Pumpkin Cream Cheese Scones

Pumpkin is one of those recipes in which you are a fan or not. I am a huge fan of pumpkin. I'm not picky either I like pumpkin bread or pumpkin pasta. My husband doesn't encourage me to make pumpkin recipes. Maybe he thinks I would go overboard? Unbeknown to him, I have a recipe that recently asked me to make a pumpkin recipe. To please my sister and my love for pumpkin, I decided I would make something for breakfast. Just because it is almost Thanksgiving, the kids expect me to feed them a couple meals before the big feast. Muffins were my first choice but I realized I hadn't made scones lately.

I decided to take one of my favorite pumpkin muffin recipes and adapt it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The dough was sticky but when it came out it tasted really good. So, I tried again the next day and added more flour but I still thought the dough seemed too sticky. However, it still tasted really good. My daughter brought some to school and shared with her classmates. They told my daughter they loved it. I even had a friend sample it and he really liked it. My husband brought three pieces to work for his lunch.

The cream cheese filling spread over the dough

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Scones
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
6 Tbsp butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin
1/4 cup heavy cream

Direction:

1. In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar. 
2. Place in the refrigerator to chill for several hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner. 
5. In a food processor, add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and baking soda. Pulse 10 times.
6. Add the butter and pulse about 10 to 15 times.
7. Add the egg, pumpkin, and heavy cream. Pulse about 10 times or just combined.
8. Scoop half the batter and add to the middle of the baking sheet.
9. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough. (See photo above.)
10. Cover the cream cheese mixture with the remaining dough.
11. Bake the dough for about 20 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and cut into wedges and return to the oven. Bake for another 5 minutes or until the center of the wedge is cooked. (If a toothpick is inserted, the center will be gooey due to the cream cheese mixture.)

Recipe inspired by Annie's Eats.

A year ago................................I made Pancakes. 

Did you already know................
-Pumpkins are native to Central America.
-The colonist cooked pumpkins over hot coals with the inside filled with honey, milk, and spices.
-Pumpkins are grown all over the world beside Antarctica.

Happy Thanksgiving from Sweet Morris! 

I am thankful you took the time to stop by.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I will occasionally ask my youngest daughter to go downstairs and get her sibling. Instead, she will holler for them while she is next to me. Does anyone in your house do this? I want to make sure it isn't just mine. 

  I think she just likes to holler. One day, we were all downstairs and my youngest daughter started to holler for her dad. He would holler back, "yea." She wouldn't answer but she kept hollering for him. Since my husband was busy, he just kept hollering back up to her. After a few minutes of this exchange, the next time my daughter hollered for "Dad", my husband responded "There is no one here with that name." It was suddenly quiet since she didn't know how to respond back but my youngest son did. My son turns to his dad and said, "Hey, whoever you are, she wants you." Then he smiles at my husband and says, "Did you like that better?"

  Yum! Whoopie Pies! They remind me of a cupcake with the filling in the middle instead of on top.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Whoopie Pie Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup of apple sauce
3 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whoopie Pie Filling:
4 oz of cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup powder sugar
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
4. In another bowl, cream the brown sugar with the vegetable oil and applesauce.
5. Add the pumpkin to the sugar mixture and beat.
6. Add the eggs one at a time then the vanilla. Mix well.
7. Slowly, add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture.
8. Mix until incorporated.
9. Spoon about 1/4 cup of batter onto the baking sheet. Try to make the sizes.
10. Cook for about 15 minutes.**Prepare the filling while waiting**
11. Let cool on cookie rack for five minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
12. Prepare the next batch of cakes and place in the oven

**Whoopie Pie Filling:
Let cool completely about 30 minutes before frosting.

For the filling, combine the cream cheese, pumpkin, and the butter.
Add the powder sugar to the filling mixture.
Mix in the spices into the filling mixture until well incorporated. Refrigerate.

Whoopie Pie Cake recipe adapted from Bake at 350. Whoopie Pie Filling recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.

See the eyeball?

I highly recommend you to make these whoopie pies before someone hollers your name! My oldest daughter gave her best friend one and after each bite she would say, "I love your Mom." My husband doesn't like pumpkin (I guess he knows it is a vegetable) and he liked them.

The oldest daughter!

Did you already know.............
-The Maine State treat is the Maine Whoopie Pie.
-The Maine State dessert if the Blueberry Pie.
-The Whoopie Pie festival is held in Pennsylvania. 
-The Whoopie Pie has been argued to originated in Pennsylvania, Maine, or Massachusetts.