I Heart Dessert

I hope all of you had a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving! Believe it or not, I still feel full from everything I ate over the last few days.

I’m a bit sad that the November is over because there were so many Thanksgiving themed desserts I wanted to try out, but they never made it to reality. I’m not sure how the month flew by so quickly, but I ended up making only a couple things from of my long baking list. I have so many different dessert recipes lined up just for Thanksgiving/Fall, but I guess they will have to wait until next year. The two recipes that actually made it to the oven, were Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins and Pumpkin Pie.

The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins were an idea I got from the Starbuck’s version, but I did it semi-homemade style and used a box of Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Bread Mix. It still turned out really well and having a cream cheese center is always a nice twist.

Pumpkin pie was definitely a must bake on my list. At first, I couldn’t figure out which kind of pumpkin pie I wanted to make. I found so many versions of pumpkin pie and they all sounded so good. I decided to make traditional pumpkin pie since I had never made it before. The directions on the recipe made it seem fairly easy, but I messed up just a tad. The filling said it was good enough for one pie but I came out with enough for 2 pies. So, I made the mistake of overfilling the pie thinking it would fit…bad idea. I filled it up so much that I had a difficult time putting it in the oven without trying to spill too much. Another reason overfilling your pie is a huge mistake is that I didn’t take into account that it would rise just like any other baked good, so as it was baking it overflowed a little. But, thankfully it didn’t affect the overall taste; it just didn’t look as pretty as I would’ve liked.

Here are the recipes:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
by iheartdessert

Ingredients:

• Box of Pumpkin Bread/Muffin Mix or Any Pumpkin Bread/Muffin Recipe
• 1  package of Cream Cheese

Directions:

1. Make a log out of the cream cheese, by cutting the cream cheese in half lengthwise and placing the two halves on wax paper(to make a long log). Place in the freezer until firm.
2. Follow the directions of the box or recipe you are using to make your pumpkin muffin batter.
3. Take out your cream cheese log and cut cream cheese disks about 1/4 inch thick. Cut the disks in half so you have two pieces that are about an inch long.
4. Spoon about 1 to 2 Tablespoons of batter into the bottoms of the muffin liners.
5. Place one cream cheese piece in the middle and surround it with batter until the muffin liner is almost filled to the top.
6. Follow the baking directions from your box or recipe.

Mom’s Pumpkin Pie (makes enough for 2 pies)
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients: