Pumpkin Rolls

The day before Thanksgiving is all about baking and doing the prep work ahead so you aren't crazy on Thanksgiving day.  This year was great because I had a lot of help...my daughter, my mom and my sister.  So even the prep day wasn't crazy...we were able to just take it slow, do a little at a time and enjoy each other's company.

In order to have a little something to eat and not have to worry about "snacking" on what we were preparing for the following day, I wanted to make something pumpkin...well, you all know how I feel about pumpkin.  This recipe comes from Bloom Designs Online.  It is a  Reduced Sugar  recipe as it calls for brown sugar, so we will have to use the Splenda Blend, and it calls for powdered sugar in the glaze.

I absolutely LOVE cinnamon rolls, so I just knew that this had to be good:

• 1 can crescent rolls
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 T. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, melted
• 1/4 c. Splenda Blend brown sugar
• 1/4 c. Splenda granulated
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/8 t. nutmeg
• 1/8 t. ginger

Glaze

• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1 T. milk (I used 2%)
• 1 T. melted I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
• 1/4 t. cinnamon

 Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees.  Next, mix together the pumpkin filling.  Add pumpkin, sugars and spices to a small mixing bowl and stir together until well incorporated.
Unroll the crescent rolls, being careful not to separate them.  I don't know about you, but I say that anything that starts with crescent rolls is going to be wonderful. Press all of the seams together into one big rectangle.  Spread the filling all over the dough.  Starting on the short end of the rectangle, carefully roll up the dough.

 Cut the roll into 8 pieces and place them in a sprayed 8" cake pan.  Bake them for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly; approximately 5 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk together the ingredients for the glaze.  You can use a powdered sugar substitute here, but when you start getting into a cup or more, sometimes I find it difficult and I find that there is a little "after taste".  I decided that today was a special day and went for the real stuff.
Absolutely delicious!  Everyone really liked them.

Chocolate Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

One day last winter, I was watching Paul Deen one afternoon and she was doing a show on chocolate..Well of course she had my attention; what girl doesn't love chocolate.  One of the recipes she was making was a Chocolate Bread.  So I started writing down the recipe, and by the time the bread came out of the oven, I was in my kitchen thinking that I needed to make this bread!

So the first problem I had was that I was out of cocoa...Really??  Who ever RUNS OUT of cocoa?  I wasn't ready to give up quite so easily and so the scouring of my pantry began, looking for what I had that was chocolate.  The first substitution I made to the recipe was for the chocolate chips; I did have white chocolate chips and I decided that would be pretty.  Then I found some chocolate almond bark left over from the last time I had dipped pretzels; maybe that would work.

I substituted some melted almond bark for the cocoa and as I was mixing up the batter, I noticed I had a rather ripe banana on my counter.  Since I was using Splenda in my version, I decided that the batter could use a little more moisture, so I mashed up the banana and threw it in.  So for my first try, the white chocolate chips were heavy and pretty much sank to the bottom, but my husband fell in love with this bread!

The next time I went to the store, I bought some cocoa.  He happened to be home when I started to mix up the batter again, and I mentioned the substitution.  He wasn't going to stand for it...whatever I did the first time, I had better do again, because he loved that bread!  I used the almond bark again and I waited to add the chocolate chips until after the first 10 minutes of cooking...Perfect!  My husband starting buying bananas every time he went to the store and made sure it was known that they had better not all get eaten; some WOULD get too ripe and then there would be no choice but to make this bread.

So even though this bread has been successful for me, it would be a  Reduced Sugar  recipe.  As you can imagine, there is quite a bit of sugar in the almond bark and some sugar in the white chocolate chips.  So, I have made this recipe with the cocoa and with sugar-free chocolate chips.  These substitutions make it a  No Sugar Added  recipe, since there are natural sugars in the banana.  Both versions are decadent, but you can taste the difference in the richness of the version with the almond bark.  So...pick your pleasure, depending upon your own personal sugar needs; they are simple substitutions and don't change the recipe otherwise.

2 1/4 c. flour
2 c. Splenda
3/4 c. cocoa  or  4 sq. chocolate almond bark, melted
3 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 c. milk (I have used 2%)
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 ripe bananas, well-mashed
sugar-free chocolate chips  or  white chocolate chips





After whisking together all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add the wet ingredients and mix well.

Mash the bananas in a separate small bowl.  The more you mash them the more incorporated they will be into the batter.  Add to the batter and mix well.

 Spray two loaf pans well and preheat oven to 300 F.  Bake the bread for 10 minutes.

Remove the pans from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips all over the top of the bread.  Allowing the bread to bake for this short time, allows it to set just enough that the chocolate chips will stay on the top.  (Since this recipe makes 2 loaves, you'll notice that I put the sugar-free chips on one loaf and the white chips on the other loaf...gotta keep the hubby happy!)


Return the bread to the oven and bake for an additional 60 minutes.

All I can say is .... Mmmmmmmm....Warm, chocolatey, banana bread...pretty decadent.