Guest Post: Speedy Pumpkin Wheels

Merry Christmas my friends, can you all believe the holiday season everyone dreams about is finally here for us 😀 😀 😀 😀

I hope you are all celebrating with family friends this joyous occasion of 2012, with lots of wonderful festivities, food and laughter 🙂

I wish I could be here with you all, and I promise to celebrate with you all belatedly but right now, I am with my family in India as I should be during this fabulous time 🙂

But no fear, no fear, I have some incredible guestposts lined up for you all and I hope each and every one brings a smile to your faces like they did mine – what else is Christmas and New Years about if not grinning? 😀

Happy Holidays!!!

P.S. I will not be commenting on ANY blogs for approximately 2 weeks so please do not think I have forgotten about anyone, I will be back on task straight after holidays 🙂

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Can you believe yet another year of Christmas has come and gone, and with today being Boxing Day, the sales are already about to start? Why does it feel like January was only yesterday and I was wondering how I was going to get through another year waiting for Christmas! Anyhow, I hope you and your families had an incredible time 😀
Soooo anyway, being an Australian, I am not one to celebrate the huge festival of Thanksgiving. From what I understand, this day has huge significance for the revered pumpkin, a prime ingredient in pies and such and I saw it all over the blog. Since I am yet to cook properly with pumpkin myself, I was so thrilled when I saw Laurie’s guest post recipe, which full on featured the sweet and delicious taste of this ingredient! One look and I was a lost cause, though not surprised considering how utterly incredible Laurie’s cooking is! If you have not already, consider checking out her gorgeous blog LauriesCravings some time soon 😀

In the meantime, enjoy her incredible pumpkin guestpost! Thank you Laurie!

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Thank you so much to Uru for allowing me to be a guest blogger. I love reading her blog! She is so enthusiastic and always is featuring some type of drool worthy treat. My name is Laurie from LauriesCravings. I’m a new mom who loves to cook, bake and eat. I thoroughly enjoy making healthier versions of my favorite foods and experimenting with recipes/ingredients. I work as a Heath Coach in South Florida in the U.S., helping women find peace with their bodies and their nutrition. My main focus is women recovering from eating disorders and finding a healthy balance. When I’m not working or cooking, I am enjoying my growing baby boy and my loving husband. I’m so lucky to have such an amazing family.

Since it is the season of sweets, treats and deliciousness – I decided to whip up a quick and easy mid-afternoon snack (or dessert). Pumpkin is one of my favorite vegetables to bake with. It’s extremely versatile and can be made savory or sweet. I always keep a few cans of unsweetened pumpkin puree in my pantry for adding to brownies, bundt cakes and to bulk up my morning oatmeal. This recipe is such an awesome way to use pumpkin puree. It’s not  overly sweet, unless you drizzle a ton of the icing on top. I like a small drizzle, whereas my husband love to douse them in the pumpkin spiced icing. Customize-able, my kind of recipe! Plus how often can you say that you ate your veggies during dessert? Pumpkin is high in fiber and loaded with beta-carotene. Gotta love a reason to eat your sweets!

I used a refrigerated pie dough, which made this very easy to put together. Also using canned pumpkin puree takes the work out of cutting up a pumpkin, cooking it and then pureeing it. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, it’s a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and ginger. Happy baking and enjoy the simple, sweet treat!

Speedy Pumpkin Pinwheels

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

Pinwheels

• oil spray
• 1 9-inch raw pie dough
• 3/4 cup organic canned pumpkin
• 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3 tbs dark brown sugar, packed
• Pinch of salt
• 1oz chopped roasted almonds
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract


Icing:

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Splash of milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F (190 degrees C). Prep a pan with oil spray.
   
2. Roll out the pie dough on parchment paper. In a small bowl combine the remaining ingredients for the filling. Spread the filling evenly over the rolled out pie dough.
   
3. Using the parchment paper, roll the dough into a log.
   
4. Cut the dough into 8 pieces and place them on the grease pan, face side up.
   
5. Bake at 375F (190 degrees C) for about 25 minutes.
   
6. While the pinwheels are baking, make the icing. Whisk the icing ingredients, gradually adding the milk until desired consistency. (I used about 1 tbs, but if you prefer a thinner icing use more milk). Set it aside until the pinwheels are ready.
   
   
7. Once the pinwheels are golden and baked through, remove them from the pan and place on a serving dish. Drizzle the icing and serve warmed.

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Laurie Dominguez
Holistic Health Counselor
Nourishing Myself
305-467-0473
www.NourishingMyself.com

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Totally feeling inspired now to legit eat some vegetables, though if anyone could persuade me, it would be you Laurie! These look incredibly decadent and I know we all enjoyed them 😀

Thank you so so so much!

If you want more (wish of course you do), go check out the incredible blog, LauriesCravings