Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

Fall came, and my cabinet was ready with a healthy supply of pumpkin. I don't generally need much of an excuse to make cupcakes--in this case, having pumpkin handy was reason enough. And cream cheese frosting...

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes
-2 c. cake flour
-1/2 t. baking soda
-2 t. baking powder
-1/2 t. salt
-1 t. cinnamon
-1 1/2 t. ginger
-1/2 t. nutmeg
-1/4 t. cloves
-1/2 c. butter, softened
-1 1/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
-2 eggs, room temperature
-1/2 c. buttermilk, room temperature
-3/4 c. pumpkin puree

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
2. Beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated.
3. Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Once combined, beat in pumpkin puree.
4. Divide into 16 lined baking cups, and bake, rotating tins halfway through, for 15-18 minutes at 350*.
5. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cardamom Bread

Back again, with two months of posts! I'm starting with this, because it was one of my favorites. Last Christmas our neighbors brought us a large loaf of cardamom bread, sprinkled with red and green sugar--it was beautiful, and we enjoyed it for days. We had never tried cardamom bread before that, but all of us loved it. I did a little researching and found out that it was fairly common to put cardamom in sweet breads in Scandinavian countries. When I found a recipe for "Swedish Coffee Bread" (from King Arthur Flour, as usual) that called for cardamom, I hoped it would produce something like the loaf we had last winter.

The dough didn't rise as much as most yeast doughs--I was a little worried that I had ruined it somehow--but in the end, it made a perfect loaf. I managed to devour it in about two days (which is why I don't usually let myself bake bread alone...)--plain slices, toast with butter, toast with apple butter... I plan on making it again over the holidays, hopefully when I'll have help eating it?


Cardamom Bread
-1/2 c. lukewarm milk
-1 package active dry yeast
-2 1/2 c. flour
-1 egg
-1/4 c. sugar
-3 T. softened butter
-3/4 t. slat
-1 t. crushed or ground cardamom
-melted butter
-cinnamon & sugar

1. Combine the milk, yeast, and 1/2 c. flour in a large bowl, and let stand for about 15 minutes, until bubbling and expanded.
2. Beat in egg, sugar, butter, salt, and cardamom.
3. Gradually add the remaining flour until the dough forms and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 3-4 minutes. Allow it to rest while greasing a large bowl, and then knead for another 3-4 minutes. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, return it to the greased bowl and turn it over several times to coat it with oil. Cover and let rise from 1.5 to 2 hours.
5. Punch down the dough, turn it out again onto a floured surface, and knead briefly.
6. Divide the dough into three equal parts, and shape each into a long rope. Braid the ropes together.
7. Place the braid into a greased loaf pan (4.5"x8.5"), brush the top with melted butter, and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Cover the pan and let it rise again for 1 hour.
8. Bake the loaf at 350* for 30 minutes. Turn the loaf out and cool completely on a rack.

Blueberry White Chocolate Ginger Cookies

Last time I was home, mom gave me this recipe. I've gotten into a routine of making the same kinds of cookies over and over again lately. This looked new and interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try! These have a unique texture--they're a little more dense than most cookies, but the flavors work well together.

Blueberry White Chocolate Ginger Cookies
-1 1/4 c. flour
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 t. baking soda
-1 t. ginger
-1 egg
-3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar
-1/3 c. canola oil
-1 t. vanilla
-1/2 c. oats
-1/2 c. dried blueberries
-1/2 c. white "chocolate" chips

1. Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and ginger in a small bowl.
2. Beat together sugar, egg, oil, and vanilla until smooth. Add flour mixture.
3. Stir in oats, blueberries, and chips.
4. Drop heaping tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375*.

Banana Carrot Bread

I've been on a mission to use up miscellaneous ingredients lately. When I found this recipe, I was able to check two items off the list. I wasn't sure about the carrot banana combination, but it was delicious! I'll absolutely make this every time I have a couple spare carrots.

Banana Carrot Bread
-2 c. flour
-1/2 t. salt
-2 t. baking powder
-1/4 t. baking soda
-1/2 t. cinnamon
-1/4 t. cloves
-4 T. softened butter
-3/4 c. granulated sugar
-2 eggs
-2 ripe bananas, mashed
-1 t. vanilla
-2 medium carrots, grated

1. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated. Beat in mashed bananas and vanilla.
3. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in the grated carrot.
4. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350*. Let cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before turning the loaf out onto a cooling rack.

Mocha Cake with Espresso Buttercream Frosting

When Blake was visiting I had a double-birthday occasion to make cake--after a little collaboration we decided on this combination. I split the full recipe into a dozen cupcakes and a 9 inch single-layer cake.

For the cake I used the same recipe I posted here, and the buttercream recipe is the same as well, except for the addition of a heaping tablespoon of espresso powder with the vanilla.


(I managed to convince some other grad students to help me finish these...)

What made this cake extra special? I got to make it with my truly amazing (not to mention gorgeous!) birthday present:


I am either horribly spoiled, or incredibly lucky, or both. I'm also very thankful, and really impressed with how fantastic the cake came out because of this!

Mint Ice Cream

And here it is! I made the ice cream and then kept it in the freezer for longer than I thought my will-power would make it. I promised I'd have it around for Blake when he visited. I credit him with getting me to try mint ice cream in the first place. I never much cared for mint in food because it reminded me too much of toothpaste. But real mint... that's something I discovered recently, and it's another story altogether.

I got this recipe here, and followed it to the letter, with the exception of using the melted chocolate. I threw in some Bunny Grahams instead (partly as an inside joke, partly because they are highly delicious and I wanted an excuse to buy a box). Thus, VerMint Chocolate Bunny was created! This might be my new favorite ice cream ever. The effort is absolutely worth it, because the flavor and texture are divine. Now I'm working on growing a giant mint plant so I can make it all the time...

Mint!

Last time I went to Vermont, Luann gave me this beautiful bunch of mint from her garden. Confession: I bought myself a little ice cream maker earlier this summer. So, when I saw the mint, I knew ice cream was inevitable. The finished product will be documented later--I promised to save it for a special upcoming occasion...


Still, I'll leave you with a couple photos of the process. Boiling mint leaves with cream and sugar...


Eggs waiting to turn into custard...


So why no ice cream posts yet? Mostly because I've eaten all of it too fast. There's some coffee frozen yogurt in the freezer now, though, and maybe I'll manage to photograph a couple scoops before it's all gone...