Weekend Comfort Food

This past weekend was one with many dinners with friends and family... and I managed to fit in a yummy breakfast for two. Here are two recipes I have to share:

Pumpkin Pancakes (from Allrecipes.com)
**I put about 1/4-1/2 cup more pumpkin in this recipe, just for good measure; and it turned out great! Really pumpkin-y, great texture. I was in pumpkin heaven. Great with sugar free maple syrup, cool whip, and sliced pears.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tb brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 Tb vegetable oil
2 Tb distilled vinegar

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt. In a separate larger bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Stir flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture, just enough to combine (batter will be lumpy). Heat a griddle over medium high heat (about 350 degrees). Scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.


Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
**I cannot stress ENOUGH how important it is to make sure your springform pan is properly latched together. Sounds like common sense, right? Well, I missed the bus on that one. I picked up my first prepared cheesecake, all ready to go in the oven, and the sides popped off and uncooked cheesecake slopped everywhere- on my stovetop, kitchen floor, counter top... not my finest hour. But, I still had a group dinner to bring dessert to, so I ran to the grocery store, bought a NEW springform pan (the old traitor was banished to the D.I.), cream cheese, and oreos, and the second try turned out perfectly. It was absolutely delicious!

1 1/2 cups finely crushed Oreos
2 Tb butter, melted
4 8-oz pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 6-oz pkg milk chocolate chips, melted
1/3 cup raspberry jam
1 6-oz pkg milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup whipping cream

Combine crumbs and butter; press into bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Combine three 8-oz pkgs cream cheese and sugar, mixing until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in sour cream and vanilla. Pour over crust. Combine remaining 8-ounces of cream cheese and melted chocolate, mix until well blended. Add raspberry jam; mix well. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of chocolate cream cheese batter over plain cream cheese batter; do not swirl. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan. Melt chocolate pieces and whipping cream over low heat, stirring until smooth. Spread over cheesecake. Chill. Garnish with additional whipped cream, crushed Oreos, and raspberries. Serves 10-12.