November in the Kitchen

In November I made a few apple desserts before returning to pumpkin to finish off the month.

I made Caramel Apple Bundt Cake the night before Election Day and it's a good thing I did. Pretty sure that was the only thing that got us through the night as we mourned Mitt's loss.



I also made Caramel Apple Cider Floats found here and here. Rog and I both weren't huge fans. What can I say, I like my apple cider warm and Rog just doesn't really like apple cider.

For Thanksgiving I wanted to make a dessert, but wasn't feeling up to the challenge of making homemade pies. I've helped my father-in-law make them in the past and while I'm sure I could have done it, I decided to go with something I'm more comfortable with while I was taking on almost the entire Thanksgiving menu. I decided to make this pumpkin bar recipe in the form of mini cupcakes. I got it from Denene (in my cooking group) and it is amazing!

Cake
15 oz pumpkin
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Frosting
3 oz cream cheese
6 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix all cake ingredients until blended. Pour into baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until done. Let cool and spread with frosting. (If you are doing them as mini cupcakes like I did, bake for 12 minutes. Double the frosting recipe and pipe it on.)



The large can of pumpkin was cheaper than the 15 oz can, so I had pumpkin leftovers again. So of course I had to use it up. I made Pumpkin Crumble and let's just say I wasn't sorry I had bought the bigger can.

Now to move onto some Christmas baking. That means lots and lots of peppermint! Yum!