7 days till Thanksgiving! [pumpkin brownies]

Luke loves pumpkin pie-- so much so that he figured out a way to bake a huge pumpkin pie... in a garbage lid. He claims that he sterilized it and everything, but thankfully, he now uses an 18" pizza pan. I thought that his love for pumpkin pie meant that he loves all things pumpkin. I discovered this year that this wasn't really the case. Oh well... In my quest to please Luke by testing out various pumpkin recipes, I discovered a number of recipes that we both enjoy and a few that we love. So in celebration of Thanksgiving, I'd like to countdown by sharing some of those recipes with you...

Pumpkin Brownies [allrecipes.com]

This recipe is hands-down our favorite new pumpkin recipe this year. I made it for the couples retreat in October and fell in love. I omitted the nuts but left them in the recipe for those who love them. If you want moist brownies, I use freshly canned pumpkin that has a bit more water than store-canned pumpkin. You also want to be careful not to overbake them...

Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan. Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, stir together the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla extract; beat in the eggs one at a time with a spoon. Gradually add the flour mixture, and stir the batter until it's evenly moistened. Divide the batter in half in two separate bowls.
3. Into one bowl of batter, blend the cocoa powder and chocolate chips. In the second bowl of batter, stir in the pumpkin puree, walnuts, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
4. Spread 1/2 of the chocolate batter into the bottom of the prepared baking pan, and follow with 1/2 of the pumpkin batter. Repeat the layers, ending with a pumpkin layer, and drag a kitchen knife or small spatula gently through the layers in a swirling motion, to create a marbled appearance.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until the brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan, cut into squares, and serve.

And something I'm thankful for-- a baby who wakes up talking to herself, which is what she's doing now... time to start the day! Happy Thanksgiving Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve!