Pumpkin Pancakes w/Toasted Walnuts & Maple Syrup

Happy Fall Everyone! This is my favorite time of the year, if I didn't live in Arizona, it would be beautiful outside now, but I do, and it isn't. :)
I had some leftover pumpkin puree that I wanted to use up so I decided to experiment and alter my buttermilk pancake recipe into pumpkin pancakes. I thought they turned out really good and my family loved them. There are all sorts of fun ways to serve these, I wanted to do a cinnamon cream on top, but my cream got pushed to the back of the refrigerator and froze! So I toasted some walnuts (pecans would be good too) and stirred in some pure Maple syrup (I like grade B). If I were my mom, I would have made these into little pumpkin shaped pancakes (I have one of the cutest moms ever!). Anyway, I'm sure you can think of a topping that you will love too.

Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
4 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (found in the spice aisle)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. buttermilk
1 Tbs. canola or vegetable oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 c. pumkin puree (from can)

Combine flour through cinnamon. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Make a well in the center and set aside.
Combine buttermilk through pumpkin in separate bowl, whisk to combine. Pour into well of dry ingredients. Stir gently until smooth.
Place large frying pan/skillet on stove top over medium low heat. Let warm up and then grease pan with butter (I like cooking my pancakes in butter instead of cooking spray). Drop batter by 1/4 cups onto skillet. Cook until edges look done and then flip. Makes nine 4 inch pancakes.

In a medium skillet over medium heat I poured in 1/2 c. walnuts. Toast for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add in maple syrup, stir immediately and keep stirring until no longer bubbly, pour over pancakes and serve!

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Desserts!

If you're looking for a pumpkin dessert for Thanksgiving, but are tired of the traditional pumpkin pie, try one of these recipes! I normally don't post recipes without pictures, but I wanted to get these recipes out there before Thanksgiving. I'll come back after the holiday and add the picture in. The cheesecake is absolutely to die for! It is so good. The Pumpkin Marble Cake is also really good and a lot less time consuming than the cheesecake!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Walnut Crust
(needs to be made the night before)

Crust:
6 Tbs. butter, softened
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
3/4 c. flour
1/4 c. finely ground walnuts
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 c. canned pumpkin puree
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Topping:
1 c. sour cream
1 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.
Lightly butter bottom of a 10 inch springform pan.
Beat butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and blend. Add flour, walnuts, and cinnamon and mix until just combined. Do not over mix!
Lightly flour fingertips and press the mixture onto the bottom of a cheesecake pan. Place in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes; set aside to cool. Lower oven temp to 275.
For filling, beat the cream cheese, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and egg yolk and beat well. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and cloves and beat until smooth. Pour into the cooled crust and bake for 1 1/2 hours (90 mins).
Remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes at room temp while you make the topping.
Increase the oven temp to 350.
For topping combine the sour cream, brown sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and spread evenly over the top of the warm cheesecake. Return to oven and bake 10 minutes more until topping seems set. Cool completely. Cover and chill overnight!


Pumpkin Marble Cake
Thank you Becky for this Recipe! You're awesome!

1 c. canned pumpkin puree
1 boxed yellow cake mix
4 eggs
3/4 c. sour cream
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. vegetable oil

Optional Glaze:
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs. milk
2 Tbs. cream cheese, softened

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a bundt pan; set aside.
Combine cake mix, eggs, sour cream, sugar, water, and vegetable oil, beat for two minutes. Spoon 2 1/4 c. of batter into separate bowl and add pumpkin filling to this bowl, stir until combined. Alternately spoon two different batters into the bundt pan, beginning and ending with pumpkin batter. Bake for 40-45 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not overbake! (I would check it at 35 minutes just to be safe!) Let cool for 20 minutes and then invert onto serving plate. Let cool completely. Combine all glaze ingredients, it should be thick, but still runny enough to "fall" over cake, correct consistency with more powdered sugar or milk if needed.

Pumpkin Struesel Bars

If you like pumpkin pie, you'll love these bars! It's kind of like pumpkin cheesecake sandwiched in between a yummy struesel mixture. It's a fun alternative to traditional pumpkin pie. I like it served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. My family loved it!

Pumpkin Struesel Bars

1 1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 c. sugar, divided
3/4 c. cold butter
1 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. chopped pecans
8 oz. (1 pkg) cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 13X9 pan with non stick cooking spray, set aside.
Mix together flour, brown sugar, and 1/4 c. of the white sugar. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in oatmeal and pecans. Set aside one cup of struesel mixture, pour remaining into the 13X9 pan, press down firmly. Bake for 15 minutes.
Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add remaining 1/2 c. sugar, eggs, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice. Pour onto crust.
Sprinkle with remaining struesel mixture.
Bake for 25 minutes, let cool and then place in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight.
Cut into 24 bars.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

I altered my pumpkin bread recipe by adding in some buttermilk to make it lighter, it turned out great. This is a wonderful fall dessert, the flavors of pumpkin and maple together are delicious!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

3 c. sugar
1 15oz. can pumpkin puree
1 c. vegetable oil
2/3 c. water
4 eggs
3 1/2 c. flour
1 Tbs. cinnamon
1 Tbs. ground nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350.
In medium bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together and then set aside.
In large mixing bowl beat together sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Add half of flour mixture, beat until smooth. Add buttermilk, mix again, and then add remaining flour. Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full. Bake for approximately 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, do not overbake, it will ruin the cupcakes.

Makes approximately 36 cupcakes.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
6 Tbs. butter, softened
1/2 c. 100% pure Maple Syrup
5 c. powdered sugar

Beat together cream cheese and butter, add maple syrup. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time. I honestly can't remember how much powdered sugar I put it. Just add the 5 cups and then go from there if you need more.

Let cupcakes cool. I piped the frosting on and then sprinkled with cinnamon.

Festive Pumpkin Dip

This is a great dip for veggies, crackers, or chips. I make it as often as I can every fall, everyone loves it! It has a surprisingly good flavor to it, the first time I tried it I was thinking "Pumpkin dip? This might be weird" but it didn't taste how I expected it to. Try it and I know you'll love it. It looks pretty too.

Festive Pumpkin Dip

12 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. canned pumpkin
1 Tbs. taco seasoning mix
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/3 c. green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/3 c. red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 c. sliced olives

Beat cream cheese, pumpkin, taco seasoning, and garlic powder together for 1 minute until smooth. Stir in veggies. Refrigerate until ready to serve, a couple of hours at least.