Baking Fool

I had quite a few containers of cooked pumpkin from last year in the freezer and it was time to make room for this year's pumpkin.... so I started experimenting with a pumpkin bread recipe to see if the frozen pumpkin was still good. And it was good, so good. So good that I have made 4 batches of pumpkin bread and muffins. My favorite is the pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips, but the pumpkin break with cranberries (pictured here) was pretty damn good too. My neighbours are getting treats tomorrow when Bella goes trick or treating. I have four more loaves of pumpkin bread cooling as I type.... And here's the recipe if you'd like to try this yummy bread... (PS - it's also a little on the healthy side as I use real pumpkin, not the stuff in the can, so you can serve it up for a quick breakfast)

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tbs pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

2 cups sugar or splenda or half sugar/half splenda

2 cups cooked, pureed pumpkin (or 1 can if you want to cheat)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

nuts, cranberries, chocolate chips, or whatever else you want to experiment mixing in

combine all wet ingredients and beat until blended. combine all dry ingredients separately and slowly add to wet mixture

grease 4 mini loaf pans, or 2 loaf pans or use cupcake liners to line 2 muffin pans

with oven set to 350, bake mini loaves 45 min, loaves 60 min, and muffins 30 min

you may need to experiment with cook times as sometimes the loaves take a little longer.

My other favorite lately is apple crisp. It is so delicious, I ate half this pan by myself the other day! And it's apple season, so this is the perfect recipe for a family dessert or just for an anytime treat.

You will need:

about 6 Granny Smith apples

2 1/2 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup brown sugar (i use dark)

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) butter

1/2 cup flour

cinnamon

pinch of salt

Grease a baking dish. Core and skin your apples and toss 'em in said dish. (If you like it extra apple-y, use more apples. If you like it more crisp-y, use just the 6)

You can sprinkle a little but of cinnamon and sugar on the apples before adding the topping, but it's not absolutely necessary.

Mix all remaining ingredients until the texture of gritty sand and pour over apples.

Bake 30-40 min at 350. If you like your apples mushy, bake longer. If you like them less mushy, the 30 min should do. You can test them with a knife.

It's great served warm with ice cream or even with caramel sauce on top!

That's all I have time for right now, so until next time, happy baking!