Recipe: Pumpkin Butter

Last fall I made apple butter, a project I intend to do again, but I decided to try making pumpkin butter this year.  It's stupidly easy and if you have a slow cooker even more so.  Some things you will need: 

1 Pie Pumpkin, now the size of your pie pumpkin will determine how much butter you can make.  Since this was my first try I purchased a small two pound pie pumpkin.  (Reminder! Some of that weight is seeds.)

Brown Sugar

Apple Pie Spice or Pumpkin Pie Spice.  The ingredients are very similar and if you don't have either of these some cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves will do the job. 

One clean jar to store your pumpkin butter.  

I started by cutting my pumpkin down the middle.  Not a small feat as this guy had a tough skin.  I hollowed out the seeds then placed them flat side down in a pan with about 3/4 cup of water in it and baked these puppies at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. 

After backing the insides are soft and easy to scoop out. 

I placed the pumpkin in my slow cooker with 1 cup water, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 teaspoons apple pie spice.  I placed the slow cooker on low and covered with the lid.  The pumpkin will get even softer in the slow cooker and once the pumpkin turns from bright orange to a more burnt orange color it is time to take the lid off.  

This is where the magic happens.  Take the lid off the slow cooker, but leave the pumpkin mixture in the slow cooker for a few more hours.  I left mine in for about four hours.  This lets the liquid evaporate from the mixture making it into a think paste.  

Stir your pumpkin butter occasionally and when you think it is think enough transfer your pumpkin butter to a blender and blend till it is smooth.  That's it. Done.  I placed mine in a mason jar and put it in the fridge.  It should last about a month maybe two if i keep it cool and the lid on tight.  

P.S. I've been having too much fun with picmonkey's Halloween affects

Recipe: Peach Biscuits

Peaches are in season here in PA and what better way to make use of abundant stone fruit than to bake yummy things like Peach Biscuits.  These are essentially like scones, but I took a page from one of my favorite brunch spots, Morning Glory, and baked my biscuits in a pan.  That way there was no need to roll them out and get flour everywhere.

Ingredients

2 Cups Flour

4 Teaspoons Baking Powder

3/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/3 Cup Sugar

6 Tablespoons Butter (I used vegan butter)

1 Cup Mike (I used Soy Milk)

1 Egg

1 Cup Fresh Chopped Peaches

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and sugar in a bowl and mix well. 

In another bowl beat egg and milk together, set aside. 

Using a pastry mixer or a fork cut butter into the dry ingredients.  Much like pie crust you will want to keep your butter chilled until you are ready to use it.  Using cold butter will keep your biscuits flaky. 

One the butter is well combined at the milk and egg mixture and the peaches.  

Mix till the dry and wet ingredients are well combined.  Your dough will be a bit lumpy.  

Spread your dough into a greased baking pan and place in oven at 375 for about 15-20 minuets.  The edges and top of your biscuits should be a golden color.  

Let biscuits cool for a few minuets.  Cut into squares and enjoy.

(P.S. Have you entered to win awesome swag from Alchemy Hour.  If not you should.)

Recipe: Guinness Cake

I very distinctly remember drinking my first Guinness.  At first one my be apprehensive because of the dark black brew, but it's rich with coffee and chocolate and caramel notes.  What better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than with a rich dense quick bread I like to call Guinness Cake.

Ingredients
1 12 oz Bottle Guinness Extra Stout
2 Cups Brown Sugar
2 Table Spoons Butter (I use Vegan Butter)
2 Cups Raisins
3 Cups Flour
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Cloves

This recipe yeilds two loafs of Guinness Cake.  You will need two 4x8" loaf pans, greased and ready to go.

The Star of our show.  Yummy rich dark stout.  

1. In a saucepan heat the Guinness, butter, sugar and raisins.  Bring to a boil and let boil for about 5 minutes.  

Stir occasionally to keep from scorching the sugar

While the beer and sugar are boiling Grease those 8x4" pans and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F

2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Once the beer and sugar mixture has boiled remove from heat and let it cool.

3. Once the beer and sugar mixture has cool some combine it with the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.  Stir well to make sure the flour is not clumpy and the batter is thick but smooth.

Split batter between two 8x4" loaf pans and bake in the oven at 325 degrees for 45-50 minutes.  being careful to check on the loafs.  The Guinness cake is done when you can stick a knife or fork in the middle and it comes out clean.  Let cool for about 10 minutes before releasing them from the pans.  

I like mine warm with butter. 

Enjoy!

Raspberry Scones

Looking for a sweet treat for the holiday.  Here is my Raspberry scone recipe, make a batch for your sweet heart, or for yourself.  These are best straight out of the oven with butter or jam.  Because I substitute the dairy for vegan butter and soy milk mine are vegan, but you can use regular milk and butter.

Ingredients
2 Cups Flour
1 Tbls Baking Powder
1 Teas Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Butter (I use vegan butter)
1 Cup Milk (I use unsweetened soy milk)
1 Teas Vanilla
1/2 Cup Raspberries

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a Mixing bowl combine flower, baking powder, salt and sugar.

2 Next add butter, using a pastry mixer or a fork, cut the butter into the dry ingredients  .  Be careful to not let the butter melt or over mix.  The dry ingredients should look lumpy and grainy, like this:

All those lumps are butter.

3. Next add the milk and the vanilla and stir.  You want a thick dough to form.

4. Add the berries and stir to combine, I like to smush some of the berries as I stir them in.

5.  using lots of flower and being careful to not handle the dough to much, flatten the dough out on a well floured surface and either cut into triangles, use a biscuit cutter or a cookie cutter to form scones. 

6. Place scones on a cookie sheet, bruch with milk and sprinkle with sugar, this will help them brown up and give them a sparkly sheen.  Bake for 15-20 Minuets till golden on the edges.

Day 6: Dutch Spice Cookies

One of my favorite baked goods this time of year is Dutch Spice Cookies.  We only seem to make them at Christmas time and I haven't made them in years.  They are similar to a ginger snap, but have cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves that give them their spiciness and their deep brown color.  (They are really good dipped in your morning coffee.)  Here is my recipe for this fragrant and tasty treat. 

Dutch Spice Cookies (makes about 2 to 3 dozen)

Ingredients
3/4 Cup Butter (1 1/2 sticks) at room temperature
1 Cup Firmly Packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Milk (I used Unsweetened Soy Milk)
1 3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

 
1. Combine flour, baking powder and spices in a bowl and set aside

2. Cream together the Sugar and the butter.  If you have a mixer this is super easy, but if you don't, like me, cut the butter up into smaller pieces and let them soften a bit over low heat, but not melt.Remove from heat add the sugar and cream butter together with a spatula. (This is a great arm exerciser by the way.)

3.  Add in the egg and milk to the butter and sugar mixture, beat till smooth.
4. Slowly add in the flour and spice mixture folding it into the butter and sugary a little bit at a time. 
 Once the dough has been made cover it and place it in the fridge for about 1 hour.

After an hour or when the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 300 degrees and remove the dough from the fridge and roll the dough into 1 inch balls.  I like to roll mine in a bit of regular sugar so that after they have baked they have a pretty sparkle to them. 

 Place on a cookie sheet and either flatten the dough balls with a cookie press or a fork. 

Bake for about 8 to 10 minuets.  If you want a soft center back for 8min if you want your cookies to be crispy bake for longer.  I like mine crispy for coffee dipping.

Let cookies cool and enjoy!

Day 1: Holiday Tradition: Fudge

I have to admit I have a pretty big sweet tooth sometimes and the holidays just seem to make it ten fold.  My great aunt use to make fudge and when she stopped my mom started, now my mom is on a health kick and I see it as part of my holiday duty to keep the tradition alive.  I've been making Christmas Fudge for about three years now and use the recipe my mom used which is to say I use the Fluff Never Fail Fudge recipe.

You can fin the recipe on their website and on the side of the jars of Fluff.  This fudge is super easy to make I don't even use a candy thermometer that's how easy it is to make this fudge.

I am going to share my doubled recipe and a few tips for optimum fudge production.  First off I make 5lbs of fudge every Christmas.  This ensures that I have plenty to give away and a tiny bit left over for my nagging sweet tooth.  This means I double the recipe found on the Fluff website.  My ingredients list looks like this.

5 cups sugar
1 stick butter
10 oz of evaporated milk
1 large jar of Fluff (or 2 of the 7 oz jars)
Vanilla
2 12oz bags of semi sweet chocolate chips (I like Tollhouse, but any chip will do)

The directions are still the same, you are just working with twice the amount of ingredients.  Before I start cooking my fudge I first line all of the pans that I will be pouring the fudge into with foil.  This makes it easier to remove the fudge for cutting and makes clean up way easier.  By doing this you will not have to worry about your fudge sticking to your pans.

I use a pretty big non stick pot to make my fudge in, the fudge will start to bubble and expand when you heat it so you want to make sure that you use a large pot so it doesn't bubble over.  The pot I use is the same pot I cook pasta in.  I start by heating up the butter till it's melted and then add in all the other ingrediants ending with the Fluff.

This is where is gets tricky.  You need the sugar and everything to combine and liquify while not scorching on the bottom of the pot.  You can't have the heat too low or the sugar will never get to temperature, but too high and you will burn the sugar.  A way to avoid this is to constantly stir your sugar mixture.  I use a sturdy silicone spatula and a constantly stir around the edge of the pot.

 This is where some of the sugar may stick and you want to avoid that.  When your sugar doesn't get to temperature and or sticks to the side of your pot you are left with grainy textured fudge.

  Before I start I also set out a measuring cup of cool water, this is important to check the sugar mixture.  This is why.  About 3-5 min. in to the boiling of the sugar mixture I like to check its progress.  Lift a small amount of the sugar mixture out of the pot with a spoon place the spoon directly in the cool water.  The sugar should cool and you should be able to touch it.  Roll it between your fingers if it is smooth and gummy it is finished, if it is lose and grainy you still need to keep heating it, if it is hard then it has gotten to hot.  I've notice that it takes about 5 to 8 minuets for the sugar to reach temperature, but this is all relative to the batch and the conditions in your kitchen so test as you go.

When the sugar is at temp you will turn off the heat and start pouring the chocolate chips into the sugar along with the vanilla.  I like to stir them in about a cup at a time, but you need to work fast because you want you fudge to stay hot so when you pour it it doesn't stick to your pot.  Once all your chocolate is melted and stirred in pour on to your foil lined pans to let it cool.  Now you can decided how thick or thin you want you fudge to be, but it all depends on the depth of your pan.  When I make 5lbs of fudge I pour it so that it is about 1/2 inch thick.  I use one 13"x8" pan and a 8"x8" pan to hold all of that fudge.

Let the fudge cool on a kitchen counter for a few hours.  I don't place my fudge in the fridge till after it is cooled and cut.  The one time I did that my fudge became crumbly and hard, my theory is that it cooled too quickly.

Cut into bite sized pieces and enjoy.  I save the edges for Simon and I.  The good center pieces get wrapped up and placed in pretty packages for gifts.  

There is my fudge making tips, good luck!

Recipe: Vegan Brownies

Yummy Homemade Brownies.

I am by no means vegan (or remotely vegetarian), but my first roommate in Philly was.  One day I decided to make vegan brownies for him and this is my go to brownie recipe now.  (Also it's dairy free which is great since I am lactose intolerant.)  The recipe has gone through a few different versions, but this one is by far the best.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 coco powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teas. baking powder
1 teas. salt
1 cup melted semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup soy milk (or any other milk alternative)
1/2 cup plain soy yogurt (or any other non dairy yogurt)
1 teas. vanilla 
1 medium sized banana

Directions
*Combine all dry ingredients into a bowl
*Using a double boiler melt semi sweet chips
*In a blender or food processor blend milk, yogurt, vanilla, and banana together
*When the chips are melted remove from heat and mix the banana mixture into the chocolate.  Make sure that the mixture is well combined
*Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl of dry ingredience and mix till all ingredience are combined
*Pour brownie batter into a 8"x8" greased baking pan and bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 min. or untill the top of the brownies is solid and spingy to the touch. 

Best Berry Muffins

I have been baking muffins like crazy these past two weeks. Berries have been on sale at Whole Foods and to make sure we use them I'm been baking berry muffins every few days. The Hubby loves these muffins because they aren't "super sweet" and are full of berries. What is great about this recipe is that it only has a few ingredients, one of them is Bisquick (which also makes wonderful pancakes).

Best Berry Muffin Recipe
2 Cups Bisquick
1/2 Cup Soy Milk (or regular milk)
1/2 Cup Soy Yogurt (or regular yogurt)
2 tbls Honey
1 egg
2/3 Cup Berries (I like to crush my berries a little before I mix them in.)

This will make 6 large muffins or 12 small muffins.

Combine all ingredients and spoon mixture into greased or lined muffin tin

Here is the batter for my strawberry & blackberry muffins

If you like sprinkle a little bit of whit or brown sugar on the top.

Into the oven they go!

Bake in an oven at 400 degrees for 20 min or until golden brown on top. If you are making smaller muffins you will only need to bake them for 10 to 15 min.

Ta-Da delicious muffins.

Let cool for a few minuets then remove from baking tin.
Enjoy!