Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes With Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

This Halloween I decided to make Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting at the prompting of my friend, Matti. One day at work she declared that she wanted me to make the Strawberry Champagne cupcakes I had made in the spring. Well, strawberries are no longer in season, I thought, but what is? And that made me think of the coffees I have been trying at Starbucks--Pumpkin Spice Latte and Salted Caramel Mocha. And there it was--an idea for a cupcake! The cake would be pumpkin spice, the frosting would be salted caramel buttercream. Mmmm...sounded like perfection. I found a recipe by Martha Stewart for a pumpkin spice cupcake. While her recipe sounded delicious, I just had to add a few more spices to the cake. It's pumpkin! The time for lots of spices! Plus, there was a whole can of pumpkin in the cake, and pumpkin from a can is a bit bland, so the only remedy is spices, spices, spices! So, I did just that--added many more spices, and man oh man, was it a good idea!

Lots of spices!

That was quite easy to mix up. I put the batter in their cups, and put them in the oven. They puffed up perfectly! And the smell--intoxicating! All the spices mingling with the pumpkin-yum!

Pumpkin Spice Batter

I did not have the same luck with the frosting, though. I found a recipe that where I would have to make the caramel from scratch. No problem, I'll do it. I put the water and sugar in a saucepan, let it boil, and waited for it to turn "dark amber." Now, I know I'm a literal person, but when it says to wait for it to turn "dark amber," don't you think you wait for it to be dark amber? No. Bad idea. It burned and was the most foul flavor I have tasted in a while. Rats. Moving on. Sugar and water in a different saucepan, let it boil, wait for it to turn a slightly deeper shade of amber. At last! Perfect "dark amber" color! I poured it in a bowl so I could add the heavy cream and vanilla------and it had turned into a solid rock in milliseconds. "NoOOooOoOOOOoO!!!" I wailed. It was perfect!! I poked the hard mass with my spatula. Nothing happened. There was no movement but the heavy cream and vanilla lolling over the solid amber-rock. Crap. That was it for me. No more caramel on the stove.

Apparently this "dark amber" is too dark. Well.

And this perfect amber is hard as a rock. Definitely not absorbing the cream and vanilla.

My last resort. It worked!

I did what I knew would work. I got out the pre-made wrapped cubed caramels and went to town. I threw a couple of handfuls in yet another saucepan, and dumped a fair amount of heavy cream in with it. Over medium low heat everything melted and incorporated perfectly. I added the vanilla. Let it cool, and then put it in with the rest of the ingredients for buttercream frosting. But it was too thin. I added more powdered sugar. It took away from the caramel flavor a bit, but whatever. As Tim Gunn says, I was in a "make it work moment!" And I did. Once the cupcakes had cooled I piped on the frosting, and since I didn't have anymore caramel sauce I waited until I got to work the next day to add it to top the frosting. Holy hell. Amazing! This is probably the best cupcake I have ever had.

What a perfect little cupcake! Pumpkin Spice Cupcake with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting.

The spicey-pumpkiny goodness of the moist cake paired with the salty-sweet caramel frosting was phenomenal! You know it's a good cupcake when a woman on Weight-Watchers (who is looking stellar and doing incredibly well on the program) tells you she'll only have half--then takes it all and wants the leftover cupcake, too. Laurie said the cupcake was "point worthy." Always a good sign!  

These are what were leftover from work--a bit smushed, but still lovely.

This was a wonderful cupcake for the Halloween season, but it would make a spectacular treat for Thanksgiving! This cupcake accompanying your pumpkin pie--Mmm!

Four Flavorful Homemade Pizzas!

Start with a little herbed ball of dough

Saturday I took a day off from sweets and focused on savory tastes. My uncle and his family came over and I was instructed to make dinner--pizza! Grammy and mom have been making pizza from scratch for as long as I can remember, and no matter how many pizzas I eat over the years, these are always the tastiest. It's a bit time consuming to make your own pizza dough, but the time involved in actually working is relatively little. Most of the time the dough is rising, and you're doing something else like reading or blanching tomatoes for sauce-making.

Let it rise and you have a giant herbed bowl of dough!

Mom uses a simple Fleischmann's master pizza dough recipe, which is really basic. You don't even have to wait for the yeast to rise--just throw it all together. While the dough recipe is wonderful, I like to jazz it up with garlic powder, and handfuls of basil, oregano, and parsley. The smell of the yeasty dough with all those herbs was intoxicating as I kneaded it all into submission.

Pizza 1 (right) & Pizza 2 (left)

Once the dough has soaked up enough flour, set the dough-ball into an oiled bowl and leave it in a warm spot to rise. I put it in the oven, light on, towel on top. I checked to see how much the dough had risen an hour later and found that I had put the rack too high because the dough had risen so much it was squishing between the coils--whoops. It didn't do much but deflate a little when I pulled the bowl out.

Pizza 3

I had quadrupled the recipe since we were having a bunch of people over, and we like to have our options, so I divided the dough into quarters, pamed the pizza pan and got started spreading the dough out. Sauce, sprinkled basil and oregano, and tons of mozzarella were next. Pizza 1 was a basic pepperoni to please the masses, while pizza 2 had chopped garlic, onions, peppers, and seasoned tomatoes (from the Mediterranean bar in Wegmas--these are awesome). Pizza 3 was the same as the vegetable pizza 2, but it included mushrooms, while pizza 3 had everything plus black olives. A little something for everyone. The dough turned out to be so thick, and the toppings were so delicious--the flavors from the vegetables, dough, and herbs radiated throughout.

Pizza 4

I had so much fun baking a savory dish. As much as I love to bake all the sweets, a girl needs to mix it up now and again to keep things interesting! It's good to have real leftovers, too instead of pie and cookies. There was a bunch leftover, so I'll have a meal for a couple of days at least! So good!

Friendly Faces In Food

This pie is super happy

This week has been absolutely crazy...Mom and I made a ton of food for an event, but we ended up leaving early because of unfavorable weather conditions--we had a lot of leftovers. We invited some family members over to help us eat the pies and cookies, and then coerced them into taking bags full home. Luckily they obliged.

Who wouldn't love this pie? It makes me smile :)

That was over the weekend. Then, Monday (was that really only yesterday?!) my step-dad Shawn has his hip replaced. He was one of the unfortunate ones who had his hip recalled about a year and a half after it had been replaced the first time. Mind boggling, really--it's not like he's a car where the part can be easily yanked out and replaced. Luckily this surgery was a bit better than last time--he got lower doses of different medicines and is much more alert and feels a ton better. That doesn't really make up for having to have a body part replaced that is buried under skin and muscle--gah. Needless to say, it's been busy around the house.

Ooo! A ghosty! Perfect for the season!

While baking on Friday, Mom and I noticed an interesting trend in our finished products--many of them acquire faces during the baking process. Breads and pies have a tendency to grow faces...so I thought I would share them with you!

This one looks a little grouchy...

This one reminds me of Dr. Seuss--a smirky Grinch maybe?

I love seeing what will pop up in the baked goods! Makes it interesting!

What To Do With Leftover Bread

Sometimes you can acquire an abundance of bread--either you've made, bought, been given a ton and now you have more than you can eat in a reasonable amount of time. Or maybe you've been eating so much bread that it's coming out your ears and you don't care to have a bit more. This is my case. I have made a ton and a half of bread, and I have been eating what people don't take. Sometimes it's a lot, and sometimes not so much. Either way, I have a lot of bread that I need to do something with. While talking with my aunt, she suggested I make bread crumbs and croutons out of the leftovers I don't want to eat. What a genius idea! Now, don't be put off by either of these ideas because they are both so simple a five year old can do it.

Thanks to Aunt Kathy I now make bread crumbs, and here's how:
Gather all of your extra bread (regular bread, herbed bread, anything but something like cinnamon raisin--unless you're feeling adventurous) and cut them into slices. Put them on a cookie sheet and bake at 170 degrees F for the amount of times it takes to dry the bread out. Once the bread is dry, throw the slices into a food processor and let it go until you have a fine powder. You can leave the crumbs as is after the food processor, or you can jazz them up with herbs and other flavors. I like to add handfuls of herbs, onion and garlic powder, seasoned salt, pepper--anything you think might be tasty in the breadcrumbs. Give it a whiff, too--does it need something else? Throw it in! Put the finished product into a plastic bag, seal, and put into the refrigerator until you need them. Voila, breadcrumbs to make tasty meatballs and other delicious foods!

Now for the croutons:
Slice bread the width you might like a crouton shape to be--not too thick or thin. This will ensure the herbs stick to the bread. Once the bread has been sliced you'll want to cut the crusts off--if you don't you might chip a tooth. Cube the slices into the desired shape for croutons. Put into a large bowl, and use about three tablespoons of oil for every six slices of bread.In the palm of your hand dump a generous heap of parsley, a little less of basil and oregano, and less still of thyme. You'll also want garlic and onion powder,and  seasoned salt. Well, that's what I did. If you like thyme then dump in a whole handful! It's really about what you like, so throw in a little at a time and add as you feel necessary. On a parchment lined cookie sheet, put the oiled and herbed bread cubes on, single layer. Bake at 300 degree F for 15 minutes, give them a turn, and bake for another 15 minutes. Your times may vary a bit, but should take between 30-45 minutes to completely bake. Make sure they are completely dried out (give one a taste!), and put them in a plastic bag and save for a scrumptious salad!

 What a great way to use leftover bread! Everyone you know will be impressed, too! Especially after they taste them.

What is Salt Rising Bread?!

The starter before fermentation.

As many of you know I am always up for a new baking/cooking challenge, and lately I have gotten many requests to make Salt Rising bread. I had never heard of this before, but since people kept asking for it I decided to do some research and give it a try. Apparently, it can be found in the southern tier, and most restaurants and bakeries do not carry the bread. These people were foaming at the mouth got it! It's one of those more time consuming breads--it isn't difficult by any means, the process just spans over two days. As for most bread, most of the time involved is allowing the dough to rise the proper amount, however, this dough takes even more time to rise than most. And it doesn't seem to rise much until it is put in the oven.

After fermentation-nice and bubbly.

Anyway, Salt Rising bread came about during the Pioneer days when women did not have access to electric or gas ovens, or yeast (sort of essential for baking bread). These innovative women came up with a way to make bread rise without the use of yeast by heating rock salt, and putting that in a sort of crock. The starter is made with cornmeal, flour, and water (or milk). This is put in a container and then put in the rock salt (in the crock), and left covered overnight. It is essential for the starter to stay warm in order to activate the fermentation process.

This dough is so smooth!

I do not have rock salt or a crock, so the modern day alternative is putting the starter in a jar, covering it with a towel, and letting it sit overnight in the oven with the light turned on. You might not expect the oven to get hot with just the light on, but ours clocks in at about 100 degrees F with the light on. That's pretty hot! This has turned out to be the perfect method to get the desired results. My mom made the starter and wrapped it in a heating pad set on low, and absolutely nothing happened. It might be a trial and error sort of thing also.

Ready for the oven, still sort of flattened, but it puffs up.

The desired result: The starter should have risen, should be bubbly throughout, and it should smell like something died two weeks ago and has been sitting in the sun decaying. Yes, it really does smell that bad. The recipe I found said that the bacteria made during the fermentation process is the same as the bacteria made to make cheese. So, the dead sea smell is normal and absolutely essential for delicious Salt Rising bread. Just keep it at an arm's length when you're putting the rest of the ingredients together and kneading it so you don't vom everywhere. I made the mistake of taking a good whiff the first time I made it--I wanted to know what the "cheese smell" actually smelled like. Well, I found out.

Rising in the oven makes this bread look really cool!

Once the starter has risen and is properly stanky, mix it with the rest of the flour, knead it, and let it rise for two hours. Once it has risen you give it a knead, shape it into the bread pans, and let it rise again for two more hours. Like I said, it doesn't appear to rise much, but once in the oven it poofs right up. The end result is really spectacular--all puffed up with an interesting shape, and it feels like a brick. But that's how it is supposed to be, and all those people requesting the bread have come back and said how amazing it is. Whew! I had no idea what to expect, and I'm so glad these people like it so much!

Is It Chowder Yet?: Traditional Labor Day Festivities

Chowder started in the early morning.

 Every year for the past 25+ years my dad's sister Kathy has hostessed what has come to be known as "the Chowder Party." Chowder originated with Aunt Kathy's abundant garden; she has always had gorgeous gardens filled to the brim with vegetables and later on flowers. Chowder was the perfect way to use up all those vegetables, and to get together with family.

Meat on a spit.

Every Sunday before Labor Day the bricks, wood, and chowder vat are set up in the stone driveway in front of the house, the wooden stir-paddle is brought out, the roasts are put on the spit, and the dogs are licking up drippings and burning their faces on the hot metal of the spit. The barn is set up for the rest of the food: appetizers, side dishes, and desserts, and Paul barricades himself with a couple of grills (the roasts are done when he has finished his eleventh beer, I think,--every year, and the meat turns out decadently..it amazes me).

My cousin Tom stokes the fire for the chowder.

Over the years the party has evolved from being sometime between the end of August and the beginning of October to "don't make any plans for Labor Day--that Sunday is the Chowder party." Along with the date, the food at the party has changed too.

A grand Labor Day party.

It started with, of course, chowder, but also included some french bread. Mmm chowder and crusty french bread. Today, however, the food situation has become much more elaborate. It starts with Aunt Kathy up at 3:30AM chopping this and that for the chowder pot and prepping the numerous side dishes she creates to accompany the main event. 

Had to get the pro to check on the chowder.

Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting.

This year I decided to contribute my great grandmother's chocolate cake, which I recently acquired from Aunt Kathy and have been dying to make. The batter is made into a decadent custard (which I was a touch wary of making at first--I've never made one), but it was so easy and it made the cake so incredibly moist. I have never made a cake that moist--almost gooey! (and not because it was under-baked).

The big debate: Do you like it as soup or chowder? Chowder!

It was so nice to create something that a relative I never met created for the ones she loved. I felt a new connection to my family. I love the way food does that--brings you close to your family even when they're nowhere in sight. I received great praise for my great grandmother's cake, too. I used a chocolate buttercream frosting that I am familiar with instead of making her egg white meringue frosting. Next time though I'm going to be making that frosting.

Such a moist chocolate cake!

All in all the day was as fabulous as I knew it was going to be. I got to sit around outside under the trees with vivid colors from the gardens all around, the smells of the smoky chowder brewing, grills grilling, and chatting with family, and just relaxing and enjoying the day.

It's chowder! And so delicious!

Chowder has always been, and probably always will be, my favorite summer party.

Succulent Peach Pie Filling

This summer I made my first peach pie, and I have been making a ton of it ever since. Mom found a recipe online, and then, as usual, we doctored it up a bit. It's the best peach pie I have ever tasted!  The spices mingle nicely with the sugars in the peach and enhance the flavor making the filling absolutely mouth watering. Yesterday at the market I spotted a peck (eight quarts) of seconds peaches for only four dollars, and ended up getting them for only two dollars! That's a ton of peaches, and I found out this morning that a peck of peaches makes a quadruple batch of peach filling--that's a ton of peach pie.

 

Anyway, if you're interested in making your own peach pie, here's how to go about it.

Once you have your peaches you're going to have to skin them; the skins are really tough and you don't want them in your pie. The best way to skin the peaches is to blanch them in boiling water for 30-45 seconds. Before throwing your peaches in a vat of boiling water, cut an "X" on the peach where the stem is. This will help the peeling process from the blanching.

 
You'll also want to set up an assembly line of bowls--this will make your life much easier. From left to right I had a bowl of peaches ready for the pot, the cauldron of boiling water, a bowl filled with ice water (to stop the cooking), and finally a strainer. Here's how I did it: put enough peaches into the pot of boiling water to create a single layer, about six peaches. Let them boil for 30-45 seconds then put them into the ice water. Fill the pot of boiling water with the next batch of peaches.

While they're boiling take the ice water peaches out, and put them in the strainer. Keep repeating this process until every peach has been blanched. You'll notice that most of the skins are starting to peel by themselves, and that you might only need a knife to help you get started peeling the peaches. Blanching makes the peeling process so much easier!

Blanching also makes pitting the peaches a bit earlier -- the pit isn't so attached to the peaches' grips. To pit I like to make a cut around the peach using one of the "X" legs to make my cut. Stick your thumbs in and pull apart! The peach usually splits right in half. Now you're ready to cut them. Since peaches hold a lot of liquid you'll want to make the slices thicker than other fruit like apples. Once it bakes for 40 minutes, thin slices of peaches will turn to mush, so make them a quarter of an inch thick.

For a single batch of peach pie filling:

5-6 cups sliced peaches
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

mix it all together and put into your pie tin! You'll have the best peach pie ever.

A Sterling Renaissance Feastival

A small glimpse of the food-type offerings.

If you have never been to a Renaissance festival, I highly recommend you take yourself to one. Mom and I have been going to the Sterling, NY Renaissance festival for a good 10-15 years now. I remember the first time I walked through the gates and entered a mystical and enchanted wonderland. People in every direction are clothed in period costumes, and speaking in a semi-foreign tongue, aye? It's completely fabulous, and the highlight of every summer. This year was no different. There was the threat of rain all day the Sunday we planned to go, but thankfully the gods held off until after 5pm  before unleashing their tempests. 

Emery helping the little pucker.

Even then it wasn't that bad. So the day was glorious, warm midday and cooler in the evening. Since I have been baking so much my first thought was to scope out all the delicious treats the festival had to offer. After chatting with an old friend of my mom's, the resident glassblower, we went to look for food! Man was there everything to choose from! Cinnamon buns, gyros, roast beast, apple dumplings with ice cream, freshly ground cappuccinos, turkey legs, steak on a stick, deep fried ice cream, and many others.

Don Juan and Miguel in a blindfolded sword fight!

While mom and I were getting the lay of the land we stumbled on Emery's fleet right in the middle of a Rat Puck tournament. I've been coming to this festival forever and I have never seen a tournament, so this was a really cool experience. Emery explained how to play: the Nancy-boy Australian curve Nordic trek (or something along those lines). And don't forget to yell "CHEEEESE," else you'll be penalized. What the pucker does is situates his rat atop his rat pucking stick, and then instead of pucking the rat into the target, you carry the rat in giant steps and gently set the rat through the hole, thusly. It was awesome to see actors and civilians alike playing this game, and getting so into it.

Franko and the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life.

We then saw Don Juan and Miguel who were sword fighting. Don Juan ended up going through blindfolded. Impressive! I needed a refreshment after this adventure and opted for a roast beast sandwich, which unfortunately was not that good. But then I got a strawberry wine slushy, and things were then again righted.

Strawberry wine slushy.

 
Mom and I went to check out a master hypnotist after fooding, and I have never ever in my life laughed so hard. Except last year when we watched Franko's show for the first time. I'll just say that I saw a man give birth, and the nurse and doctor who assisted with his delivery had in fact seen a man give birth before. I had tears running down my cheeks and sunscreen stinging my eyes from laughing so hard. We went back for his other two shows because they are just that good. Even though Franko basically does the same show every time, the entertainers are always doing something different and completely hilarious. At the end of his show Franko always makes sure to tell all those who are hypnotized how wonderful they are and that "every day in every way" they are becoming better and better people and are surrounded by loved ones. He entertains, but also taps into the subconscious to make positive change in the people's lives.

Johnny Fox with his water from India.

Once composed again, Mom and I went to see Johnny Fox (and fox is putting it mildly; the man is gorgeous) the sword swallower. You know it's going to be a good show when he shouts at the passersby to get them to attend the show, "If you have nothing else to do....do me!" He delivered. Johnny Fox had his trusty jug of water from India, a never ending supply of water. Where does the water come from, you ask? India. He then swallows all kinds of horrible looking swords, a giant screwdriver named King Philip (King Flat Head just doesn't sound as good), and a long cylindrical balloon. He also nails a spike into his skull, pops his eyeball (it's for the kids!), and "pierces" his tongue. Always an incredible show. Before Mom and I went to watch Franko again after Johnny Fox's show, we went in search of the fried ice cream. I've heard of it, and always wanted to try it out.

Contemplating my fried ice cream.

Pretty sign!

The ice cream was vanilla and was doused in chocolate sauce, and whatever the frying stuff was..it had a strange coconut flavor, whether or not it was, I do not know. It was rather delicious, but didn't taste much different from regular ice cream. After eating that I decided that the next time I make ice cream I'm going to deep fry it. I do have a fryer, after all. I am grateful for the idea, and I'm excited to see how I can make it even more delicious than what I tasted at the festival.

Milan creating something magnificent out of brightly colored glass sticks.

This year tops all other years at the festival. I saw so many incredible shows, met up with people I didn't expect to see, and just before I left my mom's friend, Milan, introduced us to Johnny Fox, and he shook my hand. The festival doesn't get better than all of that. I can't wait for next year -- which shows I'll be seeing, the performers who will be back, and what new foods will be added!