Thursday, October 13, 2011

Pumpkin Pumpkin Everywhere

And yes, I do mean pumpkin (singular) - as in the ingredient in some of the yummy foods I made this week.  After this week of baking, it feels (and smells) like fall!

I found these recipes from Annie Eats on Pinterest (of course).  I was drawn in by the photos, and the fact that I had a DIVINE 'breakfast' (okay, it was more like a mid-morning splurge) at Starbucks the other week of a delicious Pumpkin Spice Latte and Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin (yum!).  I hadn't even thought of trying to make it at home, but when I saw these pins, I just had to try!

I started out with the Pumpkin Spice Syrup - I had to pick up a few more ingredients, but had a lot of what I needed already in my pantry and spice cabinet.  This recipe was pretty straight forward and not too complicated and it turned out very yummy!  In both recipes, I think I'd cut back on the cloves (its a little too strong of a taste for me).  One batch fit perfectly in a reused Starbucks Frappuccino glass bottle.  The recipe calls for espresso and steamed milk, but I just add it to my coffee and cream :)

Then I tackled the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins.  These were a little more laborious.  Be warned that you have to mix up the cream cheese filling ahead of time and freeze it for a couple hours - I didn't read the recipe ahead of time and this delayed my making of these delicious muffins!  This recipe has 3 basic parts (with several steps in each part) - the pumpkin muffin batter, the cream cheese filling, at the cinnamon sugar topping.  Its not too complicated, but a little time consuming.  But you will be rewarded with 24 tasty muffins!  The boys love them and have at least one a day (sometimes two).  I put about half in the freezer, but I can see I'll need to take them out sooner than I thought!

There are some great pictures on the recipe sites, but I thought I'd take some 'real life' pictures so you can see how they really turn out.  Enjoy!


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