Pumpkin Scones & Pumpkin Butter

Hello, hello! It has been a very long time since my last post. Today I'm
here with a quick one that I just had to share. I don't know about you, but this
time of year I crave all things pumpkin.

 I LOVE pumpkin anything!

Pumpkin Scones
(recipe adapted from several Starbucks copycat recipes)
makes 1 dozen

For the scones:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbs baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 1/4 ground cloves 
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling) 
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 milk 
• 1 egg

For the glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 - 2 tbs milk 

For the cinnamon drizzle:

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, or to taste
• 1 - 2 tbs milk 

Instructions-
  For the scones:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly flour. 
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl. Use a pastry blender or fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no large chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl whisk together the pumpkin, milk, sugar and egg. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a fork, and form the dough into a ball.
4. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle about 3 times as long as wide. Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut each of the portions in an X pattern (four pieces) so you end up with 12 triangular slices of dough. 
5. Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 14–16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

For the glaze:

1. Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth. 
2. When scones are cool, use a brush to spread the glaze over the top of each scone.

For the cinnamon drizzle:

1. While the powdered sugar glaze is firming, combine all of the ingredients for the spiced icing. Drizzle over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving. If you can wait that long! 

Tips: 

• For the 1/3 cup of sugar I filled the measuring cup about 2/3 full with brown sugar and topped it off with white. I find brown sugar gives a softer texture than white sugar. 
• The original recipes call for heavy cream which I substituted with milk. 
• While mixing the cinnamon drizzle don't add all the milk at once. Mix until you get a firmer consistency than you got for the glaze. You want it to sit on top of the glaze, not run all over. 
• For easy clean up use a baggie and snip off the corner for easy drizzling. 

Now for the pumpkin butter. This is by no means an 'exact' recipe. I really didn't measure anything. My best advice when making this is - taste as you go. If you like it a bit sweeter, add more sugar. If you like it spicier (like me) add more spice. It is super easy to make!

Pumpkin Butter

• 1 - 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 - 2 cups apple juice, apple cider or water
• 1/2 - 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp pumpkin spice  

1. Add all ingredients to a pot. Bring to a gentle boil, turn heat down to low and simmer for an hour, give or take.
2. Stir every ten minutes or so. 
3. Once the 'butter' has reduced to a jam like consistency it's done. 

Tips:

• Make sure to put a splatter guard over your pot or your stove will be covered in pumpkin polka dots when you're done!
• Store butter in a jar or container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
•  Pumpkin butter is delicious on lots of things - toast, muffins, pancakes, etc. Or for a cooler treat try added a couple heaping tablespoons to your favorite vanilla yogurt and top with crushed graham crackers. Pumpkin pie yogurt! Soo good! 

Thank you soo much for joining me today! I know I've been MIA forever, but I'm getting back to blogging so come back soon!

 ~ Catie 

You can also check out my other pumpkin recipes:

Pumpkin Muffins w/ Spiced Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Spice Cake

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Caramel Apple Cake

Yes this cake is as good as the name sounds! I made this a couple weeks ago and Miss E and I both had three pieces that night. It is that good! I took some to Miss A's teacher the next day, just to get it out of the house. haha Thank goodness this recipe only makes an 8"x8" cake. A whole sheet of it would be dangerous, seriously.  ; )

Of course I stumbled across this recipe on Pinterest. It came from the blog Lick The Bowl Good. Don't you just love that name? Perfect for a cooking blog. Anyhoo, lets get to the recipe already. Geez. 

Caramel Apple Cake
Adapted from Lick The Bowl Good

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I used 1 heaping teaspoon.)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped apples (I used 2 cups.)
• 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional) (I didn't use any nuts.)

Brown Sugar Glaze:

• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Tablespoon heavy cream (I didn't have cream so I used 1 tbs of whole milk.)

For the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch pan (round or square) and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir with a whisk to mix everything together.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs with a hand mixer til light in color and foamy. Add the oil and vanilla and beat well.

Stir in the flour mixture with a spoon and continue stirring the batter til the flour disappears. Add the apples and nuts (if using) and stir to mix them into the batter.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Place the hot cake on a wire cake. While it's still hot, prepare the glaze.

For the glaze: Combine all the ingredients into a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Cook for 3-5 minutes.

Spoon the hot glaze over the still hot-from-the-oven cake. Let the glazed cake cool completely before serving straight from the pan.

* Because I didn't use heavy cream my glaze didn't cook up as creamy and turned out more like candy coating, like for caramel popcorn. It kind of hardened on the top of the cake. Soo good!


This cake was easy to whip up and is perfect for Fall. Served with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream and a cup of tea, delish!

 Click here for your chance to win a box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates!

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Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Up North today is Thanksgiving. We celebrated with turkey dinner on Saturday. It was delicious! I always look forward to all the different side dishes that come along with the turkey. Everyday veggies like peas, carrots or corn are not on my menu. I like to load up my plate with sides we all associate with turkey dinner; sweet potatoes, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, turnip, etc. And of course there's always cranberry sauce!

 About 5 years ago I wanted to try my hand at making my own cranberry sauce. For some reason I thought it would be hard, I couldn't have been more wrong. It's the easiest part of the meal to make. I'm sure some of you out there have made it before, but for those of you that haven't, here's a little tutorial for ya.

Cranberry Sauce

1 bag fresh cranberries
1 cup water or orange juice (I used orange juice. I like the extra flavor it ads.)
1 cup sugar
*optional - 1/2 tsp cinnamon (This is a guesstimate, I never measure when I add it. Go by taste!)

• Put all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. 
• Bring to a boil. 
• Turn heat down to med/high and let gently boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. All the berries will pop open. 
• Now here's the part where you decide if you want a nice smooth sauce or chunky style. If you want yours chunky, pour into a small serving bowl and you're done. 
• If you want a smooth sauce place a mesh colander over/in a small serving bowl and carefully (it's hot!) pour sauce into colander. With the back of a spoon or spatula mash the sauce. Make sure you scrap off the bottom of the colander every few mashes. Do this as long as you want. The more you mash, the more sauce you'll end up with. 
• Cover and chill in fridge until set.  

 Notes -

•  I always add a couple tablespoons of the mashed cranberries to the smooth sauce. 
•  I've found if you use orange juice the sauce will not firm up as much as if you just use water. The consistency will be more of a spread than a gel.
• If you'd like to fancy it up, you could pour the sauce into some sort of mold before you chill it. 

Add this recipe to your Thanksgiving menu. I bet you'll impress them. Even people that don't like the canned kind like mine. 

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers! 

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Oatmeal Cookies

A couple weeks ago I made up a batch of oatmeal cookies that I've been meaning to share with you. Things have come up and I haven't really had a chance to get the post written. I'm finally get around to it today. These cookies are from a Nestle Toll House recipe. I have a great book by them that's all cookies and bars. The pictures get your mouth watering.

Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 4 dozen

• 1 1/1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup butter, softened 
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats

1. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla in large mixing bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. 

2.  Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crispy cookies. Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen cookies. 

** I bake mine for about 9 minutes and they turn our crispy on the edges and chewy in the middle. 

 Happy baking!! 

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Pumpkin Muffins w/ Spiced Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Sunday all. Hope your weekend is going well. We have had the BEST weather this weekend! It's a little breezy , like Fall , but the temperatures are that of a summer day. Love it!! I've been soaking up every minute of it. Who knows, it could be snowing next weekend. Sadly , that's not really a joke. It could happen and it wouldn't be unheard of.

Last night I did something I don't usually do, I kind of made up my own baking recipe. That's a bit out of my comfort zone. I wing-it all the time when I'm cooking. I know what foods and spices go well together, but baking is much more of a science and I usually follow the cookbook to the T. Last night however my mind started wondering and thinking what would my banana bread recipe be like with pumpkin in place of the banana, some extra spices, a bit of extra sugar and some cream cheese frosting. Hmmm, what would that be like? Well I'll tell ya, deliciousness!! You want the recipe? 'Cause you're gonna get it!

Pumpkin Muffins w/ Spiced Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting  

Makes 1 dozen

1 & 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

2 tbs. oil

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yougurt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease muffin pan or put in paper cups. 

2. Mix first five ingredients in a large bowl. Make a 

well in the center and set aside. 

3. Mix the remaining ingredients in a medium sized bowl.

4. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour,  mix. 

 5. Pour mixed batter into muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes 

or until toothpick comes out clean. 

6. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to cooling rack. 

Let cool completely and frost.  

Frosting

1/2 cup cream cheese (half a brick)

1/4 - 1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

You can make the frosting while the muffins are baking and then set it in the 

fridge to firm up. The frosting is soo easy. Mix the ingredients together in a 

small bowl. That's it. No need for an electric mixer. I used a fork at 

first and then switched to a spatula. 

When the muffins are baking don't worry if after 12 or 15 minutes they still look like dough blobs. They will puff up. I was a little worried and watched them like a hawk. They turned out just as I imagined, moist and delicious! 

You and your family will love these. Mr. CC and I had to stop ourselves after two each. We could have finished them all. Give them a try and let me know how they turn out. 

This is now the second pumpkin recipe I've posted and I'm sure it won't be the last. I've pinned quite a few pumpkin recipes.  = ) Here's the link to my Pumpkin Spice Cake. It's really tasty too and got rave reviews.  

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Fall Mantel

Over the weekend I finally got a chance to makeover my "mantel". If you remember my last post about my mantel , you know it's not really a mantel at all. I use the top of the hutch in my kitchen since I don't have a real one. I had redone it for summer. You can check out that post here.

The before:

The after: 

 The wreath is actually a garland I got on clearance for $5 at a drugstore 

years ago. I just shaped it into a wreath and love how it looks. 

 The small wooden bowl I picked up at a garage sale this summer for 50 cents. I added the leaves, pumpkins and berries. The cloche was also from a yard sale. It may have been 50 cents too. 

I got a whole bunch of stuff there for $10. And the gourds, LOVE them! Every year I can't 

wait to buy a couple bags of them and the little pumpkins, soo fun to decorate with. 

 

 The vintage looking Nestle Toll House tin was a quarter at a yard sale. Every side has a picture of a different season. Perfect all year long. The white pitcher was $1 at a thrift shop. 

My $2.50 mums from Safeway. I love how just the tips 

are a brownish/burnt orange color. Perfect for Fall! 

There you have it, my Fall mantel. What do you think? I am loving the warm colors. The kitchen feels soo cozy now. Last week I made a little wreath for my front door, but I feel like it's missing something so I won't share it with you until it's finished. I also made a cute leaf garland with some twine and faux leaves. It hangs on the mirror in our entryway. There's little touches of Fall slowly creeping into the living room. I will finally be doing a post this week about the living room, so you'll get to see them all. See ya soon!  = ) 

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Pumpkin Spice Cake

Sometimes while I'm on Pinterest I come across a recipe I just HAVE to try. This would be one of them. The best part about making this cake - it has 2 ingredients. Yep, that's it 2! A box of cake mix and a can of pumpkin. That. Is. All. Love that! I mentioned to Mr. CC that I was going to be making a cake and he requested I make a spice cake, so that's what kind of cake mix I bought.

Last night just before my scalloped potatoes were done baking (I should have taken a pic of them, too yummy!) Miss A and I mixed together the cake mix and can of pumpkin. I put the batter into a well greased bundt pan and baked it at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or so, while we ate dinner. Boy did it smell good! Once it was out I let it cool a bit before I turned it out onto a plate. I mixed up a quick icing glaze to drizzle over the top and it was done. Simple as that. Really , does making a cake get any easier? I think not.

The cake recipe came from Big Red Kitchen.
1 box cake mix (Your choice.)
1 15oz can pumpkin puree (Not pumpkin pie filling!)

The icing glaze I made was as follows:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 - 3 tbs milk
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon

The cake was a success. We all loved it! It's very moist and denser than regular cake. Great for Fall while enjoying a cup of tea or coffee. You could have it for breakfast too. And the best part, aside from 2 ingredients, it's super low in fat! I think it'd be great in muffin cups too. If Miss A's class has a Halloween party I'm going to make some. I just bought some cute Halloween themed mini cupcake cups. And instead of a glaze I could frost them with my fav, cream cheese frosting. Mmm...

You should definitely give this a try. I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed! Oh and one little side note. When you start mixing the cake together it'll look like it's not combining right, like it's too dry, but don't worry, after a minute or so it all comes together. Happy baking!

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