Pumpkin Spice Bagels

Good Morning!

I hope that those of you who celebrate had a wonderful Christmas filled with love and laughter. Today’s guest post comes from a relatively new bloggie friend of mine. I think Kelly & I found each other through our WIAW posts. Now we chat daily on Twitter and I love her blog and all the delicious recipes she whips up! Plus she’s totally adorable 🙂 Check out these delicious bagels she makes for her fam!

Hi Friends!

I’m Kelly and I blog over at Laughter, Strength, and Food. My blog is basically a collection of the little ramblings that go on in my daily life. I love to touch on health, fitness, food, and, definitely, fun! I want to thank Lindsay for giving me the opportunity to do a guest post for her while she’s enjoying the holiday with her family! She is a pretty amazing person and I’m truly honored!
Today, I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes. It’s a recipe that, no matter when I break it out, reminds me of Christmas.

Let’s start with a little back story. A few years ago, I started giving homemade gifts to my grandparents and my aunts and uncles. To be totally honest, this all started because there was that time when I was a poor college student.
Poor college student = cannot buy 1,000 gifts for Christmas.
Now, I know that my family never expected me to spend a lot of money on them, but my family is pretty important to me, so I always want to try and do something special for them. And…so begins the homemade gifts. I figured if I couldn’t spend a lot of money, I would spend a lot of my time. Besides, things are better when they have a touch of work and love in them, right!?

My gifts have included caramel apples, peppermint fudge, cinnamon roasted almonds, granola, and, my favorite…these pumpkin spice bagels that I’m sharing with you today.
Oh, and don’t let the use of dough and long ingredient list make you nervous. I used to be afraid of dough and recipes with a lot of steps, but these are really easy to make and are almost fool-proof!!

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Pumpkin Spice Bagels
(from Taste of Home)
Ingredients:
2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons water, divided
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3 cups of whole-wheat flour
1 egg white
1 tablespoon cornmeal

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix 2/3 cup water and yeast and dissolve. Pour into a large bowl and add pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, and spices (through cloves). Mix together until blended.
Add flour (approximately 3 cups) and mix until a stiff dough forms. Place dough on floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes. The dough will feel ‘gummy’ and should ‘spring back’ when pushed with your fingers. When finished kneading, form dough into ball and place in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray. Flip ball of dough so the top of the dough is covered with the spray. Let rise for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 400.
When dough is done rising, punch dough down and knead a few times. Divide dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then shape into a ring.
Fill a large Dutch oven approximately half full of water and bring to a boil. Drop bagels into boiling water, two at a time, and boil for 45 seconds on each side. Remove to a cookie sheet covered with a paper towel to drain.
Spray clean cookie sheet with cooking spray and dust with cornmeal. Place bagels on cookie sheet. IN a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons water with egg white and brush over top of bagels.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until bagels are crisp on the outside.
Yield: 6 bagels
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My family loved these bagels and now we have them every Christmas morning! I hope you and yours enjoy them as well!
Happy Holidays!!

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So tell us, what’s your favorite kind of bagel??

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–