Edgar Allan Poe October: Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce

"It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; 

but once conceived, it haunted me day and night."

Edgar Allan Poe, "The Tell-Tale Heart"

My hands-down favorite picture book as a little girl was this version of Cinderella.  I swooned over her golden hair, her elegant dresses, and her pie-making skills.  But the part that endeared me to her forever was that pumpkin patch in her yard.

I don't know what it is about pumpkin, but everything it touches seems to taste better---including cookies, and cupcakes, pancakes, and pecan bars.  But here is the real magic in pumpkin:  it even makes savory things taste better, too, like alfredo sauce (which is pretty much perfection already).

I fiddled with a batch of alfredo last night until I had a pumpkin alfredo concoction worthy of hitting the dinner table.  And while my people may not have the most "refined" tastes, they enjoyed this meal immensely.  

(In fact, I almost awarded my husband an Oscar for his What About Bob? dinner-table impersonation.  "Mmmm!  Mmmm!  Is this sauce hand-shucked?")

Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce

1 stick butter

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 cups half and half

1 cup parmesan cheese 

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 teaspoons crushed garlic

1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (depending on taste)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried sage

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Melt butter in a saucepan and add cream cheese.  Mix until no lumps remain.  Slowly add half and half until sauce is smooth.   Add remaining ingredients and cook on low until parmesan is fully melted.  Serve over hot noodles.  Serves 10.

Really, the only thing that could have made our dinner any better last night is if it had been accompanied by a pumpkin pie.  

Where is that darned Cinderella with her pumpkin patch and pie-making skills when I need her?

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Fall Poetry: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on.

~ Emily Dickinson

Perfect pairs are hard to find.  Just ask Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.  I mean, if two vampires can't make a relationship last in this world, then who can?  

(Can you tell that the reading pickings were slim at the grocery store checkout today?  Not a "home" magazine in sight.  People, however, turned out to be a wealth of information.  Did you know Will and Kate may or may not have talked about possibly, potentially, hypothetically having a baby . . . someday? Ugh.)

Luckily, there are pairings in this world that I can still rely on, like . . .

little boys and mysterious piles of sand on my wood stairs even when I've made them remove their shoes . . .

or my toddler and the dog's food when he fancies a mid-afternoon snack . . .

or Annie Sloan chalk paint and the blogosphere.  

(Confession:  I believe I am the ONLY woman in blogland that has yet to cover something in ASCP.  One of these days I just may join the ranks of the rest of you cool kids on the home decor playground.)

But when I need a perfect pairing---like warm pumpkin and sweet maple---that captures everything wonderful about fall in one bite, this is the recipe I go to.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

(adapted from Ina Garten and House Beautiful) (Makes 24 cupcakes)

  2 cups all-purpose flour

  2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

  4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

160z canned pumpkin

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 cup vegetable oil

Maple Frosting (recipe follows)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped Heath bars, for serving (2 1.4-ounce bars)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place 24 cupcake liners in muffin tins. Into a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.  Spread the cupcakes with the Maple Frosting and sprinkle with the chopped toffee bits.

Maple Frosting 

  8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

  4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon maple extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 Cups Confectioner's Sugar

  
  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the cream cheese and butter on low speed until smooth. Stir in the maple extract and vanilla extract. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

 When you serve these delicious cupcakes, I guarantee the requests for more will come in "pairs".  

Happy September from Be Book Bound!

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Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

You know how everybody has some cookie they HAVE to make at the holidays? I have like 7 I have accrued over the years, but among them is this amazing, moist, cakey, pumpkin spicey goodness. It's a staple here, and if you try it, I think it will become a staple for you too.  Heaven knows we all need one more thing to do for the holidays, right?

Pumpkin Cookies

1 C Butter
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/2 C Granulated Sugar
1 C Canned Pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 C Flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt

Cream sugars and butter. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Mix well. Sift together dry ingredients and add to wet mixture. Mix just til combined. drop spoonfuls onto a non-greased cookie sheet. Cook at 350 for 8-10 minutes. SERIOUSLY. If you overcook these, they turn into little rubber plate thingys. Not good.

Frosting:

Microwave 1/2 stick butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar until melted together. Add 1/4 c milk and a tsp vanilla, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add 2 cups or so of Powdered Sugar, beat it all up, and spread over cookies. Enjoy!

A triumph, my dear; another triumph.

I wait with great anticipation for my "Cuisine at Home" magazine every six weeks, and even more so for the Christmas issue. Well, the eagle has landed!

And the recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Pie bars is a winner that you can use at any fall book group get together. Or you could just eat a while pan yourself. I may or may not have engaged in the latter.

So without further ado, here's my version:

BeBookBound's Pumpkin Pecan Pie Bars
Adapted from Cuisine At Home

2/3 C Brown Sugar
1C Butter, softened
2 2/3C Flour

Crust:
cream sugar and butter, add in flour just til combined. Press into a greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, or until it begins to brown.

This is a good time to toss your pecans onto a cookie sheet and throw them in the oven to toast for more of that pecan flavor. It should only take a few minutes for them to become fragrant, and you can yank 'em then.

Filling:
6 Eggs
3/4 C Brown Sugar
3/4 C Granulated Sugar
 (Whisk the above, then add:)
1 C Maple Syrup
1/2 C Light Corn Syrup
1 Can Pumpkin Puree (15 oz.- the small one)
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4tsp. Ground Cloves
1/2 tsp. Salt
2-3 C Pecan halves, preferably toasted (See above)

Mix the filling up, and add the cooled pecans. Be ready to pour this onto that hot crust when you pull it from the oven. After you do, put the whole shebang back in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until just set.

COOL before cutting. And add ice cream if that wasn't enough sugar for you. Quite frankly, it is enough sugar for an army, so I would be surprised if you needed the ice cream, but it looked better in the picture, and to each his own. Whipped cream would be a lovely alternative, and still dress it up nicely. Enjoy!