Pumpkin (enter baked good here):
1 cup pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix!)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Lightly beat eggs in a medium bowl, then add pumpkin puree, sugar, and oil and combine well.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients. Mix just until combined.
Now, for the first recipe (the easier/less time consuming of the two), Pumpkin Muffins with cream cheese filling and a pecan topping*. I've been making these every year for as long as I can remember, and I've never met anyone who didn't love them. They are by far the most requested baked good around this time of year.
Here's what else you need for the muffins:
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
about 3-4 tablespoons sugar, depending on your preference
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Combine the cream cheese and the sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
Combine the brown sugar, flour, butter, and pecans in another small bowl and set aside.
*The pecan topping that I use is a super secret family recipe for a sweet potato casserole that my late Aunt Rosey used to make for Thanksgiving every year, so I've pulled another one from here which looks pretty similar.
Now, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 12-cup muffin tins by either greasing them or inhabiting with a paper liner. Drop enough pumpkin batter into each cup so that it covers the bottom, about 1 1/2 tablespoons. Take about 1-2 teaspoons of the cream cheese mixture and press it into the pumpkin mixture in each muffin cup (but don't press it all the way to the bottom of the muffin cup), then cover the cream cheese with the remaining pumpkin batter. Evenly distribute the pecan topping over the muffins and bake for 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through (two pans don't fit next to each other in my oven, so I put 1 pan on each oven rack and then switch them halfway through the baking process). Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then move the muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.
These muffins won't remain uneaten long enough for you to worry about them expiring, so just don't worry.
Incidentally, these muffins are also really good if you throw a cup of chocolate chips into the batter. Which brings me to my next point: Pumpkin Spice Cake Truffles, also known as Cake Balls.
Here's what else you need for the truffles:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
slightly less than 1/2 stick butter, softened
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
24 oz semisweet chocolate chips (at least! you need a lot of chocolate for the dipping process)
vegetable shortening
Preheat your oven to 325F. Grease and flour a 9x13 in baking pan, then dump in your pumpkin mixture and bake it until it's done (meaning you can stick a toothpick in there and it comes out clean), about 40-50 minutes I think. Keep an eye on it though because I can't remember exactly how long I baked it for. When the cake is done, cool it in the pan for 10 minutes or so, then flip it out onto a cooling rack. Cut it into large pieces to speed up the cooling process.
In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until very thoroughly mixed. Add the salt and vanilla and beat to combine. A little at a time, beat the powdered sugar into the cream cheese mixture until you've reached the desired sweetness. You don't want it to be too sweet because you're going to add it to the pumpkin later and then dip it all in chocolate, and I hear diabetes is difficult to manage. By the way, you've just made some form of cream cheese icing.
When the cake is completely cooled and the icing is ready, crumble the cake into the large bowl which conveniently already contains your icing! The cake will be moist and delicious, so feel free to eat a couple bites but don't worry if it smooshes and sticks rather than crumbles. With a fork, mix the cake into the icing. Seriously, use a fork. Prongs will further break up the cake pieces in the mixing process, so if you have a 5-pronged fork, that's even better. Use a spatula or something to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure all the icing is mixed into the cake. Cover your bowl and go watch Modern Family or something for a little while.
When you come back later, mix up your pumpkin cake/cream cheese icing mixture, then prepare every single baking sheet/tray you can find in your house because I'm telling you, you're going to need it. And by "prepare" I mean cover in a layer of waxed paper. With one of those nifty cookie dough scoops (or a spoon if you don't have a cool scooper), scoop the cake mixture and roll into a ball, then put the ball on the baking sheet and leave him be. Make him some friends. Trays and trays of friends. It took me 4 trays total with these little cake buddies pretty close together. After you fill a tray, stick it in the freezer.
When you have exhausted your cake mixture supplies, get a medium bowl and a metal pot, and make a double boiler in this manner: Fill the pot with about 1-2 inches of water, and put your bowl on top of that. If the bottom of the bowl is sitting in the water, dump some of the water out; you don't want the bowl to fraternize with the water! It might burn your chocolate :( Next, turn the stove on high to get your water boiling and add a bunch of chocolate chips to your bowl, then throw in a tablespoon or two of shortening for good measure. If your water starts boiling and spitting steam/boiling droplets of water at you from the crack between the pot and the bowl, turn your water down to medium-lowish, and keep it at a simmer. Once the chocolate and shortening are melted and mixed together, turn off the stove and remove the bowl from atop the pot (but keep the pot nearby in case the chocolate becomes too cool and needs remelting).
Keeping all but the tray you're working with in the freezer, coat the cake balls in the chocolate by letting them frolic in the mud one at a time. You can use a fork to do this, or a spoon, or your fingers (but be careful with fingers because the chocolate will be really hot!). Then use desired instrument to remove them from the chocolate and return to their original place on the tray. (It's very important that you don't let them get out of order.) Once all of the truffles have been chocolatized, stick the pan in the fridge so the chocolate can harden.
Store these guys in a tupperware (or six or seven. Seriously, this recipe makes A LOT) in the fridge.
If you make this, I advise you to either go ride your bike or buy stretchy pants because these things are addictive. You've been warned.
