Day 27 Low Fat Iced Pumpkin Spice Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2.In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, applesauce and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by Pampered Chef small scoop.

3.Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4.To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.


Adapted from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Iced-Pumpkin-Cookies/Detail.aspx

Day 26 Pumpkin French Toast

I know, I know, it has been a few days. Did anyone notice??! I actually made this recipe the day I was supposed to but did not post it. My best friend was visiting from Washington and we ran a half marathon together. So now I think I am going for 40 days of Pumpkin recipes but I might miss a few consecutive. I made it 25 days straight so that is pretty good, right?!?

Pumpkin French Toast

This would also taste good on raisin bread or cinnamon bread.

4 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 loaf day old french bread
1/2 cup cranberries
1/4 cup powdered sugar




1. Mix eggs, milk, pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice with whisk or put in a magic bullet if you have one.


2. Slice bread into 1 inch pieces.



3. Heat skillet to medium (if using a Pampered Chef Professional NonStick skillet no need to use oil or butter.)
4. Let bread soak up wet mixture on both sides and place on hot skillet.
5. Flip after 3-4 minutes or when one side is golden brown. Cook other side until golden brown and cooked through.
6. Serve with sprinkled cranberries and powdered sugar sprinkled from the Pampered Chef Sugar Shaker.

Day 25 Pumpkin Gingerbread Bites

These taste like little bites of Thanksgiving mixed with Christmas!!

Pumpkin Gingerbread Bites

•1 ½ cups sugar
•½ cup vegetable oil
•2 eggs
•1/3 cup water
•1 cup
•1 teaspoons ground ginger
•1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
•1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
•1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
•1 teaspoons baking soda
•1/2 teaspoons salt
•1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two Pampered Chef mini muffin pans.
2. In a mixer, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin.

3.In Classic Batter bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and clove and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans using small scoop.

4.Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

Day 24 Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

Oh no! I missed a day! Well, actually I made these and another pumpkin recipe yesterday but didn't have time to post it. These are wonderful. I think I might make them to bring to Thanksgiving. Definately one of the best recipes I have made. Thanks Michelle for the recipe :)



Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 40-50 min
Serves: 16

Ingredients

For the crust:
- 1 packet of chocolate graham crackers
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the bars:
- 2 packages cream cheese, (8 ounces each)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin-pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on all sides. Set aside.
3. Place graham crackers in a large ziplock bag. Crush them with bakers roller. Add sugar, stir and shake to mix. And melted butter, stir and shake to mix. (For a picture of this process see my pumpkin cheesecake recipe.)


4. Transfer crumb mixture to prepared pan, and press gently into bottom of pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until slightly firm. Set aside to cool.
5. Place cream cheese into bowl and blend until smooth.
6. Add sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, flour, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt - mix until combined. Set aside.
7. Place chocolate in small batter bowl; microwave in 30-second increments, stirring between each, until melted.

8. Add 1/2 cup pumpkin mixture; stir to combine. Set aside.
9. Pour remaining pumpkin mixture into prepared pan.

10. Drop dollops of chocolate mixture onto pumpkin mixture; swirl using butter knife.

11. Bake until cheesecake is set - jiggles slightly when gently shaken, 40 to 50 minutes.
12. Cool in pan. Cover; chill at least 2 hours (and up to 2 days).
13. Using overhang, transfer cake to work surface. With a Pampered Chef Pizza Cutter, cut into 16 squares. Serve.













Recipe adapted from http://michellesfavoriterecipes.blogspot.com/2010/10/chocolate-pumpkin-cheesecake-bars.html (Thanks Michelle, they are SUPER DOOPER yummy!!)

Day 23 Fantastic Pumpkin Turkey Chili

Don't stop reading because it sounds weird! It is SOOOO good. It is also really easy and has great texture. I have a recipe I love that simmers for 2 hours and has around 10 spices. This is as good and so much easier! Try it!!! I was skeptical and so was my husband but we both loved it!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper,chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 pound ground turkey
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used italian)
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
--------------------------
Garnish with
shredded Cheddar cheese
sour cream
chopped red onion
chopped jalepeno







Directions:
1. Easily chop up the onion and pepper with Pampered Chef food chopper. Press garlic with Pampered Chef garlic press.
1.Heat the oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat, and saute the onion, green bell pepper, and garlic until tender.
Stir in the turkey, and cook until evenly breaking up using The Pampered Chef Mix N' Chop. Mix in tomatoes and pumpkin. Season with chili powder, pepper, and salt. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Serve topped with Cheddar cheese, red onion, jalepeno, and sour cream.
Adapted from the following recipe:http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pumpkin-Turkey-Chili/Detail.aspx

Day 22 AMAZING Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Oh my goodness, these are soooo good! And I meant to use applesauce for half the oil but totally forgot. Next time I will try it that way but for now, these are definitely one of the top 3 recipes I have made so far! YUMM :)

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

For the filling:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used low fat)
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

For the muffins:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tbsp. plus 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 cups sugar
1 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup plus 1/8 cup vegetable oil

For the topping:
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2tbsp. flour
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth. Set aside.

To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. If using stone muffin pan no need to grease stone. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend. Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.




To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a scant medium scoop amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the hole. Use the small scoop to scoop the cream cheese mixture on top. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely. Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.


Bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving. (It may be hard to resist immediate consumption, but the cream cheese filling gets very hot!)




Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats
http://annies-eats.com/2010/10/08/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins/

Day 21 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Chill Time: 30 min
Ice Cream Maker Time: Approximately 25-30 minutes
Makes: 1 1/2 quarts

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup half and half
-------------------
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 broken graham crackers


Directions:

1.Whisk together pumpkin puree, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice in large batter bowl.
2.Stir in heavy whipping cream and half and half.
3.Strain through mesh strainer to remove pumpkin pulp.
4.Chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes.
5.Pour into ice cream maker and mix about 25-30 minutes or according to manufacturer's instructions.
6. Transfer ice cream to freezable container. Stir in chocolate chips and graham crackers. You can eat immediately for soft serve or transfer to freezer for more traditional ice cream. Use Pampered Chef's amazing ice cream scoop for the easiest scooping of hard ice cream!