Test Kitchen Thursday - Pumpkin Cupcakes

Finally back on track with Test Kitchen Thursdays!

Once it starts to feel like fall there's nothing like baking with pumpkin (for me anyway).  Once again I was suckered into purchasing the newest Taste of Home Fall Baking Magazine at the check out stand.  My husband said he has no problem with this as long as I actually bake some of the yummy looking recipes. (my mom on the other hand is a complete enabler - but I love the Christmas magazine you gave me :) - thank mom!)  So, this works perfectly with trying out new recipes to blog about (and potentially find something good for the 2012 Iowa State Fair).

These cupcakes remind me a lot of my absolute favorite cupcakes growing up - those chocolate ones with the cream cheese filling and chocolate chips.  Wow - mom made the best ones.  Same principal just pumpkin cake with cream cheese filling.  I did experiment with the recipe and added those little caramel bits to a few cupcakes - so worth the experiment.

Without further ado - the recipe:

Yield: 2 dozen

Cake Batter:
1 can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin
2 Cups sugar
1 Cup canola oil
4 eggs
2 Cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used my vietnamese cinnamon - yum)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling:
1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/3 Cup sugar
1 egg
Caramel chips (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat the pumpkin, sugar, oil and eggs until well blended.  In small bowl, combine rest of the batter ingredients - whisk together.

For filling, in another small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Add egg; beat on low just until combined.



Batter and Filling



Fill paper-lined muffin cups 1/3 full.  Drop filling by tablespoonfuls into center of each cupcake.

Sprinkle with a few caramel chips at this point if desired. 

 Cover with remaining batter.



For some reason I had loads of batter left so put the rest in my two pumpkin ramekins.  My cupcakes did sink after cooling so I probably should have added more batter; I didn't add the rest of the batter because my cups were over 2/3 full and I didn't want them spreading all over the place - but this batter doesn't seem to do that.



Bake at 350 degree F for 20 - 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes in pan on wire rack before removing from pans to racks to cool completely.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Grant and Clark both loved the cupcakes!  Although Grant ate completely around the cheesecake center on the first one he ate.  I told him it would be better once it was cool - after all you can't leave the best part!

Test Kitchen Thursday - Pie Crust

OK - sorry this recipe is a little late this week - kind of a crazy week around here!  I'm going to focus on the pie crust rather than the whole pie.  This past weekend I was sifting through some of my mom's Cook's Illustrated Magazines and found their Fool Proof Pie Crust.  Knew it must be tried at some point.  What better time than just before Thanksgiving.  The other reason being my sister asked for my pumpkin pie recipe this week which reminded me I needed to bake a pie for Friday's church supper!  Of course, I signed up for cherry pie so I could just dump in the Cherry Pie Filling I preserved this spring - what a time saver!

Back to the pie crust - here's the recipe (or go HERE to find it on-line)

2 1/2 Cups unbleached all purpose flour (or pastry flour blend is good too)

1 t table salt

2 T sugar

12 T cold unsalted butter (cut into 1/4" slices)

1/2 C chilled solid vegetable shortening - cut into 4 pieces (like the butter flavor shortening for buttery taste)

1/4 C vodka - cold (taste will completely bake out)

1/4 C cold water

 

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses.  Add butter and shortening; process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour).  Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade.  Add remaining 1 cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up (4 to 6 quick pulses).  Empty mixture into medium bowl.

 

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture.  With spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks down together.  Divide dough into 2 equal balls and flatten each into 4" disk.  Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

 

Remove 1 disk at a time from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 12 inch circle about 1/8 inch thick.  Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1 inch overhang.  Ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with 1 hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand (do not stretch dough).  Refridgerate again until dough is firm about 45 minutes.  Flute edges.  Pour in filling and bake.

Seriously, for two people who don't drink we have a large supply of hard liquor.  I can now add vodka to the list.  Well, I could have used my husband's 20 year old vodka he brought back from the Soviet Union but decided that might not be a wise choice.  In case you're wondering our stash also includes rum (will be using that soon for stollen), cherry brandy (for the cherry pie filling), cherry liqueur (for the black forest cakes) and some Sam Adam's for when we want some yummy beer bread.  Good thing it lasts a long time since I use it in such small amounts!

Alright, back to pie crusts:

I put the vodka, water and shortening in the freezer to chill.  To chill the shortening I measured it out onto wax paper and divided it into the 4 pieces called for in the recipe.  I wrapped the wax paper up over each section and sat in freezer.  Good thing I cleaned out all my freezer's this week - I had plenty of room to set things flat today!

Of course, I had my little helpers!  Grant enjoyed watching the food processor spin!  This was the first time trying out the food processor for mixing pie crust - it worked quite well.

I should also add I did change the recipe somewhat and used whole wheat pastry flour rather than all purpose flour.  Still made a good looking crust.

After adding the liquids I ended up with two nice balls.  I forgot to weigh them to ensure they were equal but it ended up working out OK.

Here's the rolled crust.  Look at the little lumps of fat throughout!  I have to say this was the easiest crust I have ever rolled out.  Either I'm getting a lot better with my pastry (which trust me, I need all the help and practice I can get) or the recipe is really that good.  I covered it with plastic wrap and set it back in the fridge.

Here is my favorite part!  When I was a little girl I remember my mom rolling pie crusts.  It was exciting to see the rolling pin sock (is that what it's called?) and her canvas with the circle sizes marked come out of the drawer.  After she made the big pie she would re-roll the dough and fill a mini pie tin just for me.  Sometimes I was able to help roll and fill the tin.

And when the pies came out there was a perfect little pie for me.  Strange - now I'm the mom making little mini pies for my boys (ignore the singed crust).  And boy were they excited when they found out this little pie was just for them!

Test Kitchen Thursday - Applesauce

My family LOVES applesauce!  When I was growing up I remember my mom would sometimes let me go down to the basement and pick out the fruit for supper.  I loved this responsibility - standing looking at the shelves of canned goods tasked with choosing just the right item.  Now sometimes mom would tell me no cherries - I loved her canned cherries - would have eaten them for every meal.  So, my second choice was her applesauce.  A close third were the peaches!

So what fun to make applesauce with my own little guys.  And eventually when they're old enough I'll task them with picking the fruit for supper!

Here is what I started out with - 12 pounds of apples.  I needed to use up the Red and Golden Delicious apples that we picked in Indiana.  In addition, (to add flavor) I bought some Fuji and Granny Smith.

I used the applesauce recipe from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.  You can find the recipe HERE on Ball's website too!  

When processing I always used an approved recipe.  The ingredients for applesauce are pretty straight forward - apples, lemon juice and sugar (if needed).  I decided to just go with plain old applesauce since I can use it in baking this way.  Plus, I can always add red hots or cinnamon/spices to it before serving if we want something special.  Mmmm - warm cinnamon applesauce!

The boys wanted to help too (nothing new there - I'm raising a couple little chefs).  They were fascinated by all the tools.

Here's where my test kitchen piece comes in.  I've made plenty of applesauce but always the hard way.  This year I tested a couple different pieces of equipment.  Last year (after apple season) we bought a counter top apple slicer, peeler, corer.  It DID NOT work today - at least not for me.  What's worse after just a few apples the tines bent.  The only plus was the boys enjoyed turning the crank (and no, mommy was working it when it broke - not them).

So, I chucked in that idea.  Not wanting to waste time I decided to just chop the apples up, soften them up and run through the KitchenAid.  YES - that was the answer!  I did not core or peel - just chopped up.  After softening the apples on the stove and allowing a brief cool down I put them through the Fruit/Vegetable strainer attachment on my KitchenAid.  Perfect applesauce!

Mom and dad gave this to us last year and we used it for processing pumpkin (it was after apple season).  Worked great for pumpkin so hoped it would be perfect for apples.  Last year it took my sister-in-law and I HOURS of work putting all of our applesauce through food mills and even after all that hand cranking there were still bits and pieces of peel in the sauce.  Took me all of 20 minutes to process my applesauce through the KitchenAid strainer.  If you do a lot of processing, make your own baby food, etc and you don't have one of these it should be on your Christmas list!

Yes, I am very thankful to have my KitchenAid - my original was a wedding gift from mom and dad, later they upgraded me to the 5 quart and my sister inherited my original.  I can truly say we're a KitchenAid family - mom always had one (at least as long as I can remember) and so did my grandma.  In fact, we found my grandma's original in her basement when we cleaned it out - it had to be one of the first produced.  So yes, this family believes in our mixers (and I'm not paid a dime to say that)!

Back on task - the boys thoroughly enjoyed watching the sauce come out and the little fruit "poo" drop down into the second bowl (which the chickens later enjoyed).

In no time at all we had over 4 quarts of sauce.

I ended up with 8 1/2 pints.  We would have had 9 pints but we sampled some for lunch.  I only used 1 1/2 cups of sugar (rather than the 3 in the recipe) since the sauce was already pretty sweet.  Plus, I like my applesauce slightly tart.

Once I get the recipe officially typed up and filed in my 2011 ISF entry folder I can add one more entry to the list.  I'm on an apple kick this week - I think we need some apple butter and the recipe for cinnamon apple syrup just looks too yummy to pass up.  This family doesn't buy store bought syrup anymore.  We only use the fruit syrups we've put up - so much better!  I do buy a little pure maple syrup from Vermont because sometimes you still need a little maple goodness!

Test Kitchen Thursday - Caramel Apple Muffins

I don't know what possesses me - this time of year I always break down and buy one of those beautiful magazine cookbooks for the holidays that you see at the checkout lane.  Impulse buys - I know.  However, some of the best recipes I use regularly have come from some of those (that makes it worth it right?).  Quite frankly I blame my mother (she knows what I mean).  You should see her magazine cookbook stash (I love it).

Back to my compulsion - most often (but not always) they are of the Taste of Home persuasion.  I must add I called mom right away after picking up the new 2010 Taste of Home Fall Baking Cookbook and she had it too!  Apple doesn't fall from the tree :)

I decided I had to try the Caramel Apple Muffins.  You can find the recipe on Taste of Home's website HERE.

I did make a couple of changes.  Rather than chopping up the 12 sticky caramels I used a cup of Kraft's Caramel Bits.  They did tend to sink to the bottom and may not have been as ooey gooey as the original but as far as ease of preparation they are a winner in my book (and still ooey gooey).

It also called for only 1/2 cup of apple.  My big Granny Smith yielded a lot more than a 1/2 cup but I put the whole thing in anyway (well, what was left after the boys sampled some - still more than 1/2 cup left).  So, if you want to stick to the 1/2 cup use a small apple or plan to eat half your apple as a snack while baking!

They were quite yummy!  Now I should work on some of the other yummy looking recipes in my cookbook.

Cheers!

Test Kitchen Thursday - Auntie's Roll Out Sugar Cookies

This week I'm featuring a recipe I have worked very hard on - for number of years.  Had to get this one right because it means so much to my husband and his family.  This is my husband's Great Aunt's (from her mom - his Great Grandma) Christmas Cookie recipe.  Unfortunately I don't have the greatest photos since I didn't actually decorate these - they went to Clark's preschool for their Fall Party today!

Auntie's Sugar Cookie Recipe:

Yield: approximately 5 dozen (depends on the size of cutter you use - warning: these cookies grow in the oven)

2 C     Sugar
1 C     Butter, unsalted (softened)
1 C     Sour Buttermilk (I found this odd at first but yes it helps -- add a little lemon juice if you don't have sour buttermilk on hand - on the flip side great way to use up old buttermilk in the fridge)
2         Eggs
1/2 t    Salt
1 t       soda
2 t       baking powder
1 t       vanilla
1 t       lemon flavoring
5 C     flour

Whisk together the flour, salt, soda and baking powder together; set aside.  Cream the butter and sugar.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Mix in sour buttermilk, vanilla and lemon flavoring. Add in the flour mixture.  This makes an extremely SOFT dough - you may want to add just a little more flour but don't overdo it.  The original recipe says to roll right away but I find giving it an hour or more in the fridge helps the rolling process.  Roll 3/8 inch and cut as desired.  Place cookies on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Do not over bake!  The cookies should barely be  colored on the bottom.

While we waited for the dough to set we sorted all the Halloween cookie cutters!  We sorted by shape, and by color, and by size.  So many sorting options!  Now for my family's Christmas cookies there are traditional shapes that must be cut but for other times of year anything goes.  However, for the Fall Party at preschool we needed to make pumpkins.

Required Christmas shapes include (all frosted with white frosting):
Santa (with red sugar)
Wreath (with green sugar and 9 red hots - 3 berry bunches)
Star (with yellow sugar)
Bell (with blue sugar and silver nonperil for clapper)
Tree (with green sugar and red hot on top)

My addition to the list:
Snowflake (with large crystal sugar)
Rudolf (with red hot for nose)

After nap time we rolled the cookies out.  I tested using only 4 1/2 cups of flour like the original recipe and remembered why I don't do that.  The cookies will roll but be prepared to utilize LOTS of flour on the counter.  Even using the 5 cups you will still need to well prepare the counter with flour.  When rolling I usually use the bands you can put on the ends of the rolling pin to roll out to the perfect thickness every time. It really helps with even baking!

Here are some photos of the pre-school party today - there were lots of dinosaurs (including Clark in blue).

Three dinosaurs and three batmen - seemed to be the popular costumes today!

Frosting the cookies and adding M&M faces.

I thought this was an adorable picture.

Also, many thanks to Aunt Em for the Halloween treats that arrived in the mail today!

Test Kitchen Thursday - Key Lime Spritz

Switching gears - turning from fall this week to thinking about Christmas Cookies!  Since it seems that November and December somehow fly right past I find the end of October/early November a good time to think about baking cookies.  There are LOTS of cookies (and fudge and even some candies) that freeze or store well.  These spritz cookies (due to high butter content) will store successfully in the freezer for 3 months (recommended time - but I have kept mine for up to 6 months+ and they still taste good).

Here is the recipe:

Key Lime Spritz Cookies

Yield: ~ 84 cookies                           

Ingredients:                                                               

1 C                  butter, softened

¾ C                 granulated sugar

¼ t                   baking powder

1                      egg

1 t                    finely shredded key lime peel (set aside)

2 t                    key lime juice (can use regular lime juice)

2 ½ C              all purpose flour

Icing:

¾ C                powdered sugar

1 ½ t               lime juice

2 – 3 t             milk (to make drizzling consistency)       

In a bowl beat butter for 30 seconds.  Add granulated sugar and baking powder.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl.  Beat in egg and juice until combined.  Beat in as much flour as you can.  Stir in any remaining flour and the lime peel.

Preheat oven to 400 degree F.  Place unchilled dough into cookie press fitted with template.  Force dough through the press, forming desired shapes, 1” apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets (parchment paper makes a world of difference).

Bake for 6 – 8 minutes or until edges are firm but not brown.  Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool.

If desired, frost with lime icing; let stand 20 minutes or until set.  

Note: this is not one of my original recipes - it was either Taste of Home or BHG from the 2009 annual Christmas book that I get but I couldn't find the exact reference before posting - I will look it up and put in the proper credit.

If you plan to freeze them - don't frost them!  Frost them after you thaw them.  These little cookies don't last long around my house so I try to hide them in the freezer.

I remember spritz cookies fondly - grandma made them every year for Christmas (and other times of year too).  Grandma liked simple, fast cookies - make a batch, put on pan, bake, eat.  She also stored them in the freezer at her house to quickly pull out as needed.  I am actually not a fan of butter cookies but make an exception for Spritz (I don't think I would be considered truly German by my family if I didn't like Spritz cookies).

Hmmm - speaking of German recipes I need to think about my 2010 stollen recipe - it is supposed to "cure" for six weeks.  Great - now I need to go find a calendar - pencil in some stollen time . . .

Prost!

Test Kitchen Thursday - Apple Cider Spice Doughnuts

Before starting this post I have to tell you that after being near tears (well maybe not tears - but very frustrated) with this recipe yesterday I almost scrapped it.  But I remembered when I started this blog I promised to show the flops and failures right along with the successes.  I may be a perfectionist but I am far from perfect!

You can find the recipe at Our Best Bites. Let me point out first - they taste amazing!  But here is how mine looked:

More like apple fritters (or just a big mess) than donuts.  Sigh.  Next time I'm going to remember I have the oddball looking contraption from grandma that dad tells me is for donut dough and try that instead because I obviously cannot cut donuts.  Seriously follow the link above to the original recipe for the cutest donuts you have ever seen!

The boys enjoyed drinking the leftover apple cider - yummy!  Grant's first time with cup and straw (no lid) made mommy a bit nervous though.

As always my boys are always willing to help.  In fact, this has become a new Wednesday afternoon scheduled activity that they look forward too.  They help mommy with a new recipe right after lunch and before nap time.  If all goes well there is a little pre-nap treat :)

So, after pulling them out of the freezer I was able to cut them and they looked really good.

 But, they would not pull off the clear wrap and ended up like this:

So, I just divided the dough and put lumps in the hot oil to make these:

I am not sure - maybe I needed to leave them in the freezer longer, or maybe I should have lightly greased the plastic wrap before putting the dough on.  Not sure - we'll chalk this one up to operator malfunction.  The boys sure liked them - in fact they ate their pieces so fast I didn't even get a picture!

Enjoy!

Test Kitchen Thursday - Caramel Corn (Honey Bun Popcorn) with Pecans

Today I decided to have some fun with the boys and try this yummy Caramel Corn recipe found at: www.ourbestbites.com (since this is a web published recipe I'll just give you the link).  This recipe gets 4 thumbs up at our household.  Plus, it was loads of fun to do with the boys.  I highly encourage you to cook with your kids even at very young ages!  Recently someone told me how sorry they were for my boys' wifes someday since it might be hard to compete with their mom's cooking.  I say - bah!  What lucky women to have husbands that enjoy cooking and baking!  Think about it.  And for those wonderful hubbies out there that love to be in the kitchen (which mine is one) and yes, grilling counts too (if they do the prep work) - thank you!

So, I took lots of awesome photos to show you but my camera decided to die today (sniff).  I may have some photoless blogs for awhile as we wait for a new one to be ordered and delivered.  These shots remind me of some photos from the 70's.

 Clark measuring out the pecans.

 Grant and Clark both had extra pop corn as their afternoon snack.  Grant loves to play with measuring equipment.

Stirring the brown sugar.  After we had the caramel to the soft stage boil and we added the vanilla and baking soda much fun was had by all - bubbly, foamy brown goo!

 The product before placing in the oven!

 Of course we had to sample!

I had to quickly put it in the over before it was devoured.

That was our test kitchen today!  If you have a caramel corn craving this variation is well worth the time (it actually doesn't take much effort).

Happy Munching!

Birthday Special Recipe Edition - Pumpkin Bars

Tomorrow is my birthday so I thought I would do something special for all of you!  When I used to work in offices or warehouses or well anywhere other than home - the birthday treats I would take were my pumpkin bars.  I've never found a pumpkin bar recipe to touch these (no, not trying to be cocky - just honest).  There have been times I haven't even eaten a bar I made because the pan has been emptied before I had a chance.

So, for my birthday I decided to whip up some of these fabulous bars (they are super easy)!  OK - moment of truth these are only 2nd best to my ultimate favorite birthday recipe - but I can't pull off number 1.  That would be my mom's chocolate fudge cake with glorious fudge frosting!  Oh man - it is the best cake ever!  Mom rocks!

Back to Pumpkin Bars:

Pan: 1 - 15 x 18 x 1" sheet pan
This recipe originally came out of a small recipe book grandma gave me when Alan and I were first married.  The original recipe was by Marsha Gordon in -A Collection; Favorite Recipes of the Cerro Gordo Medical Auxiliary.  I have made modifications to the recipe to make it more my own but credit is owed to Ms. Gordon for an excellent recipe!

Ingredients:
4       eggs
2 C   sugar
1 C   canola oil
16 oz pumpkin [1 (15.5 oz) can if using canned pumpkin - be sure it's canned pumpkin not pumpkin pie]
2 C   flour
1/2 t  salt
1 t     baking soda
2 t     baking powder
2 t     cinnamon
1/2 t   nutmeg (optional) - if you like your pumpkin bars with more spice add the nutmeg and cloves
1/4 t  cloves (optional)

Frosting Ingredients:
8 oz pkg  cream cheese
1/2 C       butter
1 t            vanilla
2 C          sifted powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare pan - I spray with baking spray (with flour added in). In large metal or glass bowl; beat eggs gently.  Add sugar, oil and pumpkin.  Mix well and set aside.  In medium bowl sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, & cinnamon.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix well. Pour into prepared pan.  Bake in oven for 20 - 30 minutes (until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean).

Allow pan to cool on wire rack.  Meanwhile - prepare frosting.  Allow cream cheese and butter to come to room temperature.  Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add 1 cup sifted sugar and vanilla - beat until smooth.  Add 2nd cup of sifted sugar and beat until smooth.  It should be a nice creamy frosting.

Once bars are cool spread frosting on bars.  These are also cute decorated with little candy or frosting pumpkins.  If I'm really in the mood for being fancy I have piped pumpkins and swirling vines all across the top.

Here are some photos of my boys enjoying their treat at supper time!  They both helped mix and add ingredients so they get credit for baking today too!

 Love the photos of Grant shoveling the bar in the mouth.  The frosting eye brow only adds to the humor!

ENJOY!

Please note: I happily share my recipes with you but please use them only for your own personal use.  It is not just myself but often my family that has worked (for sometimes years) on these recipes and at the very least we would like credit for our creations.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.