Happy Halloween! Oh, what can you do with a can of pumpkin?



 The Answer: lots of things, but some taste better than others.

Sorry for all those that looked at this post and found no answer at all. How frustrating of me!


So, with this one large can of pumpkin, I made three recipes and had extra pumpkin (which, I still don't know what to do with). I decided to be adventurous this time around while also doing a great job of avoiding all my impending responsibilities. It was a great night!
 
For those of you who are not obsessed with the cooking/baking blogosphere, it is pumpkin season. I didn't know pumpkin could go into so much, and I have collected quite a few recipes over the past several weeks that are waiting to be made into reality. I fulfilled the dreams of some of those recipes.

Bagels bubbling away in their boil bath before being baked.

First, I made pumpkin bagels. This was a new experience for me and I am pretty sure I need more skills here, but I am willing to give it another go. Bagel-making isn't as scary as you would think. Yes, there are some unusual steps, like boiling the bagels for three minutes before baking them, but the product was decent enough. With most recipes I make, I usually blame the recipe if it is no good. Call me cocky, but I figure I have enough baking skills that the cookies should turn out pretty good if the recipe is up to par. However, I did come down from my pride tower with these bagels. I believe I could get some more advice on the proper way to boil them. (Any bagel aficionados out there?) I felt like the texture of the inside was a nice bagel-ly thickness, but the outsides were a bit too chewy and tough. Maybe I will try to boil them less next time. With this specific recipe, I felt like there wasn't quite enough spice in the dough. I could smell the lovely fall scents coming off the dough as it rose, and thought this was going to be a lovely bread to eat, but it was kind of bland for my taste. You can the recipe here at Itsy Bitsy Foodies.


Pumpkin bagels with pumpkin cream cheese!

I apologize for the horrendous picture. Some day I will learn how to be better at photography. For now, this is about as good as it gets. :)

With some of the leftover pumpkin, I made pumpkin cream cheese. Guys, this stuff is delicious. I am really in love with it. I wish I had made more bagels to have an excuse to eat it. It was such a perfect blend of spices and the sweet, tanginess of cream cheese. I got that recipe from Ezra Pound Cake. Go there and make this stuff. So, so good!  Unfortunately, the only picture I took was that one above with the horrible lighting, but trust me, it is like a gift from the god of Fall. Enjoy!

The last thing I did with the can of pumpkin was make pumpkin frozen yogurt. It was disgusting. I don't have an ice cream machine, so that may be why and I also may have measured incorrectly the amount of spice. So, yeah, probably my fault on this one. However, I'm not planning on making that one again, so I won't share the link and I didn't bother taking a picture.

Enjoy the season of Fall and eat pumpkin!

Cheers!

Caramel Delight Cupcakes

So, for those of you into baking blogs, you've most definitely noticed that trends spread quickly across the blogs: whoopie pies, macarons, cake balls, cupcakes. The current baking blog fad is homemade Girls Scout cookies. I have already have shared with you my attempt at homemade Thin Mints. I have also made homemade Caramel DeLights, but, unfortunately, I didn't take pictures. Along with the current fascination with Girls Scout cookies, there is a baking love affair taking place with everything Girls Scout cookies related. Thus,  I give you today's post: Caramel Delight Cupcakes (for those in the majority of the country, that would be Samoa Cupcakes). 
  This is a chocolate cupcake, iced with caramel frosting, covered in toasted coconut, and topped with a little semi-sweet chocolate. The flavors are fairly good on this one, and I have decided that toasted coconut is one of the most luscious things ever created. The crunch is so fantastic.
    However, I have a problem I'd like to present to all the cupcake lovers in the world. Do you know how to make cupcakes taste good? Frosting is delicious and can make almost everything tast good, but I don't know how to make the cupcake part itself tast fantastic. I have bought cupcakes at cupcake bakeries that taste good, but I must not know how to make them taste good and fluffy and moist. Any suggestions?
  One final note before getting to the recipe. I had some wonderful pictures of my cupcakes and the process of making them, but I lost them in a very sad bit of techinical error. However, I took some more pictures of the three cupcakes I had left. So they will have to do.

Caramel Delight Cupcakes
(adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen)

For the Cupcakes:


2 cups flour
3/4 cup natural cocoa powder
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk

For the Caramel Frosting:

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:


1.  Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and cocoa powder.

3.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, and vanilla until fluffy and light, at least 3-4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the milk beating just until combined.

4.  Fill the cupcake papers 1/2 full, making sure that the batter is divided evenly. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 20-22 minutes. Tilt each cupcake in the muffin pan so it sits at an angle. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan at this angle for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

5.  To toast the coconut, spread the coconut onto a rimmed sheet pan. Toast in a 350°F oven, stirring frequently, until the coconut is an even brown color, about 10 minutes.

6.  To make the frosting, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the salt and brown sugar and heat the mixture to boiling, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the milk and return to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in vanilla. Cool to lukewarm, about 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

7.  Once the caramel frosting mixture is lukewarm, transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the powdered sugar and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Adjust consistency with a little more milk or powdered sugar, if necessary.

8.  Heat chocolate chips in microwave for about 30 seconds or until drizzling consistency.

9.  Transfer the frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip. Pipe a spiral of frosting, beginning at the outer edge and working inward. Drizzle the frosted cupcakes with melted chocolate and garnish with toasted coconut.

Homemade Thin Mints

So, on to another homemade version of a delicious cookie. Along with the longer days and the sunny, warm weather, the girl scouts have arrived, packing boxes of deliciousness. My two favorite Girl Scout cookies are thin mints and Carmel DeLites (Samoas). I have made them both from scratch. Today's post: thin mints. 

Let me tell you, I was surprised to find that these lovely cookies are super healthy. Ok, so that is super healthy for being a cookie. I love that they are made from whole wheat flower and have less butter than most cookies. All that being said, they taste exactly the same as the one's the teal-vested girls sell--and with less preservatives.

So, here goes--thin mints! Enjoy!

Thin Mints

(The recipe came from c'est la vie.)

for the cookie:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 T. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla

2 T. cocoa powder

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 

Cream butter and sugar together, then add egg. Stir in vanilla and cocoa powder. 

Add baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour. Mix until well blended. Put mixture in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.

After chilling roll cookie dough out thin (about 1/4 inch). Cut out cookies into 2-inch rounds. I just used a narrow-mouthed cup. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. 

for the coating: 

2 cups Andes chips {or 1 bag of Andes mints if you can't find the chips}

1 cup chocolate chips

Melt chocolate in a double boiler--or a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan. Stir until melted. Using a fork, coat each cookie and place on parchment (or foil) to set. The coating will need to set for a few hours before they are ready to eat (or you can just stick them in the fridge--or freezer--if you just can't wait).

Homemade Oreos

I have recently gotten into homemade everything. I have been surprised how often these delicious goodies have turned out to be better than the original. Some of them definitely would make it into my bakery. For my next few posts, I will be showcasing these homemade versions.
  Now whether this homemade version is better than the original it depends on your opinion of the original. Personally, I am not a huge fan of oreos. I find the icing kind of gross--too sweet for me I guess. I also find it somewhat unnerving that the cream is that thick. I haven't found any cream I have made from scratch that solid, so it makes me think that whatever I am eating isn't natural. (That may be a little too much of whole foods mentality coming out. Sorry if I overthough one of your favorite cookies.) So, for me this homemade version is much better because the icing is better.
  I have made homemade oreos before using cake mixes, but I think those are called homemade oreo because they are a chocolate sandwich cookie but not really more like the cookies. This recipe tastes a lot more like the store-bought version. The cookie tastes almost exactly the same, but it is thicker. It has the same crunch. The icing is a nice thick (but not too thick) icing. 
Bakery worthy? No, they are a delicious homemade treat, but they are not worthy of being in my bakery. They aren't tasty enough to ask money for, but they are good enough to bring to friends and feed to family with plenty of compliments returned. Enjoy!

The recipe came from http://marcussamuelsson.com/recipes/homemade-oreos who got the recipe from the Flour Bakery Cookbook by Joanne Chang



Cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks/228 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (200 grams) semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled slightly
1 egg
1 ½ cups (210 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup (90 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda

Vanilla Cream Filling:

½ cup (1 stick/114 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1 ⅔ cups (230 grams) confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
Pinch of kosher salt

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter and granulated sugar until well combined. Whisk in the vanilla and chocolate. Add the egg and whisk until thoroughly incorporated.

2. In another medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda until well mixed. Using a wooden spoon, stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. The dough will start to seem too floury, and you will find it easiest to switch to mixing it with your hands until it comes together. It will have the consistency of Play-Doh. Let the dough sit at room temperature for about 1 hour to firm up.

3. Transfer the dough to a 15-inch square sheet of parchment or waxed paper. Using your hands, shape the dough into a rough log about 10 inches long and 2 ½ inches in diameter. Place the log at the edge of the sheet of parchment paper, and roll the parchment around the log. With the log fully encased in parchment, roll it into a smoother log, keeping it at 2 ½ inches in diameter. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until firm. The log may settle and sink a bit in the fridge, so reroll it every 15 minutes or so to maintain a nice round log. (At this point, the dough log can be well wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month. If the dough is frozen, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.)

4. Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

5. Cut the dough log into ¼-inch-thick slices. Place the slices about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cookies are firm to the touch. Check them frequentl after to 16 to 17 minutes, poking them in the middle. As soon as they feel firm to the touch, remove them from the oven. You can’t judge by color because they start out black. Let cool on the baking sheet to warm or room temperature. They don’t have to cool completely before you fill them, but you can’t fill them while they are hot.

7. To make the filling: While the cookies are cooling, using stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a handheld mixer,) beat the butter on low speed for about 30 seconds, or until completely smooth and soft. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and beat until the mixture is perfectly smooth. Add the milk and salt and again beat until smooth. It will look like white spackle and feel about the same–like putty. You can also mix this filling by hand. Make sure the butter is very soft, and use your hands to mix and knead the sugar into the butter. You should have about 1 cup. (The filling can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Bring to room temperature before using.)

8. Scoop about 1 rounded tablespoon of the filling onto the bottom of one cookie. Top with a second cookie, bottom-side down, then press the cookies together to spread the filling toward the edges. Repeat until all the cookies are filled.