Pumpkin Cheesecake with Chai Buttercream Frosting, Made More Delicious

I finally upped my pumpkin cheesecake game and arrived at perfection.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins

These pumpkin-gingerbread muffins make winter almost bearable.

Round-up: A Quartet of Pumpkin Recipes

It’s a pumpkin round-up! Muffins, cupcakes, cookies, and the perfect Thanksgiving cheesecake.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These gems popped into my Facebook feed on just the right day.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins (without Pecans)

jump to recipe These were supposed to have pecans in them, originally, but circumstances forced me to rename them Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffins (without Pecans). The recipe I based them on was called “Pumpkin Pecan Muffins,” but mysteriously,  there weren’t any pecans listed in the ingredients or in the directions. I posted so in the […]

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins

They’re funny-looking little things, aren’t they? Don’t be deceived. These Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Mini Muffins are deliciously addictive, supplying decadence to the tastebuds without contributing to your food guilt.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Pumpkin Bread, and guest bakers!

It was a beautiful, perfect, delicious bread, and a perfectly wonderful baking day. I had guest bakers! Meet Tracy and Antonia. Left to my own devices, I would have reduced or eliminated the chocolate chips, but Antonia & Tracy are huge chocolate fans and I wanted them to leave with their taste buds singing.

Pumpkin Cheddar Muffins (with a kick)

I had to try making these. The minute I saw this recipe and its combination of pumpkin, sharp cheddar cheese, and cayenne and black pepper, I was caught in its spell and was just counting the days until I could sink my baking teeth into it.

My eating teeth, too. These muffins turned out great. They’re completely different from anything I’ve made before. The combination of the sweet pumpkin, the sharp cheddar, and the kick from the pepper that comes in as you’re finishing each bite is unique and irresistible. It’s like the gum that Violet Beauregarde steals from Willy Wonka’s factory: it’s almost a complete meal.

Spiced Honey Pumpkin Bread

If you’re looking for a decadent, sugary pumpkin bread for dessert, this isn’t it.

If you’re looking for a gently spiced, not-too-sweet pumpkin bread for breakfast or a snack that warms you up from the inside out, you’ve found it. I like this bread but given the abundance of sugar in most pumpkin-based baked goods, you do have to know before your first bite that this is going to be a little different. On its second or third day it hits a beautiful peak of flavor, when the honey and the spices and the pumpkin coalesce into smooth perfection.

Pumpkin Bran Muffins with Mini Cinnamon Chips

It was time to get back into the healthy swing, after whipping up requested decadent treats like Butterscotch Brownies and Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. Still on a pumpkin kick, I went digging through my Pinterest board to see what might strike my baking fancy. Sometimes I’m in the market for a great, unique recipe, and sometimes I just want something I can play with. This one fell into the “play with” category, and play with it I did, for the betterment of muffinkind.

Almond Butter Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips

My mission: almond butter.

Why? Because my friend (and former co-worker) Tracy wanted something with almond butter, and she waited patiently week after week as I churned out muffin after muffin, loaf after loaf, all almond butter-free. Tracy has been the most loyal of baking fans and makes me feel like everything that comes out of my kitchen is a gift, so when I saw this recipe for Peanut Butter Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips, I fought my peanut butter-loving instincts and decided to make the swap and grant my chocolate-and-pumpkin-loving friend her much-deserved wish.

Espresso Spice Pumpkin Muffins, take two

It’s pumpkin season!

Okay, all the other baking blogs are way ahead of me, but I’m a bit of a late bloomer. I’m okay with that, I’ve had years to get used to it. We won’t even talk about what all the boys used to call me before I got boobs.

Wait, what are we talking about? Muffins! We’re talking about muffins. And these particular muffins are the ultimate breakfast, supplying you with very basic morning nutrition: wheat, fruit, dairy, and caffeine.

Honey Pumpkin Bran Muffins

jump to recipe I still had the white balance settings wrong for this entire batch of photos and it’s annoying me because these muffins were really delicious and you can’t even see their true beauty. Trust me, they looked lovely. I found these in the bottom depths of one of my Pinterest boards. Sometimes I […]

Maple Pumpkin Mini Muffins

These have been on my to-try list for months. I’m so glad I finally made them! They taste far too delicious to be as healthy as they are, too. And the timing is good, I’m back on Weight Watchers and these puppies are only ONE P+ each. And they are treats you can have for […]

Pumpkin Espresso Bread

Another home run. Make this bread right now. I mean it. It couldn’t be easier and your taste buds will thank you, as will anyone else who gets a bite. I brought some of this to work with me and had someone come back for thirds. Who says you have to wait for fall to bake with pumpkin?

And the topping…to think I almost didn’t include it. How dumb that would have been. The bread is a wonder unto itself but the topping adds a bit of crunchy magic. I made a few changes to the recipe, but the credit really belongs to a beautiful blog called Pastry Affair that gave me reason #85279 to love Pinterest and the internet.

Pumpkin Gingersnap Cookies

Tonight I let Juliet make the final decision about which cookies to make, since she didn’t like Nathaniel’s gargantuan chocolate birthday cake, or the pumpkin cheesecake on Thanksgiving. I showed her five different cookie photos and she chose these. Good call, Juliet! I started with butter and sugar, substituting a less refined cane sugar for […]

Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Muffins

Whenever I find a recipe for a 3 (WW) P+ muffin, I have to try it, I’m always trying to expand my breakfast repertoire. So this was next on the list. My first obstacle, however, was that they’re made with my favorite flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and now TWO of my grocery stores are […]

Speculoos Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

jump to recipe They were supposed to be Biscoff Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies, but the grocery stores around here are all out of Biscoff, and who doesn’t want an excuse to use the word Speculoos? Mom’s the one who got me interested in Biscoff spread, and she’s also an amazing baker, so I’ve decided these cookies […]

Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats

Recipes like this are reason number twenty million for why I love the internet. I told Jana to pick a birthday treat, and she went to my Pinterest board and picked Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats. So I read the comments under the recipe, and a lot of people were complaining that the squares fell apart because of the moisture created by the pumpkin. And then one person posted that she came up with a solution to get the moisture out of the pumpkin. I followed her link. I followed her advice. I will now follow her blog. And maybe follow her around.

Baked Pumpkin Spice Donut Holes

jump to recipe Remind me not to listen to Presidential debates while I’m baking. It’s so depressing. It feels like this great big game with so little meaning. And yet I’m still watching. I listened to it on the radio while I was baking, I switched to my iPhone when I had to walk around […]

Spiced Pumpkin Bran Muffins

jump to recipe I’m always on the lookout for more healthy muffin recipes, since that’s what I have for breakfast every day. Well now I have a new one to add to the collection. We went apple picking today, and you’d think I’d be baking something with apples, but I don’t actually LIKE baked apples, […]

Pumpkin Spice Latte Muffins

These are wonderful. Fluffy light texture, deep rich espresso-pumpkin flavor, just delightful. Sophisticated, ever so slightly, but definitely a treat and a reasonably healthy one at tha

Low Fat Pumpkin Gingerbread

Last night I was looking for something I could eat in quantity. I knew I’d be on a post-Homeland food rampage so I made something that wouldn’t break the Weight Watchers Points Plus bank if I ate a large amount of it, and that’s how I found this recipe for pumpkin gingerbread. I also figured […]

Cinnamon Chip Pumpkin Blondies

(for Antonia’s birthday) It’s Antonia’s birthday, and she’d like something with pumpkin. Since I experiment on her constantly with my baking, she deserves something customized for her birthday. These blondies also included a honey and caramel drizzle baked into them, which sounded pretty delicious to me. Guess what? They ARE delicious. They’re birthday delicious. They’re […]

Low Fat Pumpkin Muffins

jump to recipe We came home after a beautiful weekend in Fire Island to a muffin-less house; well, it wasn’t supposed to be muffinless, but the banana muffins I made did not survive their weekend abandonment. I’d made another batch at the same time and brought it to Fire Island, and those were still fine […]

Healthy Pumpkin Bread With Cinnamon Chips

Dave looked at me like I was crazy when he saw me standing in front of a counter full of ingredients, and I don’t blame him. Every afternoon I get this lightheadedness and feel dizzy, and the feeling extends well into the evening, and yet there I was, setting up mixing bowls and measuring cups. […]

Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf

“I’m glad I took the whole piece.” That’s what Dave said after he came upstairs to taste the Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf I made tonight. He took half of the piece I cut for him, but I told him to take the whole thing. He was glad. He said so! (And by the way, that’s demerara […]

Read It All Up Test Night 2: Pumpkin Cupcakes

(with Chocolate Pumpkin Frosting) read about Night 1 Now I really do feel like Annie in The Bake Shop Ghost. I’m trying one recipe after another, trying to find the magical one that will strike just the right note for Read It All Up®. I think tomorrow’s recipe is going to be the big winner, […]

Chai Pumpkin Bread

jump to recipe I wanted something to contrast yesterday’s bran muffins, something with a more complex flavor. When I saw that the ingredients for this recipe included cardamon, allspice, cloves, black pepper, and brewed chai tea in addition to cinnamon and nutmeg, I knew my search was over. See all that stuff? I figured I’d […]

Pumpkin Scones

jump to recipe The night after we got home from Pennsylvania, I was feeling the baking urge again. The baking urge means that I want to make something I’ve never made before. And that always brings me to my Pinterest board where I pin healthy recipes I want to try. And THAT is where I […]

Espresso Spice Pumpkin Muffins

Something’s just OFF with me today, so I am surprised these muffins turned out so well. Honestly, I was knocking things over the whole time I was making these, spilling things too, and I swear that every time I opened the fridge, things just leapt out at me. I dropped my iPhone three times today. […]

Weird Oatmeal Cake, and Baking Fever

It’s been an odd evening. On the way home, I decided I wanted to try this recipe for “My Best Oatmeal Cake”. The photo above is directly from the recipe page, but let me tell you, I don’t think there’s an iota of a chance that this recipe was used to make the cake in […]

Mini Pumpkin Bran Muffins With Chocolate Chips

jump to recipe I am still a little surprised at the deliciousness of these. I had some pumpkin to use up, I bought some wheat bran I wanted to try out, and I had the urge to prepare something healthy, and I think I hit the jackpot with this recipe, which is pretty good for […]

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Blondies

Juliet likes peanut butter again! She wanted me to bake something with peanut butter, but I wasn’t in a cookie-making mood, what with all the pans going in and out every ten minutes and the fact that I’d just finished doing all the dinner dishes. Tomorrow I’ll make cookies, but today I wanted something that […]

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Brownies

Like all the reviews said, they don’t taste quite like brownies, but it’s hard to stop eating them once you start. They were really easy to make, despite a few screw-ups along the way. And even though I made what might be my best batch of banana yogurt muffins ever yesterday, I still needed some […]

Pumpkin Muffins With Sugar On Top

jump to recipe I had Greek yogurt to use up, and I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to keep myself busy and distracted. The result? Pumpkin muffins. I started with whole wheat white flour, then whisked in baking soda, baking powder, and salt. I threw in more cinnamon than the recipe called […]

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Roll Bars

I made this once before, a long time ago, and I remember thinking it was a bit undercooked. The flavor was there, but it was a little too wet and not cakey enough, so I figured I’ve made about 20 new things since then, and maybe I’ve acquired some baking skills along the way. Also, […]