Pumpkin Cake - an SRC Bonus

Last week there was a little hiccup with the Secret Recipe Club reveal, and one of the hostesses sent out a last minute call asking if anyone could cover a missing blog.  I was in the mood to bake, despite how busy my day was, so I volunteered.  The hostess said that, since it was late, I could share the results with the next group's reveal. So even though I am in group B, and last week's orphan was from group C, we're posting today - with group D.

Mangia is an awesome blog, written by the adorable Chelsy, with a huge variety of recipes to choose from. And a ton of recipes that take into consideration a variety of dietary restrictions, from vegan to gluten free to paleo - there is something for everyone on this blog.

Right away, I found four recipes that I wanted to try. Crazy.

Now, remember that I said I had a busy day? Apparently my cooking mojo was elsewhere that day, because nothing worked out quite like I'd expected.

The first thing I'd wanted to try was making my own coconut butter. I'd never heard of it before, but it's just like any nut butter or seed butter... just... made with coconut! It's used in a whole bunch of the recipes Chelsy has posted and it looked super simple.  But I had two problems. One, the only ingredient is coconut. Unsweetened coconut. Which I thought I had. Turns out I only had sweetened. Hmm... thought I'd try it anyway.  And the second? The way to make it is to grind the coconut in a food processor. All I have is the mini version, an attachment to my immersion blender. But I've made sunflower seed butter in the thing, so I thought I'd be okay.

Umm... not so much. After five minutes, I had to give the machine a break. I'd expected that. I didn't want to burn out the motor. But no matter how many rests I gave it, it was heating up more and more quickly each time I'd go back to it, and after about 20 minutes (half grinding, half resting), I was nowhere near "butter" consistency.

Okay, coconut butter not happening.

So I moved on (skipping the recipe I'd intended to make using said coconut butter...) to another awesome looking recipe that had caught my eye - coconut banana bread bites. The recipe calls for coconut flour, for which I used... the failed coconut butter!

But something didn't work...

These were supposed to be rounder... fuller... more like balls and less like cookies. Mine were definitely too wet, and, even after extra time in the oven, were still very... chewy. But I have to say... they were darn addictive. I knew I'd messed up, but I couldn't stop eating them. And, funny enough, I let little miss taste one after school and she had the same reaction... ("Mom, these are weird... Hmm... can I have another??")

I was determined to do better though.

Did I mention that it was an already busy day? Yeah.

I decided to go for my favorite fall flavor this month - pumpkin.

She has plenty of pumpkin recipe to choose from.  I chose to try the pumpkin bread bars.

The only thing I did differently was to substitute all purpose flour for the coconut flour called for in the recipe, as I was thinking that maybe my homemade non-coconut-butter-coconut-flour was the reason that the banana bread bits hadn't had the right consistency.  Oh, and I used a round pan instead of a square one (my square one was already in use).

My resutls?

Well, didn't look like any pumpkin bread I'd ever seen, but it sure as heck looked good!  And I made a simple confectioners' sugar-coconut milk-maple syrup glaze to go over it (since the glaze accompanying Chelsy's recipe included... you guessed it... coconut butter...), which definitely went a long way in improving the aesthetics of my version.

The resulting cake (because really, I couldn't call it a bread...) was very custard-y, but super duper delicious. Little miss absolutely loved it and asked for it for her after school snack all week long.

So, Chelsy, I am sorry that I wasn't able to do any of your recipes the justice I was hoping to, but I have to say that your blog has inspired me, and I will absolutely not give up.







Pumpkin Cake
(only slightly adapted from Mangia)

1 cup pure canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (or melted coconut oil)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour (coconut flour, if you have it)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8 in. square baking dish with cooking spray (I used an 8 inch round pan).
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and sugar until smooth.
Stir in the flour, cinnamon, and baking soda.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out evenly with a spatula.
Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is lightly golden.
Allow the cake to cool completely.
If desired, as it is cooling, you can prepare a simple glaze of confectioners' sugar (1 cup), maple syrup (2 tablespoons) and coconut milk (approximately 2 tablespoons, adjust until you have the consistency you want). Drizzle the glaze over the cake once it has cooled.

Enjoy!

September Daring Bakers' Challenge - Tres Leches Cake

Inma of la Galletika was our Sept. 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and WOW did she bring us something decadent and delicious! Pastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake, creamy yet airy, super moist but not soggy.. just plain delish!

Yum! I've actually made tres leches cake before, and it really is a delicious treat.

But I had one problem with this challenge.

When I made this cake last time, it was before little man was born. Before we had a dairy allergy to contend with in the house. In a cake whose title specifically says "three milks," how could I make this dairy free?

Luckily, our awesome hostess had suggestions, and was very open to us doing what we needed to make this challenge suit our dietary needs, so I put on my thinking cap and set out to work.

The first step is to make the cake - a light, airy sponge that is actually relatively simple to put together.

It starts by separating five eggs and whipping the whites and yolks separately.

Then, with the addition of some sugar (to the whites) and vanilla (to the yolks), the two are gently combined.

A little bit of flour is then folded in, then the whole thing is baked to light, airy deliciousness.

And then came the challenge.  The milks. Or... "milks," as the case may be.

The three milks used in the "real" recipe are heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk.  Two of those were easy choices - for the sweetened condensed milk, I whipped up a batch of the dairy free coconut milk version.  For the heavy cream, I used coconut milk beverage. And for the evaporated milk? I couldn't decide. So I went way out of the box. I was inspired by the cooler temperatures, by the changing leaves... and went with pumpkin puree.

I know, it's not a milk. But I wanted to try it. So I did. I also added in a dollop (probably a tablespoon or two... I didn't measure...) of maple syrup as it cooked.

Now... the mixture cooked up deliciously, but it was a bit thick. I had some worries as to how it would work for the actual assembly of the cake, but I'd already made my choice, so I stuck with it.

I cut my cake in half to make two rectangles instead of one big square, and also trimmed the edges to help the cake soak up more of the liquid.

I also used a fork to poke holes in the surface of the cake, too, also trying to help the liquid to soak in.

And then I brushed on the pumpkin/"milk" mixture.

Yeah, it was a bit thick... A bit more like a custard than I'd anticipated... but I went with it.

The cakes were then popped into the fridge to rest, and then it was time for the final step - a coating of whipped cream.  Or... coconut whipped cream in our case.

The final cake looked decent, though I probably should have decorated the top a little bit more...

And the verdict?

Little miss liked it a lot.  Little man loved the whipped cream.  I liked it overall, but I definitely wish that the pumpkin/"milk" mixture had done a better job of soaking in. Daddy liked it, but thought that maybe there were a few too many flavors going on (pumpkin, maple, coconut... it's a bunch of strong flavors...).  All that being said, I was pretty happy with it, and am super glad that I was able to participate.

Inma, thank you so much for being such a sweet, helpful and enthusiastic host this month!! What a delicious challenge!

To see the challenge as presented to us, check it out here.

To see the amazing cakes baked up in the Daring Kitchen this month, check them out here.


Dairy Free Pumpkin Maple Coconut Tres Leches Cake
(inspired by this month's challenge)

For the sponge:
5 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a square 9”x9” pan or 9” round cake pan
Separate the egg whites from the yolks.
In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium speed, 3 - 5 minutes.
When soft peaks form slowly add the sugar in small batches.
Whip until stiff peaks form about 5 minutes. Set aside.
In a medium bowl (I moved the beaten egg whites to a separate bowl, cleaned out the mixer bowl and then reused the same bowl), beat egg yolks at medium-high speed for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until the egg yolks become pale colored, creamy and puffy. Stir in vanilla.
Pour the egg yolks over the egg whites, gently fold until just combined trying not to lose any volume from the mixture.
Fold in the flour little by little in the form of rain. Mix until just combined (over-beating will result in a denser, flatter cake).
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool completely.


For the pumpkin "milk" mixture":
1 batch (about one cup) dairy free sweetened condensed milk (I used maple syrup to sweeten the sweetened condensed milk, to match the flavors I was working with for this cake)
1 cup coconut milk beverage
1 cup pumpkin puree (you may want to use less... maybe that would make the finished product thinner and help it soak in better...)
1-2 tablespoons maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat and simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.


To prepare the cake:
prepared and cooled cake
prepared and cooled "milk" mixture
coconut whipped cream (from one can of coconut milk)

I chose to trim the edges of the cake to expose more of the interior sponge, but that is optional. Using a fork, gently poke holes in the surface of the cake. Using a pastry brush, brush the milk mixture over the top and sides of the cake. Be very generous with this step, using as much of the pumpkin mixture as you can.
Set the cake in the refrigerator for at least a few hours or overnight to allow the "milk" to soak into the cake.
Before serving, spread the coconut whipped cream over the cake like frosting.

Enjoy!

September Sourdough Surprises - Waffles

Ah, breakfast. The most important meal of the day. And probably the most fun, if you have time to do it up right!

This month, Sourdough Surprises had breakfast in mind when presenting our challenge - specifically, pancakes and waffles!

I've made sourdough pancakes before and they were a big hit. So for this challenge, I thought I'd switch it up and do waffles!  And, to make it all the more fun, we made them for dinner instead of in the morning. What's more fun than breakfast for dinner?

All it takes is a tiny bit of planning. The batter, while easy to prepare, needs to be mixed together a good eight hours in advance. No problem - I just whipped it all up after dropping little miss off at school in the morning!

The directions said that once all of the ingredients were incorporated, I would find myself with a nice, thick batter.

Umm... not so much. I was a bit worried, but covered it up and let it rest for the whole day, hoping that it would still work.

As dinner time approached, it was time to pull out the waffle iron and get down to the real work!

These cooked up beautifully - nice and crisp and golden, just how a waffle should be.

I will say that I think this recipe might be more suited to a traditional waffle iron rather than the Belgian style I have, but I don't think it matters too much either way.

We served ours with a delicious apple/pear compote on top.

And, of course, pork roll and mixed fresh berries on the side, as well, but the star of the dinner was definitely the waffles. Both kids ate theirs right up, and neither guesses that sourdough was involved!

So what breakfast goodie did you go with this month? Link up and let's see!



Sourdough Waffles
(from Breadtopia)

4 oz (1/2 cup or 115 g) butter
8 oz (1 cup or 225 g) milk (I used coconut milk)
9 oz (about a cup or 255g) white starter
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp (packed) brown sugar
6 oz (about 1 1/2 cups or 170 g) all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Heat the butter and milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter is fully melted. Allow the  mixture to cool to room temperature.
As the milk and butter cool, combine your sourdough starter, salt, brown sugar and flour.  Once the milk mixture cools, combine everything together.
Once your batter is done, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for 8-14 hours. (You can do this before going to bed if you want to have these for breakfast!)
When you are ready to proceed, preheat your waffle iron.
As it heats, beat the eggs and baking soda into the rested batter.
Pour 1/2 to 3/4 cups of batter on the hot waffle iron and close the lid. Let cook for 3-5 minutes until golden brown and crisp.
Top as desired and enjoy!

Mongolian Beef

This month's Secret Recipe Club was a super fun one.

I was assigned to Sarah's Kitchen, a wonderfully delicious collection of recipes blogged by Sarah, who is originally from England, but who now lives in Texas.

There were so many amazing recipes on her site, and I had a really hard time choosing. Seriously, I had no less than half a dozen recipes on my rotating list all month long.

But the one recipe that never left the list was her Mongolian Beef recipe.  She said that it is a copycat recipe for P.F. Chang's version of the dish. I've never tried the "original," but the recipe looked so tempting, that I couldn't get it out of my mind. 

The dish is actually super simple, with only a few ingredients.  The sauce is a combination of soy sauce, water, brown sugar, minced garlic and minced ginger.

And then there's the beef. The recipe calls for flank steak. Our local supermarket had london broil on really good sale, so I went with that.  The meat was sliced...

...then coated in cornstarch.

And then it was a simple matter of boiling the sauce and frying the meat!

Once the meat was cooked, it was combined with the sauce, and that was it!

I served the meat over rice, with a side of broccoli.

This dish was a huge hit with the whole family. Little man ate every bite. Little miss asked for seconds. Daddy was amazed. And I... may or may not have licked the plate.

I can't wait to make this again.

Sarah, thank you so much for this amazing recipe, and for all of the delicious recipes on your blog! I can't wait to try your coconut lime chicken and mango coconut jasmine rice, not to mention any one of your many mouthwatering versions of ribs!





Mongolian Beef
(from Sarah's Kitchen)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
vegetable oil, for frying (recipe called for about 1 cup, I used about half)
1 pound flank steak (I used london broil)
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 spring onions, green part only (optional)

Slice the steak against the grain into thin slices. Dip the steak slices into the cornstarch  and let the beef sit for 10.
Meanwhile, heat the 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium. Add the ginger and garlic to the pan, then quickly add the soy sauce and water. Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then increase the heat and boil for 3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.
Heat the frying oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium heat. Add the beef and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove the beef from the oil and add it to the pan with the sauce, along with the spring onion slices (if using) and stir together.
Serve over rice.
Enjoy!

September Daring Cooks' Challenge - Gnocchi

Oh my gosh, I almost missed a Daring Cooks' Challenge.

That has never happened before.

But all of a sudden, I looked at the date and went OH NO! Where in the world is the time going? How in the world are we in the middle of September already?  And this month's challenge is a good one!

Todd, who is The Daring Kitchen’s AWESOME webmaster and an amazing cook, is our September Daring Cooks’ host! Todd challenged us to make light and fluffy potato Gnocchi and encouraged us to flavor the lil pillows of goodness and go wild with a sauce to top them with!

I love gnocchi. I have made it a few times before, and have even blogged about it a few times... here and here.  So when I saw that we were going to make it again this month, I was excited!

I started thinking of what I could do with gnocchi that would be new and different. Add a vegetable. Maybe spinach. Or carrots. Or beets.  Or maybe use purple potatoes.

But then I blinked and it was two days before the posting date. So I went with what I had, and what I knew we'd all love.

Yukon golds.  Which I roasted in the oven rather than boiled.

And then I tried something else new. As I've mentioned before, I don't have a ricer, the preferred tool for breaking down cooked potatoes for making dough.  I have mashed, fork-riced, and even borrowed a ricer in the past, but this time, following Smitten Kitchen's recipe, I used a box grater.

Then it's a simple matter of adding in one egg, a bit of salt, and just enough flour to hold everything together.

The hardest part of making gnocchi (other than how messy the process can get...) is shaping the little potato-pasta-pillows.  I start by taking a section of the prepared dough and rolling it into a long snake.  I then cut that into equally-sized puffs.

(okay, as equal as I can manage...)

I then take each little puff and carefully, using my thumb, roll it down the tines of a fork to create the signature ridges.

Little man tried his hand at this process, too...

Hey, it's a messy process anyway. What's a little more mess, especially when he had so much fun "helping"?

Once all the dough is rolled, cut and ridged, I had two cookie sheets full of these delightful little morsels.

Now, my usual method of cooking gnocchi is to bring a big pot of water to boil, throw in the gnocchi and wait until they rise to the top.

But, after seeing some of the completed gnocchis on the Daring Cooks' forum, I saw that some people were pan frying their gnocchi. Say what? I didn't know you could do that!  So, while I still boiled most of my gnocchi, since that's the guaranteed way to get the kiddos to gobble it up, I tried my hand at pan frying about a quarter of them.

I started by sauteeing half of an onion in some olive oil, added two chopped roma tomatoes, and then threw in the gnocchi.

Okay, not totally photogenic... the gnocchis kind of stuck together and made a bit of a mess, but oh my gosh was this delicious.  I will definitely be doing this again, and playing with flavors, as well, since cooking them right in a pan sauce is so easy to do.

All in all, this was a huge success, despite my last-minute rush. The box grater worked like a charm and these gnocchi (from both cooking methods!) were light and fluffy and absolutely delicious.  I am so glad that I learned a new cooking method for them, too, as this just creates new, wonderful and delicious possibilities for our gnocchi-cooking future.

Todd, thank you so much for this awesome challenge.

To see the full challenge as presented by Todd, check it out here.

To see the other delicious gnocchi cooked up in the kitchen this month, check them out here.


Potato Gnocchi
(from Smitten Kitchen)

2 pounds potatoes (recipe called for Russetts, I used yukon gold)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prick the potatoes all over with a fork, and bake them on a baking sheet for between 45 minutes and one hour (depending on the size of your potatoes), until they are fork-tender. For best results, turn the potatoes over halfway through the baking time. Let the potatoes cool slightly.
Peel the potatoes, and then pass them through a potato ricer, food mill or grate them over the large holes of a box grater into a large bowl. Add the lightly beaten egg and the salt to the potatoes and mix well with a wooden spoon.
Add the flour to the potatoes a little at a time, using only as much as you need so that the dough will not stick to your hands. When the flour has been incorporated, bring the dough together with your fingertips.
Pour the dough and any remaining floury bits onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for about three or four minutes.
Divide it into 6 smaller balls. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece into a long rope, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 1 inch pieces.
You can cook the gnocchi as it is now, but traditional gnocchi has ridges. To create the ridges, press each piece of dough against the tines of a fork. With your finger, gently roll the pressed dough back off the fork. This takes a little practice. If you find the dough sticking to the fork, dip the fork in flour before you press the dough against it.
Place the gnocchi in a single layer on a lightly floured or parchment-lined dish. If you’d like to freeze them for later use, do so on this tray and once they are frozen, drop them into a freezer bag. This ensures that you won’t have one enormous gnocchi mass when you are ready to cook them.
To cook the gnocchi, place them into a pot of boiling and well-salted water. After a few minutes the gnocchi will float to the top. Continue to cook for one minute then remove and set aside.
Alternately, you can pan fry the prepared gnocchi in a lightly greased pan. Play around and find the method you like best!

Enjoy!

Biscoff Marshmallow Crispy Bars

Who doesn't love rice crispy treats? They're so fun both to make and to eat, and they're so versatile - change up the cereal, add in fun mix-ins... there's so much you can do with them!

So why not add Biscoff?

These are so easy to make. Melt some  butter (well, non-dairy butter spread for me - gotta let little man enjoy them, too!) and Biscoff in a large pot.

Then melt in some marshmallows (no way to get a non-weird looking photo. Trust me.), and mix in the cereal.

Then just spread the whole thing out in a pan!  Done!

Well, I wasn't quite done.  I wanted to kick them up a Biscoff-y notch. So I spread a thin layer of Biscoff on top, as well.

Just enough to drive home the point.

There was one problem with these.

They were super addictive. I ate a good half of the pan before remember to take the completed, cut photos. Then I shared them with neighbors for an impromptu picnic we had on an in-service day from school.

Holy smokes, with how easy these are to make, I know we'll be making lots of these.



Biscoff Rice Crispy Treats
(from biscoff.com)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter or non-dairy spread
1/3 cup of Biscoff Spread
One 10 oz. package or about 40 regular marshmallows or 4 cups of miniature marshmallows
6 cups rice crispy cereal

Melt butter and Biscoff Spread in large nonstick saucepan over low heat.
Add marshmallow and stir until completely melted.
Mix in rice crispy cereal, stir until well coated.
Spread the mixture using a buttered spatula or waxed paper evenly into a 13x9x2-inch pan coated with cooking spray.
Cool completely before cutting.

Peach Cobbler Cupcakes

Ah, the end of summer. There's so much to do, but also lots of fun to be had.

Friends of ours hosted a super fun end-of-summer shindig, and I offered to bring along a dessert option. 

I took my inspiration from what kept me busy in the kitchen a couple of weeks ago - the 20 pounds of peaches that the family picked a couple weekends ago.  While we, of course, enjoyed many of the peaches fresh, I also tried my hand at preserving a whole bunch of them - peach jam, peach butter and canned peaches. Holy smokes, home-made canned peaches are absolutely delicious. 

Summer, delicious canned peaches, dessert for a party... add to that that little miss always wants me to make cupcakes, bingo! Peach cobbler cupcakes!

I started with my standard, go-to cake-base, this simple one-bowl yellow cake recipe.  But then I made just a couple of changes.

For starters, I replaced 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar with cinnamon sugar (we'd made cinnamon buns earlier in the day, so I had a bunch prepared... otherwise, I just would have added cinnamon).

Next, I replaced half of the milk that is called for in the recipe with the peach syrup (light, I promise) that I'd used to pack the canned peaches - drain the jar and use that peach deliciousness!

The resulting batter is thick and delicious. I seriously had to stop myself from just sticking my finger under that ribbon of deliciousness coming off the beater...

I divided the batter among two muffin pans, then pressed a couple of pieces of the canned peaches into each cupcake.

Then, to make it all the more cobbler-y, I mixed up a simple streussel topping and sprinkled that on top.

And then all that was left to do was wait while these little treat did their think in the oven.

And the results?

Well, the streussel topping melted into the cupcake, but they still looked pretty cool!  Which is good, because I hadn't planned on frosting them...

A couple of the cupcake tops happened to break when I removed them from the pan, so we got to taste-test them before packing them up.

Holy smokes, these were delicious. I may try to add more peach next time, but, seriously, these were fantastic. And I think they were a hit at the party, too!



Peach Cobbler Cupcakes
(makes 24 cupcakes)
(adapted from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice's yellow cake recipe)

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon sugar
(or 1 1/4 cup sugar and a scant teaspoon of cinnamon - I just happened to have prepared cinnamon sugar leftover from making cinnamon buns earlier in the day!)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
Canned peaches, drained (reserve liquid) (my canning jars were 8 ouncers, yielding 1/2 cup of liquid and enough peach pieces to use in 24 cupcakes...)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup of the peach syrup from the canned peaches
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs

For the streusel topping:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons coconut oil (or softened butter)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and either line a cupcake tin with liners or spray it well with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars (or sugar and cinnamon), baking powder and salt. Add the butter, peach syrup, milk and vanilla and beat (either with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer) for two minutes, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions, and then beat for two more minutes.
Pour the batter into the muffin tins until just about 2/3 full.
Cut each of the canned peaches into small pieces and press 2-3 pieces into each cupcake.
To prepare streusel, combine powdered sugar, all-purpose flour, and softened coconut oil (or butter), stirring with a fork until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle streussel mixture over cupcakes.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.
Allow the cupcakes to cool in the tin (on a wire rack) for about 10 minutes before removing them from the tin.

Enjoy!