Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Caramel Drizzle

I know that the winter weather has gotten a jump-start on us this year, 

but I'm still hanging on to my fall harvest and Thanksgiving spirit for another week.

My snow covered pumpkins are still gracing my front step and 

the wreath on the door is still made up of orange and yellow leaves. 

So, in that spirit, I am sharing with you this decadent

pumpkin-shaped pumpkin cake with caramel drizzle.  

Start with 1-15 oz can of pumpkin puree, 

add to that 3 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, 3/4 cup canola oil and 1 tsp vanilla extract. 

Mix all of the 'wet' ingredients together well. 

While the mixing is getting started, the oven should be set to 350 F to preheat. 

Then add 3 cup of flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 

1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/2 tsp ground ginger. 

All of that was mixed up by my fabulous little helper. 

After the pan was sprayed well, the cake batter was poured into the pan. 

Pop the cake into the 350 F oven for about 1 hour.  

Allow to cool in the pan before inverting to remove from pan. 

Now, if you want to bake a 2nd cake and make a pumpkin shape, 

the cake needs to be trimmed flat so that the two cakes align to form a pumpkin shape. 

The final step was melting the caramel along with a tablespoon or two of milk. 

And then slowly drizzling it over the cake. 

Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Caramel Drizzle
RECIPE

Prep Time : 30 minutes
Bake Time : 2 hours

Ingredients: (per cake)

1 15 oz can of Pumpkin Purée

3 eggs

2 cups of sugar

3/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Cooking spray

Caramel Bits
2 tbsp whole milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Add pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla to mixing bowl and blend well.  

Then add the rest of the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and mix well.  

Spray bundt pan very well to ensure that the cake will release from the pan.  

Baking at 350F for 1 hour.  

Allow to cool.

Bake a 2nd cake.

After both have cooled, trim off the extra height that interferes with the pumpkin shape when stacked on top of each other.

Then, melt the caramel bits in a pan over medium heat with 2 tbsp of whole milk.
Drizzle over the top of the cake so that the caramel runs down the sides.

Oreo Balls

Just in time for Halloween, these festive Oreo balls are like a party in your mouth!  

And, they will certainly be welcome after the holiday passes. 

They are quite easy, just 3 required ingredients 

and the most time-consuming part is allowing them to partially freeze between steps.

I first saw these a few years ago in the Kraft Food & Family magazine and
have been enjoying them ever since!

Start with one package of Peanut Butter Oreo cookies,

these things are dangerously good, 

so don't buy to the cookies too far in advance of making the treats! 

I chopped them up using my trusty, mini-chopper…

works great to make nice uniform crumbs. 

Then one 8 oz package of cream cheese was softened in the microwave

and added to the Oreo crumbs. 

Using a fork, the crumbs and cream cheese were thoroughly combined. 

I have found that it is much, MUCH easier to 

form cold, stiff, partially frozen dough into balls.

So, I pop this into the freezer for about 30 minutes…

(in the mean time, you can get dinner started!)

 When the dough was chilled, 

about 36 Oreo balls were formed.  

I generally err on the side of smaller, bite-size balls. 

They can get big fast,

 especially when coating with melted chocolate. 

Pop the dough balls back into the freezer for about 30 minutes 

so that they are easier to manage

and don't melt apart in the chocolate. 

That is also NO fun…spoken from experience. 

Once the dough was ready for coating, 

4 oz of white chocolate was melted in the microwave according to the instructions. 

I generally opt for a smaller, deep bowl

so that not too much chocolate is wasted on the sides. 

Using a toothpick, the Oreo balls are dipped in the melted white chocolate and

swirled for complete coverage.

Set onto wax paper, 

sprinkled with orange sugar and 

topped with a pretzel stick for the stem.  

Four ounces of chocolate covered about 1 dozen Oreo balls. 

So, then melt and dip accordingly until finished.  

I highly recommend melting about 4 oz of chocolate at a time…

it starts to cool and harden fast and 

I don't recommend the texture of chocolate that has been melted too many times. 

RECIPE:                Makes about 3 dozen Oreo Balls

Ingredients:

1 package Peanut Butter Oreo Cookies

8oz Cream cheese - softened

12 oz of white chocolate for baking 

Orange sugar

Pretzel Sticks

Directions:

Crush Oreos in food processor to achieve consistent crumbs. 

Combine with softened cream cheese. 

Freeze for 30 minutes to harden for ease of handling.

Form into Oreo balls, erring on the smaller side. 

Freeze for 30 minutes to harden for ease of handling. 

Melt white chocolate about 4 oz at a time. 

Using a toothpick, dip and swirl the Oreo balls to cover. 

Place on wax paper, sprinkle with Orange sugar and add the pretzel. 

I generally store in the refrigerator or freezer to keep the texture firm. 

Pumpkin Nutella Oatmeal Muffins

Hope you are enjoying the highlights of fall…

I know we are!

Football, Colorful trees, Bonfires, Apples and, of course, Pumpkins. 

Funny thing though, in my house, when my kids request something…

they never quite get exactly what they are asking for, 

but are generally pleased with what they get instead.  

In this case, Ryker asked for banana muffins and 

while taking on some of the male traits in my house, 

I selectively heard "muffins".

So, I was more than happy to fulfill his request.  

I'm pretty sure that if these were straight up pumpkin muffins, 

he would have been somewhat disappointed.  

However, the Nutella in the middle, makes these out of this world.  

The creamy, nutty, chocolate-y middle 

was a perfect contrast for the oatmeal and pumpkin muffin. 

But, don't take my word for it…try it for yourself. 

I just started with a basic pumpkin bread recipe and made my own tweaks along the way.  

About 1 cup of pumpkin puree, 1/2 cup of canola oil, 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, 1/4 cup water and 2 eggs were measured into my trusty mixing bowl. 

After mixing, it looked like I went into the baby-food making business.  

Not so much. 

I happen to be a huge fan of oatmeal in my baked goods, 

so instead of adding flour next, 

I added 1 cup of quick oats, 

I could balance out the flour later once I knew the consistency. 

Then, I only went with 1/2 cup of sugar. 

Especially when adding embellishments like chocolate or Nutella, 

the baked goods themselves can thrive on less sugar. 

Then, for the minor ingredients, the traditional pumpkin spices were added,

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

along with 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. 

After mixing that all up, I decided that about 1 cup of flour would yield the desired consistency. 

Yep, looks about right!

Before I get too far ahead of myself, the oven needs to be pre-heated to 350 F. 

Then, a sprayed muffin tin can be filled 3/4 full with the muffin batter. 

Now, about 1 tbsp of Nutella was plopped into each muffin tin. 

Then, just using a knife, the Nutella was gently swirled into the batter. 

Upon completion, there was just a hint of the Nutella visible from the top. 

They were popped into the oven for 20-25 minutes. 

This is what mine looked like after 22 minutes. 

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 cup of pumpkin puree

1/2 cup of canola oil

1/2 cup of light brown sugar

1/4 cup water

2 eggs

1 cup quick oats

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup flour
Cooking spray

3/4 cup Nutella - divided into Tbsp

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Blend together the first 5 wet ingredients. 
Then add the next 8 dry ingredients. 
Pour muffin batter into sprayed muffin tins, filling about 3/4 full. 
Add about 1 tbsp of Nutella to each tin and gently swirl with a knife to incorporate. 
Bake for 20-25 minutes and allow to cool. 

I love having baked goods around. 

My kids were able to enjoy them for breakfast and after school snacks

AND

I was able to share a few with friends!  

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin carving has always been one of my dad's favorite traditions.

Never mind if the kids are only actually engaged for the first hour or so, 

at least it gets the kids to clean out the pumpkins and pick out the seeds and 

then gives Grandpa Jim an excuse to carve a bunch of pumpkins and let his creative juices flow.

One of these years perhaps the kids will actually take hold of a knife and do some of their own carving, but for now all parties involved are happy to let grandpa do it.

While the carving is taking place, I take the seeds and escape to the kitchen to do my thing.

I love taking a by-product, or leftover, from a project and putting them to good use.

Especially something as easy and as tasty as roasted pumpkin seeds!

Just take about 2 cups of pumpkin seeds, drizzle them with olive oil.

Stir them up gently and spread them out on a baking pan

Then sprinkle with seasoning salt.

Bake at 375 F for about 20 minutes

After 10 minutes, take them out to stir them. 

You can see that they have started to turn a light golden brown.  

Take them out again after another 10 minutes and they were perfect!  

While they are still warm, they may have a bit of a chewy texture, 

but that transitions to a perfect crunch when they cool.  

Couldn't even keep my kids hands out of the bowl long enough to snaps some pictures. 

No complaints here!  

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

2 cups pumpkin seeds

olive oil 

seasoning salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F.  

Drizzle the pumpkin seeds with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. 

Stir and spread them on a baking sheet. 

Sprinkle with seasoning salt. 

Baking for about 20 minutes, turning after 10. 

If they are not quite done after 20 minutes, put them back in for 2-3 minutes at a time. 

Better to be safe than sorry...