I have two other culinary creations that I made before these that I still have yet to share, but I can’t let this weekend end without writing about these beauties: Pumpkin Cupcakes with a Salted Caramel Buttercream frosting.  Have you ever heard a more amazing title? I must have recited that phrase over 20 times this weekend, and every time I got the same stupefied reaction, complete with a little drool.

As soon as I saw these on Made in Melissa’s Kitchen, I knew I’d be making them.  I didn’t know, however, that it would be in the two hours before a dinner reservation I had with my two best friends, or that I’d have to re-make the caramel sauce because I burnt it the first time.  Or that I’d have to switch the frosting tip because the first one just wasn’t right.  Or that I’d be frantically scrubbing the BUTTERcream off the pastry bags and mixer bowl in time to get ready to go.  But even with so many hiccups, these were probably the best baked goods I have EVER made.

I shared these with three different groups of people this weekend— my friends Amanda and Elyse, my family, and my South Plainfield favorites— and their reactions all reaffirmed why I love to cook and bake for the people I love.

I know I’ve told you to make many things in the past, but ignore all those suggestions and take this one: MAKE THESE.  You’ll love its moist, spicy Pumpkin base and the sweet and salty combo that the caramel icing provides.  Perfection.  These might be my contribution to Thanksgiving this year!

Recipe

What’s a girl to do when she has half a can of pumpkin leftover from making Pumpkin Chiffon Cake? Bake up some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies of course! They’re not very creative, but they’re so yummy and comforting.  I’ll be bringing these into the office tomorrow for all of my DeVries PR girls, and I know they’ll appreciate them :)

Recipe 

This week I started going through all of my food magazines and ripping out any pumpkin recipe that I could find.  While I was doing that, I came across a recipe in Every Day with Rachael Ray for Pumpkin Chiffon Cake.  I was feeling a little soft around the edges that day, and I saw that it was light and lo-calorie like an Angel Food Cake, so I decided to go for it.  To me, the selling point was that even though most of the cake was made up of egg whites, it still looked dense enough to be satisfying.

Sure enough, I was right.  I’ve been eating this Pumpkin Chiffon Cake all week and I am SO happy with it.  It has the perfect pumpkin flavor, and I don’t feel weighed down after having a slice.  Plus, it was highly entertaining to make my first cake where I had to hang it upside down for an hour and a half after baking :) I highly recommend this cake for those weeks when you’re in need of a break from all the heavy, cold-weather food, but still want something seasonal.  Or anytime at all!

Recipe (I’ll have to post this one a little later, as the magazine’s website still hasn’t posted it.) 

I didn’t post about my fall baking adventures last week because they didn’t exactly go as I had planned.  I took a stab at recreating the success that I had last year with Rachael Ray’s Giant Bavarian Pretzels, but a few things got in my way.  For one, the difficulty of making these without a stand mixer/bread hook really got to me. Also, instead of just adding an egg white, I added in the whole thing, which definitely messed up the texture. It wasn’t that they turned out AWFUL, but the taste and color were both off.  I’m going to try making them again, but not right away.

As for this week, I was inspired when I saw Ina Garten make her Maple-Oatmeal Scones. I had every intention of making them, but then my mom suggested Pumpkin Scones and I was sold.  No surprise there- I should just give in to making a different pumpkin dessert each week.  After Googling a recipe, and deciding that I wasn’t interested in the Starbucks copycat recipe (to me, a great scone isn’t overly sweet), I settled on this version from PickyCook.com.  The picture sold me, because to me they were what a pumpkin scone should look like.  Overall, I was happy with them.  Their smell was INSANE, and the texture was great.  While I was glad that they weren’t overly sweet, the pumpkin taste was almost TOO subtle, but still delicious.  I would make these again, but I might try out a different recipe just to see what else is out there.

Recipe

I recently made the decision that every weekend up until Halloween, I’m going to make some sort of Fall “project.” Keenan’s family came together in Brick this weekend for Point Pleasant’s Seafood Festival, and his mom asked me to make a dessert.  I figured it was the perfect chance to kick off this endeavor, and I started with a bang- a Pumpkin Cheesecake.  If you know me, you know I’m obsessed with anything pumpkin, and cheesecake has always been one of my favorite desserts, so I was excited to make this.  I remembered that I had seen an awesome looking rip-off of the Cheesecake Factory’s version in an old issue of Food Network Magazine, and I found the recipe on the website.  The whole process of making it wasn’t without mistakes, but it came out ridiculously delicious!  ESPECIALLY for my first attempt at a cheesecake.  I recommend this recipe for anyone who’s looking for the perfect dessert to celebrate the season. 

Recipe