Autumn means it's time for pumpkin spice and everything nice, or at least everything pumpkin spice.
As soon as October hits the pumpkin craze begins, usually with Starbucks' un-vailing of their annual, limited release of their coveted menu item the PSL (pumpkin spice latte). After that, literally everything, everywhere is pumpkin.
This year, instead of reviewing a pumpkin something or other cupcake, of which are plentiful, I decided to review different pumpkin goodies.
I popped in Jane the Bakery for a cookie to satisfy a craving and ended up leaving with a cookie and a muffin. It was a pumpkin muffin and muffins are basically cupcakes without frosting so my seemingly glutenous purchase felt justified because I'd get a Halloween time review out of it. Plus, I saved the muffin for breakfast the next morning and had the cookie for dessert that night, naturally.
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| Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffin from Jane the Bakery photo by Nikki DeMartini |
I thought the candy corn-esque paper wrapper was a cute little touch but as I started un-wrapping the muffin from it I realized that it wasn't a candy corn wrapper at all. The bottom of the wrapper had turned yellow from absorbing some of the goodness (butter) from the muffin. Two more things happened as I unwrapped the muffin: 1. paper stuck to the bottom of it 2. it smelled so good! The season's first whiff of a pumpkin baked good is so delicious! It makes you want to get all cozy.
Once I had it completely unwrapped I was happy to see that semi-sweet chocolate chips were baked into the muffin, not just sitting on top of it. After my first couple of bites it was clear that it smelled more pumpkiny than it tasted. It was very dense and even though the orange paper that wrapped it had changed color, presumably from absorbing butter, the muffin wasn't very buttery or very moist. There were parts of it that were gooey which I though might be caramel but it wasn't caramel. I'm not sure what caused it to be gooey but I liked it.
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| Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffin from Jane the Bakery photo by Nikki DeMartini |
It was a thick and filling muffin with a hint of pumpkin stock full of chocolate chips. Usually you see pumpkin paired with cheese cake, a butter-cream or cream cheese frosting (vanilla, cinnamon...) or simply a "frosted pumpkin" if paired with anything at all. You don't see the chocolate and pumpkin combo often and I for one really enjoyed it. I think that dark chocolate or semi-chocolate is the way to go rather than milk chocolate only because pumpkin can be such a strong flavor and milk chocolate might get lost in it.
Jane the Bakery has all sorts of baked goods. From their breads which are baked daily using locally sourced grains, to their wide variety of croissants and cookies (which include some gluten-free and vegan options) and an array of morning pastries like muffins, brioche, cinnamon rolls and slices of breakfast breads (banana and lemon). There's really no going wrong at Jane the Bakery.
For as much as I love cupcakes, my love for doughnuts is just as strong. I could not resist the temptation to try pumpkin spice/spiced pumpkin doughnuts from two of my favorite doughnut spots in SF: Bob's Donuts and Johnny Doughnuts.
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| Pumpkin Spice doughnuts at Bob's Donuts photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Bob's Donuts on Polk Street is an SF staple, if you've never been please make it a point to do so. They're open 24 hours so there's really no excuse not to.
When I went, Bob's had a couple different pumpkin spice options and after asking the girl behind the counter which one she'd recommend I got a pumpkin spice, raised, crumb doughnut.
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| Pumpkin Spice, raised, crumb doughnut from Bob's Donut's photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Johnny Doughnuts has one pumpkin doughnut to chose from, the spiced pumpkin cake. It's a variation of an old fashion doughnut (my fave) topped with a simple glaze. Maybe vanilla, maybe just sugar, it's unclear.
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| Spiced Pumpkin Cake doughnuts at Johnny Doughnuts photo by Nikki DeMartini |
To my surprise both of the doughnuts, like the muffin from Jane the Bakery, only had a hint of pumpkin flavor. Both of them were delicious of course (as usual) and they were both light and fluffy but they didn't have that pumpkin punch I was expecting. If I didn't know that the one from Bob's was pumpkin spice I wouldn't have guessed that it was and while the one from Johnny's was really fragrant with a warm orange tint, it didn't taste too much like pumpkin.
If you're looking for a smidge of pumpkin to go with your morning cup of coffee either one of these pumpkin doughnuts will do the trick.
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| Spiced Pumpkin Cake doughnut from Johnny Doughnuts photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Like I said before, pumpkin can be such a strong flavor so maybe places are using caution when baking with it but I think they can totally turn it up a notch. Give the people what they want, it is pumpkin season after all!
Halloween is tomorrow but that doesn't mean it's the end of pumpkin flavored everything. There's still the whole month of November to snuggle up with some pumpkin spice pastries in your life.
Whether you're trick or treating or not, please be safe this Halloween and don't forget to wear your mask!
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