0 Pumpkin Almond Butter Cake/Brownies

here we go with another one of those...

"i don't believe this is gonna work" recipes...

one look at the ingredients and you'd have to agree with me. it all sounds too gooey. i watched in shock and awe as it slowly became an actual cake.

as you can see, the first cake photo shown above looks a bit different than the second. i liked it so much the first time i had to try it again, but i had to try the true recipe. i fudged the ingredients the first time because i was in such disbelief that the goop in the mixing bowl was going to actually bake into something. the first batch i thought i just HAD to add some extra baking powder...as you can see, it DID come out quite a bit more cakey than the second batch. the second was by the book and turned out much more like a brownie. i think i like them both equally.

i was so excited to make this one i ran out to Whole Foods and bought some fresh ground almond butter. i had seen it there the last visit and i knew this recipe would make the long trek out there all worth it. i was right. i do suggest using fresh almond butter if you can get it. the almond butter used in the second batch was fresh, but a bit more loose than the first cake. i'm sure whatever you use will work out fine because the flavor of this cake is what it's all about. speaking of flavor...i thought the original needed a bit of cinnamon and, of course, a little kick from cayenne. i'm wondering if you might try a little cocoa powder? or go the pumpkin spice route?...whatever you choose, it does need a little something.

ALMOND BUTTER PUMPKIN BROWNIES

many thanks to Shelley at Primal Life. original found here and copied below with my notes.

Feel free to get creative with substitutions. Try other nut butters, other forms of squash, other sweeteners, spices, mix-ins, the possibilities are endless. I made several batches using either fresh squash that I steamed and mashed or canned pumpkin. I preferred the fresh squash to the canned pumpkin, but the latter worked perfectly well. Consider topping with applesauce and/or whipped cream for a delicious dessert.

Ingredients:

1 cup almond butter

¾ cup mashed pumpkin or other squash, canned or steamed

1 egg

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp baking soda

for my first batch (the cakey version shown) i used 1 1/2 tsp baking soda and added 1 egg white along with the whole egg.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. Pour into a greased 8 x 8 in pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

0 Opera Cake

My nephew is the first born of my parents' first born (aka my older brother). The year was 2000 which was the year of the dragon. But it wasn't just any year of the dragon. It was the year of the golden dragon which only comes around every 60 years. That made it a very auspicious year to have a baby. So sometimes I call him the "golden child" because of that. Well, that and the fact that he's the first born son of a first born son. Very important in Chinese culture. He is a very sweet and intelligent child. He's also a great big brother to his younger siblings.

I cannot believe that my nephew is 10. It seems like he was born just yesterday. For the celebration, I made an opera cake. A typical opera cake is layers of almond cake soaked in coffee syrup, a layer of coffee buttercream, a layer of chocolate ganache and a topping of chocolate glaze. I know it's not your typical birthday cake for a 10 year old. And it's a sophisticated taste for a child, but we prefer to try "fancier" cakes when it's a gathering of just the immediate families. I made sure to increase the amount of chocolate glaze since anything enrobed in chocolate would make most children happy. (It makes most adults happy too!) Don't worry - he'll be celebrating with his friends with pizza and Costco cake this weekend.


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0 Healthy Pumpkin Walnut Muffins...made w/White Kidney Beans

i have to tell you...these are my new favorite breakfast muffins!

i'm always trying to find recipes that are...hmmm....let's say "figure friendly?" well, this one qualifies. it's made with white kidney beans instead of flour. of course i thought it wasn't possible. i came across a recipe for black bean chocolate brownies and tried those first. it worked, but not really a brownie in my book. i might have to experiment a bit more with the black beans. i'll put my lab coat on...i'm thinking some kind of Mexican/Spanish type of mole-ish side dish. i'll add a little cayenne and serve with some avocado ice cream?...hmmm....i think that could be a future post....

back to these yummy muffins...i don't know why, but i seem to think white flour is the enemy. don't get me wrong, i cook with it often. i usually end up having one bite or a small slice, but the rest go to the dessert lovers in the house or shared with eager friends. i recently, or should i say FINALLY, found some King Arthur's white whole wheat flour. haven't used it yet so no comments there. i'll try it this week. when i saw these muffins using white beans instead of flour i had to try them...again, in disbelief that it would actually work let alone taste good. i just didn't believe they could be cakey and lite. i knew they sounded healthy, but was this going to far? at what point do you sacrifice flavor for the health factor?....i've been known to take it a bit too far.

as you can see...these worked. i went by the original recipe for the first batch. well, i did add 1 scoop of protein powder and realized i shouldn't have. they were just a bit dry. MY BAD ! so for the second batch i thought i would add a little moisture, a little more flavor and a few more healthy ingredients. they came out way better than the first batch. this is a recipe i will make again and again. i've already stocked up on the canned beans.



PUMPKIN WALNUT WHITE BEAN MUFFINS
adapted from Island Cook at iFood.tv


makes 12 reg. size muffins
preheat oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients
15.5 oz can of White Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed well
2 Eggs (i might have used Egg Beaters)
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 T. flax
1/8 cup pysillium husk
1/4 cup oats
1 cup Splenda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
2/3 cup Fat Free Dry Milk
1 Tbs Vanilla(a little extra never hurts)
3 Tbs veg oil
1/2 Cup Walnuts plus more for the tops

In a food processor, puree the beans well. Add the eggs and cottage cheese and blend scraping sides and blending until it is smooth. Add the pumpkin and pulse in. Combine with all the other Ingredients in a mixing bowl or pulse in your processor if it is large enough, but don't over mix though. Spray muffin tin and fill...I'll bet mine were about 3/4 full. ...I used silicon baking cups because the first batch stuck to the paper liners. Sprinkle a few walnuts on top. Bake for 20 minutes and check with a toothpick.

These keep quite well. i kept them wrapped in the fridge and enjoyed them through the week. Just pop in the microwave to take the chill off.

0 ROASTED BANANA SQUASH with TARRAGON

lately i think i have been at a loss for words, but for this post i think just the few ingredients shown speak for themselves. i've been doing quite a bit of roasted vegetable purees, soups and sauces in the past few weeks, but i think this combo of banana squash, garlic, baby onions and lovely fresh tarragon was so pretty and rustic looking that i just let it be. normally it would be headed for the stick blender and pureed to a silky smooth golden soup/sauce, but i took one bite right out of the oven and thought best to leave this one alone. the first night i had it with crispy Duck a l'Orange. the duck recipe called for fresh tarragon so i thought i would carry the flavor into the veg. now i'm stuck on tarragon. it seems like the forgotten herb. maybe it's not forgotten, but i certainly don't see it used much. i really like what it adds to a dish so i bought another packet yesterday and i can't wait to sneak it into more things. i think i'll try it in some soda bread or an orange tarragon muffin?..what about a sweet savory shortbread cookie?...hmmm


banana squash...i love this squash. i just discovered it this winter. maybe you all have had it before, but it's a new one to me. might be the fact that the name alone scared me off....i don't eat bananas. don't like 'em, never have. i'm glad i tried it because i think it's most similar to fresh pumpkin in texture and flavor. we ran out of fresh pumpkins around here just a little too soon. as a matter of fact, there was even a shortage of canned pumpkin in the stores. i spoke to the manager at Bristol Farms and he said that Libby's was thinking of going seasonal with their canned pumpkin puree until the economy picks up. now i don't know about you, but how will this help or hinder the economy? is this going to make or break Libby's? another market, Gelson's, said everyone was buying it like it was going out of style. they still have a supply on their shelves even after i wiped them out one day. what if they run out? October is a long way away. I NEED MY PUMPKIN !...i make a protein pumpkin pie every week that i eat every morning for breakfast so the shortage make me nervous. i'm lost without my pumpkin fix.

so for now i will substitute my roasted pumpkin with BANANA SQUASH. i know most would say just use butternut squash, but that's a whole different flavor and texture. don't get me wrong...i DO love butternut squash, but it is a bit more sweet than the banana.

SIMPLE ROASTED BANANA SQUASH w/GARLIC AND TARRAGON

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 large 1/4 of a banana squash
peel and cube. i like fairly big chunks

peeled garlic. 10-20? your choice. i like plenty for the garlic lovers. the "haters" can just omit them from their plate. they are left whole, so it does not really effect the cooking flavor until you incorporate them as puree.

10 baby onions

2 Tbsp finely chopped tarragon

salt and pepper

i like a little garlic salt

throw this all in a big baggie and drizzle in some olive oil

toss this around to coat everything

lay out on foil covered (easy clean up) cookie sheet

bake for 20 minutes and stir around. make sure all pieces are getting roasted. you might need to add a bit more olive oil. the squash seems to absorb, but don't go over board.

continue baking, stirring and checking every 10-15 minutes until fork tender.

ready to serve.

i like to make alot. leftovers are yummy throughout the week. easy to change up and serve them again as a thick puree for a side dish or blend with a little stock and make a fabulous soup.

0 Orange Tian

Jennifer from Chocolate Shavings is our host for the March 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge. She presented us with an orange tian which she made for the first time a few months ago at the Alain Ducasse Cooking School in Paris, France. An orange tian is a layered dessert: a base of pate sablee, orange marmalade, whipped cream topped with fresh orange segments and served with a caramel and orange sauce.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not have time to make my own orange marmalade so I cannot comment on the marmalade making part of this month's challenge. Instead I used one of my favorite local brands, Frog Hollow Farm navel orange marmalade. I also skipped the caramel. I didn’t even make the pate sablee using the recipe Jennifer provided since I already had some in the freezer leftover from some previous baking endeavor.

But I do have an excuse. My March was very busy. At the office my team was at the end of our launch cycle which is typically the busiest and craziest time. To make a busy time even busier I was in Quebec for a week just days before the launch. (My vacation was planned way before the launch schedule was finalized.) I also celebrated my birthday with a lengthy (5 hour!) but wonderful dinner at Manresa in Los Gatos. We had some relatives visiting from out of town and spent a couple nights hanging out with them. And then we had two baby parties (one red egg and ginger and one birthday) to attend. This left me with hardly enough time to devote to this month's DB challenge.

I did manage to whip together a quick version of the tian. I made two 3-inch tians: one using Cuties brand mandarin oranges (see first photo above) and the other with navel oranges (see photo below). Supreming oranges is something I do often since I like the way membrane-free segments look in salads (and I prepare a lot of salads with citrus fruits). All you need is a sharp knife. I only used half the amount of gelatin in my whipped cream layer since I knew that my heavy cream had a high enough fat content to hold its shape after unmolding and I don't like that slightly rubbery texture that cream takes on when gelatin is added.

I didn't freeze my assembled tians. I just let them chill in the refrigerator until it was time to serve them. Unmolding was easy and the orange segments looked really pretty. Unfortunately, I didn't really like the taste of the final product. It tasted like whipped cream with orange segments and a sugar cookie, which is really what it was, but I guess I was hoping that the sum would be greater than all its parts. Maybe the caramel would've made a difference? Even though I was disappointed with my results, I'm glad I was able to complete this challenge.


navel orange tian

The fine print:
The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse's Cooking School in Paris.
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0 WHOLE WHEAT PISTACHIO CRANBERRY BISCOTTI

i like to call these little guys "SQUATTIE BISCOTTI". i made them small and didn't cut them on the diagonal so they would keep their stubby look. i don't know why, maybe just so i could eat more and not feel like a pigglette.

i really like these. they're great for breakfast, afternoon snack or late night nibble. i would, however, definitely suggest a smart beverage of some sort to enjoy with them. much like any biscotti, they are dry and you might feel the need for some dunking liquid. the hearty whole wheat flour really shines through, so if you're not on the whole wheat train, these aren't for you. most of the recipes i came across had a blend of white and wheat, but i wanted this for a healthy breakfast cookie and to me that means whole wheat ALL the way. half measures avail us nothing...besides, i'm trying to REALLY health it up lately...off to HAWAII ! in a week.

here's a tip i'd like to share for those who don't often make biscotti...as shown in the photo above, i like to do my second bake with the slices standing upright. most recipes say to lay flat on the sheet and some say to flip them and bake some more. when you stand them up they get an even toast on both sides and no need to flip. sounds logical, but not too many do it this way. i find that it works best. don't slice your loaf too thin or they will fall over.

WHOLE WHEAT PISTACHIO CRANBERRY BISCOTTI

w/CARDAMOM

adapted from "A Messy Cook" @ Recipezaar found HERE.

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup baking splenda (or real sugar optional)
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 tsp cardamom

a couple dashes of cinnamon

1/2 - 2/3 cup pistachios

1/2 - 2/3 cup dried cranberries
Directions
Mix together dry ingredients including nuts and berries.

mix eggs with extract
Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Divide dough in half. On greased baking sheet, form 2 logs about 2 inches wide and 13 inches long. biscotti dough is always very sticky. mine seems to glue to my hands whatever recipe i use. i try to use as little extra flour as possible, but do use some... just don't over flour yourself or your work surface.
Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees, then cool on rack for 5-10 minutes. if you have the time let them cool for 1 hour. i find that it make for a better slice when using nuts and berries.

Slice with serrated knife at ½ inch intervals.
Return to oven for 10-15 minutes more, turning once. here you might want to try the stand-up method mentioned above.
Cool completely and store in airtight container.

these will keep for quite a while just make sure you let them cool completely and "air out" before sealing them up tight.

0 Custard Pie...with Sour Cream?...Too easy

yet another recipe i didn't believe would work. another one of those crazy sounding things i just HAD to try because my curiosity gets the best of me. so few ingredients and all that sour cream just didn't seem right. well, as you can see, it worked. i was impressed and so were my lab rats.....alot of the time, i feel like i have to put a lab coat and safety gear on when i'm in the kitchen because i have no idea what i'm doing, don't know what i'm creating and how it's going to taste. lucky for me, i have a pretty adventurous family and alot of willing, or at least,understanding friends. i must say, they are all a bit more adventurous with the sweet goodies and oooh sooo skeptical of my savory concoctions.
so about this dessert...i wouldn't call it a pie as the recipe says. i don't know what to call it. it was almost like a clafoutis, kind of like a custard, kind of like...hmmm...i don't exactly know, but you should try it. it was definitely like a good old school comfort food type of dessert. the big dessert eater in the family really liked it...finished the whole thing himself come to think of it. i thought it was quite tasty and i will probably end up making it again. it's simple, few ingredients and an extremely quick-prep treat.


since the success of the peach dessert i've made 2 more. this one pictured left was made with canned plums. i love whipping this quick dessert up for my custard lovin' dad. he can finish the whole thing in 2 days. that being said, it does keep for a few days in the fridge. it might lose it's sugary crunch top, but everything else stays tight. as a matter of fact, these slice pictures of the plum pie were taken second day.













personally i thought the pie plate version was just a bit thin. it makes for a more delicate looking dessert, but next time i think i'll try a smaller pie plate or stretch the recipe by about 1/4-1/2. it looks a little wimpy. i bet it would also work well in individual ramikins or something cute like that.




you can see the lovely sugary, crunchy texture that it has out of the oven, or day of baking.

the peach version was a little more impressive, because of the nice plump colorful peach halves. i think this would be fun served in individual ramikins. it might be fun to make for a brunch and play off the baked egg look. hmmmm, i think i might try that. i love dessert for breakfast.

EASIEST PEACH (pie?) CUSTARD DESSERT

i just don't know what to call it, but it's NOT pie...and you can use any other fruits (i think canned works best...or cooked)
many thanks to Food Tales for this odd, but nice, simple comfort food dessert
original found HERE at Food Tales with my notes on bold.

1 big can of peach halves (i don’t remember the amount, I’ll check it later)
1 cup sugar...i used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup splenda-the splenda went into the batter with 1/4 cup sugar, then i used REAL sugar for the top.
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste is optional
5 tablespoon normal flour
200 gram light sour cream
Arrange the fruit in your ovenproof baking plate-dish.
In a big bowl, mix sour cream, 3/4 cup sugar and flour. Don’t have to use electric mixer.
Pour the mixture on top of the sour cream. Finally sprinkle 1/4 cup of the balance sugar on top.
Bake at 170 degree C for about 40 minutes or until the surface gets brown/golden.
You can have it warm or cold with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce or chocolate sauce.