Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Maybe I'm severely addicted to this cake. Maybe I've eaten almost an entire 8x8 pan of it by myself in just three days (okay, husband had a few pieces too). Maybe it's because pumpkin is the perfect flavor for fall and nothing, I repeat, nothing beats cream cheese frosting. (Well, except maybe white chocolate raspberry cream cheese frosting... but that's another post.) Anyway. Make this cake. You don't need a reason. It's fall, what more reason do you need?

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake:
4 eggs
1 and 2/3 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 (16 oz) can pumpkin
2 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda

Frosting:
1 (8oz) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, and pumpkin until smooth. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth.

Spread the batter in a greased 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. {Or not! Who doesn't love warm cake and melty frosting?}

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin cake. {Or warm pumpkin cake!!}

I found this recipe on a random recipe blog years ago, before I had a good system for saving recipes, marking the source, etc, and I had never made it. But then my friend Joanna made it, and it was amazing, and I was craving more the next day. She hadn't sent me the recipe yet but I went searching through my files to see if I had a recipe for something similar. I made this and later that night she sent me her recipe - it was the same one! Crazy. That's my story.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

And it makes great french toast too!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

For the dough:
1 scant tablespoon instant or rapid rise yeast (1 packet)
3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups warm water (110 degrees)
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
butter for pan and brushing on finished bread

For the filling:
1 egg white
1 cup (150g) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

In an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook and set to low speed, mix together yeast and 3 cups of flour. Pour in the water, oil, honey, and salt. Mix on low speed for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add up to a 1/2 cup more flour if needed.

Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead by hand a few times. Drizzle the inside of the mixer bowl with a bit more oil. Roll the dough around in the oil and cover in plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Butter a large loaf pan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and roll out into a long rectangle the width of the loaf pan. In a small bowl, mix together the egg white, sugar, and cinnamon, and spread out evenly across the dough. Roll up carefully, and pinch the dough on the ends, and all along the edge to create a seam that will hold in the filling. Lay the dough, seam side down, in the prepared pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until almost doubled in size.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top and bottom of the bread is golden brown. Brush the top of the bread with butter. Tilt the bread pan on its side and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Turn the bread out and allow to cool completely. Or enjoy warm, with butter. Then make it into French Toast the next day.

Recipe from The Family Kitchen.

Crustless Quiche

This quiche was so flavorful and just delicious. It was the perfect savory addition to a fall brunch with friends. It is also very easy to make, and can be adapted easily to whatever you'd like to add to it. I added bacon, green onions, sauteed spinach and mushrooms, but you could add any combination of ingredients: ham, broccoli, onions, sausage, any type of vegetable or variety of cheese. I'll keep this recipe on hand for special occasions, as it isn't exactly the healthiest breakfast option... but it sure is good!

Spinach, Mushroom and Bacon Crustless Quiche

10 eggs
1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. shredded cheese {I used half cheddar and half monterey jack}
1 lb. cottage cheese
1 cube (1/2 cup) butter, melted and slightly cooled {I know. Don't think about it, just do it}
3 green onions, chopped
10 slices bacon
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
8 oz. package sliced mushrooms, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan. In a large bowl, beat eggs lightly. Whisk in flour, baking powder, and salt until well combined and no lumps remain. With a wooden spoon, stir in cottage cheese, 3/4 of the shredded cheese, melted butter, and green onions.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until browned and desired level of crispiness. Remove bacon to a paper towel and let cool slightly before chopping into smaller pieces and adding to egg mixture. Leave bacon grease in pan over heat, add chopped mushrooms, and saute a few minutes until soft and tender. Add chopped spinach, stir with mushrooms and cook a few minutes, until wilted. Add cooked mushrooms and spinach to egg mixture and stir to combine.

Pour into a 9x13 pan, bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 20-25 minutes, or until browned around the edges and lightly browned in the middle.

This can be cut in half and baked in an 8x8 pan. If you do this, bake it for about 12 minutes at 400 and then about 15 minutes at 350.

Recipe from Sarah's Fares.

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

These cinnamon rolls not only have cinnamon and sugar in their swirls, but also delicious cooked apple slices. Did I mention they have a caramel cream cheese glaze on top? Oh my goodness. So good. They were the perfect fall treat to serve for brunch. I'm sure they'd make a delicious dessert too.

When I first saw this recipe, I was intimidated. After glancing at the lengthy instructions and ingredient list, my first thought was, "Those look amazing, but I will never make them because it looks too complicated and time consuming." I had never made cinnamon rolls, and I am still quite inexperienced with yeast dough. But they sounded so tempting, I had to give it a try. I was home watching General Conference all day Saturday, and the two-hour sessions were the perfect time to let the dough rise. I was surprised that these were actually not hard to make, and they turned out pretty good! So don't be intimidated, give them a try!

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

For the cinnamon rolls:
6½ tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
5½ tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp. lemon zest
3½ cups bread flour
2 tsp. instant (rapid rise) yeast
1 cup plus 2-4 tbsp. whole milk or buttermilk, at room temperature

For the filling:
1½ tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼-inch slices
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp. cornstarch
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. sugar
¾ tsp. ground cinnamon

For the glaze:
4 oz. cream cheese
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 tbsp. caramel sauce
1 tbsp. milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners’ sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter on medium-high speed until smooth. Mix in the egg and lemon zest until incorporated. Mix in the flour, yeast and milk until a dough forms. Switch to the dough hook and knead on low speed, about 8 minutes until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky. (You may need to add a little extra flour or liquid to achieve this texture.) Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, make the filling. To make the caramelized apples, melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apple slices, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix until the apples are evenly coated. Cook about 18 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Set aside to cool. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon to blend; set aside.

Mist a work surface with spray oil. Roll it out into a rectangle with a rolling pin, lightly dusting the dough with flour if needed to keep it from sticking (about 12 x 14 inches for larger rolls or 9 x 18 inches for smaller rolls). Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mix to blend. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the surface of the dough. Evenly distribute the caramelized apples over the top of the dough. Starting with the wide edge, roll up the dough into a cigar-shaped log, creating a cinnamon sugar spiral as you roll. Pinch the seam shut, and with the seam side down, slice the log into your desired number of rolls. Transfer them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, placing the rolls about ½-1 inch apart.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 75-90 minutes, until the rolls have grown into each other and have nearly doubled in size. At this point, the rolls can also be covered and retarded in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Pull the pan out of the refrigerator 3-4 hours before baking to let the dough proof.
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool in the baking about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

To make the glaze, combine the cream cheese and butter in a small heatproof bowl and microwave in 15-20 second intervals until it is warm enough to whisk together. Whisk in the caramel sauce, milk and vanilla extract until smooth. Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Swirl the glaze over the top of the cinnamon rolls. Let cool at least 15-20 minutes before serving.

Recipe from Annie's Eats.