52 Cookies - Chapter 43

I like to bake from scratch, but I will admit to using my fair share of cake mixes throughout time.  Sometimes you need a shortcut because you're either short on time or short on ingredients!  All of the cookie recipes I've tested so far this year on my Cookie Journey have been totally, completely from scratch.  There are, however, many great recipes where you begin with a basic brownie or cake mix and add other ingredients to dress it up a bit. 

I came across this week's recipe on the Betty Crocker web site.  Now, I'm going to admit, I used a Duncan Hines brownie mix for this.  Hey!  They were on sale last week and I had a coupon.  I could not pass up that opportunity!  The timing worked out perfectly as this recipe also calls for just 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin and I had exactly that much leftover from a pumpkin cake a made recently.  I'll have to remember that in the future. 

Mental Note:   "Must Make Pumpkin Swirl Brownies When I Make Pumpkin Bundt Cake."

That cake was excellent, by the way.  A new recipe this Fall - very moist, cream cheese icing drizzled down the sides.  Mmmm.  I digress.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
Here's What You Need:
Filling-
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Brownies-
1 box Betty Crocker Premium Brownies Ultimate Fudge mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons water
1 egg

Here's What You Do:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a square, 8 or 9 inch metal baking pan with foil.  Lightly spray the bottom only with cooking spray.  In a small bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients on low speed of an electric mixer. 

Since I used a Duncan Hines mix and the instructions that came with it were slightly off from this recipe, I decided to follow the water/oil/egg quantities that my brownie mix indicated, rather than this recipe.  I felt like it was the right thing to do.  Mix up the brownie batter just until your ingredients are combined.  Your brownie will be more tender if you don't over mix the batter. 

Spoon 3/4 of the brownie batter into the baking pan.  Now drop little globs of the filling mixture over the entire surface of the brownie batter.  Finish with the remainder of brownie batter on top of the pumpkin filling.  Take a knife and swirl or marble the ingredients.  Be careful not to end up mixing the two together!  You just want a pretty marbled effect. 



I'm not a cat person, BUT, when I was a kid, we had a cat that adopted our family and I loved her quite a bit back then.  It was before I became an adult and developed issues with cats doing their "business" in my flower beds.  Anyway, I named her Marbles.  She was exactly the colors of these brownies!  Marbles is a much better name for a cat than Pumpkin Swirl Brownie.  There I go digressing again...

Bake these for about 40-45 minutes.  I started with 40 but the areas near the pumpkin filling were still doughy, so I gave it another 5 mins. and called it done.  I have been making pumpkin muffins for many years and I always enjoy adding some mini semisweet chocolate chips to the batter.  There's something about pumpkin and chocolate together.  Of course, this, from the person who would put chocolate in meatloaf if I could get away with it!