Pumpkin Muffin Doughnut Holes

While Pumpkin Muffin Doughnut Holes is a long name for a recipe, I like to know what I am dealing with from the beginning. It is fall and so I am making a lot of pumpkin foods lately. I have been wanting to try these for a while but never got around to it until today. As I ate them I was wondering why I had waited so long. These were AMAZING! They were so delicious that I couldn't stop myself before I ate *six* of them. They definitely satisfied my doughnut craving and were so much easier than doughnuts - no deep frying!

I adapted the recipe from here. Sorry for the weird measurements again. I halved the recipe and still easily got 2 dozen doughnut holes.

Ingredients:

Scant 3/4 C Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Allspice

1/6 C Vegetable Oil

1/4 C  Brown Sugar

1/2 Egg

1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

scant 1/2 C canned Plain Pumpkin Puree

1/4 cup Milk

Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

3-4 Tbs melted butter

1/4 C of cinnamon sugar mixture

Directions:

In a medium bowl stir together first six ingredients. In a larger bowl, whisk oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth. Pour dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just mixed. Spoon into a greased mini-muffin tin. Cook at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean.

Let rest two minutes before dipping.

While the muffins are baking, melt your butter in one bowl and create a cinnamon sugar mix in another. When the muffins are cool enough to handle, dip in butter and then in cinnamon sugar mix to coat. 

I did some calculations and each muffin is about 40 calories if you don't dip them. If you dip them (and I highly recommend you do) you are looking at closer to 60 calories a piece. So go ahead, eat a couple!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I have been on a breakfast food kick lately. Today I made these pumpkin pancakes and was blown away with how good they were. These were some of the fluffiest pancakes I have ever had. I think the secret is in the egg-white step. The recipe said to beat the egg whites until they were stiff. I did not want to dirty my electric mixer because this recipe had already used up several bowls (I don't like dishes). So I just whipped them by hand until they were frothy. I think it worked great though because the pancakes were delicious.

I used soy milk and vegan butter because I am on a dairy-free diet but I am sure it would taste just as delicious (or even more so) with the "real" stuff.

My only complaint: it was a bit of work for just 8 pancakes. I will probably double the recipe next time and freeze the leftovers so I can enjoy them for many days!

Original recipe here.

Ingredients:

1/4 C flour
1/4 C whole wheat flour
1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice*
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C milk
1/2 C pumpkin puree
2 large eggs, separated
2 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla

*I mixed my own pumpkin pie spice: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp ground allspice. Makes 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.

Directions:
In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. In a separate bowl, mix milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, butter and vanilla until smooth. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones until just combined. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold in to batter.

Cook 1/4 cup scoops of batter. Makes 8 pancakes. Serve with butter and cinnamon.

Strawberry Lemonade Bars

 

I found this recipe via Pinterest and decided to give it a whirl this Sunday. It was fun to make because it had real strawberries in it and came out a great color without food coloring. I only wish my food processor was bigger than 21 oz so I could have made the whole thing in it like the directions called for. Unfortunately, my baby was napping so I didn't want to get the blender out. I used my somewhat quieter stand mixer and I think that things didn't get blended well enough. With that said, this was still an enjoyable twist on the classic lemon bar.

Recipe source. 

Ingredients:

Crust
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Filling

1 C lemon juice
2-3 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup pureed strawberries (about 3/4 cup berries)
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

 

Directions:

Grease a 13x9 inch pan and preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar for the crust. Slowly add the flour and salt until crumbly. Press into pan and bake for about 17 minutes.

Meanwhile make the filling: In a food processor, blend lemon juice, zest, strawberries, sugar, and eggs until smooth. Pulse in flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour over the hot crust and put back in oven for another 23-26 minutes. Cool completely before slicing. Sprinkle powdered sugar over just before serving.

Makes 24 bars.

Hour Bread for French Toast

I like this bread recipe because it only takes one hour to make start to finish. It isn't quite right for sandwich bread but I LOVE it for french toast. I will often make a batch and cook the whole loaf into french toast so I can eat it for breakfast all week. (Or freeze some for later).

This recipe is very versatile and can be used as a pizza crust or even turned into cinnamon rolls.

The measurements are kind of weird because the original recipe made four loaves and I like just one at a time.

Ingredients:
2 5/8 C flour
3 Tbs sugar
1/4 Tbs salt
3/4 Tbs yeast
3/4 Tbs vital wheat gluten
1 C water

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients in a large mixer. Add water and knead for 5 minutes. Roll out and then roll up into proper loaf size. Place in greased pan and let rise for 25 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 350. Bake for 25 minutes.