Recipe of the Week: Pumpkin Caramel Blondies

Today marks the end of this "Great Pumpkin" recipe series; next week, we swing into full-bore Christmas cooking and baking.  Some of you may be breathing a sigh of relief, or maybe that was a wistful sigh of contentment I heard.

There are so many yummy pumpkin recipes I haven't tried yet, I may continue test-driving them on my family and friends over the next year, and have a whole new lineup for an encore performance next fall.

We'll see.

Mr. Official says I'm starting to sound like Forrest Gump's friend Bubba when he rattled off all the ways you could cook shrimp.  I've got recipes for pumpkin biscuits, pumpkin soup, pumpkin butter, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin fried pies, pumpkin brownies, pumpkin trifle....the list just goes on forever.  Or as long as the canned pumpkin holds out.

Today we'll take several fave flaves, including chocolate, pecan, caramel and pumpkin and swirl them together in these gooey pumpkin blondies.

I made these on Monday and planned to send some with Mr. Official on Tuesday morning. But Middle Son looked forlorn when I mentioned sending them off, so I left them for him enjoy while he and the pooches house-sit this week.  They are pure decadence, so make them when you can spread the love and calories over many eaters, or give to a few eaters with high metabolism.

Pumpkin Caramel Blondies

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg (2 for cake-like texture)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup caramel syrup


Directions:  
Preheat oven to 350.  Line a 9x13 pan with parchment or foil; if using foil, grease or butter well.  SEt aside.  In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs, mixing well.  Add pumpkin and vanilla.  Stir in flour, soda, salt and spices just unti incorporated. Spoon about half the batter into the prepared pan and smooth to cover bottom. Sprinkle with chips and nuts; drizzle with caramel. Drop remaining batter over top, then use a spatula to smooth and cover the caramel layer.  Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean (it may have caramel on it.)

Cool and use foil or parchment to lift from pan; pull away lining and cut into squares.  Makes 20-24 bars.

Happy baking,

Recipe of the week: Pumpkin Biscuits

We're nearing the home stretch with this miniseries of pumpkin recipes.  As witnessed by my posts over the last few weeks, most pumpkin recipes are sweet: pies, cakes, cookies, muffins, donuts, etc. And most of them partner cinnamon (and often nutmeg or allspice) with the pumpkin to achieve that familiar "pumpkin" flavor.


This week will take us in a more savory different direction:  pumpkin biscuits.  if you look around, you'll find there are recipes for sweet biscuits featuring pumpkin or sweet potato puree, with brown sugar and the traditional spices. But this one (adapted from Country Living) is decidedly not sweet.  Instead it has a yin and yang of  cayenne pepper and ginger, and only a small squeeze of honey; no sugar, no cinnamon.   The biscuits can be eaten warm and buttered or slathered with apple or pumpkin butter.  Or - as you can see here, I upped the ante with slices of Black Forest ham (country ham would be total awesomeness, but I didn't have any on hand) and a dollop of apple butter for a yummy flavor combination that would be perfect for a holiday breakfast or brunch spread.

Spicy Savory Pumpkin Biscuits

Ingredients:

The salt and honey arrived late on the scene...

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespooon + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.  Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper; set aside.  In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients until blended.  With a pastry knife, cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  In a small bowl, combine the pumpkin puree and honey; add to the flour mixture just until blended.  Mix in buttermilk until the mixture clings together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knead and fold douh a half-dozen times.  Pat out 3/4 to 1-inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter or drinking glass.  I used a 2-inch cutter.  Place on baking sheet leaving an inch or so between biscuits.  Press scraps together and cut again until the dough is used up.   It will make 12, 2-inch biscuits.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown; transfer to wire rack to cool slightly before serving.  Best served warm.

Happy baking,

 

Recicpe of the week: Baked Pumpkin-Spice Donut Holes

It's open season on pumpkins these days - everywhere you turn, somebody is touting yet another recipe full of orange goodness.  I've got several cans of pumpkin in the pantry (just in case there's another shortage) and several more pumpkin recipes pinned and ready to try.  This week's pumpkin recipe is one I've seen on several websites and I've been eager to try for a while. 

Now that I have test-driven it, I would have to say they should probably be called mini muffins, not baked donuts.  But whatever you call them, they are good and easy - just be sure you have a crowd on hand to woof them down as soon as they're made, as they are best warm and fresh.

Spicy Pumpkin Baked Donut Holes

Dry ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ginger

Wet ingredients
3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 cup buttermilk (you can substitute sour cream)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 and spray mini-muffin tins (1 large 24-muffin pan or 2 12-muffin pans).   In a medium-sized bowl, measure and mix together dry ingredients.  Set aside. In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients, mixing well.  Fold in dry ingredients just until blended. Drop into muffin tins, using all the batter (it will fill all 24 pans.)

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Immediately melt 3/4 stick butter in a bowl, and in a separate bowl combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.  Dip top of each muffin in butter, then in sugar mixture; flip over and dip bottom in butter, then sugar mixture to coat.  Place on wire rack or serving plate.   Alternatively, you can glaze them with a traditional powdered sugar/milk glaze, which will hold up a little better than the butter and cinnamon-sugar dip.  Makes 2 dozen bite-size muffins/donut holes.


Happy baking!

Recipe of the week: Ginger-Pumpkin Pull-Apart Loaves

The recipe for pumpkin spice pull-apart bread has been making the rounds and for good reason - the results are good and the star ingredient is on everyone's mind these days: pumpkin.

I made two batches of this recipe last week and modified it slightly as each time; in the final analysis I counted three minor changes in my version, below.

Two mini-loaves with glaze

Modification #1.  I added some dough conditioners - lecithin and ground ginger, which isn't just a spice, but it also helps make yeast dough softer and smoother.  Ginger has the added benefit of also adding a tiny bit of zing.
Modification #2.  I made this in two mini-loaf pans instead of one big pan (see photo at right.  They cook a little faster, so you don't need to let the tops get extra-brown in order to ensure the middle isn't gooey.
Modification #3.  The glaze calls for plain rum, which I didn't have. But I DID have a bottle of Bacardi Gold infused with vanilla bean pods, in the process of becoming vanilla.  If you don't have - or care to use - rum, vanilla will work in a pinch, or use just a tiny bit of rum extract.  

Please don't be intimidated by the steps in the recipe; it's actually a relatively fast and easy dough to make up, and the cutting-and-stacking is harder to explain than to do.  I made the dough in two stages, refrigerating it overnight once it raised, then rolling, cutting and baking the next day.  You can do it in one fell swoop - just make sure you have about 4 hours from start to finish (most of the time is spent waiting on the dough to raise or bake.)

Ginger-Pumpkin Pull-Apart Loaves

Dough Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (do not substitute salted butter or margarine)
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/4 cup white suar
1 teaspoon salt
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups all-purpose or bread flour
1 teaspoon lecithin (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)

Filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (do not substitute salted butter or margarine)
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a heavy-bottom small saucepan, heat the butter over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble and foam. Stirring constantly, keep it over the heat until it is the color of dark honey.  Pour in mixing bowl.  Return pan to stove and heat milk just until it begins to froth. Add to the browned butter in the bowl.  Add pumpkin, sugar and salt.  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then add dry yeast and stir.  Wait about 10 minutes until the yeast begins to bubble.  Add flour, lecithin and ginger and knead for 4-5 minutes or use a dough hook.  The dough will be smooth but soft and a little sticky.  Place in a greased bowl; cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap in a draft-free warm spot and let rise for one hour or until doubled in size.  You can refrigerate overnight at this point, or continue to make the rolls.  Refrigerated dough will need to set out for 30-60 minutes or until warm enough to roll easily.

To make rolls, place dough on lightly floured surface and roll to a 12x20 rectangle (I "squared" up the sides with my hands so it formed a fairly neat rectangle.)

Just as with the dough, brown 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a heavy-bottom saucepan until the color of dark honey. Brush the butter on rolled-out dough, all the way to the edges.  Mix together sugar and spices; sprinkle evenly over entire dough, all the way to the edges. Use a pizza cutter and cut dough in half lenthwise, then each half in thirds (six strips total.)  Stack three strips high, then cut again, first in half, then each half in thirds to create small square pieces.  You can see that the cut pieces were barely taller than the mini-loaf pans.

Generously grease (with shortening) two small loaf pans or one 9x5 loaf pan.  Place the stacks into the pan(s) , holding them in place until the pan is full - they will just fill two mini loaves or one 9x5 loaf pan. Scoop up any splled-out cinnamon/sugar mixture and sprinkle down through and over the top of the loaves.  Cover with a damp (not wet) clean tea towel and let rise for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Let cool in pans, run a thin blade around the edge of the pan to loosen, then turn them out onto a plate for glazing.

Before serving, heat together 2 tablespoons butter, 1/8 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons half-and-half or milk.  Heat just until boiling; remove from heat and add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1/4 teaspoon rum or vanilla.  Whisk until smooth and pour over loaf or loaves.

My family (and Mr. Official's coworkers) loved this bread.  Even if you're not experienced with yeast dough, this is a good one to hone your breadmaking skills, and the results are well worth the effort.

Happy baking,

Recipe of the Week: Spicy Pumpkin Ooey-Gooey Cake

Yes, it's pumpkin time around here.  Last week was sour cream pumpkin bread.  

This week's recipe is a takeoff on Paula Deen's "Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake" (which is known in some parts as a "dump cake" or "ooey-gooey cake.")  I tried this recipe on for size last year around this time. I recommend using a spice cake instead of the yellow cake mix listed to give it a more authentic "pumpkin pie" flavor.

On PD's website, a round cheesecake-looking dessert is shown as the final result of the recipe, but her directions (and dump cake protocol) call for a 9x13 pan.  However, it would make for a more sophisticated presentation to make it in the round.  If you have a large (10-inch or larger) springform pan, go ahead and give it a whirl. It's not like you were going to use that pan for anything else this week, right?

One word of caution:  this is a very rich and sweet dessert, so I strongly recommend cutting it into small slivers (if you use said springform pan) or petite 2-inch squares from a rectangle.  Your guests can always have seconds if they are so inclined.

(Note:  To pie purists, this is not in the same league as  traditional pumpkin pie, but if you're serving a crowd, it could do in a pinch, especially with good whipped cream on top.)

Spicy Pumpkin Ooey-Gooey Cake

Crust Ingredients:
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow spice cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup butter, melted (don't substitute margarine)

Filling Ingredients:
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To create the crust, combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.  Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Happy eating,


P.S. Up next week is...you guessed it, another pumpkin recipe. Hope you like 'em.  If not, I am betting I'll give you so many ways to fix pumpkin, you'll have to like one of them.  We'll continue exploring this pumpkin patch as the countdown to Thanksgiving continues.

Recipe of the Week: Sour Cream Pumpkin Bread

There are so many delicious recipes with pumpkin these days, I thought I'd try to feature one (or two) a week through Thanksgiving.  Since I'm also trying to work off a few excess pounds before the holidays, I warned Mr. Official that he's going to be schlepping some seriously fattening foods to share with his staff.  It's one of the laws of physics:  high-calorie foods diluted among many eaters does no harm.

We'll start off with a quick bread.  My all-time favorite bread is banana nut bread, and recently a friend asked me if I had ever made it without the bananas (she's not a fan of the yellow fruit.)  I hadn't, but I scrounged around and came up with a few alternatives that were similar in other ingredients, including a strawberry jam and nut bread recipe that has been passed down from mother to daughter in our family, and this pumpkin-spice bread recipe.  I'll try to post the strawberry bread recipe closer to Christmas.

The pumpkin bread sounded deliciously similar to my beloved banana bread, so I had to try it for myself. (Friends don't give untested recipes to friends, right?)

I whipped this up yesterday, and tapped my toe until it was cool enough to slice.  It was met with two thumbs up from swimmer girl, although I think it would benefit from a little baking lagniappe (see my recommendations below.)

Sour Cream Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (or margarine) slightly softened to smear texture
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup (1/2 can) pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt   
 

Directions:  Heat oven to 350.  Generously grease a 9x5 loaf pan (or 2-3 mini loaf pans) with shortening.  Don't use spray or butter - trust me.

Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Add pumpkin puree and sour cream or yogurt.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (don't overbake.)  Slide a thin blade around the edge to loosen from pan; invert onto cooling rack.  Allow to cool completely before slicing.  Wrap loaf in a tea towel to store overnight, or let cool completely and freeze for no more than a month. 

Terry's recommendation:  This is a good, basic recipe, but I think it needs a little something to jazz it up a notch.  I'd recommend any one of these three options (and I'll be trying them myself soon - perhaps even some combination of these three):

1.  At a minimum, throw 1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped nuts into the batter.  Preferably pecans, but walnuts would work, too.
2.  Add a streusel topping (1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped nuts, 3/4 teaspoons cinnamon, 2 tablespoons butter, crumbled together and sprinkled over the top of the batter before baking.)
3. Cream cheese glaze (1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons fresh orange juice, beat together until smooth; drizzle over loaf after removing it from the pan.)  Garnish with chopped nuts if desired.

Happy baking,