Pumpkin Bars: Thanksgiving Feast 2011

It's time for dessert! I hope you have enjoyed the last 7 days of our Thanksgiving Feast. This Thanksgiving Feast was quick an easy, one new recipe for each food group to help give you some new ideas to add to your own Thanksgiving meal. I know most people aren't brave enough to create all new recipes for one meal, but trying one or two new recipes this year would be a great change and maybe you'll find a new favorite. This cake is another one of my husband's family favorites.

Thanksgiving Feast

Turkey with Apples & Butter

Olive Garden Bread Sticks; Copycat Recipe

Pepper Jack Macaroni & Cheese

Crash Hot Potatoes from Pioneer Woman

Grandma's Baked Corn Casserole

Cranberry & Sausage Stuffing

Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce from Pioneer Woman

Grandma's Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Bars

from Grandma Hudgens

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups of pumpkin (we used our fresh puree' pumpkin)
1 cup vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (except the sugar). Cream the eggs and sugar together, then add the pumpkin and oil, continue mixing until well combined. Mix the wet and the dry together and then pour into a greased jelly roll. (You must use a jelly roll. This is a deep cookie sheet very large and very thin. approx size 15-1/2 x 10-1/2. The first time I made these I used a 9x13 pan and they did NOT come out right)

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, use tooth pick to test.

Pumpkin Bar Icing

from Grandma Hudgens

3 oz cream cheese

3/4 stick of butter

1 tsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1-3/4 cups of powered sugar

Beat all ingredients together and spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

This was another recipe during my one-year of cooking everyday where I tried several other pumpkin bar recipes and this one proved to still be the number one choice for everyone.

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS #55 (PUMPKIN) and Pumpkin Pie White Chocolate Cups

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS Linky Party

YOUR BEST PUMPKIN-FLAVOR RECIPES

Pumpkin Pie White Chocolate Cups

Pumpkin is one of my newest favorite foods. I cooked with it alot last year and this year I am even trying fresh pumpkin in many things. See here for my Fresh Pumpkin recipe. This recipe is for pumpkin and white chocolate, and I love them both.

I found these cute little Pumpkin White Chocolate Cups on Pinterest (my new favorite hobby). I can not tell you guys enough how WONDERFUL Pinterest is... It's like looking at hundreds of blogs all at the same time. This is my number one search site for ANY recipe, it's also the last thing I do every night as I lay in bed! Call me CRAZY... but I do NOT watch TV and I HATE to read, so as I crawl into bed, I get ready to plug in my iphone (my favorite phone so far), I click on over to my Pinterest app and see what's been posted so far that day, I pin a few things and then off to bed.

These little white chocolate cups of goodness are so sweet and so scrumptious. They do taste like a little piece of Pumpkin Pie, but then you add the white chocolate to it (which is my number one favorite chocolate ever), it's like WOW goodness all wrapped into one.

Pumpkin Pie White Chocolate Cups
found on Healthy Food for a Living

1 lb of Melting White Chocolate (we buy at the local cake store)
10-20 mini aluminum/tin foil muffin liners (I used paper but aluminum is better)
2 oz neufchatel cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup pumpkin puree (we used our fresh pumpkin puree)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup finely ground cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (a food processor works best)

Melt about 1/2 of the chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave. Using a small spoon, “paint” the melted chocolate all over the insides of mini tin foil muffin liners. The layer of chocolate should be thick enough so that you cannot see through it, but thin enough that the paper cups remain upright and intact. Just make sure you paint on the way to the top of the liners, so that you can easily connect the top chocolate with the bottom (you'll see in a minute). You will not use all of the melted chocolate in this step.

Allow chocolate cups to cool and harden completely by placing on a tray in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl blend together with electric mixer the cream cheese, pumpkin, pumpkin spice and vanilla until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Stir in graham cracker crumbs and continue mixing.

Using a mini ice cream scoop or a small spoon, evenly divide the pumpkin mixture between the hardened chocolate cups. Smooth the top to create an even surface.

Now take the rest of the chocolate that you didn't use and the other 1/2 of the bag of chocolate and re-melt. Evenly divide the remaining melted chocolate amongst the filled cups, smoothing the tops and making sure that this top layer of chocolate reaches all the way to the edges of the bottom layer of chocolate in order to seal the cups.

Chill in the refrigerator until set, about 1-2 hours. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.
Unwrap cups and enjoy! My girls and their friend LOVED these and I think this will for sure be one of my goodies this year in my goodie tins for family, friends and neighbors.

Please Grab Our Button !!!

<a href=" http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/search/label/THIS%20WEEKS%20CRAVINGS" target="_blank "><img src="http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Hudgens6/Buttons/ThisWeeksCravingsButton.jpg" /></a>

This Week's Cravings Upcoming Linky "THEMES"

Here is a complete list of the past and what's coming up next on THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS!

November 21 - Thanksgiving Dinner & Desserts

November 28 - French Toast, Pancakes, Waffles & More

December 5 - Christmas Baking: Sweets, Treats, Candy & Gift Ideas

December 12 - Macaroni and Cheese

If you are new here browse around some past weeks at THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS and you'll see why we are having so much fun and we invite you to link up too. Your hostess for this party are: Tina from MOMS CRAZY COOKING, Kristen from From My Tiny Kitchen, Angela from Big Bear's Wife, Nicole from The Daily Dish and Kristi from Veggie Converter. We host this theme linky party every Monday (and the party stays open all week long)! We hope to inspire you to make something with our theme or get an old post notice by linking it up to the linky party below.

If you are a regular, link-up we're excited to see what you made this week. Just follow our simple rules, so that everyone can enjoy the linky party! If you forget to follow the theme, your post will be deleted. Please don't feel hurt, just come back and link up a recipe that follows the theme. Thanks a million, we look forward to blogging with you!

The LINKY PARTY is opened ALL Week!

PLEASE do not link more then 3 recipes per week.
This week's theme is: PUMPKIN
Please only link recipes with our theme!

This week's theme is: PUMPKIN
Please only link recipes with our theme!

Pumpkin Cake Bars from GUEST BLOGGER: Mother Thyme

These look delicious and they have pumpkin in them, what could be better? We can thank our next guest blogger for this marvelous creation, when I saw these pictures I immediately wanted one. Like RIGHT NOW please. I just finished a scrumptious dinner Pioneer Woman's Chicken Pot Pie and I know for-sure this dessert would pair up very nicely with that or any other comfort meal you may be thinking about making. Please help me in welcoming Jennifer of Mother Thyme.  

Blog: Mother Thyme

TAKE IT AWAY:  Hi, I'm Jennifer from Mother Thyme and I am thrilled to be guest posting today. When Tina emailed asking for guests I jumped right on it. I am such a fan of her site and her recipes.

I wanted to feature a recipe that would be perfect for Thanksgiving, I think of enjoying time with family, indulging on fantastic food and pumpkin pie! I love pumpkin pie and since I don't eat it except for this time of year it is such a treat to look forward to. 

When entertaining family and friends for Thanksgiving and the holidays I always like to offer a variety of food and desserts for everyone. I have found that not everyone likes pie so I wanted to create a delicious pumpkin dessert and what better then Pumpkin Cake Bars. These delicious bars are so easy to prepare and great to cup up in to squares to serve on your dessert buffet. Even though it has pumpkin in thie recipe the flavor and the consistency almost reminds me of pecan pie. This is the perfect dessert your guests will definitely gobble (no pun intended) up!

I hope you enjoy this delicious dessert and thank you for giving me the opportunity to guest post today. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Cake Bars
Recipe by: Mother Thyme

1 - 18.25oz box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter. melted
2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
5 oz evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, softened
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x13” baking pan.
Reserve 1 cup of the cake mix and set aside. In a medium bowl combine remaining cake mix, egg and butter and blend. Spread evenly on the bottom of the baking pan and pat down.

In a medium bowl combine pumpkin, brown sugar, ¼ cup sugar, cinnamon and evaporated milk and stir well. Pour on top of first layer in baking pan.

Mix together the remaining cake mix and ½ cup sugar. Cut in butter until consistency is crumbly. Sprinkle on top of pumpkin and topped with pecans.
 
Bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. After cooled store in refrigerator. Cut in to bars or serve as a cake. 

I just love love pumpkin and I have lots of fresh pumpkin stored in my freezer!

This would be a perfect recipe to use it in! Thank You Again Mother Thyme!!!

Fresh Puree' Pumpkin

I picked up a few pumpkins on my Apple Picking weekend so that I could try my hand in making some homemade puree'. I knew I would be baking a lot this season with pumpkin and what better way then to make everything with fresh pumpkin. I can honestly say, it was SO easy! I think making pumpkin puree' will be a regular thing in my house from now on. I only did one pumpkin at first, to make sure it worked out. Then I baked a few things with the fresh pumpkin as you will see in the coming days and those recipes came out wonderful. And now I am ready to puree' the additional two pumpkins I purchased and will get to baking some more awesome pumpkin recipes. Update: I now finished the two additonal pumpkins and I have an update to the recipe!

Fresh Puree' Pumpkin
recipe found on Pioneer Woman's Blog

2 small-ish / medium size Pumpkins

UPDATE: I tried to bake the pumpkins without cutting them in half before hand and it works PERFECTLY! Here is an updated photo too! And WOW! so easy to cut them in half after they are baked rather then cutting off your hand :-)

Cut the pumpkin in half (after you bake is my new preferred method). With a spoon or a scoop, scrape out the seeds and pulp from the center (you will now do this after baking). Place all the seeds into a bowl (we will still be roasting them later, I will be posting a recipe for pepitas). Repeat until all the pumpkin pieces are largely free of seeds and pulp.

Place pumpkin on a baking sheet (face up, face down or just throw the entire pumpkin in the oven) and roast in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until pumpkin is fork-tender. They should be nice and light golden brown when done.

Peel off the skin from the pumpkin pieces. In a food processor, throw in a few chunks at a time (a blender will work too or simply mash with a potato masher), you may need to add in a little bit of water (in my second and third batch NO water was needed and I like the thickier pumpkin to bake with).  Pulse the pumpkin until smooth.

Dump the pureed goodness into a bowl, and you can either use this immediately in whatever pumpkin recipe you’d like, or store it in the freezer for later use.

Freezer Tip: To store in the freezer, spoon 2 cups of pumpkin into each plastic storage bag (this is approximately 1 can of pumpkin). Store them in the freezer until you need them.

Second time around baking the pumpkins, I did NOT cut them in half before baking!

And it worked out perfectly! You just scrap out the stuff after you cook them.

I was able to get at least 4 or 5 bags of puree' pumpkin from 1 medium size pumpkin.

I packaged them into 2 cups each into Ziploc bags and froze them for later.

It's National Pumpkin Day!!!

It's National Pumpkin Day!!!

You guys are gonna love this cake! You'll have to wait til next week for the recipe! I just wanted to give you a sneak peak.... this recipe will be one of the first Thanksgiving Guest Bloggers on MOMS CRAZY COOKING. (I still have some spots open if you are interested in guest posting read here).

And since it's National Pumpkin Day, I thought I would share with you one

more of my favorite pumpkin recipes: Pumpkin Dump Cake

Click here for all the Pumpkin Recipes

on MOMS CRAZY COOKING.

Pumpkin Dump Cake

Talk about delicious, mouthwatering goodness in this little piece of Pumpkin Heaven! This Pumpkin Dumb Cake is OH SO GOOD!!! I saw this recipe on a Facebook post, it's a friend (thanks BETH) of a friends (thanks JILL) recipe (but I also found this recipe in one of my cookbooks, they are oh so similar, but I went with the facebook post).

It's funny how now a days we share so many things via Facebook. We have a standing joke in our house "if you need news or information sign onto facebook". I HATE TV and I don't watch the news or read the newspaper, so it's really funny when an earthquake or something BIG like that happens, I just log onto Facebook and sure enough all my peeps are quoting, talking and commenting on the latest earthquake that happened just seconds before. So, I say who needs the news anymore, just check with Facebook.

Facebook is so fun in many other ways, sharing photos with friends, meeting new people and getting to know all your ole' friends just a little more, because you can talk to ALL of your 500 friends in ONE DAY! Can you imagine if I had to call all 480 of my facebook friends to say Hello! (yea, probably wouldn't happen)

Pumpkin Dump Cake

Thanks to Facebook Post from (BETH & JILL)

1 (29oz) can Pumpkin

1 (12 oz) can Evaporated Milk

1-1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1-1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

1 box yellow cake mix

2 sticks of butter

1 cup pecans

Whip Cream/Cool Whip

Beat together pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar and eggs. Add salt, cloves, cinnamon and ginger. Mix well. Pour into 9x13 pan. Sprinkle evenly with dry cake mix over top of pumpkin mixture. Melt butter, drizzle over the top. Sprinkle with nuts and Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool and Serve with Cool Whip.

Also don't forget to link up your

favorite Pumpkin Recipes this week with us at

"THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS"

This post is also linked to Ultimate Recipe Swap, Try New Adventures Thursdays, Transformation Thursday, Home and Family Friday, Flaunt it Friday and It's a Blog Party Thanksgiving Holiday Party

THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS BLOG PARTY #1 and Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies

Welcome to the very FIRST week of THIS WEEK'S CRAVINGS we are going to

compile a weekly list of favorite recipes with a THEME, so LINK-UP.

This week's theme is PUMPKIN, anything and everything you can make with PUMPKIN.

We love the taste of pumpkin,. Here is a fun chocolate brownie with a pumpkin flavor from Martha Stewart and we served it with the Pumpkin Ice Cream we made last week.

Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies

from Martha Stewart

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for pan

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups solid-pack pumpkin

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts or other nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan or dish. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter lining. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until fluffy and well combined, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in flour mixture.

Divide batter between two medium bowls (about 2 cups per bowl). Stir chocolate mixture into one bowl. In other bowl, stir in pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don't set. With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.

This recipe is also linked to: It's a Blog Party Thanksgiving Holiday Party, Just Something I Whipped Up, Made by you Monday, Mouthwatering Monday, Making the World Cuter, Hearth and Soul, Tuesdays at the Table , It's a Blog Party, Homemaker Monday, Saturday's Party, Potluck Sunday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Follow Me Friday, Fat Camp Friday and Foodie Friday

Everyone is invited, if you don’t have a blog, then please post your recipe HERE in the comments for others to see.

<a href=" http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/search/label/THIS%20WEEKS%20CRAVINGS" target="_blank "><img src="http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k498/Hudgens6/Buttons/ThisWeeksCravingsButton.jpg" /></a>

Your hosts of this BLOG HOP Party are

myself at MOMS CRAZY COOKING; Delightful County Cookin' and From My Tiny Kitchen.

This is your chance to share your favorite recipe each week based on our themes. Post that favorite pumpkin bread you made for breakfast last week, or post your favorite pumpkin cheesecake you made last month, or do you have a dinner you make with pumpkin? Post any recipe you'd like just please stick to the theme. Please link directly to your post, NOT to your home page. And you MUST include a link back to one of our hosts of "This Week's Cravings", using the button (or a direct link). Click around at the other participant’s and visit as many as you can, LEAVE COMMENTS too! 

This Week's Cravings Schedule & Past/Future Recipe Links

November 1 - Anything with Pumpkin

November 8 – Thanksgiving Cookies & Treats 

November 15 - Thanksgiving Dinner & Sides

November 22 - Recipes with your Thanksgiving Left-Overs

November 29 - Crock-Pot Recipes

This is a BLOG HOP PARTY so please hop around

and read the other PUMPKIN posts!

Click for complete list of guidelines for This Week's Cravings

Pumpkin Stew

I made Pumpkin Stew for dinner (a few days before Halloween, because I wanted to share it with all of my readers so that you would have a chance to make it for Halloween this year)! I hope you give it a try, its a great no fuss recipe that will cook while you are out trick-or-treating!

This is a little story from my Aunt Dee Dee she is the one who shared this recipe with me.

"Just a little history behind this Pumpkin Stew. I first made it in approx 1987, times were hard back then, and I wanted to try something different. I didn't have the money to go out and buy much, but I did have alot of leftovers in the refrigerator. I had heard that you can cut up pumpkins and make a type of squash, but I wanted to try cooking it in the oven, so I took all the leftovers out of the refrigerator, I had rice, corn, hamburger, beans, spaghetti sauce, macaroni etc. I just threw it all in the cleaned out pumpkin, then took the kids out trick or treating while it was "heating" up in the oven. When we came back about 3 hours later, the house smelled sooooooo good, we were cold and wet from the rain, and the miss match concoction in the pumpkin just worked so well and warmed our tummies. And it makes a great centerpiece to serve out of. Enjoy"

I originally added this recipe in my first scrapbook/cookbook and just recently on facebook all of my family started talking about it and sharing the recipe once again, so I thought it would be a great idea to share it with all of you too!

Below is my Aunt Dee Dee's recipe: (along with two BONUS recipes from my scrapbook/cookbook)

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Another delicious recipe from my new cookbook Gooseberry Patch Halloween Cookbook that I won from the Gooseberry Patch Blog.

ONLY 2 MORE DAYS: You can be a WINNER to at Gooseberry Patch, enter to win a $200 gift certificate here (be sure to add my email address tinahudgens@aol.com for referring you and we BOTH have a chance to win!) ends October 26, 2010.

This is so much fun baking out of one cookbook for 10 days straight and I am excited to bring you all these fun Halloween recipes! Today is Sunday and if I am home on a Sunday, I am always in my kitchen doing something. I stocked up on pre-making dinners and desserts for the week. I am also excited about all the things I made today, and of course I will be sharing all those recipes with you too! So, make sure you check back this for Homemade Lasagna, Sloppy Joes, Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies and now for recipe #3 of the 10 recipes I will be sharing from Gooseberry Patch Halloween Cookbook; Pumpkin Ice Cream.

Today I made this delicious Ice Cream to bring to a Halloween party on Sunday (I love doing things early, so I never get stressed out or run out of time), this is such an easy "cheat" recipe, it just starts with vanilla ice cream, read, try and enjoy. I hope they like the ice cream as much as I did today! (the little taste I snuck while making it)

Pumpkin Ice Cream

from Gooseberry Patch Halloween Cookbook

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream

1 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tbsp orange juice

Place ice cream in a large bowl; set aside to soften. Mix remaining ingredients with an electric mixer on low speed; blend in ice cream. Cover and freeze. Serve as needed.

This post is linked to: Get Your Craft On, Made by You Monday, Mouthwatering Monday, Saturday Swaps, Inspiration Friday Party, Flaunt it Friday and Family Friendly Fridays

Halloween Chocolatey Pumpkin Cookies

I WON!!! I WON!!! I won a wonderful Gooseberry Patch Halloween Cookbook! And of course I am sooooo excited! Thank you again to all the folks at Gooseberry Patch and now for the next 10 days (or so, ya know life happens)! I am planning on sharing 10 Gooseberry Patch Halloween Recipes! Are you ready for recipe #1. Chocolatey Pumpkin Cookies.

These cookies with their mild pumpkin flavor and hint of cinnamon came out just perfect. And if you over look the fact that we didn't include the Brown Sugar Glaze (but honestly they didn't need it and my little one would NOT of ate it if I had added the glaze). So, with or without the glaze these cookies were perfect. My husband even ate them (and he HATES pumpkin)!

Since it's still a week before Halloween and ALL of these cookies have disappeared, I think there will be another batch made very soon! We hope you try them too!

Chocolatey Pumpkin Cookies

Gooseberry Patch Halloween Cookbook

1 cup sugar

1 cup shortening

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Beat sugar and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla, beating until well blended; set aside. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl; gradually add to shortening mixture, beating well. Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by the tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until bottoms are golden. Remove to wire racks to cool. Drizzle cookies with Brown Sugar Glaze (if you desire).

Makes approx 2 dozen.

Brown Sugar Glaze

 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp milk

1-1/2 cup powdered sugar

Combine brown sugar, butter and milk in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat; boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until mixture is smooth.