FOOD FROM MY TRAVELS: Pumpkin Cream Cheese or Nutella Muffins

There is no better season than Autumn, in my opinion, and I have always been in love with the golden leaves, the cosier clothing, and, above all - the food.

I think back fondly on my 31 years of Autumnal celebrations. My younger brother, whose birthday is October 28th, has always had it best in my family - encircled by hyper and excited costumed friends on his party (and having an immediate theme upon which to throw said soiree), ushering in his new life year with pumpkin beer and hard cider, or - when he was little - creepy cupcakes covered with black icing and liquorice legs or candy corn. Now that I am far away from all the American Halloween hoopla (although the Netherlands absolutely has its own Halloween celebrations here), I feel desperate to bring the festivities here with me. Allergies and colds be damned!!

The Netherlands are a relatively mild part of the world, sitting below sea level, therefore having the temps lean into the 50s (F) as early as August is pretty normal. Having them spike to above 90 in September, however, is not normal (or bearable). That, sadly, is what we experienced here. It was so hot I couldn't focus on a single thing, every building felt like an oven (Air Conditioning and fans are not much of a thing here), and I was sweating bullets just walking a few steps to the Tram in front of my house. So, when it finally started to get chilly, I felt like bursting out of the apartment wearing my sweaters, corduroy and scarves and frolicking down the street. The leaves have been turning for weeks already, and when I got a brand new road bike I happily traveled around on it (described in my post about the Netherlands). 

This brought Bruno and me to a farm in Baarn, where I discovered one can walk around enjoying the handmade crafts, baked goods and straight-off-the-farm produce, and even walk through the crops to pick whatever I chose and bring it home with me. This is the kind of thing I adore most about Holland, and, even though I know it exists all over the world, it has never felt quite this accessible. We walked through row upon row of hearty, ripe vegetables and greens, and eventually came to an area of enormous, Cinderella-sized pumpkins and squash. 

Hoeve Ravenstein in Baarn lets you enjoy local produce, handcrafts, farm fun and picking your own crops to take home with you. 

We picked a smaller pumpkin (I believe these are called sugar pumpkins), bought some local honey and off we went on our bikes, eager to see what we could make. My immediate thought was pumpkin bread, but once I navigated Bruno's kitchen, I felt inspired to go a little bit further: I saw cream cheese, nutella, lots of spices and seasonings. I was ready.

Expat challenge: PUMPKIN PUREE

In America, we have lovely canned versions of just about anything you could ever ask for. That means a recipe involving Pumpkin can be cut down in prep time by about 20 minutes simply because one can dump a can of unseasoned/unsweetened pumpkin puree into the bowl and mix away. Mmm.

Here, it's a bit more complicated. I've yet to find a single can of pumpkin, but that's alright - we make do. In order to get the puree I wanted, I skinned the pumpkin, halved and gutted it (save the seeds if you like to roast them), and then cut up chunks of the pumpkin. I threw those in a sauce pan with a tiny bit of sunflower seed oil (coconut, vegetable or olive oil would also work fine), and cooked them, stirring them regularly so they wouldn't stick and burn, until they were soft enough to poke dents in using the spatula. Then, we blended them until it was completely smooth and lump free. 

A note that this does make the puree a little bit watery, therefore causing the batter to be cakey, but I didn't mind this.

Mmm Fall.

Recipe: Dutch Pumpkin Cheesecake/Nutella Swirl Muffins

• 1 cup, or 1 can Pumpkin Puree
• 1 3/4 cup Flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 
• 1 Teaspoon salt (I used pink Himalayan Salt)
• 1 Tablespoon Speculoos Cookie powder
• 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon 
• 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tablespoon Speculoos Syrup OR Vanilla Extract 
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 Tablespoon Oil (Coconut, Vegetable or Sunflower)

CHEESE CAKE MIXTURE

• 1 Container (8oz) of Cream Cheese (I used light Philadelphia)
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Speculoos Syrup or Vanilla Extract

NUTELLA MIXTURE

• 1/2 Cup Nutella
• 1 Egg Yolk
• Pinch of Salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit. 
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
3. In a bigger bowl, whisk/ beat together pumpkin, sugar, and brown sugar. Add in the speculoos/extract and two eggs. Mix until smooth (but don't over mix). Slowly add in dry mixture until completely incorporated. 
4. Cheesecake mixture: Place all of the cream cheese in a bowl and beat until completely smooth and soft. Add in the sugar, egg yolk and extract (or syrup) and mix until smooth.
5. Nutella mixture: In another separate bowl, beat the nutella until smooth and soft. Add in egg yolk and extract (or syrup), and salt until smooth.
6. In muffin tins, place paper baking cups and fill about halfway with the main pumpkin mixture. Top with either the cheesecake mixture or the nutella (or both if you are feeling crazy). Take a toothpick or knife and swirl into the mix just enough for the cheesecake and/or nutella to make a swirl pattern into the cupcake (but not so much that it's entirely mixed into the batter. It should look like a distinct swirl).
7. Bake muffins 18-20 minutes (we baked these longer to get more of a crunchy top). 
8. The Cream Cheese muffins came out soft and chewy and the nutella ones came out a little crunchier on top and melty in the middle. Keep in an airtight container and enjoy!

Smakelijk!