My sister Anne has moved to our town! We haven’t been closer than 800 miles to family since we moved to California, so having a family member just one mile away is soooo exciting for us. My girls are especially ecstatic and are planning their first sleepover at Auntie Anne’s apartment on Friday!

Anne’s Twitter and Blogger profiles state the following: “I’m night blind but I make the best pumpkin squares you’ve ever had.” Well, after years of reading this every time I visited her blog, I decided it was time to have Anne prove herself. First, we made her drive around at night without her glasses on. Then, we made her throw together some pumpkin squares. Okay, scratch that first part, but I did beg her to make pumpkin squares last night and she happily obliged.

And I think they might have been the best pumpkin squares I’ve ever had. Especially hot out of the oven…be still my chocolate-loving heart. And yeah, yeah, they’re pumpkin. I stand by the fact that pumpkin can be enjoyed at all times of the year, even if the leaves on the trees aren’t turning orange and falling to the ground.

Anne, we’re so happy you’re a Californian now. (And, don’t worry, it’s not just because of the pumpkin squares…although those certainly don’t hurt!)

Anne's Pumpkin Squares

 

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From Anne Wallin, adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe

Author: Jane Maynard

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt (if using un-salted butter, ¾ tsp)
• 1 cup butter
• 1¼ cups sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1½ cup pumpkin puree (sometimes Anne adds more, but no more than 2 cups)
• Bittersweet chocolate chips (about 1 or 2 cups, depending on how much you like chocolate)

Instructions

1. Whisk flour, cinnamon, soda and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar in mixer until well-mixed. Beat in egg. Add vanilla, mix. Beat in pumpkin puree so it looks lumpy and sort of curdled. Mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
2. Spread in 9×13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes – the edges will pull away from the side and the toothpick should come out clean (with maybe a crumb or too on the toothpick).

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On Halloween I thought it would be fun to have something “pumpkiny” for breakfast. While we are loving the pumpkin-pancakes, we’ve eaten them a lot lately so I needed to mix it up. Our local bagel shop was out of pumpkin bagels. Before we could feel too disappointed, a light bulb went off in my head. Pumpkin cream cheese! It was a simple recipe to whip up, and a big hit with everyone in the family. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Spread

 

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From Jane Maynard, This Week for Dinner

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. Blend all ingredients together with a hand mixer. Spread on a plain bagel or equally complimentary flavored bagel.

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