Pumpkin Cheesecake Monkey Bread

Hi friends,

Missing you dearly so hoping that with re-engaging our blog we'll feel closer than the miles between us.

This recipe is the perfect fall sweet treat.  May not be the healthiest dessert, but it sure is tasty!

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
4 cans (7.5 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated buttermilk biscuits (sold in a 4-pack)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 package (3 oz) cream cheeseDirections
  * Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 6-cup fluted tube cake pan with cooking spray.
  * In large food-storage plastic bag, mix granulated sugar and pumpkin pie spice.
  * Separate each can of dough into 10 biscuits. Cut each biscuit into quarters, adding biscuit pieces to bag and shaking as you go. When pieces are coated, arrange in pan. (If you run out of mixture, remove dough pieces from bag and add 1 to 2 more tablespoons granulated sugar to bag.)
  * In 1-quart saucepan, heat brown sugar, butter, pumpkin and cream cheese over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted. Beat mixture with whisk until mostly smooth (there may be some tiny pieces of cream cheese, but that’s okay). Pour mixture over biscuit pieces in pan. Place pan on cookie sheet to catch any spills.
  * Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan 2 minutes. Place heatproof plate upside down in the pan; turn plate and pan over. Remove pan. Cool 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Store in refrigerator.

-Pillsbury.com

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup pumpkin purée*
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (if you like nuts in your bread)

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.

3 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.

Can easily double the recipe.

*Recipe from http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pumpkin_bread/

- Sarah


**Apparently grocery stores only sell pumpkin during the fall season so it was really hard to find this time of year.  I had to go to Walmart; they, of course, had it.**

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups grated zucchini **
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes. 

** Grating zucchini is actually quite easy.  You just use a cheese grater - skins, seeds and all. **

- Sarah


*Recipe from Paula Deen

Strawberry Banana Bread

I know, I know; I just did blueberry banana bread.  But hey, I love bread with fruit in it, what can I say?

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1.2 tsp. baking powder

1 stick unsalted butter softened
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 over ripe bananas mashed (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup strawberries, pureed

1 cup fresh chopped strawberries, chopped

1/2 c. chopped pecans (or any other nut you prefer) (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375, and grease a loaf pan.

In a small bowl add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk together.

In a larger bowl (or stand-up mixer bowl) add butter, sugars, and eggs. Cream together until smooth and well combined, then add the vanilla. Add mashed bananas, and strawberry puree and blend until combined.  Add the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time blending until no white is visible. Add chopped strawberries and pecans and gently fold into batter.

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a thin knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to continue cooling.

I always like to eat my fruit breads with cream cheese, but butter or nothing at all is good too!

*Recipe adapted from 

http://culinaryinfatuation.blogspot.com/2009/02/strawberry-banana-bread-with-pecans.html

- Sarah

Blueberry Banana Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 1/2 cup flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Preparation 

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Grease and flour 1 loaf pan.  Cream together butter and sugar; beat in eggs.  Add mashed bananas and mix.

3. Measure flour, reserving 2 tablespoons of flour to coat blueberries.

4. Stir baking soda and salt into flour, mixing well.  Fold into banana mixture; stir in vanilla.

5. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons flour over blueberries, then fold into batter.  Stir in chopped nuts.

6. Transfer batter to greased loaf pan.

7. Bake about 50 minutes (This is what the recipe said - it took me about 65 minutes).

Serve with butter or cream cheese on top!

**As someone who bakes a lot, I felt that the order of putting ingredients together was a bit weird (fold in flour instead of adding it while in the mixer? add vanilla AFTER stirring in flour?), but I decided to just follow the recipe and see what happened.  The bread is delicious so I guess it worked out well.**

**As you probably know, I do NOT like nuts in bakes goods, so you will not see nuts in my bread, but feel free to add them if that's what you like.**

*Recipe from www.cooks.com.

- Sarah

Banana Bread

I eat a banana a day and sometimes I'll have some left over bananas at the end of the week that don't get eaten and turn brown in the bowl. Do not throw these away! Take the peel off (it's easier to do this now than later) and put it in a Ziploc bag and into the freezer. When you have built up enough, make some banana bread!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 5 medium-sized bananas) (if you're bananas are in the freezer, put them in the fridge the night before you want to make the bread)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

I like to eat banana bread heated with cream cheese on top. If you've never tried it that way, don't scoff, it's delicious.

-Sarah

Cranberry Bread

This is my favorite bread recipe ever! I like it even better than banana bread! And it's a great seasonal recipe, great for gifts as well because it's beautiful.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 t. finely shredded orange peel

1 beaten egg

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup cooking oil

1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries

1/4 cup chopped almonds, pecans, or walnuts, toasted (I do not like nuts in baked goods so I left his ingredient out)

Preparation

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of loaf pan; set aside. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange peel. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl combine the egg, orange juice, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries and nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake at 350 degrees 50 to 55 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing (yeah right, who can wait that long?!).

*Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Bridal Edition Cookbook

-Sarah

Good Ol' Southern Sweet Potato Biscuits

One of the greatest things about living in the south is that it is OK to eat biscuits with every meal! This recipe is Paula Dean's, but I've tweeked a little of course...


Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 heaping tablespoons sugar (2 is a little too sweet for me, so I use only 1 -- so add sugar based on your sweet tooth!)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mashed cooked sweet potatoes (I cook them in the microwave sometimes b/c that is quick, but steaming them produces the least "stringy" potatoes)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter
2 to 4 tablespoons milk (depending on the moisture of the potatoes)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate, large bowl, mix the sweet potatoes and butter. Add the flour mixture to the potato mixture and mix to make a soft dough. Then add milk a tablespoon at a time to mixture and continue to cut in. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and toss lightly until the outside of the dough looks smooth. Roll the dough out to 1/2-inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits on a greased pan and coat tops with melted butter. Bake for about 15 minutes. (Watch your oven: If the biscuits are browning too fast, lower the temperature.)

I like to make a compound butter to put on top instead, by adding a little maple syrup and cinnamon or brown sugar in with the butter.

love you gals! rach