Pumpkins too

More and more pumpkins.  Pumpkin is great to bake with.  It makes food moist, and adds a great subtle flavour.  To top things off, it’s a vegetable – so it’s healthy too!

I said my last post that I would be making Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares.  And so I did!  They’re for a potluck at church tomorrow – I’ll let you know how they go over.  They look pretty good!  If you wanted to make this recipe a bit healthier, you can substitute milk fo the whipping cream, and can use light cream cheese in place of regular.  Yogurt cheese would probably work well too, which would make this quite a bit healthier, with fewer calories.  Here’s the recipe.  Enjoy.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares

Crust:

3.4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups oats

1/2 cup gingersnap cookies, crushed

1/2 cup cold butter or margarine

Filling:

2 pkgs cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup mashed pumpkin

2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp allspice

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tablespoons whipping cream

2 eggs

Heat oven to 350.  Stir together all dry ingredients for the crust.  Cut in butter with a pastry cutter until crumbly.  Press into 13×9 pan (ungreased), reserving 1 cup for topping.  Bake for 1o minutes.

In a bowl, beat together cream cheese and sugars until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Pour over cookies crust.  Sprinkle with reserved topping.  Bake for 4o minutes, or until centre is set.  Refrigerate until chilled.  Before serving, if desired, drizzle with both chocolate a caramel ice cream topping.

They look really great.  Can’t wait to try taste them.

Try out my Pumpkin Cranberry Bread if you enjoy pumpkin!

What autumn fruits/vegetables do you like to use in your cooking and baking?

Pumpkin Everything

So, tis the season…  For pumpkin that is!  I love how the different seasons bring their own tastes, ingredients, aromas, and feels.  Right now, I could do with pretty much pumpkin anything.  The other day, I made a Dutch Pumpkin Apple Crisp (so good!), I’m currently craving a Pumpkin Spice Latte, I’m planning on making Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares this weekend, and TODAY I made Pumpkin Cranberry Bread.  As I said, pumpkin everything – literally.  If I had a pumpkin candle, you can be sure that would be lit in the kitchen too (what a good idea!).

So, I thought I’d share my very first recipe on foreverfaithandfood!  Hope you enjoy this Pumpkin Cranberry Bread recipe!

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

 1 ½ cups flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp each ginger, cloves, and nutmeg

2 eggs

1 cup mashed pumpkin

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup dried cranberries

 In a bowl, combine the eggs, pumpkin, oil, sugars, and vanilla.  Mix well.  Add the flour, salt, baking powder & soda, and spices.  Mix until flour is moist.  Stir in cranberries.  Pour into a greased loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 55 minutes, or until toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.

If you want to change it up a bit, substitute fresh cranberries for the dried (but if you do this, add 1/4 cup more flour).  OR, you can omit the cranberries, and add raisins, chocolate chips, or pecans.  If you want a slightly healthier version, use 1/4 cup apple sauce and 1/4 cup oil, instead of just oil, and cut back on the sugar by using only 1/2 cup total.  You can also use a low-cal sweetener, but use less of it than you would sugar.

If you like pumpkin, check out my Pumpkin Cheesecake Squares!

Hope you all enjoy it!!