Pumpkin Buttermilk Pancakes with Cinnamon Mascarpone

Fall is my favorite time of year for cooking. I love the savory smells that come wafting out of the kitchen, and I love snacking on anything pumpkin.

Yesterday was my baby shower, and after assembling every piece of baby gear and unpacking all the gifts, my husband and I were looking for a nice treat for breakfast. Instead of getting myself together to make it out to breakfast, I decided it would be a good time for me to bust out this humungous can of pumpkin puree I had sitting in my pantry...and make some pumpkin pancakes.

These turned out much better than I thought they would. To be honest, I probably have about 5 pumpkin pancake recipes in my cookbooks (who am I kidding...I'm certain I have more). But the truth is, I can never be bothered in the wee hours of the morning to do any such research especially when I have a serious growling belly. I found this recipe on Allrecipes, but changed it up a bit and then added my own twist. I have to say, these turned out much better than expected and it was certainly the fall treat we had been waiting for.

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

Recipe derived from Allrecipes

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon and 1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup Buttermilk plus 3 tablespoons

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 egg

1 tablespoon vegetable oil/canola oil

Cinnamon Mascarpone

Recipe by: Cafe Coco

Ingredients:

1/4 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions for the pancakes:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, lightly beat the egg. Then add the buttermilk, pumpkin puree, and vegetable oil, and whisk together until combined.
3. Pour the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture and gently fold in with a rubber spatula just until blended (you don’t want to over mix). It should be slightly thick and not runny. If the batter is still too thick, just add a tablespoon of buttermilk at a time.
4. Turn on skillet, once it’s hot, add a tablespoon or more to coat the pan. Cook pancakes about 2 minutes a side--or until brown and crispy.
5. Serve with a tablespoon of cinnamon mascarpone and maple syrup. Serve immediately.

Directions for the Cinnamon Mascarpone:

1. Mix together cinnamon and mascarpone in a small bowl until combined.

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Happy 1 Year Blogiversary!

Actually--I'm delayed--2 months!

Have you ever been in a deep sleep, to be awoken by "CRAP! I FORGOT!" I had one of those "oh crap" moments last week. I got up, checked the blog and sure enough, I missed my own blogiversary. How on earth did that happen? I could have sworn I started late fall.

A well, all is forgiven.

Since starting this blog, I lost my job, gained some new ones, went on fabulous trips, and found out I was about to become a mother for the first time. So this past year has been very life changing for me!

Last week, while watching Food Network, I saw a commercial for funfetti. I quit buying boxed cakes a long time ago because I have so many great 'from scratch' recipes but for some reason, this commercial got the best of me and all I could think about was making funfetti. (I am pregnant after all and sometimes when you want something, there is no changing your mind). After posting my desire on Facebook, I got several laughs. After recieving a suggestion of just making it myself, I figured, 'yea, I can do that'.

What better way to celebrate a year of greatness other than homemade funfetti?

I loved these cupcakes. I used my 'go to' yellow cake recipe derived from The Joy of Baking and the frosting is my alteration from Martha Stewart's "Cupcakes" book.

Cupcake Recipe:

(I halved the recipe and got about 36 mini cupcakes. I baked them for about 10 minutes)

Yellow Buttermilk cake
Recipe derived from “Joy of Cooking”

Dry Ingredients whisk together and set aside:
2 1/3 cups sifted cake flour (I used regular all-purpose and it worked just fine)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla powder (you can omit this if you cannot find it)

Cream Mixture:
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar

Whisk together lightly and set aside:
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla


Liquid:
1 Cup Buttermilk

Fold in ingredients:

1/2 cup Jimmies (sprinkles)



Directions:
1. Cream butter with paddle attachment until creamy. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Then, gradually beat in the eggs/vanilla mixture. Beat for about 2 minutes.
2. On the lowest speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk in 3 parts ending with the flour. Fold in sprinkles.
3. Pour batter into (2) 8-inch round cake pans lined with parchment on the bottom or greased and floured. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.


Frosting:
1 1/2 unsalted room temperature butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. With a mixer, beat butter until creamy. Add cream cheese and beat until fluffy.
2. Reduce spead of mixer, add confectioners sugar and vanilla. Mix until the sugar is incorporated, then increase speed of mixer and beat until fluffy. About 5 minutes.
3. Can be refrigerated for up to 10 days.
4. Put into a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes (or cake).

TWD: Cran-Apple Crisps

It's TWD again! Em from The Repressed Pastry Chef is our host, so if you are interested in the recipe, be sure to head over to her page!

The best part about November's TWD is that we can bake any of the four recipes--in any order. So be sure to check out TWD's blog roll to see what everyone else is up to!

I happen to love fruit crisps of any kind in the fall. I'm pretty sure its one of my husband's favorites too--because that is usually something he eyes on a menu besides cake or ice cream.

I actually made these yesterday for dinner at my neighbors, but last minute plans to change to a sushi restaurant had them left behind in the refrigerator. So tonight, I was excited that these were all put together just waiting to be popped in the oven.

To be honest, if you are looking for a QUICK dessert on a week night, this is definitely a winner. I put this together in less than 20 minutes....that included peeling and chopping the apples. It's so incredibly easy...which I love!

The only change I made was omitting the coconut because I used all mine up for a German chocolate cake a few weeks ago for my Grandma's 80th Birthday party.

Pair these up with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or eat them all by themselves. Any way you choose, you can't go wrong, this was totally amazing!

Enjoy!

TWD: Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

To make life easier on all us TWD'rs, the month of November, we get to actually pick the order of the 4 recipes. This weeks TWD (at least for me) is Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies.

When I read the November roster I picked these cookies first. Mainly because I have been craving gingersnaps and I figured this would be very close (well in reality they are gingersnaps). I made these along with peanut butter cookies on Halloween since my husband has been asking me to make those. I have always had good luck with Dorie's cookies so I figured we would be in for a real treat. (get it...trick or treat......yea....lame I know).

The molasses cookies were very easy to put together, they just need some freezing/chill time. I baked half my dough, the other half, I saved for later. (I'm in to freezing cookie batter now so that I always have some ready to go--you know, for EMERGENCIES).

The only difficulty I had with these were that they spread together despite keeping ample space between them. These were good, very molasses-y. The only thing is, I really like mine chewy and prefer the old time-y "Joy of Cooking" recipe that I made last fall. But if you are looking for one with a crunch ending with chewy, this would be your cookie. These would be great broken up over ice cream or even mixed in with some savory dishes like pumpkin ravioli. hmmm...I think I have an idea.....

Stay tuned for the rest of this months fabulous fall desserts that us TWD bakers will be whipping up. Don't forget to check out TWD's blogroll to see what the other bakers are up to.

A special thanks to our host, Pamela from Cookies with Boys for the Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies. For the recipe head over to her page!

TWD: Cherry Fudge Brownie Torte

I actually planned for this TWD...and wasn't scurrying on Tuesday to complete it. Thank goodness, because this one needs cooling time AND setting time.

I read the recipe several times, and even doing that....I accidentally melted ALL the chocolate so I just added more chunks in the end. More chocolate never hurt anyone? I also added the mascarpone too soon to the mousse, however I don't think it really affected it. I left out the Kirsch because...don't throw anything at me but...I don't really know what it is? I know its an alcohol but do you go to the liquor counter and say "Yea, I want a bottle of your Kirsch". I'm not the liquor buyer of the house--I'm more of the beer/wine girl. But now that I'm expecting--I figured it might be best to leave out the booze? I just added more preserves to compensate. I also halved this recipe since my husband is still working off a cold and no one wants to come over!

I really enjoyed this recipe. I like fudge brownies and tortes so this was right up my ally. This, in essence, IS a brownie--a very fudgy one. I think the best part was the fact that it had cherries in it. While reading--I wasn't quite sure I would want/like the cherries (as did many of the other bakers) but I really did not find the cherry flavor to be over powering at all. In fact it was a nice change. My favorite part was the mascarpone mousse on top! Truly heavenly and added richness to the dessert.



I would definitely make this again!

Thank you to April from Short+Rose for hosting this week! For the recipe, be sure to head over to her page. You can also check out the other bakers from TWD's blogroll!

TWD: Sweet Potato Biscuits

Yes, I am late late late for this one. I wanted to make these early, but I was going out of town. Then when I returned from town, I of course didn't have the sweet potato I needed plus I had a sick husband on the loose and we all know how sick husbands are. So better late than never...

So Sunday morning, I decided was great time to make these. Plus, I wanted to make them with some gravy and eggs. I know, probably not what Dorie had in mind for these 'tea' biscuits, but I will tell you...they were an amazing alternative.

I REALLY enjoyed these biscuits. They were easy to put together and the flavor was so sweet and different from a regular biscuit. I will definitely make these again--in fact I saved half the biscuits to freeze so that I could eat them at a later time.

I did make a few changes. Im notorious for 'skimming' a recipe. Which is never a good thing. I saw that the recipe called for 'canned' sweet potato--I bought pureed sweet potato. The recipe called for TWO 15oz. cans. I only had ONE. The good news--the pureed sweet potato actually yields more just because it doesn't have the syrup that needs to be poured out. In fact, I needed to add more flour because my dough was too sticky. I also used half shortening, half butter because my grandma always told me to use shortening in biscuits.

I ended up letting these biscuits sit at room temp for about 30 minutes before throwing them in the oven because I was monkeying around trying to season my cast iron skillet. I think letting these sit was key for me---because my biscuits were not too flat like some of the other bakers complained about. Either mine rose because they had time to sit--OR I just rolled mine out thicker. One of the two. These are definitely a 'denser' biscuit.

These paired well with bacon gravy and eggs this morning--I think the salt / sweet combo was amazing. I will have to try these a bit later with some honey and some tea. We all loved them--including 'baby M' who has been kicking me like crazy ever since.

Thanks to Erin of Prudence Pennywise for hosting this week! For the recipe, head over to her page!

Spaghetti Made with Spaghetti Squash

If anything about pregnancy that changed me, it has been my taste buds. I always had this inclination that pregnant woman craved meat. This theory has been proved so wrong in my case. If anything, I have reverted back to what I knew and loved as a child. And that is carbs. Carbs ALL the way.

But since becoming an adult, I became more mindful of my carb intake, and so these last few months have been heaven on a stick for me because if I feel like eating carbs...I'm eating the carbs.

I found this recipe in Fine Cooking Magazines (a fabulous magazine by the way) and I was pretty intrigued by the fact that you could substitute spaghetti squash for spaghetti noodles. I figured this was some dirty trick--somewhat like the trick whole wheat pasta plays on you. Its all fine and good--until the grit from the whole wheat kinda ruins it for you. At least, that is how it is for me unless I can find a strong sauce to stand up to the whole wheat. (Don't get me wrong--I don't want to get down on whole wheat pasta--its really not a bad thing. It's loaded with protein so I try to choke it down on the general occasion).

But spaghetti squash? This is no bait and switch. I swear. It's quite pleasant actually and it's a great way to get in some extra vegetables while cutting the carbs! I will so make this again and again.

For the recipe-check out Fine Cooking's website!
(I didn't make too many changes except cut down on the onion--and as you can see in the photo--I have to keep the onion pieces large so my husband can pull them out since he can't eat them. )