My dad swears that pumpkin cheesecake is absolutely wrong and I should be ashamed of myself for making it.  I say that he’s missing out on something completely wonderful.  What’s your opinion?   One of my favorite people in the world asked me for this recipe yesterday, so I promised I would post it.  I was making a bourbon pumpkin cheesecake and this time of  year, I make so many of them it’s crazy!!  Even the clients I have with the most basic taste buds and no sense of adventure at all want this cheesecake.  That has to mean something, right?? 

We’ve gone over cheesecake basics in a previous post, and the fundamentals remain the same here.  Of course, you don’t have to add the bourbon if you don’t want to…but I won’t lie…it makes a huge difference.   You can also use regular graham cracker crumbs if you can’t find gingersnaps or if you don’t like them. 

Bourbon pumpkin cheesecake with brown sugar sour cream topping-

Crust:  2C gingersnap cookie crumbs,  1 stick melted butter,  1 tbsp. sugar -   melt the butter and mix with graham crumbs and sugar.  Press into 9 or 10 inch springform pan that has been sprayed.  Bake crust at 350 for about 8 minutes or until golden.

Filling:  3 – 8oz packages cream cheese, room temp (very important!),  1C sugar,  1C pumpkin, 3 large eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla extract,  3/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg, 1/8 tspl allspice (cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice are the same spices used in apple pie spice mix…if you want to use that, use 1 1/2 tsp),  2 tbsp. bourbon.

Sour cream topping:  2C sour cream,  4 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tbsp. bourbon

Blend cream cheese and sugar in mixer until smooth.  Add pumpkin, eggs, vanilla and spices.  Process until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl.  Add bourbon and mix until incorporated.  Transfer filling to crust.  In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients and whisk until smooth, set aside.

Bake cheesecake in a waterbath* for 50 minutes at 350.  Remove from oven and spread sour cream topping evenly over cheesecake.  Return to the oven for another 10 minutes until set and remove.  Place on cooling rack until COMPLETELY cooled.  Chill uncovered until cold or nasty condensation will appear on the surface of your cheesecake.  After completely chilled, then you can cover it. 

*waterbath – the best and only, in my opinion, way to make a cheesecake.  Wrap the outsides of your springform pan in several layers of foil to ensure that water will not seep through.  In a large pan, place a small amount of hot water (1/4 inch) and then place your foil-wrapped pan inside the larger pan.  The water ensures that the cheesecake cooks evenly and slowly and prevents those nasty cracks from happening on the surface. 

When the cheesecake is done and you unmold it from your pan, it looks beautiful because you have the crust, which is a beautiful dark brown, the pumpkin filling has a nice orange color, and then the sour cream topping a beautiful off white and it looks absolutely stunning.  Feel free to garnish the top with a little fresh grated nutmeg or anything else you may feel like adding!

I can’t believe it’s already time for turkey.  I know many of you get saddled with Thanksgiving dinner at your house, and while it’s sure to be a lot of fun, it’s also a lot of work.  So, I’m here to take the terrifying out of your turkey!

Have you ever considered using turkey breast instead of a whole turkey?  You could even do several depending on how many people you need to feed.  The reason I’m asking is because the whole turkey breasts provide a much easier alternative to the usual bird.  They are smaller and more manageable, all white meat, and as I will show you, super easy to flavor up beautifully!

Ok, this is my favorite turkey recipe.  There, I said it.  I use turkey breast.  Is that bad?  I dont’ think so.  I do half the work other people do, and get twice the flavor and I have leftovers, which is what its all about!!

Here’s the easy recipe:

1/4C olive oil,  3 tbsp. chopped fresh flatleaf parsley,  1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves,  1/2 tsp. lemon zest,  1/4 tsp. salt,  1/8 tsp. fresh ground pepper,  1 – 4 to 5 lb. turkey breast, thawed, 

Preheat oven to 350.    Whisk dressing ingredients together until well blended.   Rinse turkey breast and pat dry with a paper towl.  Using your fingers, gently separate the skin from the breast meat.  Pour about 2 tbsp. dressing evenly over the meat and, using your hands, rub generously over the meat.  Massage it into the meat!!  Stretch the skin back over the meat.  Pin the skin around the sides of the breast using small wooden skewers or toothpicks (previously soaked in water), to prevent it from shrinking.   Rub the rest of the dressing over the skin and the entire breast.    Roast the turkey until the juices run clear, about 1 – 1 1.2 hours or 180 on a meat thermometer.  Let sit 15 minutes before carving and serving.

Now, if you’re like me, you pay no attention to recipes and simply use them as a guideline.  Feel free to add more lemon zest or any of the herbs if you’d like to up the flavor in a certain direction.  But, using the recipe exactly as stated will give you a perfectly seasoned and moist turkey breast!

I hope you enjoy and I hope I’ve taken at least a little of the stress off your holiday!

Tis the season for everything pumpkin.  I can personally say that I have already made pumpkin cookies, spiced pumpkin bread, pumpkin bourbon cake, apple butter pumpkin pie, just to name a few.  But I also bake for a living, so perhaps that’s why!    Since next week is Halloween, I thought I would share a super cute and super easy way to spice up your Halloween party or your childs school party.  It’s a pumpkin cake…no, not actually pumpkin flavored, but shaped like a pumpkin.  I’m confident that anyone can do it and I’ll walk you through it. 

The bottom half of the pumpkin

Ok, this is the first part of the pumpkin.  All you do is grease and flour a bundt pan and fill it with the cake mix of your choosing.  Bake as instructed and invert to cool.  This is the bottom half of the pumpkin.  Then, you are going to do it again.  Another cake mix, another half of the pumpkin.  

Both halves glued together with frosting!

When you have the second layer cooled, you want to put any kind of icing you want on top of the first layer.  In essence, you are using the frosting kind of like a glue to hold the layers together.  So, be free with the frosting! 

After that’s done, we’re gonna ice the entire thing.  You can do this a couple of ways.  You can make your own frosting using whatever recipe you want, but it needs to be a white frosting.  Or  you can buy a couple tubs of frosting, dump them in a bowl, and color it orange.  Your choice.

The perfect pumpkin

Once you get your icing ready, go about icing the cake any way you want.  You can get super fancy or really basic.  You can even take your toothpick down the sides and make the indentations that pumpkins usually have.  For the stem, take an empty ice cream cone, cover it with chocolate frosting (which is the kind I used in the middle), and set it on top of the cake when you are finished icing it.  Then, you can take some green icing and make leaves if you’d like, or not, either way, it’s one heck of a pumpkin!

My daughter is in preschool and once a month they have their “special day” where they get to bring snacks and show and tell.  Her day was this past week and I made this cake for her snack.  The kids seriously freaked out!  One little girl was even crying that morning and didn’t want to stay for class, but when she saw the pumpkin cake, she decided to stay!  That’s a pretty powerful pumpkin if you ask me! 

So, enjoy the season, enjoy Halloween, and hopefully you will enjoy this super-easy cake, too!

My daughter is having her 4th birthday party tonight and her request was to have a Princess Tea Party.  She didn’t care what kind of food we had, just as long as she got to dress up like a princess!  So, I started thinking…tea…what goes with tea?  Scones!!  I don’t know about you, but I love them.  In the town I live in, it’s very hard to find good ones, so that leaves me having to make my own most of the time.  They can be labor intensive and hard to make or super easy, depending on the recipe.  And there are 2 distinct types, also.  Free-form, or drop scones and cut-out or shaped scones.  Both equally delicious, it just depends on how much time you wanna spend making them!

I’m gonna give you 2 recipes.  One savory, one sweet, both delicious!  Keep in mind scones are supposed to be a cross between a biscuit and a shortbread.  Kinda dense, kinda flaky, buttery….you get the idea.

The first recipe is taken from an Ina Garten recipe and of course, I had to tweak it a little.

Cheddar Dill Scones:

4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, beaten lightly
1 cup cold heavy cream 
12 oz. extra-sharp yellow Cheddar, small-diced
1 cup minced fresh dill
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk, for egg wash
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine 4 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Mix the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss together the Cheddar, dill, and 1 tablespoon of flour and add them to the dough. Mix until they are almost incorporated.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it for 1 minute, until the Cheddar and dill are well distributed. Roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. Cut into 4-inch squares and then in half diagonally to make triangles. Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 20 to 25 minutes, until the outside is crusty and the inside is fully baked.

The second is from Bon Appetit Magazine, also tweaked a little.

Blueberry Oat Scones:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (about 5 1/2 ounces) – you can even used dried blueberries
1 3/4 cups chilled half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 teaspoons raw sugar
 
PreparationPosition 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and coarse salt in processor; blend 5 seconds. Add butter. Using on/off turns, blend until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Add 1 cup oats and blueberries; stir to blend evenly.

Stir half and half and vanilla in small bowl. Gradually add to flour mixture, tossing until dough just comes together (dough will be very moist).

Using 1/2-cup measuring cup for each scone, drop dough in mounds onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Sprinkle tops with remaining 3 tablespoons oats, then raw sugar.

Bake 15 minutes. Reverse sheets and continue baking until scones are golden and tester inserted into center from side comes out clean, about 12 minutes longer. Transfer scones to rack and cool slightly.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

So there you have it…2 recipes, 2 different methods, and 2 super delicious scones.  Have yourself a spot of tea, sit down, read a book and enjoy a scone!

If you’re a foodie like me, or if you subscribe to food magazines or watch Foodnetwork, you’ve probably heard the term “fruit curd”,  perhaps lemon or lime.     It’s actually one of my favorite things to make, but I find that very few people know what it is.  The easiest thing I can compare it to is a custard.  However, it differs in that it contains a higher percentage of juice and zest, giving it a more intense flavor.  It is used for everything from a topping on biscuits, to a pie filling, to pastry filling…you get the idea.  It’s super versatile and pretty easy to make once you get the hang of it.  So, here is curd 101.

I’m going to use lemon as an example because it tends to be the most universal and easiest to make.  We’ll get into other variations later.

The basic recipe is 13 egg yolks, 1C lemon juice, 2C sugar, zest of 2 lemons.  Combine all ingredients into a medium saucepan and put on medium heat.  Ok, undertstand something….this is a process.  You don’t want a quick result and turning up the heat to make it cook faster will only ruin this.  Keep it on medium, keep stirring and be patient.  It really only takes about 15 minutes max, but it’s hard to give you an exact time because you’re looking for a result, not a timeline.  As it cooks, the mixture will thicken, becoming a thick, creamy yellow.  Don’t let it boil and when you get to the texture of a thick cream sauce or pudding, pull it off the heat.  While still stirring, add 1 stick of butter to mixture and stir until melted.  At this point, transfer the mix to a container to refrigerate.  Cover with plastic wrap and make sure to press plastic wrap directly onto surface of curd so a skin doesn’t form.  Refrigerate for 4 hours or until cooled through.  Mix will thicken up in fridge and become the consistency of thick custard.

This recipe can also be interchanged with lime, although I add a few drops of green food coloring at the end so people know it’s lime.  You can also make pineapple, orange, mango and others, but they require a different twist on the recipe.  If you wanna know about others, just ask me.

I typically use this as a quick dessert to take to scrapbook parties or church stuff.  I spoon some into phyllo cups and top with a berry and they look perfect!  Try it out and let me know what you think!

If you’re like me and have way too many veggies laying around and don’t know what to do with them, I have the answer.  I’m sure we all know people with gardens that have plenty extra and are now sharing the wealth with everyone, including you.   Usually people have tons of tomatoes and zucchini sitting on the windowsill.  So, I’m gonna give you a quick and easy recipe that you can adjust a million different ways.

I call it the marinated vegetable salad.  Call it whatever you want.  Here’s the basic formula:

1C oil, 1C vinegar, 1C sugar…sounds simple, right?

Here’s where you can change it.  Oil, first of all….vegetable, canola, olive oil (although it changes the flavor quite drastically).   Vinegar – I usually make mine with rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar but you can also use distilled…balsamic, too, but like olive oil it adds a strong flavor.  Sugar – you can do more or less to taste, but don’t use brown sugar.  Plain old white sugar.

Now for the veggies.  You wanna put sturdy veggies in that will hold up, because the vinegar will essentially be breaking them down, which is good, to a point.  I use red onion, cucumber, peppers of all colors, celery, carrots, etc…  Always let the veggies sit in the marinade for at least 2 hours and as many as 24, but not longer.  When you serve it, dump it all in a pretty bowl, dressing and all, and add some dried or fresh basil, celery salt, oregano, dill, whatever you like.  It adds nice color and flavor to the salad.  I also chunk up the veggies pretty big….remember, they are gonna break down a bit, so you don’t want them too small. 

Ok, it’s super easy, looks absolutely beautiful in the bowl and tastes fabulous.  Now hopefully you know what to do with some of the extra veggies you have laying around!!

Do you buy vanilla beans?  When a recipe calls for them, do you actually buy them or do you substitute with extract?  I think they’re highly underestimated and I’m here to defend them!! 

Ok, sure, they’re kind of expensive.  And sometime people have no idea what to do with them.  Yeah, I see how they get a bad rap….but what DO you do with them?  I’m gonna give you a few examples.

1.  Homemade vanilla extract – amazing, out of this world, and far better than the stuff you get at the store!!    Here’s a simple way to do it:   Split 2 vanilla beans lengthwise, and then cut them in half crosswise.  Put the beans, including any seeds that may fall out into a clean glass jar.  Add 1/2C bourbon, seal the jar, and give it a good shake.  Put in a cool, dark cupboard for 2 weeks and shake it well every day.  After 2 weeks, let sit undisturbed for 2 more weeks.  It’s ready after that.  If you keep replenishing the extract that you use with an equal amount of bourbon, the beans should last you for a year at least.

2.  Vanilla sugar – I use this in baking quite often.  Some recipes actually call for it, others I just use it in place of regular sugar to give it some extra flavor.      In a sealable container, place one vanilla bean, split lengthwise then crosswise.  Then cover in sugar.  One bean can properly flavor 2-3 cups of sugar.  More sugar, use more beans.  Let sit for 2 weeks while the vanilla flavor infuses the sugar.  Just like with the extract, you can keep replacing the sugar, but after about 6 months or so,  replace the beans.

3.  Vanilla bean cheesecake – need I say more?

When you go to the store and see the beans there, they typically run between 4-12 dollars per bean, which is NUTS to me.  So, I usually end up on Ebay.  There are several good vanilla wholesalers on there that sell them in bulk.  Now, you probably don’t need to buy as many as I do at a time, but it’s so much cheaper that way.  Stick with Tahitian or Madagascar beans and you’ll do just fine!  

So, are you ready to conquer the bean?

My kids love snacks.  I think it may even be their favorite part of the day sometimes.   Let’s be honest, the prices of convenience-type foods is through the roof and it just doesn’t pay for me to keep buying all sorts of individually-wrapped stuff that isn’t even good for them.  So, what’s a girl to do?  Experiment, that’s what!!

This started with a recipe from my Aunt Tammy.  And then, of course, I had to start messing with it, because I just love doing that!  This is called  “the whatever you want to put in it” bar.  I’ll explain in a minute.

1/2C Peanut butter – any kind…could even be almond butter or cashew butter…i’ve made it with all of the above!        1/2C nonfat dried milk       1/2C honey

Put ingredients into medium saucepan and cook on low-med heat until peanut butter breaks down and gets all melty.  Add in 4C cereal – here’s where it can get fun!  Of course you can use rice krispy treats and it’s super good, but you can also use any other type of cereal that you’d like.  I would stay away from ones that have a dominant flavor of their own, such as chocolate or cinnamon or apple.  Stick with complimenting flavors or basic-type cereals.  Some of my favs are:  Fiber One caramel crunch, raisin bran, Pops, Chex – you get the idea. 

Pat into a 8×8 lightly greased pan and let set up until bars harden slightly. 

I’ve even turned this into my normal breakfast.  I hate hot breakfast but I know I need to eat something, so I use the recipe, make it with natural almond butter and the Fiber One cereal and I have my very own breakfast bar. 

You can play with the flavors here, too.  For example, there are tons of different types of honey out there.  Orange blossom, clover, and blueberry blossom are some of my favorites, but with each new honey, your bar will get a new flavor.  And if you think it’s too sweet, try using an unsweetened peanut butter. 

So the next time your kids are whining for a snack, whip up a batch of these, they save for several days and you can even eat them for breakfast!  Does it get any better than that?

Do you use liqueur in your cooking or baking?  If you said no, is it because you’re afraid to?  Not sure what to do with it?  Don’t think you would use it enough?  These are all legit arguments, but I wanna give you one for the flipside. 

My friends and family laugh at me because I don’t drink, not at all, and I have a fully stocked liqueur cabinet.  No, not liquor meaning  just any type of alcohol.  Liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, nuts, spices, flowers or creams.  They are usually sweet and not aged for very long.  The reason for the history lesson is that I want you to understand the potential flavor power that these carry.

Now, you may think, why would I buy a bottle of Amaretto for example?  I’ll never use that.  Well, Amaretto is a liqueur made from sweet almonds.  Think about all of the recipes you have that call for almond extract.  I use it in apple pies, tarts, cookies, etc.  It isn’t to take the place of the almond extract, only to add to it, to enhance it if you will.

Here are a few other examples:  Kirsch – a cherry flavored brandy that I use every single time I make cherry pie.  Can also be used in recipes involving blueberries, raspberries, you get the idea.    Framboise – a raspberry flavored brandy that I use anytime I make raspberry sauce, jam, anything involving berries, also.  Kahlua – a coffee-flavored liqueur that I use anytime I make anything mocha flavored or espresso.   Grand Marnier is an orange flavored liqueur.   What is my point you may ask?

My point is this . . . there are many ways to elevate the flavor of your dish.  Some of them may be a bit outside your comfort zone, but given the chance to bump the flavor up a bit and add another layer of variation, take it, do it!  Make your dish extraordinary!

In case you were wondering, liqueur keeps at room temp forever!!  So, don’t be afraid to make a little investment.  Start with the one you think you would use most often.  Play with it, see what you think.  I promise you, the only thing you have to lose is flavor!!

Summer makes me crave certain flavors and textures.  Bright fruits, cold ice cream, that sorta thing.  And while I don’t fancy myself a huge lime person most of the time, I can recognize its goodness when I taste it!

Do you know what a key lime is?  It is a smaller, more tart, stronger flavored lime that is only available for a while in the summer.  Now I’m sure we’ve all heard of Key Lime Pie, right?  These limes were those originally used in that recipe and overtime, we’ve adapted it to use any kind of limes.  Oh, but there’s a difference.  It’s kinda like comparing Scharffen Berger or Lindt chocolate to Hershey’s.  Both accomplish the same thing, but with completely different tastes. 

I was at Wal-Mart yesterday, completely oblivious that it was Key Lime season and I saw a bag of the little beauties and couldn’t resist!  A. they’re not expensive  B. i can think of at least 4 different things I want to use them in  C.  they’re just so cute!

So, dig out your favorite recipe for key lime pie, or you can ask me for mine.  I dare you to make it and taste the difference!