pumpkin cake notes

I decreased the milk and sugar by a couple of tbsp each and used 3 tbsp molasses. I think if you have pumpkin you need molasses. I baked it in a bundt pan; it easily serves 10.

Pumpkin cake

Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Icing

Marthastewart.com

SERVES 8 TO 10

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup homemade Pumpkin Purée (recipe follows), or canned
1/2 cup warm (110°) milk
Brown Butter Icing (recipe follows)
Caramelized Walnut Halves (recipe follows)


1. Heat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan. Line pan with parchment, and butter the parchment. Coat pan with flour, and tap out any excess.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, and beat until combined. Add pumpkin purée and milk; beat until combined. Add reserved flour mixture; beat on low speed until just combined.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool. Let cake rest 20 minutes.

5. Unmold cake. Using an offset spatula, spread icing over top of cake, and decorate with caramelized walnut halves.


Brown Butter Icing

FROSTS 1 NINE-INCH CAKE
Browning the butter gives this icing a nutty flavor. The consistency should be thin enough to spread but not runny.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

1. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat until nut-brown in color, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat, and pour butter into a bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind.

2. Add sugar, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk; stir until smooth. If the icing is too thick, add the remaining tablespoon milk, a little at a time, until consistency is spreadable. Let cool 5 minutes. Use immediately.

aramelized Walnut Halves

MAKES 10

1/2 cup sugar
10 well-shaped, large walnut halves

1. In a small skillet, melt sugar over medium-high heat until medium golden, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat. Working quickly, drop walnut halves, one at a time, into the melted sugar. If the sugar hardens, return skillet to low heat, and stir several minutes. Using a fork, turn walnuts until they are evenly coated. Transfer walnuts to a wire rack to cool completely. Use to decorate cake.

Chocolate marble cake

I've been baking a lot lately haven't I....

CHOCOLATE MARBLE CAKE

www.cooks.com

3/4 c. butter
2 c. sugar
6 egg whites, stiffly beaten
3 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 sq. melted chocolate
4 tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. boiling water
1/4 tsp. soda
Cream butter and sugar. Add flour alternately with milk. Add vanilla. Fold in egg whites quickly and thoroughly. To melted chocolate, add sugar and boiling water. Then add soda and stir until thickened. Then divide part in half and add chocolate to one half. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

I put a thin chocolate glaze on top

RK and the Frugal Gourmet's stuffed foccacia

You know it, you love it, and now you can make it yourself!!!!

Seriously, this is my all time MOST REQUESTED recipe. It's really easy too, so you should make it, it's great for a pot luck or for a crowd. I don't know if I can do this though, because I make it out of my head. Let's see....

Make enough pizza dough for 2 piazzas.... (Do you have a favorite recipe? If not, use the one previously posted. If you're making you're foccacia in two large pans you might want to double the recipe. You can always freeze any extra dough anyway, or make it into rolls.)

....then pick out your ingredients. Here are some potential combos:

Sausage, onion, bell pepper, mushroom
Chicken, spinach, mushroom
All veggie

Generally if I use onions I wilt them a little before I use them, I also brown the mushrooms if I use them.

So you take your prepared ingredients and put them in a big bowl, then add a jar or a jar and a half of your favorite prepared pasta sauce, you don't want it to be runny, but you want everything to be coated. Then add a small package of mozzarella and some Parmesan. Also add some fresh garlic and herbs if you have it.

So take your dough and make two large portions and two small ones. Make the large ones fit into your pans, I usually use 10" frying pans. They are the PERFECT container for this dish. A deep dish pie pan will work too, but whatever you use, it's better if it's larger than 2" deep. Fill the crust with your filling then take one of the small portions of dough and cover the top. Pinch together the seam and make a couple of slices in the top to let the steam out. Bake at 350 for about an hour or until golden brown. If you want to make it super pretty, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Aunt Dena's Molasses Marble Cake

This is one of those recipes you kind of want to protect, you don't want to share, but I will because I love you. I better not see Rachael Ray makin it though, unless she has me on her show!

Light Part
1/2 cup butter
2 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
4 stiffly beaten egg whites

Dark Part
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla

Mix each part separately, turn into a bundt pan and marble. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Glaze the top and prepare to be adored!

(Oh yeah, I was nice enough to tell you what I use for spices, Aunt Dena's recipe says "spice")

whoopie pies

From the Bower's Reunion Cookbook, contributed by Alfreda Fortier

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
8 tsp. cocoa (RK says, "I use dutch process cocoa AND add a touch of vanilla."
1 cup milk

Cream together shortening and sugar. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake 350° for 15 - 18 minutes.

Filling
1/2 cup shortening
2 egg whites
2 cups powdered sugar
Beat all together

*note from RK, I generally use 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening in ANY recipe that calls for all shortening. Something about using that much shortening gives me the willies.

WW's Most famous Baked Beans in the Entire World I'm not Kidding, you'd DIE for them

2 cups small white beans (pea beans)
3 onions sliced
2 tsp dried mustard
1 tbsp pickle juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Clean beans and parboil them. Then put in a covered Dutch oven with remaining ingredients and enough water to barely cover. Bake at 300 degrees for at least 6 hours, check each hour that there is liquid covering the beans. After three hours check and adjust for flavor. The last hour you might want to remove the cover to let any excess water evaporate and let them brown up a little. Oh my these are FANTASTIC!

Beer Steamed Clams

This isn't really a recipe. It's just instructions.

Get some clams. Soak them at least 6 hours in saltwater with 2 tbsp corn meal in it (keep 'em in the fridge).

Before steaming rinse off any corn meal or grit that has accumulated on the clams.

Pour a bottle of dark beer in the bottom of a steamer and steam clams until they open. Serve with plain or garlic butter. YUM!!!