Hey there, friends!
We’re almost halfway through the year and you know what that means. Every day we’re getting just a little closer to the BEST time of the year!
For me, part of the magic of the season is the taste of Fall. Every year, there are a few recipes that I absolutely have to make. I even delve into these recipes throughout the year when I am missing October.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Hands down, my favorite thing to make during the Fall season are these Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins by The Novice Chef. I am technically not supposed to eat gluten and I’ve found that these muffins are just as delicious with a good, all-purpose gluten-free flour mixture. I usually have Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour on hand for any baking urges I might get. This recipe is a wonderful alternative to Starbucks’ Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffin.
This recipe is pretty easy and painless (it doesn’t leave too many dishes left to clean or require weird, expensive ingredients like some recipes do).
Here are the ingredients that you need to make them:
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins:
Muffin Ingredients:
- 1 ¾cups all purpose flour
- 1tablespoon pumpkin spice
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Swirl Ingredients:
- 8 oz cream cheese
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Please visit The Novice Chef’s recipe for the full directions.
Every year, my boyfriend makes this Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dump Cake by yourcupofcake for Thanksgiving and it is sooooo good. Full disclosure, I try not to eat it anymore since I have not yet tried to adapt it with a gluten free cake mix, but I might try it at some point. For now, though, I just look longingly at it after he has prepared it for the Thanksgiving feast. This recipe is also pretty easy to make without leaving a ton of dishes that will need to be washed in the aftermath. Here is what you will need:
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dump Cake:
Ingredients:
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 3/4 powdered sugar
- 2 milk
- 1 29 oz. can pumpkin puree
- 1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 sugar
- 1 salt
- 1 pumpkin pie spice
- 1 yellow cake mix – dry
- 1/2 Cup butter melted (more to preference)
- 1 cinnamon sugar mixture – optional
- whipped cream
Please visit yourcupofcake for the full directions.
Another recipe that I absolutely adore is Nestle’s Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie Recipe (sometimes called “Oatmeal Scotchies”). I just use the recipe from the back of the butterscotch package, but I don’t have a photo of it to share with you, so I’m going to provide a link that uses the same recipe. Foodsguider.com provides some additional tips to ensure baking success, so you may find it useful to take a little looksie at their page for Nestle’s Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie recipe.
I have made these a few times with gluten-free flour (usually with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour) and they taste good, but they are very crumbly. In my opinion, this recipe is better with regular, old gluten-filled wheat flour. That doesn’t mean that I don’t still make them. I do. I’m just letting you know that the finished product won’t have the same consistency as if you were using regular wheat flour.
This is another fairly easy recipe that does not require a ton of ingredients or a ton of dishes to accomplish. This recipe contains things you most likely have lying around in the pantry, with possible exception to the butterscotch chips.
The ingredients for these cookies are as follows:
Nestle Tollhouse Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies:
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 and 3/4 cups butterscotch chips
Please visit foodguiders page for full instructions and some handy tips.
There have been a few other recipes that have caught my eye on Pinterest, but I don’t want to share them until I’ve had a chance to test them. In the meantime, as a bonus, I’m going to include something that elevates all of my baked treats to another level: homemade vanilla extract! It is so easy and simple to make with just two ingredients! Using quality vanilla really does make a huge difference when it comes to baking. Of course, if you only have imitation vanilla extract, then you work with what you have. But using homemade vanilla extract gives it an edge. Or, another pro tip, if you don’t have homemade vanilla extract, then you can use vanilla bean paste, which is also extremely awesome (but a little more on the expensive side).
All you need is some vodka, bourbon, or brandy, some vanilla bean pods, and a clean glass jar in which to keep it. This process does take a few months, however, so you might want to invest in either some high quality vanilla extract or some vanilla bean paste to use in the meantime.
Homemade Vanilla Extract:
Ingredients:
5 whole Vanilla Bean Pods
8 oz Vodka, Bourbon, or Brandy
I used multiple blog posts for reference when I first made mine, but onthegobites has some good instructions. Please visit their page for the full and detailed instructions for Homemade Vanilla Extract.
I will continue to add to this post as I try out more recipes, but in the meantime, please let me know what you think! If you try any of these recipes, please let me know what your thoughts are. I’d also love to hear what your favorite fall recipes are or what recipes you make when you need a little infusion of October into your palate.
As always, stay spooky, my friends!
Xoxo,
Dannie
p.s. check out some of my music playlists if you’re looking for some music to bake to!