Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is here. It's lovely. I haven't blogged in a while. I've been busy.

Here's Austin. He's great. 

The leaves are covering the ground all around Provo and they make a very satisfying crunch when I step on them. It's time for pumpkin flavored everything.

Recipe tweaked from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Yields 24 muffins

8 oz cream cheese (room temp)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 can pumpkin purée 

1 1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 cups AP flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

5 tbsp flour

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces

1. Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Set aside. 

2. Preheat oven to 350. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and veggie oil.

3. While that's beating, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Slowly add this to the wet ingredients. 

4. Using a food scoop, scoop batter about halfway up muffin papers in a muffin tin. Make small indents  in the batter and add about 1 tsp of the cream cheese mixture. Cover the cream cheese with about 1 tbsp more of the pumpkin batter. 

5. Using a pastry cutter, cut together sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter until it resembles crumbs. Sprinkle atop the unbaked muffins.

6. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. 

Bon appétit!

Puff Pastry Apple Tarts

Puff pastry. 

Y'all.

It's amazing.

This evening, I opened the windows in my house and a gloriously crisp fall breeze blew right through into my kitchen. It's time for fall desserts. 

I can't wait for the leaves to turn colors. I love when the mountain is covered in the falling leaves. 

What better way to welcome autumn than by making an apple tart?

Puff Pastry Apple Tart

Yields: 2 medium tarts (about 8 servings)

1 sheet Pepperidge Farm puff pastry

2 large apples

1/4 cup brown sugar

pinch of salt

powdered sugar for dusting

creme fraiche 

1. Thaw out puff pastry. It's best to let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours before using it, but if you forgot, just leave it out of the freezer for 30 minutes before trying to unfold it. 

2. Preheat oven to 400 degreed fahrenheit.

3. Peel, core, and slice apples into very thin slices. Put the sliced apples in a bowl and top with brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir it around. Let it sit for 5 minutes.

4. Cut the puff pastry in half. Put it on a cookie sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper. 

5. Arrange the apples on the puff pastry, leaving about 1" on the perimeter of the puff pastry so there will be a crust when it puffs up in the oven. 

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with creme fraiche. 

Bon appétit!