TWD: Sour Cream Pumpkin Tartlets

TWD this week is brought to us by Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats, who chose Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie/Tarts. For a higher pastry to filling ratio, I made them into tartlets using mini muffin tins. The recipe is found on page 324 of Dorie's book or on Judy's blog under today's date.

I thought they were the perfect choice and I would make them any time of the year - not just at thanksgiving! I'm not usually a huge fan of pumpkin pie, but with this much flaky pastry surrounding it I thought they were delicious.

Best Ever Rugelach

I shopped for 24 hours straight this Black Friday. From 10PM Thursday on! My feet are killing me and I slept in til noon today, but it was without a doubt worth it. An LED TV, camera, Soda Stream soda-maker and much much more. I am glad we brought these cookies to munch on through the day, because ya know, there just isn't time to sit down and eat. You might miss the deals!

These classic little crescent shaped cookies are so versatile and fun to make. You can fill them with whatever you like, so feel free to make up your own fillings and find your own favorite. My 4 year old helped me sprinkle on fillings and roll them up. His favorites were the jam-filled ones - no nuts.

Of all the rugelach I've tried, this one is definitely one of the best. It produces a tender, flaky pastry that is incredibly easy to work with and freezes well. The recipe is from one of my favorite cookbook authors, Marcy Goldman of betterbaking.com. I have both of her books, A Passion for Baking and The New Best of Betterbaking.com and have bookmarked many of the pages with my favorite recipes. I believe she is Canadian!



Baked rugelach are best kept between layers of wax paper and loosely covered with aluminum foil (the object is to keep the pastries dry; do not store under a cake dome or closed container). The rich dough freezes well for up to 4 months. Freeze unbaked rugelach on a baking sheet until they are firm, then transfer to heavy-duty resealable plastic food storage freezer bags. There is no need to defrost before baking.



Best Ever Rugelach
Makes 48 | "A Passion for Baking"

Dough:
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups sour cream
4 1/2 cups flour, plus more for the work surface

Filling:
1 1/3 cups raspberry jam
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups finely chopped nuts (optional)

1. For the dough: Combine the melted butter, sugar, salt, baking powder, sour cream and flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on low speed until a ball forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll in a bit of additional flour, as necessary, to make a soft but manageable dough. Divide into 4 portions, press each into a flattened disk and wrap in wax paper. Place them in a large resealable plastic food storage bag; seal and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Filling: Roll out each portion of dough into a 12" circle on a well-floured work surface. Smear on the jam, covering the surface of the dough, and then evenly sprinkle on the brown sugar, cinnamon, nuts, if using. Use a pastry or pizza wheel to cut the dough into 12 wedges. Roll up each wedge snugly and place on the lined baking sheet.

4. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the pastries are nicely browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cherry Upside-Down Cake

I'm so excited! Tomorrow I'm heading down South for my first US Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's family. Then right after dinner I will start chugging coffee in preparation for the all-night Black Friday shopping extravaganza!

This recipe was made using some cherries I had frozen from the summer. However, I bet it would be great with cranberries as a tribute to the fall harvest. I never have a problem with using frozen berries instead of fresh. Sometimes, especially with blueberries, I prefer the frozen ones because they don't squish and bleed when you are mixing them into the batter.

I love the rustic look of upside-down cakes and the thrill that you get when you flip it onto a serving dish. Will it stick? Will the fruit have baked evenly? Will it be pretty? I'm pretty happy with how this cake turned out - especially served with fresh whipped cream.



Cherry Upside-Down Cake
8" Cake | adapted from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 lbs sweet cherries, stemmed, pitted, and halved
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup almond paste (not marzipan), crumbled
3 large eggs, separated
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degreest F. Butter an 8-by-3-inch round cake pan, and line bottom with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 2 tablespoons butter with ¼ cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spread evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Arrange apricot halves, cut sides down, in pan. Fit cherries into any gaps between apricots. Pack down the fruit slightly with your hands; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat remaining6 tablespoons butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Add almond paste and ¾ cup sugar, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg yolks, and beat until well combined. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until combined, and set aside.In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining ¼ cup sugar, and beat until soft peaks form. Fold a third of egg-white mixture into the batter with a spatula. Gently fold in remaining egg whites.

3. Spread batter over fruit, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 60-70 mins. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Run a knife or small offset spatula around the edges to loosen, and invert cake onto a serving plate to cool completely. Cake can be kept at room temperature, loosely covered with foil, for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins

I apologize for the strange looking colors in these photos. They were taken with my boyfriend's camera and I'm not used to the settings and color balance. I'm so glad that Black Friday is coming up in a couple of days. I always take that Friday off (I took it off way back in January in anticipation of this event). Sometimes I think it's more about the chase than the actual sales. Do I really need that $3 toaster? Probably not, but it is sure a lot of fun, not to mention an adrenaline rush, battling it out on the Target salesfloor.

If you are going to stand in shopping line-ups I recommend bringing one of these muffins with you. These muffins are made from a cinnamon coffee cake recipe with a bunch of chocolate chips thrown into the batter then baked in muffin tins. The hint of cinnamon plays well with the chocolate.



Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins
Makes 12 | adapted from NY Times

Cake
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups sour cream


Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin tins.

2. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla, beating well. Sift flour with baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add chocolate chips to flour mixture. Add the flour mixture alternately with sour cream.

3. Scoop into prepared muffin tins. Combine sugar, cinnamon and nuts and sprinkle evenly over the top of the cake. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cherry Cheese Pie

Cherry Cheese Pie
9" Pie | adapted from Eagle Brand

I have a soft spot for brand name recipes like those from Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Campbell's and Eagle Brand that are intended to get you to use more of their products. They are usually convenient, use common pantry ingredients and are fast and easy to prepare.

This dessert starts out with either a graham cracker crust or a baked pie crust. The filling is no-bake. The recipe comes from Eagle Brand and uses sweetened condensed milk of course. They describe this pie as: "Introduced in the 1950's as "Cherry-O Cheese Pie, this unbelievably easy and creamy refrigerator pie can be dressed up for company, or brought to the table for an after dinner treat." 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 9" baked pie shell or graham cracker crust
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling, chilled

1. In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla.

2. Put a thin layer of cherry filling into the crust, then pour all the cheesecake filling over the cherries into the crust. Chill 4 hours or until set. Top with cherry pie filling [or fresh fruit] before serving. Store in refrigerator.

TWD: Bittersweet Brownies

This Dorie recipe was chosen by Leslie of Lethally Delicious Blog. We enjoyed them - good texture, good rich flavor. Sometimes all the fancy treats in the world just can't beat a good brownie.

Apple Cranberry Muffins

I haven't been posting much lately because my camera was stolen from my car last week. It is not so much the camera that I am sad about losing but rather the memory card with all my halloween photos and a whole bunch of baking photos. As my boyfriend said, "If you are going to steal a camera, at least leave the memory card!" So true... *sigh*... all those lost memories.

At least I had this photo downloaded to my computer before the camera got stolen. This is a great, easy recipe that features the delicious flavors of fall. Recipe is a "back of the box" recipe from Robinhood Flour. It has 2 of my favorite fall ingredients: apples and cranberries. Both bring just the right amount of tartness to these light and delightful muffins. I made them without the crumble topping and they were great. I can only imagine how much better the muffin tops would have been WITH the topping.



Apple Cranberry Muffins
makes 12 | adapted from Robinhood Flour

Topping
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup almonds, chopped
3 tbsp rolled oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp butter, melted

Muffin
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups peeled apples, diced
1/4 cup cranberries - fresh or dried

1. Combine all topping ingredients. Mix well. (Optional. I omitted the topping to save some fat and calories. They were great even without the topping!)

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line or grease muffin tins.

3. Combine flour, brown sugar and baking soda in large bowl. Combine egg, yogurt and oil in small bowl. Add to dry ingredients stirring just until moistened. Stir in apples and cranberries. Fill muffin cups with batter. Sprinkle with topping.

4. Bake for approx 25 minutes, or until tops are firm to touch.

Blueberry Cornmeal Cake

The recipe for this cake comes from the RSVP section (copycat restaurant recipes) of Bon Appétit Magazine. It has an appealing crunch from the cornmeal.

It isn't the prettiest cake, but for what it lacks in looks it makes up in taste. Because of how moist it is, it keeps well without drying out and is wonderful heated and served with ice cream on top.

Blueberry Cornmeal Upside Down Cake
10" Round | Bon Appetit

3/4 cup butter, room temperature, divided
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2-3 cups blueberries
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and center a rack in the oven.

2. Stir 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, brown sugar, and vinegar together in a 10” ovenproof skillet with 2” tall sides. Mix over medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar is dissolved, around 2 minutes. Turn the heat up to high, toss in the berries, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

3. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat remaining 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) butter in an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, beat until combined. Add half the flour mixture, then half the milk, then the remaining flour mixture, and the remaining milk, beating until just combined after each addition.

4. In a clean, dry bowl with clean, dry beaters (or a whisk) beat egg whites until foamy. Beat in the cream of tartar until the whites are stiff but not dry. Stir 1/4 of the whites into the cornmeal batter, then fold the remaining whites with a rubber spatula in 3 additions. Spread the batter over the cherries in the skillet, covering them completely.

5. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool the cake in the skillet for 5 minutes, then run the spatula around the edges of the cake to loosen it. Set a large plate over the skillet and firmly flip the two together. Leave the upside-down skillet on top of the plate for 5 minutes so that the cake and cherries completely separate from the pan. Lift off the skillet and let the cake cool for 45 minutes before cutting.

Blueberry Cornmeal Upside Down Cake
10" Cake | Bon Appetit

3/4 cup butter, room temperature, divided
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2-3 cups blueberries
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, separated
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and center a rack in the oven.

2. Stir 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, brown sugar, and vinegar together in a 10” ovenproof skillet with 2” tall sides. Mix over medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar is dissolved, around 2 minutes. Turn the heat up to high, toss in the berries, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

3. Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat remaining 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) butter in an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, around 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, beat until combined. Add half the flour mixture, then half the milk, then the remaining flour mixture, and the remaining milk, beating until just combined after each addition.

4. In a clean, dry bowl with clean, dry beaters (or a whisk) beat egg whites until foamy. Beat in the cream of tartar until the whites are stiff but not dry. Stir 1/4 of the whites into the cornmeal batter, then fold the remaining whites with a rubber spatula in 3 additions. Spread the batter over the cherries in the skillet, covering them completely.

5. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool the cake in the skillet for 5 minutes, then run the spatula around the edges of the cake to loosen it. Set a large plate over the skillet and firmly flip the two together. Leave the upside-down skillet on top of the plate for 5 minutes so that the cake and cherries completely separate from the pan. Lift off the skillet and let the cake cool for 45 minutes before cutting.

Savory Breakfast Scones

It's hard to belive it is November already. For me, it really starts to feel like the holidays the day right after Halloween. From there on out it's full steam ahead to Christmas!

Here's a great breakfast/brunch or anytime scone to get you going through the cold weather. These scones are filled with bacon, cheddar and green onions. A great addition to serve with soup and round out a meal. Tender and flaky on the inside, they don't even need butter. I like mine hot but not too crispy, so if there are leftovers, I microwave one for 20 seconds and it's just perfect.



Savory Breakfast Scones
Makes 10 | adapted from 3 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup butter, very cold
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
4 green onions, thinly sliced
10 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into 1" pieces
3/4 - 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (heavy cream can be used for half of the buttermilk)
1 large egg + 2 tsp water (for egg wash)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper in a large bowl on low speed. With mixer running, gradually add cubes of butter until the mixture is crumbly and studded with flour - butter bits about the size of small peas. Add grated cheese and mix just until blended.

3. Add green onions, bacon and 3/4 cup of the buttermilk to flour and cheese mixture. Mix with wooden spoon until all ingredients are incorporated. If dough is too dry to hold together, use remaining buttermilk, adding 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough can be formed into a ball. Stir as lightly and as little as possible for a lighter-textured scone. Remove dough from bowl and place it on a lightly floured flat surface. Pat dough into a ball. Using a well-floured rolling pin, flatten dough into a circle about 8" wide x 1/2" inch thick. Cut dough into 10 equal wedges.

4. Whisk egg and water to combine. Brush each wedge with egg wash. Place scones on a baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle.