Pumpkin Palooza - Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

O.K., by now pumpkin might be getting a little old for most of you, but here's one more recipe I'll throw at you.  The pumpkin taste isn't as prevalent and there are chocolate and cheesecake tastes to boot!   I will admit that instead of being a purist by making the homemade portion of these brownies, I took the easy way out and used a box brownie mix and kept the recipe limited to the yummy pumpkin cheesecake topping.  Without further delay, here is the recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies from Table for Two Blog:

Ingredients:

1 box brownie mix (and all the ingredients required to make them) (I would suggest a "moist" brownie mix - advertised as extra fudge or rich)
4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. pumpkin puree (you can use canned pumpkin and puree it with a blender)
1 large egg (in addition to any that might be required for the brownie mix)
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Prepare oven according to brownie mix directions.  For best results, use a parchment lined pan and spray it with non-stick spray.  After preparing brownie mix and pouring it into the pan, set aside and make the topping:

Beat together cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.  Add pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice and egg and beat until well mixed.  Using a tablespoon put spoonfuls of the topping onto the brownie batter.  Using a toothpick or knife, swirl it around into the batter.  Don't forget to make some pretty patterns!
Bake the brownies according to directions (about 35-40 minutes).  Definitely don't over bake.  If your mix offers you the difference between a chewy brownie or a more cake-like brownie, choose the chewy - you don't want these like cake.  After baking the center should still be jiggly.  Let cool 20 minutes and then use the parchment paper to lift out of the pan onto a wire rack to cool completely.  After cool, put them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before cutting.

Here they are.  (Again, photographing food is not by best skill):

Enjoy for the holidays or anytime during the year!

cindy

The BEST Pumpkin Bars Ever!

It's Pumpkin Palooza week and here is a recipe that lives up to its name.

The BEST Pumpkin Bars Ever

No kidding - these are the ones!  I don't know if I ever tasted a pumpkin "bar", but these things are the bomb!  I can't take credit for any part of this - not the title, the recipe or the awesomeness, but I do want to introduce you to one of the most fabulous pumpkin things I have ever eaten.

I found this recipe through a beautiful photograph on Pinterest.  That led me to Mique at 30 Handmade Days and her great recipe.  Click through the link to her post and the recipe; it's written out in a way you can print it or save it.

These bars are definitely not for those on a diet - they are made with oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin and a few other ingredients.  They have a consistency almost like a moist brownie.  The frosting is a homemade cream cheese frosting (which I plan to use on many more recipes).  They can be baked in a shallow pan like a cookie sheet.  I chose to use a 9 x 13" pan, so mine are deeper and denser.

The taste?  You can eat them cold, or better yet, warmed with the frosting melting slightly.  When they're cold, they taste like a wedge of pumpkin pie, but with a firmer consistency.  When they are warmed up, they melt in your mouth.  They stay firm and moist, even after a couple of days.  We stored them open in the refrigerator and cut them as we ate them, and they never dried out.

These pumpkin bars passed the picky test with my kids and husband, which is impressive for a pumpkin dish.  This recipe is definitely a keeper and one I plan to pull out for a party this weekend.

Yum!

cindy

Pumpkin Palooza!

Have you had enough pumpkin yet with Halloween?  It's time to stop looking at it like a porch decoration and bring it into the kitchen!  (O.K., don't bring the rotting pumpkin on your porch into your house, it's just figurative.)

Seriously, now is the time of year for pumpkin recipes and here at Straddling the Gap I'm trying four recipes I've found in various places - Pinterest, Facebook and family recipes.  I can't guarantee they will all be great, but I promise to let you know if they aren't.  If you find the right recipes, add them to Thanksgiving or other holiday festivities.

The four recipes (five if I really get ambitious before the end of the week) I'm making are all desserts.  I'm just not adventurous enough to make savory pumpkin dishes because I know my family won't give them a second glance.  Truthfully, they will be the picky taste testers on the pumpkin desserts.

So, get some cans of pumpkins, sugar, eggs, flour and a couple of mixes and get ready!

Pumpkin Palooza!

cindy

Chance Encounter (By the Hair of My Chinny Chin Chin)

I haven't written about a Chance Encounter in a while, probably because I haven't encountered anyone too interesting.  The other night we looked out our front door and found a whole herd of interesting (sorry for the bad pictures - they were taken through a window).

Just in case you can't figure out what you're looking at, here's a better stock picture:

These are javalina (have-a-leen-a).  There were eight of them on our porch, including at least two little ones.  They were having a great feast on our leftover pumpkins.  At one point a car made a loud noise about a block away and they scattered in a flash of little hooves clattering on the brick walk.

This one came back and he was very sassy.  Right here he's standing less than three feet from me with only a window between us.  He was chomping away at that pumpkin.  At one point he raised his head and looked right at me wiggling his snoot.  We were really connecting.

So now that you've seen these guys, guess what kind of animal they are.  Razorbacks?  Boars?  Pigs?  Well, not exactly.  A javelina is a Collared Peccary which migrated over time from South America as far north as Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  They weigh about 35-50 pounds and travel in herds (like the herd on our porch).  They have very poor eyesight, but a great sense of smell and pretty good hearing.  If you startle them, they will run off but leave a musk smell like a skunk.  That's why they're also called Skunk Pigs.  However, "pigs" as known in the U.S. are derived from European pigs, while javalina are native to the Americas, so they are not related to domesticated pigs or feral pigs (razorbacks).

Their natural food is cactus, but hey, this guy lives in Scottsdale.  He loves ornamental flowers.  He has an accurate calendar and knows trash day.  If you put out your trash can the night before pickup, you will find the street littered with trash from all the trash cans down the street.  That's good eatin'.  These guys even tried eating the votive candles and metal pumpkin pails in front of my house.  This guy spared my pumpkins before Halloween, so I could hardly begrudge him a little snack and chat with me.

I guess we had a chance encounter over a good meal.

cindy