Busy Weekend

My first pumpkin pie:

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

Not perfect, but a solid, first attempt.


A loaf of whole wheat bread:

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

And some banana bread:

From November 2010

I used a recipe that I got from the King Arthur Flour's traveling baking demos that suggested adding coconut flakes...what a great idea!

Punkinhead

The crisp, autumn weather has made me slightly obsessed with baking with pumpkin.  And now that the shortage is over, I don't even feel guilty about picking up some pumpkin puree at the store.  The great thing about pumpkins is that not only do they taste good, but they're also good for you...low in calories, lots of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants.  Anyway, I made some Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Squares from a recipe on Martha Stewart's website.  I'm not sure why I keep using her recipes lately, but the bars were delicious.  They didn't taste too pumpkin-y and were very chocolatey.  The pumpkin added lots of moisture to the bars, so they didn't taste dry like blondies sometimes seem to be.  Here are some pictures:

Not wanting to leave anyone out, I also made some pumpkin dog treats.  The recipe came from The Organic Dog Biscuit Cookbook by Jessica Disbrow Talley and Eric Talley.  This was the first time I've ever made dog treats, although I'm not sure it really counts since I didn't use any scary ingredients (okay, really I just mean liver).    Here they are:

Pumpkin Bread - Take 2

What a difference a cranberry makes. With the second batch, I ditched the walnuts on top and added about 1/3 cup of cranberries. I am a huge fan of walnuts, but for some reason, they just didn't work with this pumpkin bread recipe.  The cranberries added a great pop of flavor and sweetness.  As my girlfriend says, "it tastes like fall!".  I ran out of time & didn't get to ice the top...maybe I will tomorrow night.  


Tonight I also whipped up a half batch of ginger snap batter and put it in the fridge...cookies tomorrow!  Another fall favorite. 


Here is a picture of the un-iced, but sampled pumpkin bread:  

I know it looks a little squatty.  I think when I divided the batter, the first loaf may have been bigger.  Otherwise, it was delish.  Moist and full of flavor. 

Pumpkin Bread & My New Dowel

Since it's officially fall, I wanted to make a 'fall food'.  I've never made pumpkin bread before.  Actually, I've never even tried pumpkin bread before.  I like pumpkin pie, but I think that's probably the only food I've ever eaten with pumpkin in it.  So I manned up to the challenge and whipped up a batch.  


Obviously, pumpkin bread is a quick bread.  I found a recipe from Cooking Light for Spicy Pumpkin Bread.  It was a success (kind of).  

While there were no disasters, it was just kind of boring.  I was proud of myself because I included a vanilla glaze on top that was not included in the recipe.  Personally, I think the vanilla glaze was the best part.  The recipe made 2 loaves, but I only made one and froze the rest of the batter.  Today I plan to make the second loaf, but I'm going to add cranberries to make it a little sweeter, and I want to try to make a vanilla icing on top instead of just a glaze.  


I have been trying to avoid making too many cookies, since it is not really outside my comfort zone.  But I just got a new rolling pin, or dowel if you want to be fancy about it, so I had to try it out.  Here is the result:  

So cute, I know...  :)  
Stay tuned for my revised Spicy Cranberry Pumpkin Bread!