Pumpkin Coffee Cake

It doesn't have to be fall to enjoy all things pumpkin - sometimes it can be the end of February!  I needed to bring something to share to a meeting this morning and I had this strong craving to make pumpkin coffee cake.  I looked at probably ten different recipes....all made in square pans (which I didn't think would be enough to share).  So, I set off to throw together my own cake!  In a twist of luck, I made this beauty of a coffee cake and it did NOT disappoint.  Moist, dense, delicious cake, with crumbly bits of streusel, and literally amazing maple "icing on the cake" to bring it all together!  I decided I better take a couple pictures and hop on my computer right away to type up the recipe before I forget what I threw together!  If you give it a try, let me know what you think!

Enjoy!



Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze

Cake:
3/4 Cup Butter, melted
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 - 15 oz Can Pumpkin Puree (1 1/2 Cups if using your own)
4 Eggs
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
3 Cups Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger
1 Tsp Allspice
Pinch of Nutmeg and Ground Cloves (about 1/8 tsp)

Streusel:
3/4 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup White Sugar
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 Tsp Cinnamon
6 Tbsp Butter, melted

Glaze:
2 Tbsp Butter
1 1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray or butter.  In large bowl, mix together butter, brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, and sour cream until smooth.  Add flour, powder, soda, salt, and spices to wet ingredients - mix until just combined.

In separate bowl, mix together streusel dry ingredients with a fork, then add melted butter until a crumbly mixture forms.

Pour about half of the cake batter in pan, spread out with spatula best you can, and sprinkle half of the streusel over the batter.  Gently dollop and spread remaining batter on top (it's ok if it doesn't completely cover the first layer of batter and streusel), then sprinkle remaining streusel on top.

Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from center.

While cake is starting to cool, make glaze.  Melt butter in small saucepan.  Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and maple syrup and stir/whisk until smooth.  Add a but more syrup or milk if you need to thin it out more.  Drizzle over cake.

Serve warm with a cup of coffee!

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

There are TONS of recipes for chocolate chip cookies out there, but I had to share this one with you all!  There is a little "secret" ingredient at the end that makes these one of the best!  Little chewy, little bit crunchy, and a whole lot of YUMMY!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 Cup Shortening (Crisco)
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 1/3 Cup Flour
1 Tsp Soda
1 Tsp Salt
1 - 11.5 Oz Bag Chocolate Chunks (or any large chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream together shortening and sugars until fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and eggs.  Add dry ingredients until blended, then stir in chocolate chunks.  Place rounded tablespoons of dough on parchment lined pan.  Lastly (the important step not to miss), sprinkle a bit of coarse sea salt over each cookie.  Bake for 11 minutes (don't over bake - should just be starting to brown on edges).  Let cookies cool on pan for a few minutes before moving to cooling rack.

Cream Cheese Banana Bread

Can a person ever have too many recipes for banana bread?!  When I came across this recipe over at Mel's Kitchen Cafe, I knew I should give it a whirl!  This is a yummy dense banana bread with the perfect sweet note from the streusel topping!

Enjoy!



Cream Cheese Banana Bread

3/4 Cup Butter, softened
8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Mashed Bananas (approx. 3 ripe bananas)
3 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/8 Tsp Ground Nutmeg

Streusel:
1 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Flour
1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 8.5x4.5" loaf pans and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).  Mix in eggs, vanilla, and bananas.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until combined.

In a small bowl, use a fork or clean hands to mix together streusel ingredients.

Divide batter evenly among pans and sprinkle streusel on top.

Bake for 50-60 minutes until top is domed and toothpick comes out clean from the middle.  Let cool approximately 10 minutes before removing from pan to finish cooling on rack.