Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!

These are oh so good! And even more so, they are so easy! I could sit here and eat the whole pan. Good thing they are low fat and low calorie! Top them with a piece of candy corn!

1 butter recipe (or any flavor you want/have)
1 can pumpkin (I just used Libby's)
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinammon

Mix together, it will be dry, but okay!

Preheat oven to whatever the box says.

Cook them according to box directions.

I got 21 cupcakes out of this, I will make them fuller next time as they don't rise much.


Cream cheese Frosting (from allrecipes)
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Cream the cream cheese and butter, stir in vanilla and add in powder sugar. Frost cupcakes, this made plenty probably enough for more than 24!

Spider web pumpkin cheesecake

My mom had a little get together for Halloween and to wish my grandpa luck as he is moving to South Padre Texas. I made this cheesecake for dessert.

The cheesecake is from Philadelphia Cream Cheese on KraftFoods.com.

18 OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 1-1/2 cups)
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
3 pkg. (8 oz. each) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
3 eggs

PREHEAT oven to 350°F if using a silver 9-inch springform pan (or 325°F if using a dark 9-inch nonstick springform pan). Mix cookie crumbs and 2 Tbsp. butter; press firmly onto bottom of pan. Set aside.

BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour over crust.

BAKE 50 to 55 min. or until center is almost set; cool slightly. Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim of pan.


I then melted 6 squares Bakers semi-sweet chocolate and then stired in about a 1/4 cup of whipping cream. Spread the chocolate over the cheesecake. Melt white chocolate and then place in a baggie and cut off the corner. Starting at the center of the cheesecake spiral the chocolate around the top of the cheesecake, then using a toothpick or knife pull the chocolate from the center to make spiderweb.

I then put a plastic spider on the top!

Pumpkin Roll

This is my husbands favorite dessert and fastly becoming mine as well. Pictures to come!

Libby's Pumpkin Roll:

CAKE
1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional


FILLING
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)


Directions:
FOR CAKE:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

FOR FILLING:
BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired. DH says it has to have icing on the top also (that's how is mom does it) so I reserved some icing and used a bag with a decorator's tip and made some decorations on the top.

COOKING TIP:
Be sure to put enough powdered sugar on the towel when rolling up the cake so it will not stick.

Boston Cream Cheesecake

I've made this cake once before and when I was speaking with my mom about her birthday cake I decided I would make this again. It is awesome! The only difference between this and a regular boston cream cake is the middle layer, it is a cheesecake layer instead of a pudding type layer. The chocolate on the top is very good too and gets kind of crunchy/hard when it's been in the fridge. This is from the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Cheesecake cookbook!

Cake Bottom:
1 9oz pkg yellow cake mix (one layer size)
Grease bottom of 9 inch springform pan. Prepare cake mix as directed on package: pour batter evenly into springform pan. Bake 20 minutes.

Filling:
2 8oz packages cream cheese softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing at low speed after each addition, just until blended. Blend in sour cream: pour over cake layer.
Bake 35 minutes or until center is almost set. Run Knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to losen cake; cool before removing rim of pan.

Topping:
2 squares Bakers unsweetened chocolate
3 tablespoons spread stick
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Melt chocolate and spread sticks over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Add water and remaining ingredients; mix well. Spread over cooled cheesecake. Refigerate 4 hours or overnight.

Girls Dinner Club

Some of these recipes were stolen from other nesties, if it's your recipe let me know and I will give you credit!



Pictures to come:

Okay so me and two of my bestest girlfriends started a dinner club. I did the first month (Sept) we had a really great time. I made:

Crostini:

From Kraftfoods.com
1 loaf french bread cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup EVOO
1 clove garlic minced
1 8oz package of Cream Cheese Softened
2 Tbl Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbl chopped black olives
1 Cup chopped tomatos
2 Tbl chopped Basil

Mix EVOO and Garlic together, spread over cut side of bread. Bake for 8-10 minutes until browned on 400 degrees. Cool.

Mix cream cheese, parmesan cheese and black olives together. Spread on top of cooled bread.

Sprinkle on tomatos, then basil. Cut into 24 slices.

I halved this recipe to make 12 pieces.


Avocado Pasta with Shrimp
I came up with this recipe all on my own!

1 box rotini pasta
3 avocados
1/4 cup heavy cream
5 cloves garlic sliced
EVOO
Shrimp-deveined-still in shells

Put pasta on to boil. Put a turn of the pan off EVOO in med size pan. Heat over medium heat, then throw in garlic. Put shrimp in pan and cook until pink. Take shrimp out, let cool, then peel shells.

At same time cut avocado up, put in food processor and add enough cream to make the avocado creamy (I think it was about 1/3 of a cup). Add avocado sauce to same pan you cooked the shrimp in and let warm up.

Pour sauce over cooked pasta, then place shrimp on top.

**This was a little bland, I will try adding something to the cream sauce next time, just not sure what yet, but it was delish and all the girls raved about it!**

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon Viniagrette
This one is stolen, but don't remember from where!

1 lb asparagus ends trimmed
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
lemons, for serving

Vinaigrette
1/2 shallot, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400

Make vinaigrette by combining all ingredients. Set aside so flavors can meld. If you do not link pieces of shallot or garlic, you can either strain the vinaigrette after flavors have combined or puree the whole mixture in a food processor.

Toss asparagus with some olive oil to just coat all pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for abut 12 minutes or to desired doneness.

Spoon vinaigrette over roasted asparagus and garnish with lemon wedges.


Pumpkin Cheesecake (I have no idea what happened to this picture)
Combined from Philadelphia cream cheese recipe book and then I added a chocolate ganache!

It was just a pumpkin cheesecake made in a spring form pan. Oreo crust and then I put a chocolate ganache on the top....it was wonderful!