Pumpkin Snack Cake

I dislike opening something that I may not use the balance of before it goes to waste so it was important to me to know what I was going to make with the can of pumpkin I was about to open in order to make Pumpkin French Toast.  So this recipe ends up getting you a bonus.  You open a can of pumpkin to make the French Toast and then turn around and use the rest of the pumpkin for a yummy snack--no storing the pumpkin to hopefully use later and tossing out if you didn't use it in time.

Pumpkin Snack Cake
  1 1/2 cups  flour

  1 1/8 cups sugar

  1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

  1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

  3/4 teaspoon baking soda

  1/8 teaspoon salt

  3  eggs -- beaten

  3/4 of 15 ounce can of canned pure pumpkin puree  3/4 cup  oil

       OR  1/2 nonfat yogurt + 1/2 oil to total 3/4 cup*

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.  Stir in eggs, pumpkin and oil until thoroughly combined.  Spread batter into a greased 9x10 or 9x13pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool, cut,  and enjoy!

Notes:
*Use your liquid measuring cup to eye-ball approximately 3 ounces of yogurt and then add oil until the total volume is 3/4 cup

*As I used this as a snack cake and wanted to keep it "healthier", I didn't frost.  We may be outside of norm, but many times we enjoy cakes and such without frosting.

Here's the frosting recipe from the 15x10" pan size recipe this snack cake was created from.....just in case you can't go without frosting (you'd probably want to make less).

  Optional Frosting:

  3 ounces cream cheese

  1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  6 tablespoons butter

  1 teaspoon milk

Pumpkin French Toast

Fall is upon us and today that calls for something with pumpkin!  I stumbled across a recipe for Pumpkin French Toast, made it with modifications, and then couldn't find the recipe to quickly share when I wanted to as for some reason I didn't save it anywhere!  I've had a scratch paper sitting in a pile of papers with ingredients listed on it.  I do that sometimes when I modify a recipe so if the results are better than the original I will permanently make those changes on the hard copy of the recipe.  For some reason I kept telling myself that was for something else I wanted to work on again but wasn't ready to do so.  I finally decided to deal with that scratch paper and when I actually looked at the info written, it was certainly not what I thought it was.  This scratch paper had a list of ingredients written in a column and then another list of ingredients in a column, but upside down.  Neither had a title--just a list of ingredients and modified quantities.  Eureka!  I found 2 recipes!  1) The ingredients I used to make Pumpkin French Toast for my crew.  2) The ingredients I used for another recipe I adapted on the fly to use up the balance of the now open can of pumpkin!  I had not left myself any notes as the plan was to get these in hard copy version immediately, but life got in the way.  Luckily memory returned so I remembered I ended up doubling the Pumpkin French Toast list of ingredients listed on the paper (the crew gobbled up the first batch too fast) and the other was an adapted pumpkin bars recipe based on how much pumpkin was left in the can.  Does anyone really care to know that info?  Maybe not, but it may help explain why my next post of Pumpkin Snack Cake has an odd listing for the amount of salt and sugar to use.

I dislike opening something that I may not use the balance of before it goes to waste so it was important to me to know what I was going to make with the open can of pumpkin.  So this recipe ends up getting you a bonus.  You open a can of pumpkin to make the French Toast and then turn around and use the rest of the pumpkin for a yummy snack--no storing the pumpkin to hopefully use later and tossing out if you didn't use it in time.  (I'll try to post the recipe for Pumpkin Snack Cake by tomorrow--it's up now.)

I probably wouldn't try making this with regular bread slices.  French bread that is a day or two old--or as I had, a loaf I had stuck in the freezer when I had gotten it from the day old shelf at a great price.  If the bread is too soft it will absorb too much of the liquid and turn out soggy.
Only do a quick dip on both sides--just touch the surface quickly as you don't want to soak the bread in the batter.

Pumpkin French Toast

4 large eggs
1/4 of 15 ounce can of canned pure pumpkin puree
1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt (non-fat or light)
1/2 cup milk (skim is fine)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (to taste)
2 tablespoons sugar
16 (3/4-inch thick) slices of day-old French bread (about one loaf)

In a flat-bottom or wide-bottom bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin, yogurt, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.
Heat skillet to medium-heat, wipe lightly with canola oil.
Quickly dip bread on both sides into the egg mixture.
Place on hot skillet and cook 2-3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned; preferrably flipping only once.
Repeat with remaining bread.
Serve immediately with syrup.

4-8 servings--depending on appetites (=2-4 slices per serving)

Notes:*Use French bread that is a day or two old.  If the bread is too soft it will absorb too much of the liquid and turn out soggy.
*Only do a quick dip on both sides--just touch the surface quickly as you don't want to soak the bread in the batter.
*Use your liquid measuring cup to eye-ball 1/2 cup of yogurt and then add milk until the total volume is 1 cup
*Nutmeg can be a strong spice for some people so I usually start on the lower side--the original would have equalled the 1 teaspoon of nutmeg.
*You can cut the recipe in half if this is too much.  Or store the batter for a couple days and make the rest another day.  Maybe even better yet, make the full amount and cook them all and refrigerate leftovers in a plastic bag and gently reheat individual slices in the microwave for quick breakfasts or snacks later in the week.