Pumpkin Pie and Cake, Pecan Pie, Carrot Cake, Honey Whole Wheat Bread and Spaghetti Squash

Alrighty, I've had my list of recipes to post building up for quite a while, but have been practicing my procrastination techniques instead of putting them up like a good little cook. Good news on the procrastination front at least, as I'm close to pro-level! Anyway, I figured that I would end the year on a good note, and today I've got a couple holiday and seasonal recipes as well as some standards tacked on at the end.

To start with, a pumpkin pie based on a recipe by Paula Deen (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/pumpkin-pie-recipe/index.html). Anything made with canned pumpkin gets a really nice and creamy texture, but the addition of cream cheese in this makes it nearly cheesecake-like in consistency.

I made a crust for this the same way that I made the torte crust in a previous post, but instead of must making a basic torte crust shape, I chilled the dough, rolled in into a circularish shape, chilled again, then pushed into a pie pan. Remember to fold the edges back under the crust, then press down with a fork or other design to make the crust more uniform (because mine was totally circular... right?). Pre-bake the crust at 350 for 15-20 minutes with something weighing down the middle of the crust so it doesn't poof too much.

For the filling, combine a softened 8oz package light cream cheese , 2C canned pumpkin, 1C sugar, 1/4t salt, 2 eggs, 1C milk, 1/2 stick melted butter, 1t vanilla, 1t cinnamon, and 1/2t ginger with beaters until smooth and creamy, then pour into a crust. I had leftover filling, and put the remainder in ramekins to bake and have individual pies (with or without mini-crusts). Bake your dish(es) at 350 for 50 minutes, or until the edges of the crust are golden brown. Utterly delicious.

Next up is a pumpkin cake, which is great for larger groups of people or pot-lucks, as it's in a 9x13 pan and travels quite well. To start, combine 1 box yellow cake mix except 1 cup with 1/2C melted margarine and one egg, and press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Then, combine a 15oz can pumpkin, 3 eggs, 2t cinnamon, 1/2C brown sugar, 1/2C white sugar and a 5oz can evaporated milk well, and pour over the base layer in the pan. To make the toping, mix together the reserved yellow cake mix, 1/2C sugar, and 1/4C melted margarine, then crumble that over the top, and bake at 325 for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. I got rave reviews from this, and it was quite tasty.

Continuing the holiday trend is a chocolate bourbon pecan pie. Now, I made this a month ago so don't remember precisely how I made it, but this is the best re-creation I can come up with. It doesn't use any high-fructose corn syrup like most pecan pies, only sugar. So, again start with a crust pushed into a pan. To make the filling, combine 3 eggs, 1/2C melted butter, 1C brown sugar, 1/4C white sugar, 1T flour, 1T milk, 2t vanilla extract, 2+T bourbon (I used Makers Mark) and 2/3C chopped pecans. Line the bottom of the crust with ~2/3C of good dark chocolate chips (like Ghirardelli), then pour the filling over them. Finish the top with whole pecans, and bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 350 and bake for another 30-40 minutes. The pie will poof up while it bakes, and will then settle back down once it comes out of the oven. Utterly delicious, and feel free to modify any ingredients based on what you like.

I also had leftover filling for this pie, so put it in a ramekin with leftover crust and made a personal pie. Awesome present to myself the next night.

Moving on, we have a carrot cake from The Tassajara Bread Book. It has carrots in it, which means you can almost justify it as being healthy. It's not. Rather, it's extremely rich, excellently spiced and makes an awesome dessert. To make, combine 1C white sugar, 1C brown sugar, 4 eggs, 2/3C melted butter and 2/3C canola oil. Then, mix in 2 C flour, 1+T cinnamon, 2t allspice, 2t freshly grated nutmeg and 1C chopped walnuts. Finally, mix in 3C grated carrots and 1C raisins and divide into 2 piled 9 inch pans. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, and serve with cream cheese icing. Delicious.

Growing up, there was a bakery my family went to that gave kids honey whole wheat bread sticks when they came in. These bread sticks amazing; sweet, soft, wheaty and delicious. I was looking for a good recipe for a standard whole wheat bread loaf I could use for my breakfast toast, and I think I found a recipe that is almost identical to those bread sticks, and so moist and tasty. Ok, enough adjectives, on to the recipe. Combine 3C warm water, 2t yeast and 1/3C honey, and let sit a couple minutes. Then, add 3C whole wheat flour, 3C bread flour, 3T melted butter, 1T salt, a drizzle of canola oil and a couple tablespoons of sugar, combine and kneed until smooth and a good consistency. Add up to a couple cups of bread flour as you kneed to adjust the consistency to a nice level. Let rise for a couple hours until doubled, divide into 2 loaf pans, let rise another couple hours until the pans are filled, then bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden on top. I may or may not have eaten a third of a loaf as soon as it came out of the oven. Oops.

Finally, a quick tip. Spaghetti squash is awesome. Furthermore, it makes a really quick easy dinner. Cook the squash by cutting it in half and cooking at 375 for 40 minutes, then scrape out the flesh, and add hummus and any veggies you may have. Hummus makes a remarkably good sauce, much like a pesto.

Baking Bonanza and Easy Gourmet

So, being that it is the beginning of the holiday season, I decided to do a couple recipes with a holiday theme. I also got an awesome new bread cookbook from my Aunt Trish full of amazing-looking recipes (The Tassajara Bread Book), so I just had to start making them.

To start off, a Pumpkin sweet bread that is just awesome. To make, combine 1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin, 1.5C brown sugar, 1 stick butter and 3 eggs, and stir until creamy. Add to that 3.5C flour, 2T baking powder (yes, tablespoon), 1t cinnamon, 1/2t salt and 1/2t nutmeg, and stir till well combined. Fold in 2C chocolate chips and bake in 2 loaf pans at 350 for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The bread is creamy, pumpkin-y, chocolaty and really delicious.

Next up is a new take on gingerbread (from the new cookbook) . It has ground mustard in it, and is more cake-y and less cardboard-y than traditional gingerbread (though you can't really build houses out of it), and comes out quite moist and not that unhealthy. To make, combine 2.25C whole wheat flour, 1.5t baking powder, 1/2t salt, 1/2t baking soda, 1/2t cloves, 1t ground mustard, 1t cinnamon and 1t powdered ginger. In a separate bowl, combine 1 stick melted butter, 1C molasses, 1 egg and 1C hot water, then add that mixture to the dry mix and stir thoroughly (it ends up looking a bit runny), then bake at 350 in a 9x9 pan for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. It's got a really good flavor, and would be great with a bit of whipped cream on top.

Sticking with the healthier theme, I found (in the new cookbook) a really good base wheat muffin recipe, to which I added festival spices (one of the half dozen modifications they recommend) to make it more appropriate for the season. To make the base, combine 2C whole wheat flour, 2t baking powder, 1/2t salt, 1 beaten egg, 1/4C oil, 1/3C honey (or molasses) and 1.5C milk with as few strokes as possible (it's fine if it's still lumpy; the muffins will turn out just fine). Then, bake at 400 for 15 minutes or (can you guess?) until a toothpick comes out clean. I added 1/2t cinnamon, 1/2t nutmeg, 1/4t allspice and 1/4t ginger to the dry ingredients as well. The muffins taste quite good, and would make a great breakfast with some yogurt or just as a snack.

Finally, a random meal suggestion. Making pork chops (or steak) in a frying pan makes them fricken' awesome. Take a pork chop and salt and pepper each side, then place in a very hot, dry non-stick fry pan. It will initially stick to the bottom, and you will know when it's time to turn by when it releases itself. Flip over and repeat, but just before it finishes, add a couple drams of red wine and simmer the wine down with the pork chop so you end up with the flavor wonderfully infused; the pork chop comes out tender and moist. Top with some caramelized onions that were made with a drizzle of red wine, and you're getting gourmet. Add some green beans and red potatoes from a farmers market and you're in business!

Chicken Cashew Lettuce Wraps, Roasted Chicken Risotto with Caramelized Onions, Orange-scented Olive Oil Cake, and Two Types of Dinner Rolls

So, last Monday I moved to a new apartment in downtown Chicago for my job, which starts June 7th. As a result, I have had a LOT of free time to cook! Therefore, this post may get a little lengthy, but eh, deal with it.

First off, we have a Mu Shu-type chicken lettuce wrap. To start off, cook a couple sliced chicken breasts lightly seasoned with pepper in canola oil until they begin to brown. Then, add 2+ cloves of garlic, a little cayenne pepper and grated (or dried, as it was all I had) ginger to taste and whatever vegetables you want to add and sauté for a minute or so (I used red bell pepper, but pretty much anything would work; water chestnuts would be great). Then, add 3T honey and 3T low-sodium soy sauce and continue to cook until the chicken is well done and the veggies are softened. Serve in large lettuce leaves, and drizzle some sauce from the pan over the top for added bonus. This was really good and came together in about 15 minutes, so would be great for a busy evening. A little messy to eat, but that just added to the fun!

Next, we have a roasted chicken with Risotto and caramelized onions. This ended up to be absolutely delicious, and made 5-6 servings. I started off with a rotisserie chicken, which I picked the meat off of and saved, then made a stock from the carcass (sauté onions and carrots in olive oil, then add carcass, water, garlic, thyme, parsley, basil, salt, pepper and simmer for 2 hours, strain, refrigerate and skim). Then, to make the dish, heat 2T olive oil in a pan and caramelize an onion or two, then set aside in a dish with 1/4C balsamic vinegar. Heat 2T more olive oil in a pan, stir in 1.5C uncooked rice and stir well for 2 minutes, then add 1/2C dry white wine. Then, reduce heat and add 7C chicken broth one cup at a time (waiting until it is absorbed to add more). Once all the broth is absorbed, add the onion and vinegar mixture, 2C of the roasted chicken (chopped), and 2T butter. Looks a little ugly, but is absolutely delicious.

Next up is the orange-scented olive oil cake. This didn't turn out quite as well as I had expected, but was quite good nonetheless. To start, you basically candy some oranges after making them not quite as pungent. To do do, quarter 2 oranges and add to a pot of boiling water for a couple minutes. Discard the water and repeat. Then, add the orange quarters, 4C water and 1C sugar to a saucepan and boil until the orange rinds can easily be pierced with a fork. Discard the syrup, and food-process the orange quarters to form a chunky puree. Then, add to the food processor 2.5C flour, 2t baking powder, 1t baking soda, 1.3C sugar, 1t vanilla and 4 eggs and process until well incorporated. Then add 6T olive oil and process more until combined. Pour into 9''-10'' buttered and pam'd pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Make sure the center is done; that seemed to be the part that bakes slowest for me. When it comes out, drizzle with a reduced syrup made from 1/4C orange juice and 1/4C sugar that have been simmered for a couple minutes. If you'd like, sprinkle with coarse sea salt to finish. Flavors meld well, and none of them are overpowering to the rest. A good dense cake that is not too sweet either. The liquid around the base of the second picture is the glaze.

Finally, I made 2 different types of dinner rolls to have on hand in the freezer so I could have fresh rolls in short order.

First, sweet dinner rolls (the ones of the left). To make the dough, combine 1/2C warm water, 1/2C warm milk, 1 egg, 1/3C softened butter, 1/3C sugar, 1t salt, 3.75C flour and 1.5t activated yeast and knead until kneaded. Then, divide dough in half and press each into a ~12 inch circle. Then, cut each into 8 wedges and roll up from large end to small end. I rolled a small pat of butter inside to make them extra-tasty. Then, let rise for an hour and either bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes or freeze for later baking. When freezing rolls, place them on a pan or place and freeze individually, then place together into a bag once frozen for storage. These come out of the oven (after being frozen) soft and buttery, and are very tasty.

Next, the honey wheat sandwich rolls. To make, combine 1.25C warm milk, 1 egg, 2T softened butter, 1/4C honey, 2/4t salt, 2.75C bread flour, 1C whole wheat flour and 1.25t activated yeast and knead until kneaded. Form into rolls sized appropriately for what you want to do with them (sandwiches, dinner rolls, etc), let rise for an hour and either bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes or freeze as described above. These come out of the oven (after being frozen) tasting like your standard fresh homemade whole-wheat bread. Certainly more healthy than the previous recipe, and I think would be awesome for a cold-cut sandwich.