Favorite Fall Flavor

When the leaves start to turn and the summer heat begins to fade, I get so excited for everything pumpkin!  Savory or sweet, pumpkin tops the list of my favorite flavors!  I am willing to try anything that promises to be rich with pumpkin goodness.  

What does pumpkin pair best with you ask?  Anything really.  Using pumpkin in a savory manner may be a bit trickier, but it is wonderful in pasta and breads.  The rich fall flavor of pumpkin is the perfect accompaniment to any wonderful meal!  I thought these adorable orange biscuits were the 

cutest way incorporate pumpkin into any meal.

Maple Glazed Pumpkin Biscuits

Inspired by Cooking Light

Ingredients

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 cup low fat buttermilk

5 tablespoons chilled butter, cut up into pieces

3 tablespoons honey

4 tablespoons maple syrup

2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large bowl, combing flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt.  With your hands or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal.  Chill for 10-15 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine buttermilk and honey.  

Whisk until well blended and then add pumpkin.  

Using the back of a large spoon make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and pour into hole.  Fold in flour with a spatula.  Turn dough out onto a well floured surface, dough will be very moist. and knead about 4-5 times using flour as needed.  Roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick.  Fold dough in thirds (like paper to put in an envelope).  Roll dough out again, sprinkle with flour and fold again as before.  Roll dough into a 3/4 inch thickness.  

Cut dough with a 1 3/4 inch round cookie cutter to form 14 biscuits.  Place the biscuits, 1 inch apart, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  With a pastry brush, brush each biscuit with some maple syrup.  Bake for 14 minutes or until golden.  Remove from pan and cool on wire racks.

Stay tuned for more pumpkin recipes this season!

I LOVE Pumpkin!!

Warning! This recipe is not low in calories!

Every Thanksgiving I try to make a new recipe with pumpkin, because I looooove pumpkin! I am the wacko who waits all year till the yogurt shops start having pumpkin, the one who waits all year till I can get a pumpkin spice latte, and the nut who buys a pumpkin to roast in the oven and eat instead of carve and put on their doorstep. So, all year I look for new and different things to make with pumpkin! It also, oddly enough, is the only time of year that I am willing to bake over cook.

This year, one of my customers told me about this cake that Paula Deen makes called Gooey Butter Cake. I guess the original version is a yellow cake with a gooey center, but when I researched it, I found that she has a Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake!!

Mixing the Crust

I expected it to look more like packaged cake mix usually looks when you mix it, but it became more of a dough!

After the "dough" was pressed into the bottom of the baking dish

Mixing the Pumpkin Gooey Part

Baking Finished, was a little worried about how long to bake because she says, "40-50 minutes" and like I said, I am not a professional baker so I was unsure. I baked for 48 minutes, I think I should have taken it out 8 minutes earlier. I was worried though...there is always next time.

Finished Product! I made some homemade whipped cream (can not stand the kind in the can) and garnished with a little nutmeg

All in all, it turned out great, but unfortunately this is not the kind of eye appealing dessert that people are dying to try, you really need to plate it. Besides that it is really simple to make, and Paula lists other variations on the recipes so even if you don't like pumpkin, you will be able to find a version you like!

What is your favorite pumpkin dessert? What is your favorite Thanksgiving dessert?