skip to main |
skip to sidebar
It seems that Apple Mania has given way to Pumpkin Mania this month. While I've been chowing down on apples, I've also been opening can after can of pure organic pumpkin puree. There is no limit to the amount of dishes I've been making with the stuff, everything from savory pumpkin penne, to pumpkin bars, to sweet pumpkin pudding cake.
I'll admit, after making all of these dishes I was pretty sure I had exhausted my pumpkin repertoire until my friend Jennifer, an accomplished baker herself, handed me her Aunt Margie's recipe for Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips. Make it, she told me, you will love it. Apparently this bread is a legendary dessert in her family, which, as I soon learned, is for a good reason.
This bread has been on my weekly Naptime Chef baking rotation all fall. I most often make it while my daughter naps, and it also proved to be a great mother/daughter baking project. It is a deliciously simple recipe that yields a perfectly moist pumpkin cake, rich with cinnamon flavor and dotted with sweet chocolate chips.
When I was talking about this the other week with my friend April at Babble she suggested I make this into a video for the Babble Nibblers blog. Why not? I thought. I've been writing this website for almost a year and you all must be sick of just reading, reading, reading. Maybe it would be fun to start watching, watching, watching! So, without further ado, welcome to my kitchen and my first how-to video for Aunt Margie's Perfect Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips.
As always, I encourage comments, but please be kind to the newbie Naptime Chef's first web appearance!
Aunt Margie's Perfect Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips (and a Gluten-free note)
4 eggs, room temperature
1 c. vegetable oil
2 c. sugar
3 c. all-purpose flour (for Gluten-Free use Pamela's GF Baking Mix)
1 14 oz. can pure pumpkin puree
2 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. Kosher Salt
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
Yields:
36 Cupcakes or Two 9x5 Loaves or One Bundt Cake or Lots o' Mini-Muffins (use mini-chips for these!)
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and prepare the pan depending on bundt cake, muffins or loaves.
2. In a mixing bowl combine eggs, oil and sugar. Then, add the pumpkin and mix well. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add this to wet ingredients until totally combined.
3. Mix in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon and pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake according to pan size as follows:
Cupcakes: Bake for 25 minutes Two 9x5 Loaf Pans: Bake for 45-50 minutes Mini-Muffins: Bake for 12-15 minutes Bundt Cake: Bake for 60 - 65 minutes
5. Once baking is complete allow cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Then, remove it on to a wire rack to cool completely. Slice and serve.
Naptime Notes:
Naptime Recipe Props: If you don't like chocolate chips you can certainly omit them, or substitute nuts. I promise, everyone will love this is if you add it to a buffet or serve it at a dinner party. I love that the recipe is so versatile, it's perfect for anything from muffins to cakes. Making this batter while my daughter naps is a snap, plus it is a fun baking projects for kids in the kitchen.
Naptime Stopwatch: As you can see, making the batter takes 10 minutes at the most. After that, all the remains is baking time.
Naptime Reviews: One of our friends, who does not like pumpkin, declared this delicious. She appreciated that it is not over-spiced. The pumpkin flavor is pitch perfect and contrasts well with the chocolate chips.
When I told my husband I was making Penne with Pumpkin & Pancetta for dinner last weekend, he reached for the take-out menus the second he thought I wasn't looking. Unsure of what I would be serving - I mean, who pairs pumpkin and pancetta! - he later admitted to hatching a back-up meal plan. Sure, I'll be the first to admit that I've cooked up my share of questionable fare. It would be naive to think that everything I made was perfect all the time, but with this dish I was sure I had a winner on my hands. He was clearly wary of this confidence, but I knew I was right.
I am lucky to be married to such an adventurous eater, but even he has his limits. After a long day at work and chasing after a toddler he wants to chow down on a filling meal, not tenderly pick at mystery food in an effort to please me. Also, I am in the throws of teaching a toddler how to enjoy good food, something that is no easy task. To make it all work for me I try to make delicious, but practical, meals. We eat hearty lasagnas, seasonal vegetables and sweet desserts, not hand-rolled sushi or caviar on toast. I like to put new twists on the basics to make them even better than before.
It's putting it mildly to say I've been eating a lot of pumpkin flavored foods this fall. Last month I told you all about my favorite pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, today I am going to tell you all about my Pumpkin Pudding Cake with Fresh Nutmeg Sauce (drooling yet?!), and next week there is even more to come.
If last fall you had told me that Gwyneth Paltrow would give me a great recipe for Brussels Sprouts I would have rolled me eyes. At the time she, an accomplished actress and protective mother, was easily the last person I would've turned to for cooking advice.
Then, last November, I subscribed to Gwyneth's website, GOOP, and started watching a her PBS mini-series, only to realize that she actually does know how to navigate a kitchen and feed her family. So here I am, a year later, preaching the word of Gwyneth's Caramelized Brussels Sprouts. Proving that great recipes can come from the most unexpected sources, I have her recipe on permanent repeat in my household. It is the most simple and delicious preparation for a vegetable, that, prior to her guidelines, was not exactly one of my favorites.
A Spiced Apple Cookie is an apple pie in cookie form. Being that I am in the apple-mood these days, I've been baking these a lot lately. Over the weekend I made two batches, one for a friend, and one to eat at home. As what is quickly becoming the norm in my house, I baked these with my daughter for a rainy-afternoon activity. It seems that these days we complete at least two baking projects together each week, a new tradition that I am both encouraging and enjoying. (Though, rest assured all you Naptime Chefs, I have also made these while she naps - which takes about half the time compared to baking with her - and this recipe works well with both scenarios.)
During our weekly trip to the farmer's market this fall I've started picking up bags of apples, instead of just the usual 3 or 4. Over the course of the last six weeks my whole family has become apple fanatics, each of us consuming at least one or two MacIntosh's each day, toddler included. Hopefully these means we won't be seeing the doctor for a while. I've also been cooking and baking with apples non-stop. As with most of my favorite ingredients, the more I experiment with apples in the kitchen, the more I discover their versatility. Over the years I've sauteed them with cinnamon and sugar, made homemade applesauce, and frequently served them with pork. And, of course, I've baked with them. A lot.
As I noted above, my favorite part about baking these cookies is that the sweet spices, chopped apple and brown sugar dough truly evoke the flavors of apple pie. When baked they puff up slightly and have a nice cakey texture that is studded with tiny bits of sweet fruit. I often leave nuts out of cookies when I bake, but in this case I really like the addition of walnuts. They lend a subtle crunch and provide a nice balance to the sweet apple flavor.
Whether baking these alone, or with children, I highly recommend you get started on your own batch of Spiced Apple Cookies straight-away. These are perfect for eating with the family, taking to friends or adding to a fall bake sale. After all, fall is here in full-force, and it is time to embrace all of it's wonderful flavors, in whatever form they may come.
Spiced Apple Cookies
a handwritten recipe from my old neighbor, Katie Sanford
1/2 c. shortening*
1 1/3 c. dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. whole milk
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
1 c. unpeeled apple, finely chopped (I use a juicy, sweet variety like McIntosh)
*Note: I use trans-fat free shortening only when baking
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Beat together shortening and brown sugar until full combined. Add egg and milk and mix ingredients well.
3. In a separate bowl combine flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add dry ingredients, scraping down the sides as necessary, until everything is fully combined.
4. Stir chopped apple and walnuts into the batter with a wooden spoon.
5. Drop cookies by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2-inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper. Press the tops of the cookie down with your top two fingers so they are slightly flattened.
6. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies hold their shape and are slightly browned on the edges.
Naptime Notes:
Naptime Recipe Props: If you want the flavors of apple pie all packaged up in a cookie this is the recipe for you. One of my friends added raisins to her batch and they were delicious. I encourage people to try that if they are interested.
Naptime Stopwatch: Like all good cookie recipes, this one merely requires assembling the batter and baking it - less than an hour from start to finish.
Naptime Reviews: My husband, always the cookie lover especially enjoyed these. I have only made one apple pie so far this season but once he ate these, he said he would happily forgo pie this season in favor of cookies.
Shorter days, cooler nights and leaves of autumnal colors can only mean one thing: fall baking season has arrived. To confirm this theory, during last weeks trip to the farmers market I noted that summer's offerings of bright raspberries and ripe peaches have been replaced by fall crops of apples, pumpkins and squash. It is clearly time to put away my recipes for stuffed strawberries, and start baking with these delicious fall flavors. The hardest part for me is always deciding where to start, so last week I decided to dive in head first and make a batch of my favorite Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting.
Every time I make these pumpkin bars I am reminded of baking with my mother. She is an expert baker and I learned almost everything I know from our time in the kitchen together. We used to make these together each fall when I was young, so it was especially poignant for me when last week I made this season's first batch with my daughter. Though she is not yet 2, she is already interested in things like "mixing," "pouring," and "dumping." I have given her her own mini-spatula which she uses to help me stir ingredients and taste the batter. She also has small measuring cups that I fill with flour for her to "dump" into the bowl, and a small oven mitt that came with her Melissa & Doug cookie kit.
Last week we made a batch of these together for a fun afternoon activity. Then, later that week, I made a second batch during her afternoon naptime. I found that, whether making it with a child in the kitchen or on my own, assembling the batter and frosting is a snap. In the short time it takes to make the batter the most important thing is to thoroughly blend the ingredients so that the batter is smooth and glossy before it is spread into the pan. This ensures a light fluffy cake without any lumps or uneven flavor.
Once they are baked, finishing the bars merely requires letting them cool before covering them with a generous amount of frosting. Eating them is like enjoying the flavor of pumpkin pie with the texture of a moist brownie. When I took my first bite of these last week it really hit me that fall baking season has arrived. The time has come for me to showcase all the wonderful seasonal fruits and vegetables that create delicious fall baked goods. And I am more than ready.
Perfect Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
a recipe from my mother
4 eggs
1 2/3 c. sugar
1 c. oil
1 14 oz. can pure organic pumpkin puree; or the equivalent amount of fresh pumpkin
2 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
Frosting:
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 t. vanilla
2 C. confectioners' sugar, sifted.
FOR FROSTING: Cream to together cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar and beat well until mixture is smooth.
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan and set aside.
2. Mix eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until completely smooth and blended..
3. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. With mixer on low, add these to wet ingredients until fully combined. Remember to scrape down sides of the mixer as needed.
4. Spread batter into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until center is set and cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature before frosting the bars. Cut into bars and serve.
Naptime Notes:
Naptime Recipe Props: When it comes to baking this really is one of the simplest, most delicious recipes I have. They are fun to make with kids because the recipe is straightforward and takes little time. If you kids like raisins or nuts in their desserts feel free to toss some in.
Naptime Stopwatch: Making this batter takes less than 10 minutes. Then it is just a matter of baking and cooling. The frosting is also a snap, requiring about 3 minutes and the whisk attachment for the blender.
Naptime Notes: This a humble dessert that is perfect for adults and children alike. They are great for potlucks, bake sales and just eating at home with the family.
It seems that Apple Mania has given way to Pumpkin Mania this month. While I've been chowing down on apples, I've also been opening can after can of pure organic pumpkin puree. There is no limit to the amount of dishes I've been making with the stuff, everything from savory pumpkin penne, to pumpkin bars, to sweet pumpkin pudding cake.
Posts
