Stuffed Pumpkin with Cheese, Bacon and Chipotles

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a FREE copy of A Cook's book for Cooks! Click HERE to enter!

Halloween may be over but that's no reason to say good bye to the beloved pumpkin. The orange squash is king of Autumn and until December 21, it's still Autumn, so bring on the pumpkin recipes! Today I happily share with you a pumpkin stuffed with cheese, bacon and chipotle chilies. Holy cow, this thing is good! And rich! And delicious!! This gorgeous dish was found at the Homesick Texan's site. I'm not from Texas (I'm from Michigan!) but this dish makes me homesick for Texas as well!!

The stuffing in this pumpkin is filled with all sorts of deliciousness: French bread cubes, Gruyere and white cheddar cheeses, thick cut bacon and spicy smoky chipotles. A touch of garlic, cumin and cream crown the already rich and flavorful filling. After a long 2 hour baking time the pumpkin is tender and easily scrapes out of it's shell. The sweet and yet bland squash play perfectly with the spicy and rich filling.

Stuffed pumpkin makes a great lunch on its own or would be perfect as a side dish. It'd also be very welcome on the Thanksgiving table. Imagine if you will, the beautiful turkey, golden brown and fragrant, the bowl of red glistening cranberry sauce, fluffy white mashed potatoes, rich brown gravy and this, amazing orange whole baked pumpkin stuffed with cheesy spicy goodness. It's truly a vision of delicious loveliness!

Stuffed Pumpkin with Cheese, Bacon and Chipotles
Source: Homesick Texan
Makes: 4 servings

One 3-to-4 pound pie pumpkin
Salt and black pepper to taste
4 ounces French bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 pound Gruyere, shredded (1 cup)
1/4 pound white cheddar, shredded (1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 or 2 chipotle chiles en adobo, diced (depending on how fiery you want it)
1/4 pound cooked bacon, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Small pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half

Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8 pan or baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

With a sharp knife, cut a circle around the pumpkin stem about 1 inch away from the stem. Remove the top and clean out the seeds and stringy bits from inside the pumpkin. (You can save the seeds for roasting, if you like.) Lightly salt and pepper the inside of the pumpkin.

Toss together the bread cubes, shredded Gruyere, shredded cheddar, garlic, diced chipotle chiles and cooked bacon, and stuff into the pumpkin. Stir the cumin and nutmeg into the cream, adding a bit of salt and black pepper to taste. Pour cream mixture into pumpkin over bread and cheese.

Place the top back on the pumpkin, and place the pumpkin into the baking pan. Bake for 2 hours or until filling is brown and bubbling.

To serve, remove the top and spoon out portions of the filling along with bits of the cooked pumpkin. You can either leave it in the pan, or by using the foil or parchment paper, you can carefully lift it out of the pan and place it on a platter. Serve warm.



Nutrition Facts calculated at SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 497.3
Total Fat 30.4 g
Saturated Fat 18.7 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.4 g
Cholesterol 101.9 mg
Sodium 1,691.2 mg
Potassium 1,004.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate 37.5 g
Dietary Fiber 4.9 g
Sugars 4.2 g
Protein 21.9 g

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

On a chilly fall afternoon nothing smells or feels quite as homey as a batch of pumpkin baked goods in the oven. That's what the Witch was thinking when she went blog surfing to find a new and different pumpkin recipe to make. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bars: been there, done that. I wanted something different, not seen before in the Kitchen Witches' kitchen. That's when I went to the guru of all things pumpkin, Annie of Annie's Eats!! Annie is a certified pumpkin lover and I knew that if I was looking for baked delicious pumpkin goods Annie's site was the place to be.

I was right! After browsing her pumpkin collection I stumbled upon pumpkin whoopie pies. I'd seen these on her site before. Heck, I had bookmarked them on my old computer, but it died before I could make them. Now was the time!! The Kitchen Witch has never made whoopie pies before so I had no point of reference to go by other than what I knew about the pies; soft, fluffy cake cookies with a creamy filling. Annie's recipe provided both of those things. The pumpkin cake is soft and tender like most pumpkin baked goods are, delicatly flavored with spices and just sweet enough. The filling is the amazing, cream cheese maple icing!! Seriously, this is the best and easiest cream cheese icing I've ever attempted.

The whoopie pies come together quickly; the batter is scooped onto sheet trays with a 1.5T scooper and after a 12 minute bake they're done. After mixing up the delicious icing in the stand mixer I transferred it to a large plastic bag which I cut the end off one corner to make a piping bag. A quick swirl of filling and the pies are finished with a topping cake. Whoopie pies have captured our hearts and taste buds, so much so that the Husband asked for these as his birthday cake. I take that as recipe success anyday! Thanks Annie for the great recipe, we love it!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Source: Annie's Eats
Makes: 32 pies

For the pumpkin cookies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup canola oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the maple cream cheese filling:
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
To make the pumpkin cookies, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and spices. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk sugars and oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.

Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets (about 1.5-2 tablespoons.), about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the pan for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

To make the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter until smooth with no visible lumps. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat the filling or it will lose structure.

To assemble, turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe filling onto the flat side of the overturned cookies. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm before serving.



Nutrition Facts calculated by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 262.2
Total Fat 12.6 g
Saturated Fat 4.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 5.7 g
Cholesterol 27.1 mg
Sodium 210.8 mg
Potassium 109.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 38.4 g
Dietary Fiber 0.7 g
Sugars 27.8 g
Protein 2.3 g

Pumpkin Waffles

Fall is upon us and that means pumpkin time is here! If you read many blogs you'll know that everyone's been on the pumpkin band wagon. The Kitchen Witch is no exception. I can't get enough of those orange globes, they just scream fall and Halloween to me, both of which are amongst my very favorite things ever! Add in the cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg that go so well with winter squash and I'm a very happy Witch indeed.

What do you do when you wake up and its the first day that it feels like fall, finally AND you're a pumpkin fiend? You make pumpkin waffles, of course! A quick trip to Smitten Kitchen yielded a recipe that was indeed drool worthy: Pumpkin waffles, the perfect thing for a cold, cloudy perfectly fall day.

The recipe calls for whipping the egg whites and folding them into the batter. Yes, that's extra work but believe me, it's worth it. It really helps keep the waffles light, fluffy and crispy. Pumpkin is notorious for making a dense, moist product and you really do need this extra step to avoid those pitfalls. If you have a stand mixer simply start your egg whites whipping while you mix the other wet ingredients with the dry. By the time you're done with that the egg whites are done, too. So really, it doesn't take any extra time at all, I'm magickal like that!

This recipe makes a LOT of waffles. We ate about half a batch and I froze the rest. They reheated beautifully in the toaster from a frozen state. The little Witch really loved these and has been bugging me to make her more of them. Who am I to say no!

Pumpkin Waffles
makes 24 single 4 in waffles
recipe from Smitten Kitchen
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2 t cinnamon, ground
1 t ginger, ground
1/8 t cloves, ground
2 c milk +juice of 1 lemon
OR 2 c buttermilk (in lieu of the milk and lemon)
6 T butter, melted (3/4 stick)
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1/3 c brown sugar
4 eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron. Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until combined.

See how lumpy it is? That's OK. The lumps will work themselves out, don't worry!

In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Folk them gently into the waffle batter, until just combined.

Notice the streaks of egg whites? Again that's OK, it will all work out in the end. Please don't be tempted to over mix the batter, the lumps and streaks are what gives you the lightness you're looking for. Its Magick, folks!

Brush waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter (about 1/2 cups for each 4-inch Belgian waffles) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.



Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.

Nutrition Facts

Pumpkin Waffles provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving (1 waffle each)
Calories 109.9
Total Fat 4.1 g
Saturated Fat 2.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.2 g
Cholesterol 44.0 mg
Sodium 138.0 mg
Potassium 101.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 16.4 g
Dietary Fiber 0.8 g
Sugars 5.2 g
Protein 3.2 g