Back from the dead (or graduate school), and just in time for yummy fall harvest recipes…

The number one thing I’ve learned about graduate school and this blog: Graduate school is not conducive to writing a cooking blog. Seems pretty obvious, right? I think I just had higher expectations for myself, but I should have known that school demands outweigh almost all other demands.

Despite the busy-ness of school, I have actually been cooking quite a bit (demands for eating good food are still high on the priority list for my husband and me). I had planned to post recipes over the last few months, but alas papers, books, and more papers have gotten in the way.

But I’m back in the spirit of the holidays (thanks to a couple nudges from friends and family). Thanksgiving is one of my favorites--because of all the good cooking and food and family--and this recipe is perfect for post turkey consumption. It’s basically like combining apple crisp and pumpkin cake into one dessert. I hadn’t made this recipe in seven years, but it’s just as good as I remember--and I tweaked it a little bit to suit my fancy. Hope y’all enjoy-- I’ll have a whole month of cooking and blogging bliss over Winter Break--so watch for more recipes pre-Christmas.

Pumpkin Apple Crumb Cake
Adapted from Cooking Light, October 2001

Ingredients
Crumbs:
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
¼ cup old-fashioned oats
¼ chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Cake:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
Cooking spray
2 cups thinly sliced apples (whatever your favorite cooking apple is will do, I used Winesaps…you need about 2 medium/large apples)

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare crumbs, combine 3 tablespoons flour, brown sugar, oats, and nuts in a medium bowl; pour in melted butter and work in with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.

To prepare the cake, beat the granulated sugar and the next 7 ingredients (granulated sugar through egg white) with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Combine 1 1/4 cups flour, baking powder, soda, and salt in medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition.

Pour batter into a 9-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray. Arrange apple spokelike on top of batter. Sprinkle with crumb mixture. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack.

OR

As pictured, pour batter into 8 individual mini pie pans coated with cooking spray. Arrange apple spokelike on top of batter. Sprinkle with crumb mixture. Bake at 350° for 30-5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack.

Also pictured:
Top with homemade whipped cream (½ cup heavy whipping cream, ½ Tablespoon of sugar, and ½ teaspoon vanilla whisked together)