Categories
Breads Dessert Pumpkin Uncategorized

Pumpkin Mascarpone Cheesecake

    Pumpkin Mascarpone Cheesecake
    Pumpkin Mascarpone Cheesecake

    It’s day 15 of 31 days of pumpkin. I can’t believe I’m halfway there. Today’s recipe was such a joy to make. I’ve never made cheesecake before and I was nervous at each step, but everything worked beautifully. I followed a recipe in a book that my sister gave me recently. Every once in awhile, she’ll see interesting cookbooks at a used bookstore and send them to me. I love it because there are always surprises. Like this book which is based on the fourth season of a Public Television Series I didn’t even know existed: Cooking Secrets of the CIA. The video doesn’t appear to be available anywhere, but the book is still available on Amazon:

    The book was published in 1999 and was sponsored by Cuisinart. There is a set of pages at the back of the book featuring Cuisinart small appliances. The other thing about the book that I find fascinating is that the photography isn’t that great. The recipes are amazing, but with so much incredible food photography around these days, the lack of consistency in this book is a bit jarring.

    Recently, I attended two food photography sessions at the BlogHerFood09 conference in San Francisco.

      Categories
      Fish & Shellfish Pumpkin Sides Uncategorized

      Pumpkin Ale Battered Fish & Chips

        Pumpkin Ale Battered Fish & Chips
        Pumpkin Ale Battered Fish & Chips

        I’m seeing the world through pumpkin-tinted glasses these days, so when my eyes settled on the Buffalo Bill Pumpkin Ale display at the market the other day, I just knew I had to cook something with it. You see, it’s day 14 of 31 Days of Pumpkin and time for something completely different.

        A beer batter video came across my desk while working on my other project, StreamingGourmet: Where You are the Food TV Star (join today!) and I knew just what to do. I’ve always wanted to master deep frying with batter and today, I think I have. In the past, I’ve struggled with keeping the coating on the food and having it crisp up just right. Well I’m not exactly sure what went right today, whether it was the consistency of the batter, the high temperature of the oil, or the fact the oil was the right depth, but I got perfectly fried fish every time and it was a cinch. I ate the fried calamari too quickly to photograph it. Sorry.

          Categories
          Dessert Pumpkin Uncategorized

          Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownies


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            Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownies
            Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Brownies

            Day 13 of 31 days of pumpkin and we come to a personal favorite: the brownie. Brownies are the kind of food that inspire strong opinions. People know exactly how they like their brownies. Some people like them cakey, others like them fudgy. Some like the crunchy edges so much that they buy special pans so that every brownie will have a crunchy edge. Others want the slightly undercooked gooey middle. Me? I go for the fudgy, gooey variety, made with chocolate as dark and rich as possible. That’s why I decided to make this recipe using 70% cacao Sharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate and a whole lot o’ butta.

            Scharffen Berger Chocolate
            Scharffen Berger Chocolate
              Categories
              Breakfast/Brunch Pumpkin Uncategorized

              Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

                Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal
                Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

                Day 12 of 31 days of pumpkin and I’ve decided to do a healthy breakfast recipe for this installment. My 19 month-old daughter wolfed this down for breakfast this morning. I just love it when she takes to a new food instantly.

                Basically, all I’ve done here is create a mini pumpkin custard (except I’ve left out the eggs) and swirled it into traditional oatmeal. The oats I used are labeled Old Fashioned oats, but the directions say to cook them for 3-5 minutes, which sounds like Quick Cooking oats. Use whatever you’ve got as long as it’s not instant. Just follow the package instructions. For this recipe, you cook the oats and the pumpkin separately anyway and then combine them at the end.

                I garnished the oatmeal with an apple slice, but the apple with a little bit of the pumpkin sauce on it tasted so good that next time, I plan to top the bowl with about 1/4 cup of diced apple.

                  Categories
                  Breads Dessert Pumpkin Uncategorized

                  Pumpkin Gingerbread

                    Pumpkin Gingerbread
                    Pumpkin Gingerbread

                    It’s day 11 of 31 days of pumpkin and I’ve decided to try something new. I’ve never added pumpkin to gingerbread, but it seems like a natural combination, so I’ve decided to go for it. The tagline of this blog is after all, “We risk disaster so you don’t have to.” Combining pumpkin and ginger isn’t even that big of a risk, but you never really know how something is going to turn out until you taste it. This risk yielded success. A moist, light, fluffy cake with a spicy bite to it, I would say this gingerbread is traditional with a twist.

                    Of course, writing this post feels a little bit like the time I was 8 years old and I told my family I had invented a new drink: half apple juice, half grape juice. Then, while watching tv that night, we all saw a commercial for Welch’s new Apple-Grape drink. While working on this post, a quick Google search for “Pumpkin Bread” has yielded a pretty long list of recipes. Duh.

                      Categories
                      Fish & Shellfish Pumpkin Rice and other Grains Sides Uncategorized

                      Pumpkin Risotto with Scallops and Thyme

                        Pumpkin Risotto with Scallops
                        Pumpkin Risotto with Scallops

                        Day 9 of 31 days of pumpkin and I am psyched. I chowed down on this dish after photographing it and it was delicious. It’s been a long time since I’ve made risotto. It’s a labor of love kind of recipe that demands one’s full attention, so I made this while the kids were at school today. And then, in a quiet house with the hazy, long shadows of an early afternoon in fall, I savored every last bite. Then a pair of Blue Angels screamed overhead breaking one reverie and ushering in a new one.

                        For this recipe, I use the smaller Bay Scallops, rather than the larger Sea Scallops. Either could be appropriate here, but the Bay Scallops were $9.99/lb as opposed to the $19.99/lb Sea Scallops, so I decided to go for the lower stakes. I wasn’t disappointed. Yesterday, I read a blog post by Debi Shawcross on How to Perfectly Pan Sear Scallops and I took her advice to heart. Definitely check out her post. The key takeaway for me was to try to get as much of the water out of the scallops as possible because water is the enemy of browning.

                          Categories
                          Breads Breakfast/Brunch Pumpkin Uncategorized

                          Pumpkin Hazelnut Muffins

                            Pumpkin Hazelnut Muffins
                            Pumpkin Hazelnut Muffins

                            Day 8 of 31 days of pumpkin brings us to the pumpkin muffin: a true classic. This was the perfect recipe for me today because this week, it is my responsibility to bring the daily afternoon snack to my son’s kindergarten class. I can’t wait to drop these off tomorrow. Since they’re not iced and there aren’t any chocolate chips in them (although, chocolate chips would probably be great in these), I don’t feel too guilty when it comes to the children’s health meter. I hope they can’t tell!

                            The recipe worked just as I’d hoped. They are fluffy and moist and not overly sweet.

                              Categories
                              Breakfast/Brunch Drinks Pumpkin Uncategorized

                              Pumpkin Spiced Latte

                                Pumpkin Spice Latte
                                Pumpkin Spice Latte

                                Day 7 of 31 days of pumpkin brings us into the drinks category. I have a confession. Before today, I had never had a latte. But people go nuts over the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, so I knew that I would be including a pumpkin latte recipe in my 31 days of pumpkin extravaganza. I’m so glad I did. This drink was dreamy and I plan to make it again and again and again.

                                There are other Pumpkin Spice lattes out there on the internet, like the one from TheKitchn, but my version jacks up the pumpkin content and is generous with the sugar too. Also, technically, one might not be able to call the drink I’ve made a latte, because in place of espresso, I’ve used a generous shot of strongly brewed, French pressed coffee. The flavor is so perfectly to my liking that I hesitate to monkey with it at all.

                                Pumpkin Spiced Latte
                                 
                                Prep time
                                Cook time
                                Total time
                                 
                                Inspired by the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte, I make it at home.
                                Author:
                                Recipe type: Drink
                                Serves: 2
                                Ingredients
                                • 2 cups whole milk
                                • 5 Tbsp canned pure pumpkin
                                • 5 Tbsp granulated sugar
                                • ½ tsp cinnamon
                                • ⅛ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
                                • ⅛ tsp ground cloves
                                • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
                                • 1 shot of strong coffee
                                • ½ cup heavy whipping cream (optional)
                                Instructions
                                1. Start boiling water to make the French press coffee. Meanwhile, gently heat the milk in a small saucepan. Be careful not to scald the milk or bring it to a boil. Whisk in pumpkin and mix thoroughly. Stir in sugar and blend until dissolved. Add spices and blend. Add vanilla and stir. Keep milk on the heat as long as it is not starting to boil or scald.
                                2. Make the coffee in the French press, stronger than usual.
                                3. Use a hand-held egg beater (or an immersion blender if you have one) to froth up the warm milk mixture.
                                4. Use a whisk, or an egg beater, or a hand held mixer to whip the cream.
                                5. Pour about ¼ cup of coffee into a tall mug. Pour the milk mixture on top until the cup is nearly full. Add a large dollop of whipped cream and grate a little bit of nutmeg on top. This recipe makes two tall cups.

                                  Categories
                                  Breads Breakfast/Brunch Pumpkin Uncategorized

                                  Spiced Pumpkin Drop Biscuits

                                    Pumpkin Biscuits
                                    Pumpkin Biscuits

                                    It’s day 5 of 31 days of pumpkin, and I’m excited to share this recipe for pumpkin biscuits with you. I grew up on the Eastern Shore of MD where sweet potato biscuits were popular, so this seemed like a natural next step. I was tempted to let the pumpkin stand on its own in this recipe, but in the end, I couldn’t resist adding just a hint of the traditional spices we’ve all come to expect with pumpkin flavor. I showed restraint though in both quantity and array, so that there is just a hint of the pumpkin pie rather than the full effect.

                                    In this version, I dropped the biscuits in spoonfuls onto a “greased” (nonstick cooking sprayed) sheet, rather than rolling out the dough and cutting the circles. I just don’t have the patience for such things, although I readily admit that rolled biscuits are much more beautiful. Maybe next time.

                                    Drop biscuits
                                    Drop biscuits

                                    Spiced Pumpkin Drop Biscuits
                                    Makes 12 large biscuits

                                    Ingredients

                                    2 cups all purpose flour
                                    2 tsp salt
                                    3 tsp baking powder
                                    1 tsp baking soda
                                    1/4 tsp cinnamon
                                    1/8 tsp allspice
                                    pinch nutmeg
                                    5 Tbsp cold butter
                                    1 cup canned pumpkin
                                    1/2 – 3/4 cup plain yogurt

                                    Method

                                    1. Preheat oven to 450˚F. Mix together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into tablespoon slices and then cut the butter into the flour mixture. Blend thoroughly.

                                    2. With a spoon, stir the pumpkin purée into the dry ingredients. Add enough yogurt so that a ball of dough forms. Do so by adding a couple of tablespoons at a time. Knead the ball of dough 8-10 times until everything is thoroughly mixed together.

                                    3. Spray cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Drop large spoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet. There should be about a dozen spoonfuls altogether. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until tops are just turning golden brown.

                                    Pumpkin Biscuits
                                    Pumpkin Biscuits
                                      Categories
                                      Breakfast/Brunch Dessert Pumpkin Uncategorized

                                      Pumpkin-Apple Spiced Bundt Cake

                                        Pumpkin Apple Spiced Bundt Cake
                                        Pumpkin Apple Spiced Bundt Cake

                                        Day 4 of 31 days of pumpkin and we arrive at a Bundt cake. I’m psyched because I actually bought this bundt cake pan today at Mollie Stones in Sausalito. It’s nonstick, so I really wasn’t worried when it came time to invert the cake onto a plate. And then I had so much fun sifting the powdered sugar on top. Can you tell I’ve been waiting a long time to make a Bundt cake?

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