Wordless Wednesday

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Autumn Pumpkin Muffins with Pecan Toffee Streusel

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I don't know what happens to me in the Fall, but I become a little pumpkin obsessed! I can't seem to make enough with pumpkin. Maybe it's because we have such long hot summers here in the South that those first cool days make me want to celebrate. I'm not sure the reason, but I do know that this time of year I crave spicy, pumpkiny, nutty, goodness.
I've had Rebecca Rather's Pastry Queen cookbook for a while now and everything I've made from it has been wonderful. I decided to give her pumpkin quick bread recipe a try. I made muffins rather than the loaves and added toffee pieces to the topping. Why? Because I love toffee too and thought I'd throw all my favorite things on top of these muffins.

This is also my entry for this month's Sugar High Friday. This month's host is Dessert First and the theme is spice. Check out all the other enrties here on Oct 31


Autumn Pumpkin Bread with Pecan Toffee Streusel

recipe from Rebecca Rather's The Pastry Queen slightly adapted

Muffins
1 1/2 cups pecan pieces (divided)
1 cup vegetable oil, such as canola or safflower
3 cups sugar
4 lg eggs
1 (15 ounce )can pure pumpkin puree
1 cup water
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

Topping
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 toasted pecan pieces (above)
1/2 toffee pieces
If you like a lot of the streusel, you may want to double this part.

Preheat oven to 350. Arrange the pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast them in the oven for 7-9 min., until golden and aromatic. Reserve 1/2 cup for streusel topping.
Grease standard size muffin tin with butter or cooking spray.
Whisk the oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs, pumpkin, and water and whisk until combined.
In another bowl whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and pecan pieces.
carefully mix the flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture.
Fill the muffin pans almost to the top with batter.

For the struesel
Stir together sugar, butter, cinnamon pecan pieces, and toffee. Sprinkle liberally over tops of muffins before baking.
Bake muffins 30-35 minutes.
Yield 36 muffins or you can make this into two loaves by equally dividing batter between two greased loaf pans and baking for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

These muffins are very so flavorful and aromatic, like taking a bite of Autumn. I suggest brewing a pot of coffee as they cook, because you'll want to eat one of these muffins as soon as they emerge from the oven.

Curried Pumpkin Soup with Crab Crostini

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I'm a huge fan of renowned chef and restaurateur, Frank Stitt. Here in Alabama, Frank is one of our favorite sons. Each of his three restaurants are based on a philosophy of eating fresh, local, in season food. This was a groundbreaking idea when he started his first restaurant in Birmingham, AL in the early 80's.
My first experience with Frank Stitt's food came when I was in college, at Bottega Cafe. I was always completely broke I college so my food budget was almost non-existent. I'd have to save up and every so often a group of us would go to Bottega Cafe. Bottega is two restaurants in one. On one side a fine dining restaurant, way beyond my meager means in college, the other side was casual dining. We could only afford to eat at the Cafe but it was a fine meal out for me in those days. Usually we'd order several items and share with the whole table. If I was really spluging, I'd order the tiramisu, which I didn't share with anyone!
A few years later my sister, a Culinary Institute of America student, did an externship at Highland Bar and Grill. Some of the best food I've every eaten has come from that kitchen.
So this week-end when I needed a great first course for a dinner party with friends, I pulled out Frank Stitt's Southern Table for inspiration. I decided to make the Curried Pumpkin Soup with Crab Crostini's. The vibrant orange color and spicy curry make this the perfect soup for a cool fall evening.


Curried Pumpkin Soup

Frank Stitt's Southern Table

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 onions, sliced
2 leeks, trimmed, cleaned, and thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 tablespoon mild curry powder
1/4 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, and 3 allspice berries, tied in cheesecloth to make a sachet
1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced
1 pound peeled pie pumpkin, sliced
1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced
6 cups water, preferably spring water
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
Snipped chives for garnish

Preparation
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Add the onions, leeks, carrot, and apple and sauté over medium-low heat until the onions are translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the curry, spice sachet, and the remaining vegetables. Pour in the water and bring to a gentle simmer, for about 45 minutes, until the vegetables are very soft.

Remove the spice sachet and puree the vegetable mixture in a food mill. To give the soup a silky-smooth texture, pass through a fine-mesh strainer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the soup to a saucepan. Add the cream and taste and adjust the seasoning. Heat gently just until warmed through.

Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the chives.

This soup is great on it's own but the crab crostini makes it spectacular.
Crab Crostini

1/2 lb lump crab
1 1/2 tsp. olive oil
zest of half a lemon
juice of half a lemon
juice of half a lime
1 tsp fresh chives chopped fine
2 tsp flat leaf parsley chopped fin
salt and pepper to taste

Half inch baguette slices, crusts removed.

Heat oven to 375
Brush baguette slices lightly with olive oil. Place on baking tray and bake for 3 minutes. Just until toasted but remove from oven before they take on any color.
In a bowl, mix together olive oil, zest, lemon juice, lime juice, parsley, and chive. Gently mix in the lump crab, being careful not to break it up too much.
Top the toasted crostini with a generous amount of the crab mixture and place in the center of the soup.

Tale of two cookies

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I'm back!! After a whirlwind tour of visiting G's family all over the state on NC, we're starting to get back in to the swing of every day life. It's been great just to be able to do all the normal everyday things again. I didn't realize how much I've missed the routine of every day, like making dinner and sitting on the couch with someone other than the dog. The conversation is better too!
I've also jumped right back into baking this week with a large order for sugar cookies decorated like maple leaves. I tried a couple of different sugar cookie recipes to see which one worked best. Back in December I had hosted a Drop in and Decorate cookie party. The idea of a drop in and decorate party is that you invite a group of friends and neighbors to come over and decorate sugar cookies for charity. Lydia of Nine Cooks came up with this unique and fun concept. For the party I used Lydia's cookie recipe and it was great for cut-out cookies. So I knew her recipe would work great for making a large amount of cut-out cookies, but I can't resist trying new recipes. I made a batch of Dori's Greenspan's sugar cookies as well. The two recipes are only slightly different. Dori's had less butter and more egg than the Lydia's recipe. I thought maybe the lesser amout of butter would help when I cut out the cookies.
How did they compare? Well first of all, both recipes taste really great. Dori's recipe makes a softer cookie that puffs up a bit more during baking. Lydia's recipe makes a crisper cookie that keeps it's shape when baked and really holds up well to decorating.
If you want a really nice soft sugar cookie, go with Dori's recipe. However, if you've got to make 18 dozen cookies cut out in the shape of a leaf and then iced, Lydia's recipe the one to use!
For Lydia's sugar cookie recipe go here

Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies
Excerpted from Baking: From My House to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (Houghton Mifflin, 2006). Copyright 2006 by Dorie Greenspan

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.

1. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated — because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finish the job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.

2. Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. If you want to make slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a chubby sausage (the diameter is up to you — I usually like cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter) and wrap in plastic. Whether you're going to roll or slice the dough, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)

3. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

4. If you are making roll-out cookies, working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies — I like a 2-inch round cookie cutter for these. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the rounds onto the baking sheets with a spatula, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cookies. (This is a soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.) After you've rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps into a disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.

5. If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of space between the cookies.

6. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and dust the cookies with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if you'd like. Let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.

7. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

Storing: The cookies will keep at room temperature in a tin for up to 1 week. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.



The icing has to dry overnight so my dining room table has so many leaves on it, it looks like it needs to be raked!

On Hiatus

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After a year deployment, hubs is finally back. We are visiting family and will be traveling the next week or so. Hopefully by the end of the month normal life will resume! So probably no new posts for a week or so. Thanks for all your kind comments. I'll be back and cooking soon!

Bumpy, nutty, and a little bit sweet...my year and my recipe

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It's finally almost here. Hubs gets back, this Sunday, from a year deployment to Iraq! It's been a long, at times frustrating and lonely, year. At first I was sure how I'd make it through. There were plenty of tears, even the dog went into a major funk after he left. She stayed in the closet for 2 weeks!
My husband is in the reserves, in a very small unit, so we don't have a large military community to turn to during deployment. We all live very far apart. In fact, I've only had contact with one other wives since Hubs left and she lives 5 hours away. So I've had to navigate this deployment on my own. Luckily for me, my parents lives near by so that was very comforting.
Being alone but not single is a strange place to be. It's sort of like being in limbo. There were times I was out of place in both those worlds. You know like being the only single person at a Christmas party of all couples...yuck!
I have to say that all though I hope I don't have to repeat this experience, it hasn't all been negative. I've learned a lot this year, mostly about myself but also about the people in my life. Everyone was great when Geoff left. "Just call if you need anything." was what they all said. One of my neighbors quipped "of course only if we have the time and it's no inconvenience." He was joking, of course, but there is an element of truth in what he said. Many times people just say things like that.
Not of my friends and neighbors however, they have been amazing. They've helped me with everything from a snake in the front yard to just calling and inviting me to dinner. Last Saturday, my next door neighbor rang the doorbell and said he was going to mow the yard because he wanted it to look great when Geoff got home. While he was mowing another neighbor came over and started edging the yard. Our yard is HUGE so this was no small task! Amazing people!
So this year I've learned: I'm stronger than I knew, I can be okay alone, and I know some pretty wonderful folks!

Now for the recipe. It doesn't have anything to do with this post, it's just some really tasty granola.
Silver Palate Outrageous Granola
3 cups Oatmeal (rough cut works best)
1 cup chopped almonds, pecans or any combination of your favorite (I used pecans)
1 cup or any combo dried fruit (cranberries, golden raisins, apricots, dates, cherries, blueberries)
1 Tablespoon Vanilla
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed Brown Sugar
1 cup Pure Maple Syrup

Mix together in a large bowl. Transfer onto a large baking sheet sprayed with non-stick butter flavored spray. Bake at 325 degree F for 35-45 minutes stirring once in-between. Allow to cool completely on tray. Store in airtight jars or containers.

This is one of the best granola recipes I've ever tried and it's super easy. Crunchy, nutty, lightly sweet...delicious!

Wordless Wednesday

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