Sweaters, boots and Pumpkies too.

 Fall is finally starting to show up, at least a little bit, here in Southern California. Yesterday morning it was brisk enough to bundle up in a few layers and that's just what we did. I didn't even realized Nat and I were matching until we were out the door on our way to school. After dropping her off and taking Finn for a small walk, we headed back home and I took the opportunity to try my hand at a baking idea I had earlier this week.

I thought about the concept of brownies and figured why couldn't I do that with pumpkin instead. I have heard of pumpkin brownies and pumpkin bars but I wanted to be creative and try something different. And call it Pumpkies. So that's what I did. Following a basic brownies recipe, I used pumpkin instead of cocoa, whole wheat flour in place of all purpose flour and added cinnamon, ginger and chopped pecans.The result was more than I could expect! Everyone here loved them and since I had to play around with baking times and oven degrees, I made a second batch later in the evening to help finalize the recipe. Get ready for a moist, dense but not heavy, pumpkin pie like sweet treat.

Pumpkies
(italics, my own notes)

Soft butter, for greasing the pan
Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
1 1/4 pumpkin, canned
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole wheat flour, sifted

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cups chopped pecans


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan (I used a small casserole dish). In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow (Since I didn't have access to my mixer, I vigorously hand whisked the eggs). Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured pan and bake for 50 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool. Seriously, resist the urge! My first batch I couldn't wait and made a mess of it. A delicious, pumpkiny mess. See photo below.

(Adapted from Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies recipe)

 Thankful to have let the second batch cool through the night and have it waiting for me this morning, with a nice hot cup of coffee with cinnamon. Mmmm, Autumn goodness.

Andrea