Maple Glazed Pumpkin Muffins

Baking fails.  Everyone has them, no matter how long you've been baking. They're inevitable, and while they can be frustrating at times, they're not always a bad thing.  They're an opportunity for learning, for thinking up improvements, and if you're lucky, for snacking on the leftovers.  Tasty baking fails are the best kind of baking fail to have, and that's exactly what happened with these muffins. These muffins are the perfect example of that type of perfect situation. 

A few weekends ago, it was pretty rainy and gross out and all I wanted to do was lie low and watch movies in bed.  I think I wrote about this back in this post for Salted Caramel and Pecan Blondies.  It was the same weekend.  I knew I was behind on my baking and I just had to make something, even though all I wanted to do was hang out in my fuzziest sweatpants with a bowl of popcorn and a movie.  I made the blondies because I knew they would work and I knew they were quick.  Since I was already up, I figured that I might as well make something else, and I thought a quick bread of some kind would work.  Quick breads are easy and comforting, so I thought I was in excellent shape.  I had my second recipe sort of figured out, so after a little more thinking, a pumpkin bread seemed like the best option.  I already had all the ingredients I needed and baked goods don't get more seasonal than pumpkin loaves, so I was ready to go.  I mixed up the bread, baked it, let it cool slightly, and when I went to take it out of the loaf pan, it just would not budge.  It was completely stuck (you may have seen this documented on Instagram). 

Spiced Pumpkin Rugelach

Rugelach are one of those little cookies that I've always thought I knew how to make (as evidenced here).  I mean, these looked like rugelach and tasted like rugelach, so I assumed that the little crescents that I was pulling out from my oven were in fact, rugelach.  I liked how they tasted, and I thought I could turn the page on rugelach. One more cookie that I had nailed, and it was on to the next.

While I may have always thought that I knew what I was doing when it came to rugelach, my mom always begged to differ.  She said they tasted fine, but were always too big. 

"They're supposed to be just a little bite!" she'd always say. 

I obviously thought I knew better, so I ignored her comments.  Every single time I made a batch of rugelach, she would say the same thing, and I would always brush her input aside, because I knew what I was doing.  In reality though, I didn't.

It wasn't until I got a box of rugelach in last year's Food Blogger Cookie Swap that I realized my mom was right. The rugelach I received were incredible.  They were flaky and buttery, tender and rich, but most importantly, they were tiny.  It took two small bites two eat each cookie, and it was a hard truth to accept.  I was wrong, and my mom was right (this seems like it always happens to me...).

Pumpkin and Maple Bundt Cake

Alright guys, ready for some crazy news?  Today, I'm posting a recipe for a pumpkin bundt cake.  Sure, that doesn't really sound like anything spectacular, as the Internet is full of all kinds of recipes for pumpkin Bundt cakes, but what is pretty spectacular is just how excited I am to be sharing this recipe with you guys.  I think this is the most excited I've ever been about sharing a pumpkin treat, and in fact, this is probably the most excited I've ever been about sharing a cake recipe in general.  Ok, I've definitely been more excited about sharing the Chocolate Stout Cake, the Pink Ombre Surprise Cake, and the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake, but the fact that a pumpkin cake is right below my top 3 favorite cakes is a very big deal.  I made a pumpkin cake, and I actually loved it.  I loved this cake so much, that I knew immediately that I wanted to make it again for Thanksgiving.  I never thought I would see the day where I'd be this excited about anything with pumpkin, but I've somehow managed to completely surprise myself.   

Since my sister has been away at school, I've taken over all the decision making in terms of what I choose to bake and post.  Every now and then I'll ask her for an opinion, but I no longer have to listen to her complain when I decide to make something she's not particularly crazy about (aka, fudgey brownies and anything flavored with coconut).  When I got the idea that I wanted to make a pumpkin Bundt cake, I shared my decision with my sister, who had nothing to say but, "UGH!  Why am I not at home right now!?"  My sister is completely pumpkin-obsessed, and while it's too bad she wasn't at home to try out how great this cake came out, at least she'll be home for Thanksgiving and will get to try it then. I knew I wanted to make some kind of glaze to brush over the cake, and my sister suggested making an icing to drizzle over the cake to finish it off.  At first, I was a bit nervous about incorporating both a glaze and an icing, as I thought it would end up giving the cake an overly sweet taste with each bite, but they ended up working perfectly, as the cake itself didn't end up being too sweet on its own. 

Spiced Pumpkin and White Chocolate Biscotti

I know I've written before about my general dislike for most things pumpkin, but I will admit that my natural pumpkin aversion might just be starting to go away.  I'm sort of liking pumpkin things now, which is crazy when you consider how much is didn't like pumpkin-anything just a few years ago.  This weekend, my mom made pumpkin ravioli for dinner one night, and while I found them to be a little sweet for dinner, they were still pretty good.  I tried some pumpkin soup the other day, and I was actually able to finish the entire bowl, and was able to say that I genuinely liked it.  I still don't think I'll ever order one of those fancy pumpkin-based drinks at Starbucks (in general, I can't stand fancy coffee drinks), and I'm almost positive that I will never be able to handle more than a single bite of pumpkin pie at a time, but at least I'm making some progress here. I'm liking baked things with pumpkin more and more now, although that might simply be because I find that pumpkin baked goods usually only have a very mild pumpkin flavor, and always come loaded with my lots of my favorite spices.  Whatever the reason, pumpkin will certainly be featured on the blog this fall, so pumpkin lovers have nothing to fear.  We may not see eye to eye, but I'm sure you'll find my pumpkin treats to be perfectly satisfying and delicious nevertheless.  

First up, we have some spiced pumpkin and white chocolate biscotti.  Nothing outrageously in the sense of pumpkin-overload, but still outrageously good.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Vanilla-Bourbon Sauce

It's officially almost Thanksgiving!!!! I don't think I can begin to explain to you how much I love Thanksgiving.  It's one of my favorite holidays during the year (second only to Christmas...I'll always be a Christmas kind of girl).  Thanksgiving dinner is something I look forward to all year long, starting as early as the second I wake up from my first food coma of Thanksgiving day.  Normally, I eat pretty healthy and am good about managing my portions and what I eat throughout the day, but all that good-eating philosophy I typically live by gets thrown out the window on Thanksgiving.  I mean think about it.  This is the one day of the year where eating until you fall into a food coma is not only expected, but almost encouraged.  Ok, I'm kidding about falling into a food coma being encouraged, but regardless, it is the only day of the year where passing out on the living room couch with your belt undone is somewhat acceptable. 

Please tell me I'm not the only one that eats until I pass out on the couch as soon as I'm finished.  If I am, then please, no judging.  If it helps, I plan on going extra hard with my Insanity workout before Thanksgiving dinner starts.  Gotta keep a sense of balance!

Thanksgiving is not only about the food.  There's other traditions too!  One unknown fact about me that's not really a "tradition," but nevertheless happens consistently, is actually highly annoying.  Ever since I was little, I've somehow always (literally ALWAYS) managed to wake up on Thanksgiving feeling completely under the weather, and just plain old sick.  I have no idea why this happens.  I rarely get sick, but somehow, like clockwork, Thanksgiving morning comes, and I wake up feeling like the only thing that will get me out of this awful funk I'm in is a giant plate of stuffing (this tends to help a lot).  This year, however, is the year that I think this will all change.  I haven't started feeling weird yet, so I think this will be the first Thanksgiving in a long time where I'm actually going to be feeling 100% good (crossing my fingers that I didn't just jinx myself).  

Another Thanksgiving tradition I have, that's actually a tradition, is waking up early to watch March of the Wooden soldiers on Thanksgiving morning.  Yup, I'm the person that totally skips over the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, in favor of watching a really old movie that I've seen about 15 times by now.   I'm weird, I know.  It's ok though.  

Classic Pumpkin Pie

Alright.  It's time to be totally honest with you guys.  I really dislike pumpkin pie.  I'm being serious.  I have never ever liked it, and I don't think I ever will, although that could maybe change, eventually.  My dislike of pumpkin things in general has changed a lot in the past year, and ever singe I baked up a batch of pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and a batch of miniature pumpkin doughnut muffins, my dislike of pumpkin-things started to fade away.  Pumpkin things could actually be tasty!  In fact, just writing about those miniature pumpkin doughnut muffins makes me wish I had a batch right now...they were really THAT good!  A couple of weeks ago I posted a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake muffins, which were also really delicious, and very, very, very shortly, I'll actually be posting another delicious pumpkin recipe!  I think I like pumpkin when it's baked into muffins or yeast breads, and pumpkin pancakes are actually pretty good too.  But pumpkin pie...that's a whole other story.  

I really just don't like it. 

I guess it's strange, then, that I'm posting a recipe for classic pumpkin pie.  But, given that Thanksgiving is only a couple of short days away, and that pumpkin pie is a popular favorite around this time of year, I figured I HAD to post a pumpkin pie recipe this time.  Also because my sister wouldn't stop nagging me about making a pumpkin pie.  My sister is the only person in my family who actually likes, no, LOVES, pumpkin pie, and she's always asking for pumpkin pie during Thanksgiving and the fall season.  Her pumpkin pie requests usually get denied, because no one else in my house is willing to eat the pie with her, but I figured that this time, I would give in, and make her a pumpkin pie.  

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Happy October, everyone!  I'm loving this fall weather and everything else related to the new season.  Hot cider and colorful leaves are some of my favorite things!  Pumpkin flavored things are starting to appear EVERYWHERE and while I'm not as big of a fan of pumpkin (shocking, I know), it's been growing on me, so I knew I had to have some pumpkin treats in store.  My sister is a huge fan of literally everything with pumpkin (actually, the only pumpkin-flavored food she hasn't liked is pumpkin Greek yogurt...I can't blame her, that sounds kinda weird to me), so last year she stocked up on canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie filling.  Seriously. This girl went on a major pumpkin shopping spree once the supermarket started selling them for 99 cents a can. I think we're gonna be good on pumpkin for a very, very, very, long time.

It's a good thing she ended up buying so much canned pumpkin; it actually came in very handy!  Pumpkin cravings were satisfied with ease throughout the year, once canned pumpkin couldn't be found as easily in stores.  My sister started making pumpkin pies (the recipe will be coming eventually!), slicing them up, and freezing the individual slices to enjoy as snacks for later.  I prefer having pumpkin in muffin-or-some-other-kind-of-bread form, so muffins were my choice when I decided to bake something with pumpkin.  I knew that to make them "extra-good," a cinnamon crumb topping would be necessary.  And cheesecake filling!?  Geez.  Too good. These muffins ended up being my favorite pumpkin treats to date.  Seriously, I never thought I'd say something like that, but it's true!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls are pretty irresistible treats.  I mean.  Who hasn't been casually walking in a mall, or bakery, or wherever really, when you suddenly have to stop whatever it is that you're doing, so that you can sigh and breathe in that wonderful cinnamon-y smell coming from freshly baked cinnamon rolls.  Ok, maybe I'm the only one that has to stop whatever it is that I'm doing for a moment.  I'm ok with that though.  I know I have somewhat uncanny behavioral habits on occasion.  Only a couple though, promise.  

Anyway.  Let's not get sidetracked here.  Focus on the cinnamon rolls, because that's super important.  Especially when they have pumpkin in them.  That just means they're even more important.  

Miniature Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

Every now and then, you just come across a recipe that sounds really delicious in your head, and when you make it, you find that the results are at least twenty-three times as good as you thought they would be.  Seriously.  At least twenty-three times.  And yes, this recipe for pumpkin doughnut muffins is one of those recipes.  They were so much more delicious than I thought they were going to be.  

I mean just look at all those tiny little mini muffins.  They're covered in lots of cinnamon sugar, so you know they're going to be really delicious.  Don't skimp out on the cinnamon sugar step. The muffins themselves aren't very sweet to begin with, so the cinnamon sugar is kinda important.  And it also adds to the whole doughnut factor.

Wait.  Muffins...and doughnuts?  Yes.  Muffins and Doughnuts.  All in one.  A combination that seems to good to be true, until you actually make them and eat them, and realize that they really are that good. I couldn't get over them when I made them.  They seriously tasted just like little doughnut holes, but were baked into a mini muffin shape.  Completely adorable and completely delicious.