Falling for Pumpkin

I never understood the hype surrounding pumpkin until a year or so ago. Ya Ya brought pumpkin soup to tailgate, and it was so good! That pretty much got me started. Last year at Thanksgiving, I made a pumpkin cake that put me over the edge–pumpkin is good!

Looking back, I couldn’t remember why I didn’t like pumpkin–or why I thought I didn’t like it. However, when I made these pumpkin brownies a couple of weeks ago (the weekend of Baby Gray’s birthday) I realized why. As we were headed out the door on our way to College Station, I offered Mr. Gray and Annie some of these delicious brownies; I had been eating them all day. Mr. Gray enjoyed his as much as I had, and Annie obliged, but did not like it one bit. It wasn’t that I didn’t like pumpkin, she didn’t like pumpkin so we didn’t have it much growing up. Mystery solved!

To make up for all the years I missed out on eating pumpkin, I think I ate a pumpkin chip brownie with every meal that tailgate weekend! Ahh! 

To get started, line an 11″ x 17″ pan with foil. I like to sprinkle a little powdered sugar on mine for two reasons: first, it keeps the brownies from sticking; second, it adds a little extra sticky sweet! Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

You will need: 
1 cup pumpkin puree
4 eggs
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa (I use Hershey’s) 
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

 Add the pumpkin, eggs, and oil to one bowl and mix until smooth. Then set aside. 

In a second bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cocoa, spices, salt, and brown sugar. Stir to combine and then add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Once it is combined well, fold in chocolate chips. 

Spread batter into the pan; it will be thin and a little sticky. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about 19-21 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Voila! Absolutely do not eat all of these in one setting. It’s just too much! I’ll keep telling myself that

Thank goodness I had these brownies to distract me after the game. We played Oklahoma State tough the first half, but something fell apart the second half. Baby Gray and I were in the Alumni Center during the first half due to the heat, but we made it in time to watch things self-destruct. 

As we were headed to Kyle, we ran into @scheske, and she took this super cute photo of Baby Gray and in the big ring. This isn’t a great photo of my shirt, but it’s so cute–even if I do say so myself! BeBe Gear has tons of adorable upcycled stuff! This shirt was actually Mr. Gray’s, but now it’s even better! I just ordered another one from her last night!

2 Comments

  1. This from a girl who would ONLY eat Spaghettios in her lunch from almost birth to Jr High. However, I have to admit, same thing happened with my mother (as my sister reminded me) but with broccoli. What goes around comes around I guess. Sometimes you have to take food into your own hands!! Way to go MG…mom

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