It is no surprise to anyone who knows me, even a little bit, that the next three months are my favorite time of the whole year. All good things happen in the months of September, October, and November. Even Christmas couldn’t top all the wonderful things I am anticipating in the upcoming months.
September is when the Hubster and I head up to the mountains and pick apples for our annual apple pies. We drive on up to Flat Rock and spend the day at family run, Sky Top Orchards. It is literally on top of Mt. McAlpine and we go through fields and fields of orchards, picking our favorite gala, rome, and cameo apples. We also make sure to stop by inside where we can pick up 2 or 3 dozen of their freshly made apple cinnamon donuts, apple butter, and fresh apple cider. Then we take them all home and spend the day coring, peeling and preparing them for apple pies that I will freeze for the upcoming holidays.
October has not only Halloween, but also the Carolina Renaissance Festival. I had never been until last year and now the Hubs and I are considering buying season tickets. Well, not considering….we are. I love the food fare, shows and demonstrations, and the overall atmosphere of the whimsical and carefree lifestyle that makes up the Carolina Renaissance Fair. I even have my very own pair of elfish ears that I got last year. I swear it. And I will wear them this year. Because.
And November has the best holiday ever, Thanksgiving. In years past, the family has gotten together to have the traditional Thanksgiving feast. Mom and I get up early to get the turkey prepared and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year, we are putting away those pots and pans and Mom, the Hubs, and I are heading down to Savannah to celebrate.
But my absolute favorite thing about all three months is that it gives me an excuse to bake with pumpkins. I could totally go ona Forest Gump rant about pumpkins. You can bake it, broil it, saute it. There’s pumpkin cookies. Pumpkin cupcakes. Pumpkin Lattes. Get the idea?
How about one more? Like this Pumpkin Biscoff Bread.
I have not one, but two pumpkin bread pans. I tried to tell ya. Obsessed. I like this one best because of the baby pumpkins that are just beginning to grow. Cuteness in a pan.
In addition to adding creamy Biscoff spread to the batter, I also crumbled Biscoff cookies into my steusel. It was totally worth it. I love the flavor of pumpkim with biscoff. If you have never tried biscoff cookies or creamy spread, try your specialty stores, like World Market or Williams Sonoma.
I also drizzled a simple icing made from milk or cream, corn syrup, vanilla, and confectioners sugar. Although it would be perfectly delightful without it.
Recipe by Carrie
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking spice, or 1 teaspoon cinnamon & 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup pure pumpkin
- 1/4 cup biscoff creamy spread
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons{3/4 stick} butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup biscoff cookies, crumbled
- 2 tablespoons baking spice {cinnamon & nutmeg}
- 2 tablespoons butter, cold
Instructions
- Combine the flour, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, and baking spice in a food processor and combine.
- Add the butter and biscoff cookies to the dry ingredients in the food processor bowl.
- Process the mixture until the butter and cookies have broken down into small pebble pieces.
- Set aside.
- Adjust your oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat oven to 350°.
- Spray the bottom and sides of your loaf pan with flour spray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking spice, and salt; set aside.
- In your stand mixer bowl, combine utter, pumpkin, biscoff spread, and sour cream.
- Add eggs, one at a time.
- Add vanilla extract.
- Slowly add your dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Lightly dust the bottom and sides of your prepared pan with the streusel.
- Scrape the batter into the pan.
- Sprinkle the top with additional steusel. {You will most likely have extra streusel.}
- Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 55 minutes.
- Cool in the pan for about 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
