Maple Pumpkin Cream Cheese Trifle

I'm not really a fan of Jello Brand's Pumpkin Spice pudding, but my mother-in-law buys it for me now annually, after Thanksgiving last year I had extra, so I made this trifle for my kids and they loved it.

Maple Pumpkin Cream Cheese Trifle

Ingredients
16oz pumpkin puree
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 heaping teaspoon ground flax (optional)
2 boxes Jello brand Instant Pumpkin Spice Pudding Mix
3 cups milk

16 oz container Cool Whip, divided
8oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
Optional garnishes: chocolate shavings, cinnnamon, mini chocolate chips, chopped up candy bits Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

In large mixing bowl combine pumpkin puree, oil, eggs & vanilla, using electric mixer, mix well until all is blended.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and ground flax. Gradually add dry mix to wet mix while continuing to mix with electric mixer until all is combined and well blended.

Grease an 11 inch by 16 inch baking pan or two smaller pans. Pour mixture into pan(s) and bake 20-30 minutes until tested with toothpick in center for doneness (20-30 minutes). Allow to cool completely.

Meanwhile prepare udding by combining milk and pudding mixes in mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer until pudding is thickened. Set aside.

Prepare frosting by beating the cream cheese until soft and creaming, gently folding in all but 2 cups of the Cool Whip.

Remove cake from pans and cut into 1 inch cubes (doesn't have to be perfect).

To assemble trifle, begin by placing cubes of cake in bottom of bowl for the first layer,. Top with layer of pudding, then top with layer of frosting. Repeat until you reach about 1 1/2 inches to top of trifle bowl. Use the reserved 2 cups of Cool Whip for the top layer. Optional: decorate the top of the trifle with either chocolate shavings, sprinkled cinnamon, mini chocolate chips or chopped up pieces of candy.

Sweet Potato Pie

When I was a kid, it was an elementary school tradition to serve single size sweet potato pies, 3rd grade was the first time I ever had sweet potato pie and I loved it! When I got older every now and then my mom would buy an Entenmann's brand Sweet Potato Pie - but it just wasn't quite the same - frankly it tasted just like their brand of Pumpkin Pie. So I eventually learned how to make my own. Sweet Potato Pie does taste similar to Pumpkin Pie, however it has a distinct Sweet Potato flavor that is unique and completely delicious.

My Sweet Potato Pie



Ingredients
1 (9inch) deep dish pie crust (frozen or homemade)
2 Sweet Potatoes (or golden yams), cooked & skin removed
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulate sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 + 1/8 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees
If you are using a homemade pie crust, press into pie tin, freeze until ready to use.

Place the sweet potatoes inside a large bowl. Using a mixer, blend the sweet potatoes smooth. Add the melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar and mix. Add the eggs one at a time, add the spices ( cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves), and the salt. Finally add the milk and mix until smooth.

Pour the pie mixture into a prepared pie pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until pie is set. Before placing the pie into the oven, place aluminum foil around the edges of the crust so the crust is light and flaky. Allow the pie to cool and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Note:
Please do not use canned precooked sweet potatoes, frankly they taste like a can. You can easily cook fresh sweet potatoes by boiling them the same way you boil potatoes, except do not cut the sweet potatoes or remove the skin until after they are cooked. Usually takes about 20 minutes to boil the sweet potatoes, to test for doneness, pierce sweet potatoes with a fork, if they are very soft then they are done.

Oreo Turkeys

I only made these one year, but they are adorable and yummy too. I might have the kids make them again this year as a little project to keep them busy since they have a 5 day holiday again this year.

Oreo Turkeys



Ingredients
24 Oreo Double Stuff cookies
12 miniature peanut butter cups
12 malted milk balls
1 cup candy corn
4 ounces chocolate frosting
4 ounces white frosting
red food coloring

Directions
Place one Oreo cookie as the base. Put one teaspoon of chocolate frosting on top.

Place one small peanut butter cup on it's side so that the top and bottom are perpendicular to the base -- and stuck in the frosting. Place a teaspoon of chocolate frosting on the top(widest part) of the p-butter cup.

For the second cookie. Stick some candy corn into the Oreo 'stuff' along one edge for the feathers -- pointy side down. They should fan out around the edge. If you have trouble doing this, you can help them stick with some white frosting.

Place this second Oreo cookie (the tail) on it's edge and sticking to a dab of brown frosting on the back of the peanut butter cup.

Place a dab of chocolate frosting on top of the peanut butter up (for the head). Place a malted milk ball on top for the head.

Take a small amount of the white frosting in a separate dish. Mix in red food coloring.

Use a toothpick with the white and red colors to place eyes, and wattle. You can pinch off the small pointy top of a candy corn and dip it in brown frosting for the beak.



As you can see from my images, I didn't follow the directions completely. I used Golden Oreos instead of regular chocolate Double Stuff Oreos and used mini chocolate chips instead of malted milk balls for the eyes. With all the new flavors of Oreos you can get very creative with these cookies - you can also buy the candy corn mix and mix up the chocolate and regular candy corns to represent the feathers. These cookies are very filling so if you're having a load of desserts already for your Thanksgiving meal, perhaps pick up some cellophane, wrap them up and hand them out as favors at the end of the evening.


Similar Turkey Cookie Ideas

My Pilgrim Hat Cookies
Turkey Pretzels
Rolo Pilgrim Hat Cookies
Turkey Nutter Butter Cookies
Chocolate Covered Oreo Turkeys

Turkey Pretzels

This is a possible new addition this year - I'm thinking if I have the time to make these as take-home party favors.

Turkey Pretzels



Ingredients
1 (16 oz.) package Chocolate Candy Coating
Ritz crackers
1 bag candy corn
Pretzel rods
Heart sprinkles
confetti sprinkles, white
Edible marker, black
optional: nonpareil sprinkles

Instructions
Melt Chocolate in tray according to directions on package.

Dip the tops of the crackers in Chocolate and place on wax paper. Before dry, attach 4 pieces of candy corn near the top edge of each cracker. Let set.

Dip ¾ of each pretzel rod in the Chocolate CANDIQUIK, allow excess coating to drip off, then press and hold the pretzel rod against the cracker until secure.

Before pretzel is completely dry, press one candy corn on the pretzel rod as the nose, holding in place until secure.

Sprinkle nonpareils near the bottom of the pretzel if desired.

Press two white confetti sprinkles on the pretzel rod as the eyes and press a heart sprinkle (upside-down) below the candy corn nose (be careful not to touch the chocolate coating).
Finally, add two black dots on the eyes with the edible marker.

Triple Layer Pumpkin Spice Pie

A couple of years ago they came out with Jello Brand Instant Pumpkin Spice Pudding. My mother-in-law picked up several packages for me along with this recipe. Its really not my "cup of tea" but everyone in the family who tried it likes it.

Triple Layer Pumpkin Spice Pie
Ingredients
2 packages Jello Instant Pumpkin Spice Pudding mix
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups milk
1 ready made graham cracker pie crust
8oz tub cool whip

Beat pudding, cinnamon & milk together until thick. Spread 1 1/2 cups into bottom of pie crust.

In remaining pudding mix, stir in 1 1/2 cups cool whip. Spread in crust on top of pudding layer.

Top with remaining cool whip.

Refrigerate 1 hour before serving.

Note: because I have so many pies every Thanksgiving, what I do instead is layer the pudding in glass dessert cups instead of the pie crust, for a decorative touch, you can stick a graham cracker square in the center of the pudding.

Autumn Cupcakes

I forgot exactly how I came up with this recipe, I just remember having too much apple cider one year and my daughter wanted to make cupcakes for everyone for Thanksgiving.

Autumn Cupcakes aka Apple Cider Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons applesauce or canola oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup apple cider

Frosting Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup caramel sauce

Cupcake Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder & salt together. Set aside.

Beat butter & sugars together. Add eggs 1 at a time, then vanilla and applesauce. Stir in cider. Slowly add dry ingredients until all is mixed well.

Pour into paper lined muffin cups.

Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in center cupcakes comes out clean.

Cool Completely.

Frosting Directions
Cream together butter and cream cheese. Slowly drizzle in caramel sauce. Refrigerate in airtight container until cupcakes are completely cooled

Once cupcakes are completely cooled, frost them.

Note:
1. Candy corn pumpkins and regular candy corns on top of frosted cupcakes makes a festive decoration.

My Pumpkin Pie

Nothing better then homemade pumpkin pie. I absolutely HATE canned pumpkin, so for the last 7 years I've been making my own homemade pumpkin. There's several ways to make homemade pumpkin puree, but I find the easiest way is to boil the pumpkin, the way you would a yam. Depending upon the size of a pumpkin you choose to cook, you'll likely end up with extra pumpkin - more then you'll need for 1 or 2 pumpkin pies. If your not intending to make other pumpkin dishes immediately, you can easily store whats left over in the freezer. You can either carefully pour it into a zip lock bag (be sure to flatten it out in the freezer so it doesn't take up too much space, or a food saver vacuum seal bag or in a freezer safe plastic container.

If your planning to use canned pumpkin, you can skip to the bottom of the page for the pie recipe.

Pureed Pumpkin



What you need: 1 pumpkin, any size (except the mini's of course)
Water
Directions:
Start by washing the outside of the pumpkin with warm water & dish soap - rinse well. Next cut off the top of the pumpkin, cut the pumpkin into large chunks, then remove the seeds and stringy stuff. If you like to roast the seeds, store the seeds in an air tight container or zip lock in the fridge until you are ready to use them.

Next you may want to cut the chunks into smaller pieces - 2 - 3 inch squares are perfect. This is so they fit easier in a stock pot, plus the smaller they are the quicker they cook, just don't cut them too small.

Put all the pumpkin pieces into a large stock pot - if your cooking a really large pumpkin or more then one, you may need to use two pots (last year I had 3 large pumpkins, took three 14 quart stock pots). Fill with water to cover completely. Bring to a boil on the stove, and continuously boil, until pumpkin is tender and starts to pull away. This usually takes about 20 minutes.

Once pumpkin is fully cooked, drain into a large colander. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes - i'm very impatient and never do this so I end up with burned finger tips every year. Once the pumpkin pieces are cool enough to handle, remove skins - some might already have fallen off while boiling. Discard the skins, place cooked pumpkin in a large bowl. Once all skins are removed, in batches, puree in blender until smooth.

Allow cooked pumpkin to cool completely before using it for pumpkin pie. It will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, so if your not planning to use it right away, store in the freezer, will keep up to a year in the freezer if store in food saver vacuum sealed bags.

My Pumpkin Pie




Ingredients
2 cups pumpkin puree (or 1 15oz can pumpkin)
14oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
9 inch deep dish unbaked pie shell

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F

Whisk pumpkin, condensed milk, eggs, spices & salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into pie shell.

Bake 15 minutesat 425F.

Reduce heat to 350F, continue baking 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Grandma's Apple Pie

My maternal grandmother made the most amazing apple pies. I've never experienced her baking myself, but my grandfather and mother talked often about it. One of my aunt's made an apple pie based on my grandmother's recipe, however she added too much cinnamon - resulted in it tasting like a Big Red Gum Apple Pie lol. Seven years ago I found an apple pie recipe in an old Taste of Home recipe book, I altered it slightly based on what my mother told me she knew of her mother's recipe and we have a winner - tastes just like Grandma's Apple Pie.

Grandma's Apple Pie



Crust Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2/3 cups butter, frozen for 15 minutes & cut into 1/2 inch cubes
4-5 tablespoons water


Crust Directions:
Combine flour, salt, sugar & spices in food processor. Pulse to mix. Add butter, pulse again until the mixture resembles coarse meal (do not leave the processor on, just pulse several times). Butter will be pea size. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulse till mixture holds together.

Divid dough in half, shape into 2 disks. Wrap 1 in plastic wrap and refrigerate. On a lightly floured surace, roll out the other disk into a 12" circle. Place in a 9 inch pie pan. Trim to 1/2 inch from rim of pan.

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
6 cups granny smith apples, cored, peeled, & sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 tablespoon butter, melted 1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F.

In large bowl, combine all filling ingredients except apples, butter & 1 teaspoon sugar. Add apples, toss lightly to coat. Spoon into crust. Any remaining coating ingredients pour over apples in crust.

Roll out remaining pie crust into 12 inch circle. Place over pie. Crumb or flue crust. Brush with melted butter; sprinkle with sugar. Cut a few slits around the top crust to vent (at least 4 around pie, plus 1 in the center). Cover edge of crust with 2 inches of foil. Bake for 35 at 400f; remove foil and continue to bake 10-20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned & juice just begins to bubble. Remove from oven and cool for 30 minutes.

My "Famous" Peanut Butter Pie

My husband, my kids and most of my in-laws LOVE peanut butter and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I absolutely hate them - which is ironic because I do so much baking with these ingredients (but never eat any of it). I tried several peanut butter pie recipes over the years, but this is the one everyone loves the most. Its a very simple recipe, takes only about 10 minutes to make.

My Famous Peanut Butter Pie aka Peanut Butter Cup Pie



Ingredients
8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
16oz container cool whip, thawed & divided in half
2 packages instant chocolate pudding (3.9oz each)
2 1/2 cups milk
10 peanut butter cups, divided
1 9 inch ready made pie crust (graham or chocolate)

Directions: Using an electricc mixer, beat together cream cheese, peanut butter & confectioners sugar until creamy. Fold in 8oz of the cool whip. Set aside

In another bowl, beat pudding and milk together until thickened. Set aside.

Finely chop 6 of the peanut butter cups. Set aside.

Cut the remaining peanut butter cups in half. Set aside

Remove plastic cover from pie crust. Carefully spoon peanut butter mixture into bottom of the crust. Sprinkle with chopped peanut butter cups. Spoon pudding mixture over peanut butter cup layer. Spread the remaining cool whip over pudding. Place the halved peanut butter cups evenly around the pie. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 6 hours before serving.

Note:
1. You may use instant vanilla pudding instead of chocolate.
2. Try adding 1 tablespoon of peanut butter to the pudding when beating the pudding & milk together.
3. Everyone tends to fight over getting a piece of peanut butter cup on the top of the pie, so I started cutting them into fours and layering them all around the top of the pie so everyone gets a piece.

Pilgram Hat Cookies

This tradition I started my first Thanksgiving. Found the idea in Taste of Home Magazine. I had to change out 1 ingredient because I couldn't find it anywhere, but the results were fabulous anyway. I always have my kids help make these, this year I think I'm going to trust them to do it entirely on their own. They are very easy to make and loads of fun for the kids.

Pilgram Hat Cookies



Ingredients
1 package (11 1/2oz) fudge stripe cookies
1 cup vanilla frosting
7 drops yellow frosting
32 mini peanut butter cups
32 candy corns - cut the orange tops off, thats the only portion you'll need for these

Directions:
In small bowl combine food coloring with frosting, mix to combine. Remove wrapping & paper liners from peanut butter cups.

Holding the bottom of a peanut butter cup, dip top of each cup in frosting. Position over the center hole of the bottom of the cookie (stripes side should face down). Add an orange tip of candy corn for the hat buckle. Repeat for remaining cookies.

Note: The original recipe said to use mini chicklets gum for the buckles - however I cannot find these anywhere anymore. You may also use mini chocolate chips instead of candy corn for the buckle.

For anyone with peanut butter allergies, you can replace the peanut butter cups with Rolo Candies instead

Similar Turkey Cookie Ideas

My Turkey Oreo Cookies
Turkey Pretzels
Rolo Pilgrim Hat Cookies
Turkey Nutter Butter Cookies
Chocolate Covered Oreo Turkeys

Candied Pecans

Appetizer or Dessert? I only made these once a few years ago, I served them as an appetizer and they were quite yummy.

Candied Pecans
Ingredients
2 3/4cup pecan halves
2 tablespoons butter, softened, divided
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place pecans in a shallow baking pan, in a 250F oven for 10 minutes or until warmed.

Grease a 15inch x 10inch baking pan with 1 tablespoon butter; set aside.

Grease the sides of a large heavy saucepan with remaining butter; add sugar, water, salt & cinnamon. Cook and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Cover and cook for 2 minutes to dissolve sugar crystals.

Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 236 (soft ball stage). Remove from heat; add vanilla. Stir in warm pecans until evenly coated.

Spread onto prepared baking pan. Bake at 250F for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Spread on a waxed paper lined baking sheet to cool.

Yield: about 1 pound

Note: the original recipe said to use regular white granulated sugar. I prefer the dark brown sugar because it adds a caramel like flavor to the pecans.