Week 2 of Emma’s in the Kitchen w/Dee. We talked about all types of recipes we could try together this week and we both thought it was so fitting to do something in season. We talked about using candy corn (one of Emma’s favorites)! We may try to incorporate them into a recipe over the next week. This week we ended up going with pumpkin. 
It was fitting as we made a trip out to our local Apple Orchard this weekend. We had so much fun taking the tractor ride out to the orchard and picking apples. Oh, and eating a few while walking the orchard! You just cannot pass up trying some of the apples while out there. They are the best when just picked off the tree.
Picking our own apples @ the Orchard
There are so many apples to choose from like:
McIntosh Apple-red/green skin, somewhat tart flavor & is great for eating raw or cooking in your recipes. We discovered today that this was Emma’s new favorite apple (she ate 2 while walking around in the orchard)!
Red Delicious Apple- these happen to be my son’s favorites and a must find at the orchard. They are somewhat mild in flavor with a tougher skin to chew but a very juicy apple which my son loves.
Granny Smith Apple-green in color, tart & great for baking pies or covering with yummy caramel!!
Mutsu Apple-green-yellow in color & has a sweet-tart flavor-they are great in pies/tarts.
Stayman Apple-yellow in color, usually not ready for picking until October, but they have a nice crispness to them and a somewhat sweet-tart flavor.
Jonagold Apple-crisp, tend to be a large apple and can be great use in desserts.
There are so many more types of apples that you can choose from! It is fun to taste them all and use them in different recipes. I think I see some pies in our future with the large bag of apples we came home with this weekend!
I cannot wait to make another trip to the orchard to pick our own pumpkins!
Check out this week’s recipe by Emma. She learned how to make a pumpkin roll but we kicked it up a notch by adding toasted pecans and our own little spin on the traditional recipe. It definitely did not disappoint! I think this may make another appearance this year on our Thanksgiving dessert table.
Pumpkin Pecan Spice Cake w/Maple Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients
3 Eggs
1 Cup, Sugar
2/3 Cup, Pure Pumpkin Puree
¾ Cup, All-Purpose Flour
½ Teaspoon, Baking Powder
½ Teaspoon, Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon, Cinnamon
½ Teaspoon, Ground Cloves
½ Teaspoon, Ground Ginger
½ Teaspoon, Pumpkin Pie Spice
¼ Teaspoon, Salt
½ Teaspoon, Pure Maple
FILLING:
8 oz, Cream Cheese, softened
6 Tablespoons, Butter, softened
1 Cup, Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon, Pure Maple
1 Teaspoon, Vanilla Extract
¼ Teaspoon, Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 Teaspoon, Ground Ginger
2 Tablespoons, cream or milk *(I used Pumpkin Pie creamer since it was available in my supermarket this time of year and it’s what I had on hand)
¼ Cup, Pecans, Toasted and finely crushed
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and line a baking sheet. You’ll want to spray the pan w/cooking spray and then line with a piece of parchment paper. Spray the parchment paper also with your cooking spray and then lightly coat with some flour and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pumpkin pie spice and salt, set aside.
Take a clean/smooth kitchen towel and lay out on your counter. Cover the towel with powdered sugar; you will need this when your cake comes out of the oven.
Beat eggs & sugar on medium high until they start to become a little fluffy. Add the pumpkin, mix well. Add dry ingredients to the pumpkin filling and mix well. Pour onto baking sheet and evenly spread out on pan. Cook for 11 minutes, take out of oven and immediately transfer onto towel. Starting at a short end of the cake, roll up in the towel. Let lit on counter to cool off. While this is cooling, you can make your filling.
Pumpkin Pecan Spice Cake w/Maple Cream Cheese filling
Toasting the Pecans: Cook the pecans on the stove over medium-low heat. You’ll need to watch them closely and toss them in pan several times so they do not burn. You’ll start to smell them getting nice and toasty after about 5 minutes. Turn heat off, add them to a chopper or processor and finely chop them. Set aside.
Filling: In a mixer, add all your filling ingredients and mix well until smooth.
Unroll your cake, layer on your filling and then sprinkle the nuts on top. Roll the cake back up (without the towel); just use the towel as a guide and then wrap the cake up with plastic wrap. 
Tips
Chill the cake for up to an hour in the fridge.
Once chilled, dust with powdered sugar, slice and serve!
If you don’t like nuts, you can skip the step of toasting them and adding them to the cake. But, if you like nuts, the toasted pecans are a great combo with this cake.
Mangia! Enjoy!