Pumpkin Salted Caramel Blondies

Hooray, getting over my prejudice towards pumpkin deserts! And hooray for me overcoming my fear of making caramel!

 

Making caramel is scary- all the watching, the monitoring, the constant fear of burning- it's one of the scariest aspects of baking (see also: assembling layered cakes). That's why I've never done it before, even though I love salted caramel, I mean I LOVE salted caramel.

 

But my dad was in town this weekend so I had to go big or go home.

 

 

And guess what... I did it. And this stuff tastes awesome. And you know what else? That's not even the whole desert! I also made this deliciousness that the sauce just goes on top of.

 

So please make these, and I hope you're enjoying Fall as much as I am!

 

Your ingredients: Flour, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, salt (I finally got to use my fancy sea salt!), Baking Soda, butter, brown sugar, an egg, vanilla, pumpkin puree, Caramel Sauce

 

Whisk together your flour, cinnamon and nutmeg

 

Cream together the butter and brown sugar, then add the egg and vanilla, then the pumpkin puree, then add the flour mixture slowly until just combined.

 

Spread half the batter evenly in the pan, bake it for 10 minutes. Pour on some caramel sauce, spread the rest of the batter on top, and bake for 30 more minutes. When you take it out of the oven sprinkle some sea salt on top.

 

Serve it warm with some of that caramel sauce drizzled on top- you can use store-bought sauce if you put some sea salt in it, but you should make this sauce, because it was easy and it's delicious, and cutting open a vanilla bean and scraping out the seeds made me feel like probably the most fancy, professional baker ever. And it's gorgeous. Look at it.

 

Pumpkin Salted Caramel Blondies

From Baked Bree

2 cups flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 sticks butter, softened

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

Sea Salt and Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

 

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x9 square pan.

 

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.

In an electric mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar for about 2 minutes, until fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla, then the pumpkin puree. Add in the flour mixture slowly until just combined.

 

Spread half the batter evenly into the pan, then bake for 10 minutes.

 

Pour caramel sauce over the top, then spread the rest of the batter on top. Bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 

 

 

Pumpkin Poundcake with Cinnamon Glaze

I was all set to tell you a story about how my friend (and future co-teacher what-what!) Paige's mom's pumpkin cookies changed my blah attitude towards pumpkin deserts.

But that was before the missing baking soda. Remember how I don't like to stray from the recipe at all? Well, as I was stacking up ingredients, I realized the baking soda box was gone. "Baking soda," I said. "Where is it?"

"Oh sorry," said the Husband. "I used the last of it trying to clean the dishwasher."

What ensued was me freaking out, and him trying to get me to find a substitute, and saying "That's how I cook," and me snapping back, "Well I'm not cooking I'm baking, and I don't like improvising, and I'm already using canola oil instead of vegetable oil!!"

To which he quietly replied, "They're practically interchangeable," and I said, "BUT THEY'RE NOT THE SAME THING."

Then I turned on Rick Astley and decided, aloud, to turn my attitude around. I had been looking forward to baking this cake all week. I finally learned a trick to foil my dastardly oven (Literally, because putting foil over my cakes and breads makes them cook evenly, LIKE MAGIC). So I put on a smile and made myself happy.

And then I promptly left brown sugar out of the ingredients picture. But don't worry, because that long story brought you here. To this wonderful, beautiful, spicy fall cake that even sounds impressive.

And after pulling my perfectly baked cake out of the oven, I turned the bundt pan over, and in an unprecedented event, it came out PERFECTLY. It didn't stick at all- it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, and I called the Husband in and he danced with me and so the story has a happy ending.

Make this cake. The end.

Your ingredients: Flour, sugar, brown sugar (pretend it's there), baking soda (pretend it's there), pumpkin puree, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground cloves, vanilla pudding mix, powdered sugar, and vegetable oil.

First, whisk together the brown and white sugar and the oil. Then whisk in the eggs one at a time.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking soda, vanilla pudding mix, and salt- it smells delicious and spice-y.

Alternately add the pumpkin puree and the flour mixture to the sugar-oil-egg mixture. Whisk together until smooth. Be aware that if you're not a huge fan of the smell of just plain ol' pumpkin, this is not a good time for you. But don't worry, it all comes together.

Pour it into your greased bundt pan and bake! I greased mine with Baker's Joy spray, which is pretty awesome in my opinion.

And if you're lucky the cake comes out looking like this- HOLY MOLY that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

YUM.

Pumpkin Pound Cake with Cinnamon Glaze
Adapted very slightly from Baked Bree

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup oil
3 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3.3 oz pkg. vanilla pudding mix
15 oz. can pumpkin puree
Glaze:
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp. water
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350°. Grease a bundt pan.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the two sugars and the oil. Then whisk in the eggs one at a time.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, salt, and pudding mix.

Whisk the pumpkin puree into the sugar-oil-egg mixture, alternating adding it and the flour mixture until all is combined.

Pour the batter into the bundt pan, smooth and even it out, and then bake it for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning the pan over to get the cake out. Let the cake cool completely on a wire cooling rack.

For the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, water, and cinnamon. Pour over the top of the cake once it has cooled.