Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

It's that time of year.  I'm stuck in the land of 85º days and never ending palm trees, but my heart is in New England.  I'm missing the beautiful reds and golds that blanket the hills and the crisp, cool smell of Autumn...if you've ever visited New England in the fall, you know what I mean.  Even though the weather here in Florida is still very summer-like, I spend a lot of time trying to recreate just a little of my favorite season in my home.  Autumn leaves and pumpkins are scattered around the house, fall scented candles burn here and there... and then there's this.  This wonderful pumpkin coffee cake made the house smell SO GOOD this afternoon and was just what I needed to give me a little taste of home.  As I'm writing this... I'm pretty sure the cake is disappearing quickly, I left it alone with the kids... so here's the recipe, I'm going to go try to save my cake!


 ⅓ cups Water
1 can Pureed Pumpkin (15 Oz)
2 whole Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 box Yellow Cake Mix (18 Ounce Box)
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 cup Brown Sugar, Divided
½ cups Flour
4 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
¼ cups Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
¼ cups Heavy Whipping Cream


Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl mix together the water, pumpkin, eggs, 1 Tablespoon of vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined. Add the cake mix and baking soda and mix until just combined.

Grease a 9×13 pan with butter and pour batter into pan.

In a small bowl mix together 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour and melted butter. Use your fingers to sprinkle over the top of the cake. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the glaze, combine the other 1/2 cup brown sugar, granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and heavy cream in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir until all sugar is dissolved.

When cake is finished baking, poke holes in the top with a toothpick. Pour glaze over the cake, making sure to cover all surfaces. Serve cake warm or at room temperature.

Makes 18 servings

Mexican Wedding Cookies

I've said it before, I don't really bake.  It's not that I can't, it's just that I don't like to.... I know, I'm weird.  I love the way baking makes the house smell, and I love the end results, I'm just not a very patient person... so being precise when measuring things doesn't rank very high on my list of fun.  My husband was the baker in our house, he loved making breads, cakes, cookies... you name it.  I was completely spoiled for 16 years, I reaped all the rewards of baking without having to earn it.  Needless to say, my kids forgot that I COULD bake, and recently my 8 year old told someone that I must not be very good at making cookies because I never do.  Challenge accepted kiddo! 

These are an old favorite of mine, I started making these in high school and used to make them frequently when my son was little.  One of the reasons I like making these is that they're simple... a few ingredients and very little work yield a wonderful cookie that's fun and tastes like a lot more effort went into them than really did.  My 8 year old was too busy eating these today to have room for her words :) 

2 sticks butter, at  room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners sugar, plus more for coating
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

In a medium bowl, mix butter with a hand mixer on high speed until fluffy.  Add confectioners sugar and continue beating until well combined.  Mix in vanilla and salt.  Stir in flour and cinnamon with a spoon until a dough forms (no longer crumbly).  Cover bowl and refrigerate dough 15-20 minutes.

Shape dough into 1" balls and bake at 350º for 12-15 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown. Allow to cool.  Roll in confectioners sugar to coat.  Makes 2 dozen.

Rice Krispies Sushi Treats

The California Grill, on the top floor of Disney's Contemporary resort, used to have this really fun dessert for kids... it was rice krispie treats wrapped in fruit rolls with a gummy worm or swedish fish center. Sushi for dessert! I haven't been to the California Grill in a while, so I'm not sure if these are still on the menu or not... but luckily for me, or my kids anyway, I have the recipe!

These are really fun and easy to make, though a little sticky... ok a LOT sticky (I found that rubbing softened margarine on my hands helped a great deal here), but still no harder than making rice krispie treats in general. I didn't have the gummy worms or swedish fish, so I used regular old fruit snacks for the centers.

Rice Krispies Sushi Treats

8 chewy fruit rolls
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 (10- ounce) package miniature marshmallows
6 cups crisp rice cereal
16 worm-shaped chewy candies or 24 fish-shaped chewy candies


Method:

Unroll fruit rolls, and place, with plastic sheet down, on cutting board (trust me you want to unroll all of them first, as the cereal mixture cools it becomes harder to work with).

Melt butter or margarine in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add marshmallows, stirring until melted; remove from heat. Stir in rice cereal until blended.

Spread about 1/2 cup cereal mixture quickly over each fruit roll, leaving a inch border on 1 long side. Arrange 2 worm-shaped candies or 3 fish-shaped candies lengthwise down center of cereal mixture.

Roll up, starting at side without border. Press to seal securely. Repeat procedure with remaining fruit rolls, cereal mixture,and candies.

Cut each roll into 4 or 5 slices.

Baked Rice Pudding

Rice pudding is normally something I make when the weather gets cooler, but to be honest, the weather rarely gets all that cool in Florida. If there's an advantage to the weather always being warm or hot, it's that there's central air conditioning that works VERY well. Things that many people wouldn't dream of cooking in the summer come out of my kitchen in the middle of July all the time. If I'm craving one of my comfort foods and it's 98ºF outside... it's ok! It's only 70ºF inside and I can cook whatever I want :)

1 1/4 cups cooked rice
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
seeds from 1 soaked vanilla bean (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 cup golden raisins

Preheat oven to 325º.

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl and then pour into an 8x8" baking dish. Place the smaller dish inside a 9x13" baking dish and place on center rack in the oven. Pour cups of water into the larger pan to create a water bath. Bake 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, stir pudding and then continue baking 20 more minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Serve warm with homemade whipped cream and another sprinkle of cinnamon.

Peanut Butter Banana Pie

I'm not a baker. I actually loathe baking, to me it's boring and far too exact. But, it seemed a shame to have a food blog with no yummy desserts (I don't loathe eating baked goods, trust me!). Luckily, my husband is an excellent baker and truly enjoys it. It's only fair that I share my space with him... so may I present Disney Inn's Peanut Butter and Banana Pie, from the Cooking with Mickey Around Our World cookbook.

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup cold water
1 Tbs cornstarch
1 cup milk
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 Tbs butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup whipped topping, or heavy cream, whipped
1 9-inch graham cracker pie shell
2 small bananas, sliced into 1/8" thick slices

Soak gelatin in cold water. Set aside

In saucepan, dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup cold milk. Stir in remaining milk, sugar and butter. Simmer 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add hot mixture to eggs, stirring well. Return egg mixture to saucepan; cook and stir until thickened (do not boil).

Remove from heat, add gelatin, stiurring until dissolved. Blend in peanut butter. Chill until mixture begins to thicken. Fold in whipped topping. Pour half of filling intp ie shell. Add bananas and top with remaining filling. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. Serve with chocolate sauce and additional whipped topping.