Recipe #7: How Do You Spell Foul Coffee? H-O-N-E-Y

The foul coffee with the delicious portion of my breakfast, my fresh bagel from New York Bagel and Bialy's in Skokie.

I don't know what happened this week.  I had intended to make Matzo Ball soup from scratch and be very hard-core.  However, every time I was going to make it, something came up.  So, this recipe, from my Taste of Home cookbook was a backup.

It started off with tons of ingredients that I love: coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, vanilla and milk.  However, not even this all-star combo could save this drink.

You would think that this team would be rock-solid.  However, you would be wrong.

I mixed up the ingredients in a saucepan, and divided it into two mugs.  My beau and I toasted our fancy-coffee breakfast.

A happy toast, before I realized that the honey had betrayed me. 

However, my satisfaction was short-lived, as all I tasted was honey.  I did not like my honey-milk, which I could not get to taste like either coffee or fall spices.  My beau finished his, whether out of politeness/obligation or actually liking it, I am not clear.

In the future, I will leave the fancy coffee preparation to the baristas at Starbucks.

Recipe #5: Cinnamon-y, Nutmeg-y, Delicious Apple Crisp

Sometimes when you make apple crisp, you have to make a miniature one for yourself, to be eaten immediately.

The recipe for this week is actually one of the few recipes I made semi-annually in the pre-cookbook blog era.  It's from my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook.  I found it at a Goodwill store a few years ago.  It's the exact same 1973 edition as my mom's, so I already knew where most of the recipes were.  This is our family's go-to cookbook.  Almost always, when I ask my mom how to do something she says, "Check Betty."  It's our go-to for strawberry shortcake, gingerbread frosting and even pancakes.  (Although, my mother "accidentally" left out her secret ingredient when telling me where to find the pancake recipe.)

The Salisbury family cooking bible.

This recipe is super delicious and easy to make.  The one and only part of this that stinks is the peeling and prepping of all the apples.  Worst.  Someday, I shall invest in one of those peeler/corer/slicer devices.

Seriously, look at all that fine hand-peeled apple rind.

Aside from the extensive apple prep, this recipe is super simple: flour, sugar, a whole stick of butter, cinnamon and nutmeg, all mixed together, then dumped on top of the apples.  Then, you just bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

Then, when it's finished, your entire apartment smells amazing and you have this....

It's magnificent!

5 recipes down, 47 to go!

Recipe #3: Harry Potter Pumpkin Pasties

Delicious, dessert pumpkin ravioli goodness

After butchering a pumpkin especially for the occasion, I knew this week's recipe had to feature pumpkin.  After all, I couldn't let my prized spoon die in vain!  Since my office was having its annual Halloween potluck, I figured I could combine my cooking obligations into one amazing dish.  In perusing my cookbooks, I remembered I had the spectacular book, The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook.  Since it claimed to have recipes for everything from Knickerbocker Glory to Cauldron Cakes, I figured it would have a good recipe for a Hogwart's Express favorite, the pumpkin pastie!

This cookbook is so cool!  It has tons of neat recipes.  Plus, it also tells you the location in the books that each food is mentioned.  It's a fat nerd's dream!

Incredibly excited about the Harry Potter recipe, I snatched all of my ingredients from the cupboard, getting everything out ahead of time and read the recipe over throughly, not wanting to repeat the great cream cheese mistake.  (See my first post for details.)

First, I made my pastry dough.  The recipe called for the dough to be made in a food processor, but as I still do not have one, I simply made the dough in my beloved lime green KitchenAid mixer.  It seemed like a lot of dough while in the bowl, but once it was emptied, it came to one sad little pile in the middle of the wax paper.  It was then that I realized my mistake.  This recipe was supposed to make only SIX pasties.

Crap.

So, instead, I did what any normal person would do, Instead of simply making another batch of dough, I decided to make miniature pasties.  So, instead of a pumpkin turnover, it would be essentially a sweet dessert pumpkin ravioli.

My plan in place, I set about making the filling, also in my amazing KitchenAid mixer.  This recipe, of course assumed that most people (read: people with any sense) would purchase canned pumpkin, but I substituted fresh pumpkin and it worked out fine.  However, I did add extra cinnamon and nutmeg to the recipe, since the filling seemed sort of bland.  Besides, it's the cinnamon and nutmeg that make a pumpkin dish anyway.

I love this mixer.  So, so much.  It's worth its weight in gold at Christmastime.  Plus, it's green!

Next, I rolled out my dough, making sure to roll it out as thinly as I could.  I had to stretch this into a potluck-sized serving, after all!  Next, I had to figure out how to cut out my dough.  The recipe says to cut circles with a saucer.  As I was unsure how to cut dough with a plate, and was making miniature pumpkin pasties anyway, I decided to go with the tried and true method: cookie cutters.  Fortunately, my mother is a huge afficionado of all things Wilton and always goes to their annual tent sale every year.  A year ago, I accompanied here and made the incredibly wise decision to purchase 101 cookie cutters...because you just never know when you'll need those.

Best $6 ever spent!

I cut out the circle and stuffed them full to bursting with pumpkin-spiced goodness.  However, sadly, burst most of them did, no matter how much I crimped the edges with the fork!  Discouraged, I put them on the cookie sheet anyway.  Then, I realized that I was supposed to cut vents in the top of each pastry.  How this is to be accomplished without either tearing apart one's pastry or slicing the little ravioli bundle in half, I am not sure.  Instead, the majority of my raviolis looked like they had received a vicious slash to the face, courtesy of Jacques, the Pastry Ripper.

The untidy pasties which sported baked potato-style jabs rather than fancy vents.  

Having failed presentation, I chose to make sure that the darn things tasted good and sprinkled a mixture of cinnamon sugar on top.

After countless streams of profanity, many dirty dishes and not one, but two annoyed calls to my mother to gripe about how this recipe was "so not worth it," the little pastries came out of the oven golden brown and smelling amazing.  Even though I stretched the recipe, I couldn't resist trying one of these right out of the oven.  It was sooooo worth it.  The crust was flaky and delicious and so full of calories that even Paula Deen would be envious and the filling was gooey and tasted like everything that is amazing about Thanksgiving
dessert.

After calling my mother to take back all of my previous foul words about the pasties, I sat down to enjoy the rest of my delicious pre-bedtime snack, with Cool Whip, of course.

This is probably the only food blog that posts a previous gnawed-on dessert.  What can I say?  It smelled delicious.
I regret nothing.

After that, I packed the rest of the cooled pastries into a container for work.  My coworkers seemed to like the pastries just as much as I did.  After all, this was my container 15 minutes into pot luck....

If this isn't a ringing endorsement of one's dish at a company pot luck, I don't know what is! 

Pre-Recipe #3: Pepitas, A Happy Pumpkin Experience

What time is it?  Pepitas time!

After my latest pumpkin fiasco, I was angry at pumpkins.  I frowned at the pumpkin puree sitting in my fridge.  I scowled at children's jack-o-lanterns.  I definitely glared at canned pumpkin at the grocery store.  I even gave the evil eye to the local Starbucks, home of the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

So, it was with great trepidation that I attempted to do anything with the seeds that I saved from the great pumpkin butchering.  Following the Pioneer Woman's advice on the subject, despite her lies about pumpkin puree, I attempted to make pepitas.

This recipe, like the last, was rated "easy."  However, much to my satisfaction, this recipe lived up to its label.  It was super simple!

As directed, I dried out the pumpkin seeds for at least 24 hours.  Then, I tossed them with a little bit of olive oil.  However, instead of simply salting the seeds, I decided to use my amazing Red Robin seasoning salt!  I seasoned the bejeesus (technical cooking term, meaning "a lot") out of them and then roasted them in the oven for an hour or so.

Action shot!
Reeeeeeeeeed Robin!  YUM!

The results were fantastic!  they came out nice and toasty brown and the seasoning salt gave it a lot of flavor.  Delicious!  They might have made this whole pumpkin experience worth it.

They were so good!  So salty and delicious!

Pre-Recipe #3: In Which Kaitlin Learns Why Everyone Uses Canned Pumpkin

At Farmer's Markets, I tend to lose my mind.  I don't really know what happens.  It's like, the reality of food shopping for things that I need (bread, eggs, peanut butter and Ramen noodles) fades away  and I pretend to be the kind of person who eats artisan cheeses and purchases $13 imported balsamic vinegar.

Why yes, I did need this huge bag of apples and these decorative gourds!

It was under this whole-food hypnosis that I not only purchased a half peck of apples (for myself), but also bought a pie pumpkin.  It was only $2!  It was adorable, it made me think of fall and I could buy an entire pumpkin for the price of about one can!

I picked out a pumpkin-recipe for my cookbook recipe that called for canned pumpkin/pumpkin puree.  I figured I could make my own.  How hard could it be?  Slice.  Roast.  Pulverize.  Easy.

WRONG.

So, in light of my recent pumpkin disaster, I am preparing to share the lessons I have learned.

Lesson #1: Nothing is as Easy As the Pioneer Woman Says

In preparing to make my pumpkin puree, I researched the technique for roasting the pumpkin ahead of time.  The easiest pumpkin puree to make appeared to be the one on the Pioneer Woman's website.  Difficulty "easy"-- my eye!  Which brings me to my next lesson...

Lesson #2: Do Not Begin Butchering a Pumpkin Less Than 2 Hours Before Bedtime

Why?  Because the Pioneer Woman's time estimates give my ability to chop up gourds way too much credit.

Lesson #3: Butchering a Pumpkin Is Hard Work

Since it's been year's since I've carved a pumpkin for Halloween, I had forgotten how hard those stinking pumpkins could be!  I got out my fancy, sharp knives for the job and attempted to slice in, like I did with the watermelon only months before.  False.  Pumpkins are way tougher than watermelons.  I tried assorted methods of sawing, stabbing and slicing.  Eventually, I gave up with all of these fancy methods and just started hacking away like a deranged gourd murderer until my kitchen was covered in tiny pumpkin slivers and I had removed the top of its head.  The pumpkin was split into slices by the aforementioned methods, combined with a heavy dose of thumping the pumpkin on the counter, until it broke.

Note the pumpkin shards from my Jack the Ripper approach to pumpkin carving.

Lesson #4: All Choppers Are Not Created Equal

The Pioneer Woman's instructions tell you to use a food processor to make a puree of the roasted pumpkin pieces.  Since my food processor was $6 at Aldi and has only been used on one occasion-- to chop baby carrots, two at a time, I decided to go with the Plan B listed on the website: the blender.

I scooped out my roasted pumpkin from its skin and dumped it into the Blender.  Nothing happened.  It made a lot of noise, but did not appear to chop anything at all.

Lesson #5: Do Not Stick Things In the Blender That You Do Not Want Pulverized

Because the pumpkin refused to be chopped in the blender, I decided that the whirring blades simply could not reach the pumpkin, which was being pushed up as the blades spun.  I remembered that the blenders on Chopped have a little stick in them, which is used for shoving things down.  Having no fancy blender with a stick, I attempted to make one using a wooden utensil.  This was a poor choice.

This kind of shenanigans never happens to the Pioneer Woman!

Lesson #6: All Choppers Are Not Created Equal Part II

After my first attempt at blending the pumpkin failed and I threw away all of the splinter-y pumpkin non-puree, I tried to mush the pumpkin using a hand mixer, which mostly succeeded at making a stringy, strange mess.

Lesson #7: Liquid Makes Blenders Awesome

After making my pumpkin into what looked like strange yellow-orange hash browns, I decided to just dump the stringy gourd and a whole bunch of water into the blender.  Then...FINALLY...I succeeded at making pumpkin puree.  It was a beautiful golden orange and it was fluffy and perfect-looking.  I actually did a celebratory dance around my kitchen while the blender frothed up the pumpkin puree in all of its creamy glory!  I bagged it up and set it aside to use for my recipe this week.

It's so beautiful!  

And finally, the most important lesson...

Lesson #8: CANNED PUMPKIN IS TOTALLY WORTH IT

Because for an extra few dollars, you can avoid all of this.

Non-Cookbook Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Full disclosure.  This is not from a cookbook and therefore does not count as one of my 52.  However, since my very first official post was a mitigated failure, I decided to brag a little about these cupcakes, which were magnificent.  

Aren't they cute?  I finally used my fall sprinkles!

I needed something delicious to take to my work's department-wide potluck.  Since the windows were open, the cool air was blowing in and the pumpkin spiced candle was lit, I knew I had to make something fall-ish.  I decided on caramel apple cupcakes.  

I had purchased a Pillsbury caramel apple cake mix and the matching frosting on one of my 12 weekly visits to Target.  

I am convinced this is exactly what happens.

But, as always, I digress.  I made the first batch of cupcakes as directed, but for the second batch, I doctored it up a little by adding cinnamon.  I have no idea how much I put into the batter.  I just dumped it in until it "looks right," also known as Mom's method.  The first batch turned out good, but the second batch was AMAZING.  3 of 3 work taste testers agreed.  Stick with the cinnamon.  

I frosted the cupcakes with the prepared frosting and added fall sprinkles.  All in all, easy and adorable cupcakes.  I just love Pillsbury cake mixes!