Simple Recipes and Common Sense: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Hello Nomsters,

Happy Thanksgiving break! Of course I'm sure most of you are making the journey home or to some other location to celebrate one of the biggest foodie holidays! As we all await either the traditional turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, veggies (the list goes on!) or we get ready to enjoy a tasty dinner out, I figured I would provide you with a new twist on the typical Thanksgiving dessert. Now, this by no means needs to replace pumpkin, sweet potato, or pecan pie, but they are a nice accompaniment to any Thanksgiving food fest!

As promised, I have provided a recipe for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (with Cream Cheese Frosting) at the end of this post. I made these tasty treats for the first time last week to test them out on some friends at a Thanksgiving party and boy, they did not disappoint! The cake part is a bit moist, but I solved that problem by putting then in the fridge for a bit after assembling them

Pumpkin Spice Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark brown works)
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (if you don't have enough pumpkin, you can use banana as a nice twist, it gives the cake a nice dimension)
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 and 2/3 cup all purpose flour

-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 
-Melt the butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, make sure to check on it in 10sec intervals in order to avoid burnt butter,
-Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, pumpkin, vanilla and mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix just until combined.
-Drop in similar sized spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 8-12mins, until they look and feel like spongy cookies.
-Let them completely cool down before attempting to assemble them.


Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 stick of butter (softened)
1 8ox package of cream cheese (softened)
1 box of confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 tsp vanilla

(if you have a mixer)
-Cream butter and cream cheese together,
-Add vanilla and mix on low,
-Gradually add confectioner's sugar, making sure to scrape down the sides

(without mixer, prepare to work those wrists)
-Cream butter and cream cheese together with a fork or wooden spoon (this will take a while, so really wait for those ingredients to soften)
-Add vanilla and mix well,
-Add the confectioner's sugar and make sure to mix it really well until it reaches a smooth consistency.

Assembly:
-Take one pumpkin cookie, spoon cream cheese frosting and spread thickly over the surface, add the other half and gently squeeze so that the icing pops out just a little!

Happy Thanksgiving!

-gf

Simple Recipes and Common Sense: Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Hello Nomsters!

Happy November, I know we've been slacking on our blog updates, but with midterms, crazy rallies, and the return of the "McRib" things have been a bit busy.... and for the record, I was kidding about the last reason. Anyway, hopefully everyone is having a splendid Sunday, and to make things just a bit sweeter, here's a recipe for some of the best pancakes ever!

I first tasted this recipe at a family friend's house in New Haven, CT. She had planned on making pancakes, but realized that she didn't have any buttermilk. However, in true foodie fashion, she used yogurt as a substitution. The result was a thick, blueberry-packed pancake that just melts in your mouth. These results were most likely due to the yogurt substitution and the amount of baking powder in the recipe. Ever since I've been playing around with the recipe and different ingredients, but the blueberry are still amazing, especially since when my family makes them we make a compote to accompany the yummy cakes.

I usually make the original blueberry, but this week I opted for bananas/chocolate chip with maple syrup, which yielded delicious results. So if you're in college and haven't already grabbed brunch or are looking for a delicious meal for your family, try your hand at these tasty pancakes.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 ⅓ cups Flour
3 Tbsp Sugar
2 ½ tsp Baking Powder

¾ tsp Salt
1 ¼ cups Vanilla Yogurt
2 large Eggs
¼ stick Unsalted Butter, melted
2-3 bananas cut into small pieces
As many chocolate chips as you want!
Maple Syrup, for serving

Instructions:

-Whisk first 4 ingredients in a large bowl,
-Whisk yogurt, eggs, and 2 Tbsp. butter in medium bowl; stir in dry ingredients,
-Fold in bananas and chocolate chips,

-Heat large nonstick griddle or skillet over medium hear; brush with butter,
-Drop batter by ⅓ cupfuls onto griddle,
-Cook pancakes until brown, brushing griddle with more butter as needed, about 3 minutes per side,
-Transfer to sheet in over to keep warm. Serve pancakes with maple syrup!

I highly recommend this recipe! The overall process is pretty easy, and the results are amazing, thick, fluffy, pancakes that will have you begging for another.

Also, in delivery news, we'll be tabling in red square soon, and this week's menu offerings are Cinnamon Brown Sugar Muffins and Chocolate Chip Cookies!


Keep on nomming!


-GF