Pumpkin Cream Cheese Coffeecake

Last fall we canned some pumpkin and it has been fantastic!  I pulled out a quart this week and asked Lily what we should make that wasn't too pumpkin-pie-ish.   This is what she came up with.   It was wonderful.    Seriously wonderful.

Basically it's three parts:  pumpkin, ginger spiced cake, and cream cheese chunks - all swirled together and baked.   Yum!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Coffeecake 
www.rurification.com

1/2 cup butter
1 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp powdered ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 8oz pkg cream cheese cut into small cubes
1 quart canned pumpkin

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Grease 9x13 pan.

Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs.  Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and spices in separate bowl and gradually add to the butter/egg mixture alternating with the milk. Begin and end with the flour mix.   Pour the pumpkin into the bottom of the prepared pan. Fold the cream cheese into the batter and pour on top of the pumpkin. Swirl with a knife to marble the two.

Bake for 60 minutes or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Blintzes

Need something easy and fabulous for breakfast to celebrate the new year?    You have to try some blintzes! 

Blintzes are a glorified pancake - or crepe, if you will.

We certainly will.   We love these.

Love them, I tell you.   With the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.    My 'I hate breakfast' kid will eat four of them.   FOUR.   This is nothing short of miraculous. 

Here's a great recipe for crepes from allrecipes.com.    Make them very thin so they'll be easy to fold up.    To turn the crepes into blintzes, you fill them with a sweet cheesy mixture and then fold them up and cook them again. 

Blintz Filling
www.rurification.com

• 1 package cream cheese, 8 oz  or 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
• splash of vanilla
• optional 2 Tablespoons marmalade

Combine all ingredients well.   Put a spoonful of cream filling in a crepe, then fold the sides over or roll them up.   Fold the open ends up toward the center and then gently put the filled crepe back in a skillet to brown a bit more.   Gently turn over and brown the top.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar.   Serve with generous amounts of marmalade or jam.

Tip:  Have two skillets going - one for the crepes and one for the blintzes.   You only need small skillets.  You do not need special pans.  


Want the recipe for Orange Marmalade and a whole lot of other terrific jam recipes?   Check out my ebook:  A Simple Jar of Jam  at www.rurification.etsy.com.   You can preview the book by clicking the link on the sidebar.  Every purchase helps support this site.  Thank you!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cream Cheese Coffeecake

The strawberries, like everything else around here, are early  this year. 

They're beautiful!   And delicious.    We had these in a strawberry rhubarb cream cheese coffecake. 

I'd have taken a pic, but we ate it too fast.

De. Lish.

Here's the recipe anyway. 


Strawberry Rhubarb Cream Cheese Coffeecake

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups plus 1/4 cup flour [divided for batter and fruit]
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 8oz pkg cream cheese cut into small cubes
• 2 cups rhubarb, washed and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces.
• 2 cups strawberries, washed hulled and sliced.

Topping

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cold butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.   Grease 9x13 pan.

Toss the fruit with 1/4 cup of flour and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar.  Beat in the eggs.   

Combine flour, baking powder, salt in separate bowl and gradually add to the butter/egg mixture alternating with the milk.  Begin and end with the flour mix.

Fold the fruit and cream cheese into the batter and pour into the greased 9x13 pan.

Topping:  Cut flour, sugar and butter together until crumbly with a pastry blender or in your food processor.      Sprinkle over batter.

Bake for 60 minutes or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.  

Warning:  This is extremely delicious and very addictive.   You can cut the recipe in half.   You can use any kind of fruit you want.   We've tried it with mixed berries, too.   Mmmmm.