leftovers myself very quickly!  So amazing!

Adapted from All Recipes
Ingredients:
• 1 package pound cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 2 T butter
• 4 t pumpkin pie spice (will be separated in half for 2 different parts)
• 8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
• 14 oz. can of condensed milk
• 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat the oven to 350.  In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, 1 egg, butter, and 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.  The mixture will be crumbly and that's perfect.  Press onto the bottom of a 9x13 pan coated with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In another large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, condensed milk, 2 eggs, pumpkin puree, the rest of the pumpkin pie spice, and salt.  The original recipe suggests using a mixer, but it worked just fine to use my husband instead!

3. Pour liquid mixture over the crust.  Sprinkle pecans on the top.

4. Bake for 35 minutes or until set.  Store in the refrigerator and serve chilled.

Cranberry Banana Pumpkin Bread

I love baking bread. It's so easy, you can pretty much put whatever you want in it, and it always turns out yummy! Here's one of the new breads that I really liked...

Adapted from here

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 banana

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Beat the butter, brown sugar, pumpkin, cranberries, egg, vanilla, and banana in another bowl until smooth. Stir in dry mixture.

Pour batter into 9x5 bread pan.

Bake for about 1 hour or until cooked throughout.

Let cool and enjoy!

Cranberry Pumpkin Biscotti

I had a strange craving recently...for biscotti! I'm not sure why, but it sounded really goods and I kept thinking about how yummy it would be dipped in coffee or milk. I made some for myself and also to bring to work and they were gobbled up very quickly!

Adapted from From Apples 2 Zucchini

Ingredients:
• 4 1/2 c. flour

• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 eggs

• 1 1/3 c. sugar

• 3/4 c. canned pumpkin puree

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 cup applesauce

• 1 c. fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt.

In large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until the sugar dissolves and the eggs become pale yellow and foamy. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and mix. Slowly stir in the applesauce and cranberries.

Carefully mix in the flour mixture until the dough forms a ball.

Lightly cover your hands with flour and mold the dough into a 4 inch by 14 inch log.

Carefully pick up the dough and place on the baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Bake for 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and feels firm.

Let the biscotti cool to room temperature. Then uses a serrated knife to cut 1/2-inch slices.

Place slices back on the baking sheet cut side down and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are crisp and golden brown. For a softer cookie, bake them a little less.

Let biscotti cool and serve with coffee or milk.

Dipping in milk! YUM!

Lowfat & Easy Pumpkin Cake

I can't miss out on all the pumpkin goodness this year! I made a few minutes to squeeze in a couple fun pumpkin treats including this semi-healthy & sweet pumpkin cake.

Adapted from here

Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t pumpkin pie spice
• powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9x9 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine butter, brown sugar and eggs in a large bowl.

Add in applesauce and pumpkin puree.

Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice and then stir into the liquid mixture.

Pour into baking pan and bake for about 25 minutes.

Let cake cool and then top with powdered sugar.

Hubby warmed it and topped it with butter and I ate mine plain with some cold milk. Both ways were delicious!

Baby Pumpkin Hat

Isn't he adorable?

Connor is doing great and growing so fast! But he's still pretty small and it's hard to find cute Halloween stuff that's small enough. I absolutely love little baby hats, so I couldn't resist making him a little pumpkin hat for the fall.
I found a couple hats that I know fit him to use as a template.
I used the width of the green striped hat and traced around it on the orange knit fabric. If you don't have a hat, the bottom brim was 6.75 inches wide (that includes a .25" seam allowance) and that's probably around a newborn size.
I drew the hat shape on the fabric, stitched around the edge, and left a small opening at the top for the leaves. To make sure the hat fit correctly, I tried it on the baby and adjusted the top to fit snugly around his head.
To finish the bottom edge, I just folded the fabric up and sewed around.
For the leaves at the top, I used some stiff felt and freehand drew three leaf shapes.
I arranged them so they overlapped slightly and stitched them together across the bottom.
With right sides of the hat in, I placed the leaves on the inside and stitched the opening closed. Then when I turned the hat right sides out, the leaves would stick out at the top.
I had no idea how easy it would be to make these!

My little sleepy pumpkin : )

Pumpkin Favorites

I have a confession.

I don't like fall.

I get sad that summer is ending and fall makes me think of cold & snow coming quickly. But the one thing I DO like about fall is pumpkin! You can never get enough pumpkin! From crafts, to pumpkin costumes, to pumpkin spice lattes...they're the only thing I love about fall!

In honor of my love of anything pumpkin, here's some of my favorite crafts and recipes. Scroll down to the bottom of my blog and click on pumpkin to see all my pumpkin-related posts.

Burlap Pumpkins

And more pumpkins...


Pumpkin Fluff

Pumpkin Cornbread

Pumpkin Spice Yogurt

Pumpkin Pecan Bread

Low-Fat Pumpkin Walnut Oatmeal Muffins

Got leftover pumpkin from all those yummy Thanksgiving recipes? Here's a good way to use it up and stay pretty healthy after that huge meal! Or maybe a quick breakfast before the turkey comes!

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Pour mixture into greased muffins cups or tins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serve warm!

Linking up pumpkin goodness here

Pumpkin Cornbread

Nothing says fall like some homemade warm pumpkin cornbread! I made this last week and ate a huge piece every night as dessert!

Adapted from Cara's Cravings

Ingredients:
• non-stick cooking spray
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin spice
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2 unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9x9 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour evenly into baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked throughout.

Linking up some Thanksgiving goodness here

Sweet Pumpkin Spice Yogurt

As if we can't have enough pumpkin food, I had to try this pumpkin yogurt. At least it's a little healthier than most of those yummy pumpkin desserts you're all blogging about!

Makes one serving
Ingredients:
• 2 T sugar
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 6 oz. plain yogurt
• 1/8 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/4 t pumpkin spice

In a bowl, mix all ingredients together. You can either eat this refrigerated or freeze in a sealed container for pumpkin frozen yogurt!

Dig in!

Partying it up at these link parties

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

Ok, so I sometimes eat breakfast food for dinner. It's too easy not to do it when you're really tired! This was perfect for a quick and sweet meal.

Makes one serving

Ingredients:
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Mix oatmeal, milk, and water in a bowl.

Microwave for 2 minutes.

Stir in pumpkin, spices and sugar.

Add more milk if needed.

Dig in! Sweet & tasty!

Linking up this fabulous recipe here...

DIY Burlap Pumpkins

As if I still don't have enough pumpkins, I had to try one last idea. This one took a little thinking, but they came out really cute!

To make these, follow the pumpkin tutorial here, but with a small twist. Instead of using a printed fabric, I used burlap with a layer of thin beige fabric underneath. I used clear fusible webbing to attach the burlap to the beige fabric and then following the pumpkin directions mentioned above.


Of all my pumpkins this year, these were my favorite.
I love the texture and natural look of the burlap.




If you'd like to see the other stuffed pumpkin designs, go here and here.

Party it up at these fun link parties!

My Favorite Fall Recipes

I wanted to share some of my favorite fall goodies from the past year.
They're all so good that it's hard to pick!

Low Fat Pumpkin Fluff

Low Fat Pumpkin Angel Food Cake

Pumpkin Pecan Bread


Apple Maple Glazed Chicken


Amazing Pecan Pie


And by the way, I may just need to go on strike from looking at food blogs until after the holidays. There is SO much yummy stuff out there and you all make me wanna pig out!

See where I'm linking up to here

Pumpkins Galore

You can never have too many pumpkins, right?

I already showed you my sports-themed pumpkins (tutorial & pics here),
but I had to continue the fun and made these cute orange flannel pumpkins...






And these pretty striped pumpkins...


And some Halloween-style pumpkins...


Stay tuned for more pumpkin fun!

See where I'm partying today by clicking here