Pumpkin bread with almond streusel

BROMA IS BACK. It was a long and bake-less summer in Manhattan, where I worked at a restaurant with some of the best people I've ever had the opportunity to work with (if you're in the NYC area, you must eat here). It was awesome and I so wish I could've stayed there, but my scholarly life must go on. So back to Ann Arbor for my senior year I go. I'm living once again with 6 boys on the rowing team in a new house with an old kitchen. Nonetheless I'm ready to bust shit out. And my housemates here are ridiculously good at cooking/baking, and they have a KitchenAid. 

So without further adieu, I will jump right into some fall recipes, starting with this incredible pumpkin bread. Even though I'm a chocolate girl through and through, I could definitely eat this bread every day of my life and die happy. Hope you enjoy Part II of Broma Bakery, more to come soon!

For the bread:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 cup plain, whole-milk yogurt
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the streusel:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 cup chopped, lightly toasted almonds

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a medium-sized loaf pan.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add in the pieces of butter, and using a pastry cutter, or 2 knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs have formed. Mix in the toasted almonds.

Then, in a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, powder, salt, sugar, and spices. In a seperate bowl, cream the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed. Then add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla. Fold in the pumpkin puree. Gradually fold in the flour mixture in three additions, stirring between each. Pour half of the batter into the loaf pan, then top with about 1/3 of the streusel. Pour in the rest of the batter, then top with the remaining 2/3 of the streusel.

Bake for 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and serve!

Pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

So sometimes it's nice to use packaged mixes. This week was one of those times. And it was great!

For the cupcakes:

1 package Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix, prepared according to directions
3/4 cup chocolate chips

For the frosting:

3 cups confectioner's sugar
8 ounces cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Prepare the mix according to package directions, folding in the 3/4 cups of chocolate chips at the end. Bake according to package directions as well.

On medium-high speed, combine cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Let cool in fridge. Frost cupcakes as you wish!
Recipe from Trader Joes

Pumpkin pillow cookies with brown butter frosting

Meet Dwight Eisenhower. He's our new pet. We call him Ike for short (or Craig, or Randy, depending on who you ask...). He enjoys apples, being scratched, and sitting in people's laps. Deighton and I just adopted him yesterday, and he's been an absolute joy to have so far. I can't wait to have guinea pig adventures with him, dressing him in felt hats, dinosaur costumes, etc! Slightly joking but mostly serious.

And he matches these fantastic pumpkin pillow cookies, which pretty much taste like clouds of pumpkin spice with a slightly nutty brown butter frosting. Which are so delicious that I may have to make a second batch.

For the cookies:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (14 ounces)
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the icing:

4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon evaporated milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla; mix until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture; mix until combined.

Transfer 1 1/2 cups batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip (such as Ateco #806). Pipe 1 1/2-inch rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until tops spring back, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.

While the cookies are baking, put confectioners' sugar in a large bowl; set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling pan occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Immediately add butter to confectioners' sugar, scraping any browned bits from sides and bottom of pan. Add evaporated milk and vanilla; stir until smooth. Spread about 1 teaspoon icing onto each cookie. If icing stiffens, stir in more evaporated milk, a little at a time.

Recipe from Martha Stewart

Pumpkin cheesecake muffins

There's nothing like cooking with friends. Everything tastes better, calories count less, and you get to be with the people you love. I highly recommend this recipe with friends on the side. So0o0o corny but so true.

For the muffkeys:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup canola (or /vegetable) oil)

For the cream cheese swirl:

8 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Add eggs, oil, milk, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. 

Grease muffin trays. Pour half of the pumpkin batter into 12 muffin cups. Then add half of the cream cheese filling on top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect. Scoop the remaining half of the pumpkin mixture into the 12 cups. Top with the second half of the cream cheese mixture. Swirl again with your knife to combine. Dust with ground cinnamon. Bake until knife comes out clean when inserted into muffin, about 20 minutes. 

Homemade pumpkin donuts

All I could think about yesterday was Linda's Donuts, this small donut shop in my hometown. Their donuts are so doughy and delicious. Rebe likes the airy sticky sweet ones, but I prefer the denser more crumbly ones. Either way, Linda's caters to our likes.

So I really wanted a donut this morning. Like Linda's. I scoured the world wide web for the perfect dense donut recipe. None of this baked bull, this is pure deep-fried goodness. And it was so easy, and fun. I am officially obsessed with deep-frying. I saved the oil so that I can make round two (chocolate donuts?) in the near future. And by near I mean tomorrow.

For the donuts:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree

For the buttermilk glaze:

3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Canola oil for frying

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, spice and sugar. Whisk together all of the remaining ingredients (except for the canola oil) in a second, medium bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir them around the bowl until the mixture is well combined. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, rolling the donut dough to approximately1/4-1/2″ thick. (I know this will seem quite thin, but the donuts puff up immensley while frying). Cut with a donut cutter.

Meanwhile, whisk the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, gently slide the donuts into the oil, frying on the first side until the edges of the donut are lightly browned, flip carefully and allow to cook on the other side until lightly browned. Remove and dunk immediately into buttermilk glaze. Allow to air dry on a cooling rack before serving.

Original recipe found here!