Pumpkin on Pumpkin: The Quintessential Fall Breakfast

While I’m still praying for an Indian summer, there’s no use in avoiding the inevitable. Fall is very much here, all around us, and it seems as though the season dropped down upon the Midwest quicker this year than I can ever remember.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love fall. It might just be my favorite season. As you will come to find during the next few months, I am truly obsessed with all things fall—pumpkin patches, apple orchards, back-to-school shopping, and haunted houses. But my pessimistic side realizes that I will be chilled to the bone for the next eight months. And that, although fall is breathtakingly beautiful, it gives way to a solid freeze, and thus hibernation of life, for what seems like an eternity.

But really, this post is a celebration of fall. And all things fall—one of the most important of which is definitely the pumpkin bagel with pumpkin shmear (seriously, why do they insist on calling it “shmear”?) from Einstein Brother’s Bagels. Today I was elated to find the excitingly seasonal pumpkin bagel sitting proudly among the other always-available boring choices like plain, cinnamon raisin, and wild blueberry. It seriously lit up and sung out to me. And I was, of course, more than happy to take a break from my usual strawberry on honey whole wheat. And so, this morning, I had my very first pumpkin bagel with pumpkin shmear, and it was sublime.

Did you ever notice how, come the very first sign of fall, there are so many pumpkin treats available at food retailers like Einstein’s and Starbuck’s? Take the Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbuck’s, for instance. Their marketing ploys totally lure me in, and my sentimentality for the season leaves me feeling that by simply sipping on one of these tasty treats, I’m celebrating fall in the very way it should be celebrated. I suppose it’s the commercialization of fall. But really, I have no problem with this.

Some of the very best pumpkin treats, however, are actually homemade. My absolute favorite fall treat is for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, a recipe I'm planning to share with you in the coming weeks. But I detest pumpkin pie. I suppose my love for pumpkins only goes so far.