Pumpkin Mini Muffins

Last week Puja and I took our second cooking class at Sur La Table and walked away with many delicious new recipes and tips, and one gross recipe (parker house rolls)

The first recipe I've tried on my own was mini pumkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting. They are so good plus with their small small size they make them perfect finger food dessert.

Here is the Recipe:
Batter:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk
Frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese
3/4 stick of unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 3/4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
1 cup pecan pieces for garnish

Preheat oven 350 F

1. Cream the butter with the sugar (4-5 minutes in an electric mixer till the mixture changes colors to a lighter brown)
2. Add the eggs and vanilla while mixer is on a medium setting
3. Add the pumpkin and blend well
4. Mix all the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl
5. Alternate adding some of the dry and wet (buttermilk) ingredients while mixing by hand
6. Cook the mini cupcakes (makes 65) for about 10 minutes
7. Blend the cream cheese untill smooth in the mixer
8. Add the remaining frosting ingredients
9. Frost and enjoy!

Mistakes Were Made, Lessons Were Learned

In honnour of halloween and the fall season I thought I'd try making one of my favorite meals. Pumpkin Ravioli (did she say pumpkin?). If this item is on the menu you can put money on the fact that I will order it. Last year my favorite cooking magazine, Cooking Light, published a recipe which Leslie tried last hannukah for a dinner party. They were delicious so I thought I'd give it a try as well...It had potential, but I'd definitely change a few things



Lesson #1. As a shortcut the recipe calls for won-ton wrappers for the outside. I tried three stores and could not find the wrappers! How difficult could it be to just make the pasta wrapper myself right? The answer turned out to be very difficult. I made the dough just fine with a simple flour, water, and eggs recipe found online. Peter and I then rolled out the pasta and formed them into little raviolis with the filling. When we sat down to eat it, it turned out that we didn't roll out the dough NEARLY enough and ended up with a gooey outside and a tough inside. I'm looking into getting the pasta attachment for my kitchen aid for next time

Lesson #2. The sauce was a Gorgonzola cream sauce made by heating non fat milk and flour and then mixing in gorgonzola cheese. The only milk I had however was the Over The Moon brand non fat but tastes like whole milk. This turned out to be the wrong choice, and the tastes like whole aspect of the milk made the sauce much too thick. Next time I may look into making a brown butter sauce instead.

Science Experiments with Rachel

I am pretty sure this wont be the last science experiment post.

It all started a few weeks ago when peter and I went out to vapiano with joe and kate. If you've ever been to vapiano you'd know that instead of after dinner mints they offer gummy bears! my fave!! It was raining outside, and kate throws out there in our efforts to stay dry something about how when gummy bears get wet they blow up. She said it so casually as if "oh yeah, dont you know that? eeeeeeeveryone knows that".

I played it cool and tried not to act to excited at this new tidbit of information I just learned, but the next day at the grocery store I casually threw a bag of gummy bears into the cart to see for myself the amazing growing gummy bears.

I put the gummy bear into the water and watched excitedly. Nothing happened :( I must have been called away and ended up accidentally leaving the gummy bear in the glass for a few hours. When i returned I was pleasantly surprised to see that the gummy bear was now twice the size of the initial bear. The coolest part was that while the bear was still under water the colored part was concentrated in the center, surrounded by a clear bear form of gelatinous goo.

We took the bear out and it felt (and tasted) just like jello!!!


Profile of both bears


Straight on Shot

Incase Leslie's Blog didnt convince you

Last week Leslie posted this blog about a delicious corn/tomato/chive/cheese pie.

One of my favorite things is corn cut right from the cob. You know the kind, where the kernels are still packed together and its at the peak of freshness. I am also a huge fan of cheese. On the other hand i HATE warm tomatoes (a fact Jessica and Robbie think is very odd). I mean i'll eat pureed warm tomatoes, but if its just a tomato in tomato form warmed up i'll pass.

what leslie may have neglected to point out (or in my haste to get from her photos to my kitchen to make the same i missed it) the crust of the pie is a delicious biscuit!

I modified the recipe just slightly. First and foremost I cut the amount of salt (not in the crust part) in half if not even less. They wanted an entire teaspoon of salt mixed in with the corn and tomatoes! I just used a pinch for each layer. Second, I used half the amt of tomatoes and cut out the seeds and pressed each slice with a paper towel to get out any liquid possible. This pressing of the tomatoes actually kept the tomatoes pretty crisp and bearable once cooked!.

Leslie's blog did not do this pie justice! it was DELICIOUS!!! like ridiculously delicious!!

Cup Cakes For Jessica's Birthday

Last weekend I made cupcakes for Jessica's birthday. I decided this time to try and make the frosting myself, so I turned to paula dean for ideas. She simply calls this one "frosting", but I think it is more of a caramel frosting! Delish!



Ingredients

* 1/2 cup (1 stick butter)
* 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1/3 cup heavy cream, or more if necessary
* 1 (16-ounce) box confectioners' sugar
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Directions

To prepare frosting, melt butter in saucepan over medium heat and stir in brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil, then transfer to a mixing bowl. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat with a handheld electric mixer until it reaches a spreading consistency. At this time it may be necessary to add a tablespoon of heavy cream, or more, if frosting gets too thick. Just be sure to add cream in small amounts because you can always "add to," but you can't take away.

Thread

Sounds boring, I know. But recently I've found out what a difference thread makes. I was trying to make some quilt flowers last night and the thread kept breaking, and the bobbin on the bottom kept coming out the wrong spot, and it kept jamming up and all around made for an unpleasant experience....then i changed to the dual duty thread and suddenly sewing was fun and easy again. Good thing too because I was ready to quit quilting forever.

New Photography Software

Since this blog is about all arts and crafts, I'd like to stray from quilting for a second.

After our hike at great falls this weekend I decided to (finally) figure out how to stitch together panoramic photos and I came across some great software to do it. As you can see from the watermark at the bottom of the picture I still need to pay for it.

Without Further Ado, I present to you great falls in panoramic

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/59587601@N00/3737866586/)

I cant wait to take panoramic shots of EVERYTHING. Watch out world!