Friday, October 24, 2008

Hold On -- I'm Baking!

I love fall. It is my favorite season of the year. I may have said that one or one hundred times in the last few weeks.

This morning I woke up to a chilly house, a dreary outside and a desire to bake.

I don't often have that particular yen. I am not a "baker." I can make a pretty good sour cream pound cake, every so often I bake an apple cake (but it is never as good as my Aunt Nell's) and I have tried for years to make Ms. Annie's Lane Cake, but I never got her recipe and all the other recipes I have ever tried have failed miserably to measure up. I can make a mean chocolate chip cookie, from scratch or from slice and bake - but really baking is just not my kitchen forte'.

This morning, however, I decided to tackle the Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffin recipe that has been staring at me for a week or two. It just seemed to be the morning for it. A perfect Fall day, no where to go and a morning to fill with some sort of activity for the four year old.

We are terribly happy we are trying the recipe. The house smells like a pumpkin, the anticipation of the finished product it getting us through the long morning and just for the pure joy of life, I am actually brewing a pot of coffee to go with the muffin. I rarely drink coffee at home, most of the time I just enjoy it at a restaurant - but the morning is colder than cold, and I need a pick-me-up.

Here is the recipe, just in case you want to a fall breakfast at your house.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffin
(From Pillsbury -off the Pumpkin Quick Bread Mix Box!!)

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsps grated lemon peel

Muffins
1 pkg Pillsbury Pumpkin Quick Bread
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
3 tbsps butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12 muffin cups with no stick spray
Beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, sugar and lemon peel . Beat until smooth
Empty pumpkin bread mix into a large bowl. Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture for the topping. Add milk, egg, oil to the remaining mix, stir for 50 strokes or until blended.
Fill each muffin cup with about 1/4 cup batter. Make indentation in batter with a small measuring spoon (sprayed with no stick spray). Put 1 heaping tablespoon cream cheese mixture in the center of each muffin.
Add melted butter to the reserved dry mix. Stir with fork until crumbly. Add pecans. Crumble about 1 tablespoon over each muffin.
Bake for 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove muffins from pan. Place on baking rack to finish cooling.

They just came out of the oven... oh - my oh my -- yummy!

Living Happily In the Moment
Beverly

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