Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

It's Pumpkin Time!

I have some new pumpkin recipes to share shortly, but first, BIGFAT Bumps to some of my favorite recipes:

• Pumpkin Scones - seriously the best scones in the world.  Be sure to read the comments for great ideas to make them even mo-bettah. 
• Pumpkin Spice Dessert - a great substitute for traditional pumpkin pie, try this one for Thanksgiving!
• Pumpkin Custard - more than a pud, this recipe is both elegant and easy.
• Pumpkin Bread - moistish and molishious
• Pumpkin Crepes - something different for brekky, or a cozy party brunch
• Pumpkin Cheesecake Cups - a great, sooper-easy Fall recipe to do with kids, more of a faux cheesecake.
• Roasted Pumpkin Seeds - do something scrumptious with all those seeds after carving your punkin!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Custard

Whatsa custard, you say?   We 'mericans usually think of a custard as anything resembling a pudding.  Our traditional pumpkin pie filling is usually something in a custard. 

Custards done the traditional euro-francais-way can get quite tricksy with the double boiler and the eggs going in one at a time, sometimes involving additional thickening agents, etc etc.  But for one-dot cooks like me, there are easier ways. 

This recipe is sooper easy, and the result is a nice change from the traditional pumpkin pie.  I started with the Pumpkin Custard recipe found here, and changed it to suit my taste (can't stand ginger snaps!  and don't get me started on pine nuts!!).  It's been thoroughly tested and sampled and ... sampled some more.  I'm happy to say it passed the custard  mustard  muster.  Pfff.  It's reel gud.

Vanilla Pumpkin Custard

1 (29-ounce) can pumpkin
2 cups hot milk
2/3 - 3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4 eggs
1 cup crushed vanilla wafers
4 tbsp melted butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans

Beat together in a large bowl: pumpkin, heated milk (1+ minutes in the microwave does the trick), sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and eggs.  Stir in cookie crumbs, butter and vanilla.

Butter 8 10-ounce custard (baking) cups.  Spoon pumpkin mixture into the cups.

Combine chopped pecans with 1/2 tsp cinammon and 1 tsp sugar.  Sprinkle nut mixture on top. 

Place cups in a large shallow baking pan filled with hot water deep enough to half immerse cups.  I didn't have custard cups, so I used large muffin tins. placed in a cake pan.

Bake at 350° F for 45 minutes or until custard is set. 

If you used cupcake tins like I did, spoon, allow to chill overnight, then remove carefully with a spatula into small bowls.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Makes about 8 servings.

Enjoy!

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

I'm exhausted.  And Thanksgiving is still 3 days away.

Well, I can't really blame Marie Callendar, it's not their fault I walked the length of the grocery store 5 times looking for the stupid corn bread mix.  Only 2 of those trips were by myself.  The next was taken in the company of a store employee who swore to me they had some.  1 1/2 circuits later, she finally stopped to ask somebody else, and the 3 of us took another turn and a half around the store, enlisting the help of yet another store employee on the way.  We finally found it.  Not exactly hidden, just packaged differently (no more big round container!), and on a different shelf.  Boy I hate it when they change things.  Oy, my aching feet.

Recipes coming tomorrow.  I'm trying out this really interesting recipe for pumpkin custard.  They're baking at this very mo.  I just need to stay awake long enough to take them out of the oven.

The really big conundrum of the evening ... where am I going to put these custards?  Assuming they're fit to eat, of course, I'll post the recipe and pics tomorrow.  But they need to be chilled, and there's not one spare inch of space in my fridge.  Hmm, might have to co-opt the hubs' beer fridge.  Would he complain about having warm beer when game time comes?  Is that grounds for divorce?

Oh, before I forget, the theme for this week's Carnival of the Recipes is "What to Do With Thanksgiving Leftovers".  Perfect!

Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

I've missed HOW MANY Chocolate Fridays? 

Well I'm jumping back into the blogosphere with something really easy that combines two of my favorite things: chocolate and coffee.  I've always wanted to try chocolate covered coffee beans.  I wasn't sure I would like them, to be perfectly honest.  I'm really addicted to my liquid coffee, but chawing on a crunchy bean... I wasn't too sure about.

I'm here to tell ya, they're great.  This is the perfect antidote for a long drive, or a hiking trip, when coffee of the liquid variety is hard to come by.  Pop a few of these for some tasty instant rocket fuel.  I'm serious, those with heart conditions beware.  I popped half a dozen and a few minutes later, the top of my head came off. 

And the recipe is so easy!  I tried using flavorings in the chocolate, and different types of coffee beans, some more exotic than others.  And the conclusion I've come to is they're best with a good hearty basic espresso bean, and just plain semi sweet chocolate.  Exotic coffee beans detract from the chocolate.  And added flavorings seem to detract from the coffee.  Basic and not too sweet is best, IMHO.

Easy Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

1/2 cup espresso beans
1/4 - 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a bowl, melt chocolate chips in microwave for 1-2 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds or so, until creamy.  Stir in coffee beans till completely covered.  Spread on a sheet of wax paper.  Allow to cool on counter for 10-15 minutes, then place in freezer.  Once completely hardened, break apart. 

The result looks like peanut brittle... so maybe this should be called coffee brittle.  :)

Enjoy!

Cranberry Orange Granola

My mom wasn't the best example of healthy eating.  She was a superlative Tea Party Lady (and a Chocoholic Extraordinaire), but a paragon of health she was not.  She did occasionally leave the Highway of Food Indulgences to take short jaunts down side roads littered with healthy foods, sometimes intending to lose weight, sometimes just trying to curtail her natural urges.  These side trips into healthy cooking left me with a few (a very few) good recipes that I continue to enjoy today.  However, I do need to mention here that I don't suffer from that nasty habit known as self-control.  I embrace my love of food.  Therefore, although this recipe was healthy when my mom made it, it was a little flat for me.  I have since managed to inflate it to fit my own tastes. :)

Cranberry Orange Granola
1 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp orange extract
8 ounces dried cranberries - orange flavored
5 cups rolled oats
3 cups bran cereal
2 cups chopped nuts ( walnuts, peanuts, pecans)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup sesame seeds
5 1/2 tsp powdered milk
3 tbsp orange peel (dried)

Combine dry ingredients (except for cranberries) in a large bowl and mix well.  Combine wet ingredients (oil, honey, vanilla, etc) in a small bowl.  Pour wet stuff slowly over the dry stuff and mix well.

Spoon ingredients into a large cake pan and bake for approximately 60 minutes at 300° F, stirring every 15 minutes.  Remove from pan, return to bowl, and mix in the dried cranberries.  Allow to cool.  Keep in an airtight container.  Refrigerated will last for a good long while.

This is such good granola, it's almost the kind of snack you could eat all by itself.  Just grab a handful and munch.  But I like it best with strawberries and cherries, and a dollop of vanilla yogurt.  YUM!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Friday: When the Cupboard is Bare

I found this nifty little site some while ago and bookmarked it for a morning just like this one.  My cupboard is indeed bare.  I need to go the grocery store, but who has time?  Where are the errand-elves when you need them?  Heh.  Not to worry!  Cookingbynumbers.com offers recipe ideas for the items you have on hand. 

This morning, I checked these items:  coffee, eggs, and chocolate.  Guess what?  That's 100% of the ingredients needed to make chocolate mousse:

Chocolate Mousse
(a la cookingbynumbers)

4 eggs
200 g/7 oz chocolate, grated
5 tbsp hot strong coffee

Separate the eggs, whisk whites until stiff.  Grate chocolate and add in hot coffee to melt the chocolate (heat gently if it needs more melting).  Whisk in the egg yolks. 

Fold egg whites into the chocolate mix. 

Decant into a bowl or individual bowls and refrigerate to chill.

Can it really be that easy?  I've avoided chocolate mousse all this time because I thought it was too hard... too much of a 3-dot recipe for this one-dot cook to even try.   But this... well, howleelooya, I'm gonna give this a try. 

cookingbynumbers.com even has a "how-to" skills list, for things like brule, folding, piping and separating an egg.  Unfortunately, there's no description there for decanting, so I'll have to figure that one out elsewhere.  Hey, maybe someday I'll graduate and become a two-dot cook!  Pics to follow.

UPDATE: I can't imagine why anybody in their right mind would actually try to hand whisk egg whites to stiffness.  Your arm could fall off.  You could grow old!  Or both!!  Go electric, that's my advice.  This recipe wasn't bad, I was pretty pleased with it.  A dollop of unsweetened whipped cream was just the thing.  Next time, I would probably use a tad bit of flavoring, maybe almond or orange extract.

I need to pause and say thanks to those folx who emailed and wondered about my blog-absence .  You know who you are, and you're much appreciated! :)

The BEST Taco Salad

Two posts in one day!!  After the famine, feast?  Don't anybody croak on me.  Heh.

It's been so long since I posted a recipe, or even did any serious cooking, I actually had to go hunting for my recipe box.  Next week's Carnival of the Recipes is an International Foods theme, and since Cinco de Mayo is coming up, I thought a pseudo Mexican dish would be the closest thing I could do.  Sorry, no pictures yet.  But if I get ambitious, I may make this for Saturday, to go with my Mexican Mocha, and pics will follow.  (And if they're blurry, it's because I'll be having ta-kill-ya in my cup.)

C. Torres' Taco Salad

1 head lettuce, shredded
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
8 oz cheddar cheese
1 lb hamburger
1 can kidney beans
1 can corn
1 large bag of Doritos (or other taco type chips)
1/3-1/2 bottle Italian dressing
1 package taco seasoning (Lawry's or other)

Brown hamburger with onions, adding taco seasoning when almost fully browned.  Drain and add beans (include the juice), and corn (don't include the juice), and let the mixture cool in a bowl in the refrigerator.

Add lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, hamburger mixture, and italian dressing to a large bowl.  Mix well.  Mix Doritos into the salad just before serving, so they're slightly crisp.  Serve with sour cream, salsa, chips.  If you like "hot and spicy", add some chopped jalapeno peppers to the hamburger mixture.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Coffee Bread Pudding

I don't think I've ever made anything that was so satisfying for me -- on SO many levels - as this dish. 

There is something really comforting about bread.  Psychologically speaking, it ranks right up there with chocolate for sheer comfort factor.  And coffee, of course, one of my favorite things, ranks high on the pleasure list.  Put all of these together and whaddya got?  Something I'm going to have a hard time sharing, that's what.

I used foodnetwork.com's recipe as my starter and guide, but I did modify it quite a bit.  Some of the mods were because I didn't have the right ingredients, and some were ... just because.  I needed substitutes for some of the milk and cream, but it didn't seem to affect the outcome very much.  It's still a serious to-die-for gimme-comfort delish dessert.  But next time I'll make sure I have enough milk and cream on hand to try the original recipe and see how it does.

Chocolate Coffee Bread Pudding

8-10 slices of bread, cubed
2 cups milk
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup non-dairy creamer (I used a combination of Vanilla and Amaretto)
1/2 cup strong coffee or espresso
1/2 cup Kahlua (or other coffee liqueur)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup cocoa powder
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped or grated
6 eggs, lightly beaten

Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish and place bread cubes in it.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  In a large bowl, whisk together milk, cream, non-dairy creamer, and Kahlua.  In a separate bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and cocoa powder.  Add sugar mixture to milk mixture and stir well.  Beat eggs lightly in a separate bowl and add in vanilla and almond extracts.  Combine egg mixture with milk mixture and mix well.  Stir in the grated / chopped chocolate. 

Note: for chocolate, I used 4 oz semi-sweet, and for a little extra coffee kick, 4 oz Ghirardelli Intense Dark Espresso Escape.  I also didn't bother trying to grate the chocolate, as finely chopped was good for me.

Gently pour over the bread cubes in the pan.  Leave to set for about 20 minutes, or until the bread is saturated, stirring occasionally.

Bake for 1 hour or until set.  A knife inserted into the center should come out clean.  Serve warm or chilled, with whipped cream, ice cream, or other topping of your choice.

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Carnival of the Recipes

Welcome, welcome, welcome, to the Hearts-Full-of-Love Pre-Valentine's Day Carnival of the Recipes

This week for your gustatory pleasure we have a bevy of treats guaranteed to make your heart go pitter pat, whether you to cook, or to eat, or both!

Sweets for Your Sweetie (or your own Sweet Tooth)

Starting with chocolate, which is the staple of love ...

Shawn of Everything and Nothing ensures we won't go into chocolate withdrawal with her recipe for Chocolate Syrup Cake.  This sounds absolutely decadent.

Anne-Marie gives us the ultimate in chocolate desserts: Valentine's Day - Julia Child's chocolate mousse. Anne-Marie suggests adding some coffee or vanilla-flavored liquor. Sounds like a MUST to me!

Kathy of startcooking.com offers up a recipe (with plenty of pictures and destructions) for Home-Made Chocolate Fudge.  Heh, is there any other kind?

And be sure to check out my offering, a story of what went wrong, or the heart tart that never was: Ganache with Panache.

Marsha of A Weight Lifted presents 10 Minute Fresh Berry Dessert with Yogurt & Chocolate, shown in the picture here, giving us all a way to indulge without compromising our healthy living lifestyle. 

Next is a special dessert recipe from KeeWee's Corner for Pavlova.  I've never tried meringue and this recipe makes me wanna try.  The photo sure looks delish.

Poor Stephanie of Stop the Ride! nearly lost her friend's recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake.  Thank goodness she found it, and shared the recipe with us! Now if she loses it again, we can all send her a copy.  :)

Here are some fun sweets, for when your sweeties are kids, or just the kid in your sweetie.  More4kids presents Valentine Recipe Ideas - Heart Cookies, Valentine Pancakes and more.  I love the pancakes!

Ideas for Romantic Meals and Such

For Valentine's Day breakfast, this recipe from Maureen at Trinity Prep School for Raspberry-Cinnamon French Toast Bake sounds LOVERLY! It's not your average french toast nor is it your plain egg bake.

Riannan from In the Headlights offers us a tasty dish: Grouper, Shrimp and Artichokes in Tarragon Cream.  This recipe could serve 6, she says, but I bet you and your sweetie could feast, and then have leftovers at 1am.

Broke and busted?  Make your Valentine's evening special, no matter your budget, by making spaghetti with love, and Cheap Homemadish Spaghetti Sauce from triticale, the wheat/rye guy. 

Something to replenish body and soul, and that of your loved one, is Seriously Good Kevin's recipe for Pastitsio, a Greek meat and pasta pie Kevin refers to as "peasant food".  Whatever it is, it sure sounds good.

DeputyHeadmistress at The Common Room has posted a great recipe for "tangy-sweet salad":  Honey-Orange Bean Vegetable Slaw with good explanations and commentary. I love it when folx explain how they used or modified a recipe and why. For one-dot cooks like me, this is so helpful!

Erika over at Tradition offers three recipes in Cold Weather Recipes: Mulligatawny Soup, The World's Best Ever Biscuits, and last but not least, Fudgy Brownie Pudding. Sounds like a warm meal from the heart!

You could really WOW your sweetheart with this recipe for Succulent Lamb Kebabs from Daryl at Authentic Malaysian Cuisine & Food Recipes.  Wonderfully exotic, and yet, so easy!

Party Fare!

Jennifer Miner of Travel Articles says this is The World's Best Artichoke Dip: A great recipe for artichoke dip that'll be the hit of the party. This is a hot dip that Jennifer spruces up by sometimes adding crab, red peppers, and eggplant.

Now here's an idea from Andrea of Wisebread Frugal: Tortillas and Chilaquiles: Romance him with sports bar food?. If you met your hunny in a sports bar, what better way to celebrate the occasion!

The Hermit of The Ziggurat of Doom is whipping up some very special iced coffee.  This is a MUST for after dinner, with a warm desert.  I'm so THERE.

That's all for me on this one folx!  I hope you all have a delicious and love-ly Valentine's Day!  Next week's Carnival will be hosted at Techno Gypsy.  Submit your recipes via email to recipedotcarnivalatgmail.com, or use the Blog Carnival submit form.

Chocolate Friday: Ganache with Panache

I have to be perfectly honest, my first attempt at ganache didn't really have much panache.  It was mouse-waddling, if you're not fussy about blobs.  But it's not particularly pretty or artsy.  In fact, heh, this is more of a "what went wrong" story.  What I had planned as a large heart-shaped tart, covered with a lovely, swirling sheen of ganache ... turned out to be a bigfat cookie with blobby chocolate icing. 

Ok, ok, it wasn't that bad, but... well, you'll see.

Ganache, as I now know, is a French term (pronunced gah NAHSH) referring to a combination of heavy cream and chocolate. From joyofbaking.com:

The origins of ganache are debatable but it is believed to have been invented around 1850.  Some say it originated in Switzerland where it was used as a base for truffles.  Others say it was invented in Paris at the Patisserie Siravdin.

Recipes vary, depending on what you're going to do with it. It can be used as a glaze or icing, or it can be used as a filling for cakes and pastries. Some recipes call for a little bit of butter or oil to be added, which will give the chocolate a shiny quality. Flavorings can be added, such as liqueurs, extracts, etc.  But for my first attempt, I opted for this basic recipe from FoodNetwork:

  Ganache With a Sheen
3 tablespoons corn syrup
6 ounces heavy cream
12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan combine the corn syrup and heavy cream.  Bring to a simmer and add the chocolate.  Stir until smooth. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla extract.

I used a combination of milk and dark chocolate, so maybe I can blame my blobs on that.  I tried to drizzle it in some artistic way.  Then I tried just spreading it all over and swirling it with a spatula.  I finally just gave up and left the streaks and blobs.

Ok, now for the "what happened to the tart?" part of my story.  I had originally planned to make a big heart tart with a cookie crust.  I decided to make some chocolate chip cookie dough, thinking it would cook up as a nice tart crust, with some kind of pudding filling, topped with ganache.  Silly wabbit.  I forgot how much this recipe expands.  It kept growing and growing, and pretty soon it bubbled up over the edges of the pan.  So much for crust, and so much for my heart tart!  What I ended up with was this bigfat heart-shaped chocolate chip cookie, with really delicious blobby ganache icing.

Here's the slightly modified Toll House cookie recipe, in case you ever want to follow my errant path and make a non-tart/bigfat cookie:

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookie
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 shot espresso, or very strong coffee (or 2 tbsp instant coffee)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.  In a larger bowl, cream butter, sugars, vanilla extract and eggs.  Beat until creamy.  Slowly add flour mixture and continue beating.  Add chocolate chips and stir with a spoon.

For regular cookies, drop by spoonful onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°

For a non-tart/bigfat cookie, or for bars, spread dough into pan and bake for 20-30 minutes at 375°.

The good news is, this is a very tasty bigfat cookie!  Enjoy!!