Pumpkin Shortbread with Caramel and Pretzels

This weekend there are lots of events going on in our neighborhood!  I woke up to lots of barking from the 9th Annual Mutt Strut.  It took a LOT of restraint to not adopt the adorable 3 year old black pug the Chicago Canine Rescue group brought.  He was so cute and sweet.  Luckily I have my dad to call and bring me back down to reality instead of adopting puppies on a whim!

Then, the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce hosted a dessert potluck just around the corner.  I wanted to bring a fun fall dessert and I'd been eyeing this recipe all week.  It was the perfect excuse!



We all thought these were a delicious treat, and based on their tweet, I think the Chamber of Commerce and my neighbors enjoyed them as well.  They were sweet and a little bit salty, and plenty buttery.  I had these adorable apple napkins left from Rosh Hashana, which made them perfect for serving on.  Speaking of Rosh Hashana, I've been holding out on you with some really great recipes.  I promise, I will be posting my new favorite brisket recipe soon. It's amazing!!



Pumpkin Shortbread with Caramel and Pretzels
slightly adapted from Sugarcrafter

Ingredients
pumpkin shortbread
cooking spray
1 3/4 c AP flour
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp pumpkin puree
10 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1″ pieces
caramel
12 tbsp butter
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
4 tbsp honey
topping
1 c crushed pretzels

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line an 8" square baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray.
2. In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin, and butter. Pulse until combined and when you press the mixture together with your fingers it sticks together like dough.
3. Press into the prepared dish and pierce all over with a fork. Bake 5 minutes, then lower the oven to 300F and bake and additional 30-40 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
4. In a deep glass bowl, melt the butter. Stir in the condensed milk and honey. Whisk until well combined. Heat in the microwave 7 minutes until boiling, stirring every 30 seconds. Don't walk away, because it can boil over! The caramel is ready when thickened and light golden brown.
NOTE: If you are multitasking and put the microwave on for 7 minutes and totally forget about it and don't stir it every 30 seconds, and when you remove it from the microwave it looks like butter with brown clumps at the bottom - don't think you TOTALLY ruined it. Sure it isn't perfect, but if you stir constantly with a spatula for long enough, it will still turn back into caramel. Not that I would know from experience or anything... oops.
5. Pour the hot caramel over the cooled cookie layer. Sprinkle the crushed pretzels over the caramel layer.
6. Cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge and allow to cool completely. Cut into small square and serve.

Maple Pecan Bars

Last week, my long time friend from summer camp had an Oscar party for the Academy Awards.  It was a blast!  Everyone brought fun treats and we played Oscar Bingo while taking bets on who would win the awards.  It felt like a Super Bowl party!  I loved the competitive aspect of trying to guess all of the winners correctly - it made me want to pay attention even though the only movie nominated for anything that I saw this year was the Muppets. (It's seriously time to play movie-catch-up at my Redbox!)



The snacks were probably the best part! There was everything from mac and cheese to charcuterie and crudites to desserts like chocolate peanut butter bars.  The best treat was cupcakes that one of my friends made - they looked gorgeous from the outside (topped with chocolate covered popcorn) but when you bit in they were filled with something that tasted like the goo in Boston Cream Pie.  So so delicious.



My contribution was a bit less elaborate, although still absolutely scrumptious.  If you have to bring a dessert to a friend's house any time soon, I highly suggest making this recipe. It does take about an hour to make, but 40 minutes of that is baking time.  The assembly is easy as pecan pie bars.



I was pretty excited that this recipe was similar to pecan pie but didn't call for corn syrup.  I don't think it's the worst thing in the world - it's not like I bake with high fructose corn syrup - but there are still a lot of sweeteners I'd choose to add first.  Maple syrup is probably number 1 on that list.  Maple syrup is in my abandoned on a deserted island pack.  I live for this stuff.



The Oscar party was a ton of fun, and the show itself was pretty good this year!  Billy Crystal was funny as usual, and there were some great presenters.  My favorite part was the Cirque de Soleil performance.  It's amazing the stunts they can pull off - like standing with one foot on someone else's head (while eating popcorn). Unbelievable! I'm dying to see one of these shows in real life!



As with most ELR recipes I've reviewed, this one is simple and perfect.  The Monkey Scientist told me he would have eaten the whole pan if I'd made them at home.  You probably have most or even all of these ingredients already.  The sweetness of the maple syrup complements the crunch of the pecans perfectly.  They come out of the oven boiling with syrupy goodness, and then they cool they're gooey and melt in your mouth delicious.  The shortbread is buttery and holds the whole bar together nicely.  These are a great recipe for Thanksgiving, to bring over to a friend's house, or even just to make for a sweet treat after dinner. It's one of the favorite recipes I've made in a long while!