White Chocolate Pumpkin Nut Muffins

Hello my friends!

I am coming to you from my office, sitting at my desk with fluffy socks, leggings and a sweatshirt.  FALL HAS FALLEN!  At least I hope it has.  I mean, the heater isn't coming on anytime soon, but, it is supposed to freeze tonight I believe.  I would like to see more of the sun but I am grateful for what I get.

As most of you know, I go in Tuesday for a right eye cornea transplant.  I had intended to get more recipes out but the last couple of weeks have been filled with nerves, to do lists and did I mention, nerves?  It has been hard to concentrate but hopefully I will get a few ready for you to be able to post while I am down.

This recipe is one I started making last fall.  It is super easy, super, "Fall-ish", and super good, which is definitely the most important part!  We love muffins at our house and you will find a ton of muffin recipes on my website.  I will link to some others at the end!

Here is what you will need:
White Cake Mix
15 oz can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 tsp cinnamon (you can also use pumpkin pie spice)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts of your choice (I used slivered almonds, YUM)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  This recipe should yield about 16 muffins.  Line  your muffin tin with liners and set aside.
In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients and mix until combined.  You could use your stand mixer, but it is so easy to mix up quickly by hand, don't create the extra dishes for yourself!  Well, unless you want to!  You will get a thick batter.
Divide mixture into the muffin pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.  When a toothpick inserted comes out with no wet batter they are done.

Make sure to cut one in half while still warm and add a pat of butter and drizzle of honey!  I might be an expert on this particular muffin!

Enjoy my friends and thank you for stopping by!  Make sure to check out the video as well!

Other Muffin Recipes You Might Love!

Banana Crumble Muffins
BLueberries and Cream Crunch Muffins
Cranberry Almond Muffins
Chocolate Covered Cherry Muffins

Pumpkin Cream Pie

Ahh, the week before Thanksgiving, some of us are scrambling to finish our menus and some of us had our menus done a month ago.  Darn you organized people!

This will be our first major holiday without my mom, so we are going to enjoy it, most of my family will be here and I plan to make a couple of dishes that my mom always made.  It is going to be fun, maybe a bit sad, definitely food filled and undoubtedly a day of memory making!

I had asked you the other day what kind of pies you would like to see in "MILE HIGH" form.  The usual suspects appeared, chocolate, coconut, etc.  I asked because I was dreaming about this mile high pumpkin cream pie.  While I admit, pumpkin pie is NOT my favorite thing about Thanksgiving, I do eat a piece.  It is practically unAmerican not to.  I put on twice as much whipped cream as their is pie and enjoy every bite.  I thought to myself, "self.....why can't you put the cream with the pumpkin, almost like the lime and the coconut and cut out the middle man"?  What makes MY mile high pies, mile high?  The filling, AND the slightly sweetened, hint of vanilla fresh whipped cream.  I don't care much for meringue on a pie, in fact, to be honest, I don't care for pie in general.  If a pie goes in the oven, I almost never would eat it.  If it has to be chilled, or contains the words, "French" and "Silk", I will wrestle small children to get a piece.  Pie has just never been my "thing".  I suppose I can blame it on the fact that I dislike fruit tremendously and almost all pies are fruit filled.  BINGO!

So while this may not technically be MILE HIGH, if you double the filling, it can be.  And I would be thrilled if you did that, or double the whipped cream, mount that stuff up so high you can lick the top while standing!  Go ahead, DO IT!!

With that said, get this made, put it in your freezer, and take it out Thanksgiving morning.  Done.  Ahead.  YES!

Crust:
40 Nilla Wafers
10 graham cracker squares
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) melted
4 T white granulated sugar

Get our your food processor, toss in everything except your butter.  and pulverize!  You want almost a sand consistency.  Add in the butter and let it go until the mixture is that of wet sand and will stick together if you squeeze some in your hand.

Press into a deep(ish) 9 inch pie plate.  Using a measuring cup or a flat bottom drinking glass, press it into the bottom and side.  Refrigerate for 30 min to 1 hr.

FILLING:
1, 16oz (approx) can of PURE PUMPKIN (not Pumpkin Pie Filling)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz. softened cream cheese
2. 3.4 oz boxes of instant vanilla pudding
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

In your standing mixer add in pumpkin, cinnamon, powdered sugar, vanilla and softened cream cheese.  Mix until combined.  Add in instant vanilla pudding and heavy whipping cream and whip on high until it becomes thickened and creamy.  (It will set up more in the fridge, but whip it long enough please, probably a good 3-4 minutes at least)  Pour into your crust and refrigerate 2 hours before topping with fresh whipped cream!

Sweetened Whipping Cream:
2 cups heavy cream
3-4 T powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip all ingredients until stiff peaks form.  Spread or pipe on to the pie.  Refrigerate until time to serve or freeze for 1 hour, and wrap well to stay frozen until the morning before serving!

ENJOY!

Sofia Snacks (Pumpkin and Carrot Dog Treats)

Well, it is no secret that my George and I have added a new member to our family recently.  Sofia Isabella Matilda Simmerman is the missing piece to our family that finally completes us.  Yes, I know, that name.  Well when we got her,  we went to IHOP and had a late dinner and discussed names.  My choices were...

Matilda/Tilly
Winifred/Winnie
Wilhelmina/Willy
Sofia/Sofi

George's picks were dumb.  No not really, I just had to be smart to him.  He liked Isabella and call her Bella.  He wanted Gia, and I said it sounded like a doggy stripper name.  He wants all kids or dogs in our family to be named George, or Georgette, he must be like George Foreman.  BUT he did like Sofia WITH an F.  So, he said, because yes, (hangs head in shame) we give our dogs entire names.  Ya know so when they are bad, you can confuse them with your real kids, and they are instantly part of the family sort of a thing?!  And that is the story of Sofia Isabella Matilda Simmerman.  Because he knew how much I liked Tilly.

I know what you are thinking.  "That is 2 minutes of my life I can never get back".  Right?  I agree.  Well anyway as you may or may not know I do have a dog treat recipe on my blog already it is called, Lucy and Ava's Favorite Peanut Butter Tookies, make sure to check those out as well!  Those are 2 of my niece dogs who are like my kids, Ava has sadly passed away but Lucy still loves them!  It was obvious that I would need to create a "Sofi Snack".  When I say it in my head it sounds like "Snofi Snacks".  Weird.

My granddaughter has one more week left out here, so we are trying to get all of our special cooking time in before she leaves until next summer.  I told her we needed special treats for Sof and she agreed.  She made you a video because she wanted to tell you what she was doing.  It is on my FB Fan page!  She is a doll from the inside out.

After researching a few recipes, then researching flavorings, herbs and spices that were safe and perhaps even beneficial to dogs I came up with this perfect Pumpkin and Carrot recipe.  These turn out EXTREMELY crispy, and should last a good while.  Put them in a Ziploc, and find every reason to treat your puppy and doggy friends!

I use these as Christmas gifts as well.  I make a ton and friends and family who have dogs, all get a special pretty bag of treats for their pets.  Yes, I said Christmas, it is coming friends, and fast!

 An updated photo of her.  She is 10 now!

Here is what you need for your Sofia Snacks

15 oz pumpkin puree (NOT PIE FILLING)
1/2 cup finely grated carrots.
2 eggs, slightly beaten.
2 T. dried parsley
2-3 cups whole wheat flour (and some for rolling out)

Now, this isn't difficult.  Toss it in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer or your trusty wooden spoon.

We rolled these out and cut out shapes.  Maddie wanted an "I" and then a heart and then an "S" for Sofia.  For bigger dogs you might use bigger shapes, or you may roll in a ball and smash down with a cup to flatten or use a bone cookie cutter or, roll into a long thin snake and just cut off pieces.  I rolled my dough I would say, umm.... Oh Lord, I hate guessing, it gives me the shakes.  I would say 1/4 inch thick.  Maddie's were like 3 inches thick. 🤣🤣🤣 (not really, but kinda) There is like, 5 million ways to do this.  Do what tickles your fancy.  The world is your sandwich, make it how you like it!  Place on to ungreased cookie sheets, yes, I said sheets, because this made 4 huge bakery size cookie sheets, FULL.  You might consider halving the recipe if you only want a small batch.  Maddie kept saying, "Nonna, I am losing my cookie energy".  I said, "me to Maddie, I think Nonna made to much".  She replied, "Nonna, I think you are NOT a genius". HA!  I think she hit that nail on the head, but we have plenty of family dogs to share with.  Preheat your oven to 350 and let them bake 35 minutes.  If you get all of your treats on two pans, place them in the oven, and when the timer goes off, keep them in the oven and turn it off.  The more dried out you can get them the crispier and the longer they will keep. If they don't dry out all the way they will mold.  We are talking dog cookies here not chewy delicious people cookies.  Keep that in mind.

Maddie and I hope that your dogs enjoy these treats.  Maddie kept telling me her tummy was SO hungry for pumpkin pie every time she would smell it. 

I had to agree.

Please spend time in the kitchen with your children and grandchildren, you will make memories to last a lifetime.

ENJOY!

White Chocolate Pumpkin Nut Muffins

Pumpkin season is in full force and I tried, so hard, not to jump in with both feet, but I did.  Well, actually I didn't.  I bought one can of pumpkin and used it for 2 recipes.  Fair enough?  You know I let nothing go to waste, and it just burns me when I write or make a recipe that calls for half of a can of pumpkin. This year, instead of getting mad, I am getting even.

I was sent a few awesome products by Yolli, a confectionery supplier. Oh my gosh...CUTEST stuff ever! I picked out these tiny, mini cardboard loaf form, called, "Mini-Backform". They come in a pack of 10 and are just about in between the size of a jumbo muffin and regular muffin, just in a loaf shape.  I simply adore the print, and it stays so vibrant after baking, which is a huge plus for me. I am grateful they sent these and wanted to use the rest of that pumpkin for some cozy deliciousness!  You can also find Yolli on Facebook as well!

This recipe will make 10 of these  mini forms, and I would guess 10 jumbo muffins as well. I can't even tell you how good these turned out, I just had to make my husband hide the rest, I keep picking at them.

So let's get our hands dirty, and make these delightful bites of pumpkin sweetness!  Get the coffee on!

You will need:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter (softened)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sliced/slivered almonds (or nut of your choice)
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Line muffin tins with liners or get your little mini loaf forms put together. 

Cream together, sugars and butter.  When it is nice and creamed together, add in one egg at a time and mix until smooth.  Add in pumpkin, salt and sour cream and mix again.  When it is well incorporated add in baking soda and cinnamon, and flour and mix until the flour is just absorbed.  Don't over mix.  Next toss in the nuts and chips and fold in or give them a quick whirl in your stand mixer.  Fill your forms or liners.  This should make 1 dozen cupcakes or 10 mini loaves.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. 

Sit back and enjoy, because there are one of the best things I have ever tasted!

ENJOY!  You will be seeing a couple of other products from Yolli coming up in holiday blogs.  I can't get enough!!

Disclaimer:  All products were sent to me complimentary.  All opinions are my own, and I was not, and never will be reimbursed for a favorable review of any product. 

Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake Bars

How can it already be this time of year?  I probably say this every single year, but, the older I get the older time seems to go.  My mom said it would, boy was she right. 

It is time to start thinking about and planning our Thanksgiving menus!  While I love changing a few things up every year, there are definitely dishes that are tradition that are NOT to be messed with.  Is it like that for you all as well?  If I ever omitted, baked mac and cheese, or coleslaw from a holiday meal, I would be disowned!  This year I am definitely looking forward to Thanksgiving, since our kids have moved here now!  We get to have a real holiday together!  WOOHOO!  I haven't been able to spend a Thanksgiving with my son for about 6 years.  We are just thrilled! 

With all that said, I have a pumpkin loving family.  I wanted something other than a plain pumpkin cheesecake, (however, they are one of my fav's).  I just decided to experiment and when it turned out, I had to test it a second time, I wasn't sure how it turned out this good, but, when I tried it for the 3rd time and my daughter in law informed me, "This is BOMB", I knew it was share worthy!  The texture is crazy awesome and the flavor, well, I mean come on, "pumpkin praline cheesecake".  Pffttt, delish.  I think it will be part of our Thanksgiving dessert table this year.  I hope you make it part of yours too!

OH!  I almost forgot.  The pan you will need...   I used about an 7x10 or something close to that.  A 9x13 will be to big, unless you double your cheesecake layer recipe.  A 9x9 should work nicely.  WHY did I use such an odd size?  I don't know either, but I did.  So just keep that in mind when picking what size to use!


1 yellow cake mix
3/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
8 oz. cream cheese (softened to room temperature)
2 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup pecans
2 T-1/4 cup maple flavored pancake syrup or maple syrup

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  In a bowl combine dry cake mix and melted butter. 

 

Press into the bottom of your pan evenly and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove and let cool while you mix up your filling.

Combine, pumpkin puree, cream cheese, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.  Pour over crust.  Top with pecans, and then drizzle over your syrup.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, until almost set in the middle.  It will jiggle a wee bit.  Remove and let sit until it is room temperature.  Now chill for at LEAST 6 hours.  I think it is best chilled overnight.  Serve with a some sweetened whipped cream, or a small scoop of ice cream even!

MMMM-mmmm good!!

Pumpkin Hazelnut Bread (Sweetened Brown Butter Glaze)

Happy week after Thanksgiving!  Let the shopping begin!!  Right?  Most importantly, let the BAKING begin!

Why is it, that I find my best recipes are born from the marriage of random leftovers?  I think it is because I refuse to through leftovers away and I am forced to be creative.  I have had these blasted hazelnuts in the freezer for like, oh I dunno, a LONG time I have needed to use up.  I had never made brown butter, or sweetened brown butter but of course eaten it so I wanted to try it.  

My husband is sitting here and we are laughing over all the things people MIGHT make out of leftover pumpkin.   So he just said, " With my leftover pumpkin, I made a reduced fat, pumpkin vichyssoise served with gluten free, whole wheat and non fat, pumpernickel bread croutons.  I topped it with a dollop of non fat, gluten free creme fraiche substitute made from the purist tofu".  Ok so, before you get offended, we are joking, he just had to incorporate all of his own personal worst nightmares! If you could hear how hard he is laughing.  I don't know, I think it is a turkey overdose. 

So here it is, this is SO good, great for breakfast, dessert, brunch, midnight snack.......anytime!  Oh and as usual, you can trade out the hazelnuts for any kind of nuts you like, or just have on hand or need to use up.  Trust me though, when I tell you, the hazelnuts are awesome in this.  That's all I'm sayin'.....

Also, see how all the drizzle is pooled on the sides of the bread?  A good photographer would have picked the bread up after it was set, and put it on a clean plate.  Me?  HECK NO!  That pooled drizzle is the part you use a butter knife to pick up and spread more on your piece of bread!  Shhh, I won't tell if you won't tell!

You will need:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup toasted/roasted hazelnuts (or other nut of your choice but trust me on this hazelnut thing)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and baking soda.  Mix completely and set aside.  In a separate bowl combine the pumpkin, eggs, oil, water, cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg.  Mix until they are combined.

Now, pour the wet mixture, into the dry mixture and using a spoon, mix until just combined.  At this point you can add in your toasted nuts as well.  Get them totally mixed in. 

Prepare your standard loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray or butter.  I line mine with parchment paper just down the center and leave it long enough that when it is done, I can use the parchment as handles to lift the loaf right out! (see photo below) Just LOOK at the color!

Bake for 50-55 minutes.  When a toothpick or skewer comes out of the center clean, you know it is done.  Cool COMPLETELY before icing!!

For the Sweetened Brown Butter Drizzle you will need:
1/4 cup butter (half of one stick)
3/4 cup powdered sugar (icing sugar, confectioners sugar)
Up to 2 tbsp milk (depending on the consistency you want, mine took 1 tbsp)

In a small saucepan, add in your butter.  Let it go on a medium heat until it turns brown.  Don't walk away, just watch and right when it turns brown, it will be done.  Remove it from the heat and add in powdered sugar.  Add milk as needed until it is the consistency you want.  To be honest if you want it thick to spread on the top that is fine, or if you want it to drizzle add the milk until it is where you want it.  Drizzle over the bread and let sit for 5 minutes.  Serve!!

You could make mini loaves and put them on your cookie trays for Christmas.  Freeze them even!  I will tell you all about how I feel about cookie trays soon...........or did I already?

 

Your "do you say pumpkin or punkin"chefwannabe

Guest Recipe- Pumpkin Soup

Hello friends!  I had previously asked a friend and reader of Foodthoughtsofachefwannabe to share a great recipe!  She got busy, then I got busy but finally I have taken time to bring you this delicious soup, perfect for a COLD winters day or night!  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Julie, is a California mom who prides herself on cooking great food for her family.  She is the mother of 2 gorgeous children and the adoring wife of Hank!  I met Julie when I was her daughters music teacher in school, and private piano instructor out of school!  She is always cooking up fantastic dishes and I would consider it tragic if my readers weren't privy to one of her delicious dishes!!!

Grocery list:

1 pumpkin

7 potatoes

4 cups chicken stock

onion, garlic, cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leaves, curry, ginger, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper

This is my recipe for pumpkin soup. My kids like it but call it "pumpkin poop" just to annoy me.   I am in a position to reciprocate by making them squirm at my discretion with many embarrassing photos and stories but that's another blog, right??!!

I used a 10 inch pumpkin which was one that we had gotten at a pumpkin patch near Riverside, CA. I cut it in half and cleaned all the seeds and strings from it. Then I placed it in a 9 x 13" glass cake pan with an inch of salted water in the bottom and baked it for 2 hours @ 300° or until soft. Flip them carefully over and scoop out the flesh and cut it into 2" chunks. 


Place in a stockpot with 7 diced and peeled potatoes,1 onion diced, 2 cloves of garlic,  and 4 cups of good, strong chicken stock. Cook until potatoes and pumpkin are soft then remove from heat and cool until you are ablt to transfer to a food processor. 


Using a slotted spoon, carefully scoop onions, pumpkin, and potatoes (saving the chicken stock in the stockpot) by batches depending on the size of your food processor. Pulse until smooth and pureed. Transfer back into the chicken stock and mix the puree in.  The easiest way would be to cook all of the ingredients and use a handblender to blend it to soup consistency, however, since I can't find mine after the move and I don't want to buy another one, I use the food processor! Spice with 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves and 2 bay leaves (which are removed before blending), 2 tbsp. curry, 1 inch very finely diced fresh ginger, salt, pepper or chili, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. 

Serve with crusty "Everything" French baguette. 

How delish does this sound AND look?  Thank you Julie, for taking time to share with us one of your great recipes! 

Your "guest recipes are awesome" chefwannabe

Chris

Pumpkin Pie.....Cake!!!

My sister Annie, came over last night waving this recipe in her hand.  She gave it to me and said someone at school had made it and it was, (in her best Long Island accent) "to DIE for".  I decided I would look it over and see what my initial thoughts were on it.  I never usually use recipes I didn't write up myself or majorly tweak to my liking, but it did appear interesting.  I mean the name alone mixes my mind up.  

Anyway, after I got my stuffin' muffin on, I decided I was in full on Thanksgiving mode and should try it right away.  I will admit the directions were confusing.  I do not know if they originally were, or perhaps my sister was scaling the walls of her classroom while typing it.  I will try and rewrite the directions in a simpler, more sensible manner for you.  

 

On the recipe it states that it is "plenty sweet" so whoever made it didn't add the full amount of sugar for the topping, but I just tried it with adding the full amount and I do not think it is sweet enough.  I have a love hate relationship with pumpkin as it is, so the sweeter the better.  I like pumpkin pie, I feel obligated to eat it every Thanksgiving but in retrospect, I think I have been living a lie for at least the last 15 years.  I am not a fruit eater and generally only like pie if it is proceeded with the words, "french" and "silk".  None the less, this is delicious for the pumpkin pie lover.  It is a definite twist on tradition and I am going to write this recipe up as a definite should try.  No pumpkin pie crust left on the plate!  My husband adores pumpkin pie so he will likely love this with a love he has never known before.  It is really the same as pumpkin pie, just delivered in a different "package" than your traditional pumpkin pie.

Here is what you are going to need to gather up....

2 cans of pumpkin *NOT pie filling* and you need only half of the second can
3 eggs
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 cup sugar
1 yellow cake mix

Ok, this may be confusing but hang with me........

First thing is to preheat your oven to 350 so it can be heating up while you work.  You need a 9x13 cake pan.  Secondly, measure out 1 cup of your dry yellow cake mix and set it aside.  Spray your pan with nonstick spray liberally.  Now here we go.....

 

Bottom layer:
Yellow cake mix  (-1 cup you set aside, that is for the topping)
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
Combine thoroughly and pat into bottom of pan so its all covered.

Filling:
3 cups pumpkin
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 cup brown sugar



1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
pinch of salt



Can see the 3 layers here, in case the recipe is to confusing!

Mix until well combined and pour over bottom layer (crust).

Topping:
1 cup cake mix *reserved* 
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter (softened or melted)
Mix with a fork.  Mixture might be wetter than you think it should be especially if you use melted butter, but it is fine, trust me!!!  Now sprinkle or dollop it over the pumpkin mixture.

Right before going into the oven.

Bake for 45 minutes.  Let cool completely before serving. Make sure to whip some sweetened heavy cream or serve with cool whip.  

I hope you enjoy!  Make sure to make a test batch!  You will be glad you did!

Your "pumpkin pie lovin' poser" chefwannabe

Chris