Last Bake December Weekend

37 weeks, 3 days pregnant

Bake December continues! This weekend I made delicious Paula Deen's Pumpkin Bars -- or as Jorge like to call them: Pumpkinammon Bars, because they are cinnamony! They are sooooo good, this is one of our top fave recipes! I discovered this recipe last year my coworker Beth brought some in. Pure heaven!



Here's the recipe, with a couple of modifications to make it less fattening. But trust me, you can't tell the difference! You MUST try it!

Pumpkinammon Bars

Ingredients

Bars:
4 eggs Instead: 1 egg and 4 egg whites
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil Instead: 1/3 cup of canola oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

ENJOY!!

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I usually bake all through December, but I think this is the last weekend I'll be baking this year. I'll be 38.5 weeks pregnant at that point, and I know we'll have lots of apple pie and ice cream left over from Christmas, so we'll be fine. Looking forward to doing it again next year -- but with a one-year old! Eeeeeeeee!!!!! :)

Christmas Spirit!

36 weeks, 2 days pregnant

We finally put up the Christmas tree! We were going to do it last weekend, but didn't since Jorge was sick. He's feeling much, much better, but still has a bit of a cough.

Initally, I wasn't into the idea of putting up the Christmas tree this year, since we'd have to take it down and we might have a newborn to take care of! But Jorge insisted we must get into the Christmas spirit! I'm so glad he did! He put up the tree and I made some more "Bake December" goodies! This weekend it was Oatmeal Chocolate Chip. Soooo good!

We listened to Christmas music and watched some of the Winter Boat Parade from the window. It was just lovely! The tree came out beautiful! Jorge did an awesome job!

Bake December Has Begun!

35 weeks, 4 days pregnant

This weekend, we continued our holiday tradition that we call "Bake December" where every weekend in December I bake some yummy goody for Jorge. This weekend I made some Chocolate Chip Banana Bread from scratch -- it was a hit! Jorge absolutely looooved it! You must try it! It's absolutely AMAZING!



Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Chocolate and bananas are a great combination. The sour cream in this recipe seems to set the chocolate off. We think you will enjoy this banana bread recipe.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about three large)
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup milk or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnut pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Directions
1. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together. Add the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. Continue beating until light and creamy. Add about one third of the flour mixture. Add the bananas, then another third of the flour, then sour cream and then the remaining flour. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
3. Scrape the batter into a greased large loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until done. Cool on a wire rack.