At some point yesterday I realized that the church holiday bazaar is this coming weekend and I have done no baking for it (and since my knitting mom signed me up to make stuff, I needed to get busy). So when I got home this afternoon from work, I headed immediately into the kitchen, pulled all my stockpiled cans of pumpkin out of the cupboard, and commenced with the baking.

First on the list was a batch of Pumpkin Brownies. I found this recipe online a week or so ago and bookmarked it to try. They’re a moist pumpkin cake, with a sprinkling of chocolate chips. I was a little unsure at first, since it only calls for half a cup of chips and that seemed awfully light on the chocolate, but I stuck to the recipe and I’m really glad I didn’t go on my first instinct, which was to add more. Half a cup provides just enough chocolate to go around – more would overwhelm these.

The original plan had been to make these for the bazaar, but then we started nibbling on them, and I suspect there won’t be enough left from the pan after we send brownies off to both our offices tomorrow, to donate. These are seriously delicious, and also a wee bit addictive. The good news is that I’ve got lots of pumpkin (and chocolate chips) left so I can make another batch.

After the brownies were out of the oven I stirred together the first batch of Pumpkin Bread. This is a staple at any Thanksgiving or Christmas gathering for my family, and it’s been a hit at the church bake sale for a number of years, so I always try to make a whole pile of it. One batch makes two dense loaves, so while Richard was putting dinner together, I stirred up the second batch, so throughout the rest of the evening the house has been smelling deliciously like pumpkin and spices and warm baking things.

Posted for NaBloPoMo.