Foodie Friday -- Pumpkin Streusel Bread

My first Foodie Friday recipe after a long break.
I had some leftover canned pumpkin and needed to find a way to use it. This recipe is the result.
And it was polished off quite quickly!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Streusel Bread

Streusel:

¾ cup chopped walnuts

2 T butter

2-3 T sugar

1 T flour

1 t. cinnamon

Mix well, using fingers to break butter into tiny pieces.

Pumpkin batter:

1 2/3 cup flour

1 ½ cup sugar

1 t. baking soda

¼ t. baking powder

¾ t. salt

½ t. ground cloves

½ t. nutmeg

½ t. cinnamon

2 eggs

½ cup vegetable oil

1 1/3 cup pure pumpkin

½ cup water

Sift dry ingredients together. Add eggs, oil, pumpkin and water. Beat well. Pour ½ of batter into greased and floured* loaf pan, sprinkle with ½ of streusel mixture. Swirl with knife. Add remaining batter and sprinkle remaining streusel on top. Bake at 325 degrees F. for about 1 hour 20 minutes, or until top springs back. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Turn out of pan and cool completely.

Tips and Tricks:

·         I’ve become a HUGE fan of parchment paper, especially since my loaf pans are the “folded” kind, which means you can never get the corners completely clean.

·         Measure parchment and fold neatly so it fits the bottom of the pan. Flatten the corner edges and staple them into shape Repeat for all corners.

·         I did spray a little Pam on the paper, but probably didn’t need to.

·         Feel free to make more streusel. I only had ¾ cup of walnuts, so I had to make due.

·         To deepen the flavor of the streusel use brown sugar—dark brown sugar will give the deepest flavor.

·         Yes, sift the dry ingredients. I have a battery operated sifter, but any type of mesh wire sieve will work. Use a spoon to work the flour mixture through the sieve.

·         If you don’t have all the spices, you could probably make due with McCormick’s pumpkin pie spice. It has ginger and allspice along with the above ingredients.

·         I had to use about ½ cup of pumpkin from a 15 oz. can for a different recipe and this was what I had left. The original recipe called for only 1 cup. If you add more pumpkin (like the entire can) you might want to cut back on the water.

·         I used the convection oven setting for this recipe. I wanted more circulation around the pan due to the longer time in the oven.

·         After removing the bread from the pan, I let it cool for a little longer before removing the parchment paper so the bread could cool completely

Cake Pops 101

The other day I wandered into Starbucks for my freebie coffee and spotted their glass case of food.

Did you know they sell cake pops for $3 each? Or 2 for $5?

Really? Crazy pricing, but people pay.


Selection of my decorated cake pops

Anybody can make cake pops. This was my first time. It isn't hard. Time consuming, yes. Hard, no. All you need are the ingredients and decorating supplies.

Allow at least one day to make the pops. They can keep on the counter for a day or two, or in the fridge for up to 5 days. I sent them with the hubby to work to get them out of the house.

For the cake balls (Walmart):
Boxed cake mix
Tub of icing

Decorating supplies (Michaels) in the candy/cake section:
Styrofoam form (I used a 12-in square form, 2-in deep)
Treat sticks
assorted colors of white melting chocolate (white, black, dk green, red, orange, yellow, neon green, orchid, etc)
sanding sugars (black, orange, white)
candy eyes
candy bones
assorted nonpareils (the wee black and orange balls)
and whatever else strikes your fancy. If you want to bag them individually, then you need small plastic goodie bags and some black and orange curling ribbon to tie around the stick.

How to make a cake pop:

No pictures. Sorry.

I didn't think about blogging until AFTER I finished cleaning up the cake pop mess.

Start with the center of the pop, I opted for chocolate cake and chocolate icing.

Bake the cake according to the directions. I made the 13 X 9 size. Cool. Crumble cake into large bowl. Add icing (start with 1/2 can) and fold until mixture comes together. I used almost the entire icing tub, except for a couple tablespoons. Using a 1 1/4-in. cookie scoop, scoop rounded ball of cake and roll into a ball.

This is where you need to decide if you want to make any shapes other than balls. I made Frankenstein into a rectangle. The tombstone has a rounded top and is fairly flat. I did put ridges in the pumpkins, but it didn't make a difference, though I did make an indent in the top and flattened the ball a little. Make triangles if you want a candy corn, or cone if you want to do a witches hat. Or whatever floats your boat.

Note: do NOT roll the balls too tightly. It will bite you in the butt later when the chocolate-dipped balls dry and crack open. It appears to be random, but prepare to do a little 'doctoring' of the wounded cake balls.

Place balls on parchment lined cookie sheet that can fit into your refrigerator. Repeat until all of cake mixture is used. I ended up with 65 balls. Chill balls.

Time to get your workspace organized.

1. Pre poke holes in Styrofoam--allow enough space for the wet pops to dry. Place parchment/waxed paper over Styrofoam form to catch drips, and the occasional Oopsie where the cake ball falls off the stick. Use toothpicks to hold paper in place over foam and poke into pre poked holes in foam.
2. Disposable plastic cups (16-18 oz) to melt chocolate wafers. Fill cup 3/4 full of wafers to equal about 1/2 cup melted chocolate.
3. Cut large cups in half if you don't have small cups to hold sanding sugars, nonpareils, eyes and bones . . . and whatever else you want to use to decorate.
4. Waxed paper covering your workspace. Easy clean-up for drips and to set your chocolate dipped cauldrons to dry.
5. Snack-sized Ziploc baggies to melt chocolate wafers for decorating. Put about 10 wafers in baggie. Melt the chocolate in the microwave about a minute. Squish to make sure wafers are melted. Cut off tiny bit of one bottom corner of baggie. Squeeze to decorate.
6. Whipping cream--use a tiny bit if chocolate is too thick to dip into. Some of the colored chocolate doesn't melt quite right. If you don't have cream, add a little bit of melted vegetable shortening. Mix well.

Dip tip of treat stick in chocolate--what color depends on your preferences and what you are making. Poke chocolate coated end 2/3 into cake ball. Refrigerate. This will help adhere the cake ball to the stick. Work a couple of balls at a time, leaving the rest in the fridge. Dip cake ball into melted chocolate, completely coating it. Spin between fingers in cup to remove excess chocolate. Turn upright and continue twisting to smooth chocolate. Place in Styrofoam holder to dry. Repeat.

 *The cake pops that look too perfect to be true are made with FONDANT, NOT dipping chocolate.*

Use the plethora of Internet pictures for ideas. Here is what I did:

Mummy--white chocolate base coat. Let dry. Add a neon swathe and place eyes. Dry. Use Ziploc baggie of white chocolate to make bandages. Dry.

Frankenstein--dark green base coat. While wet, dip top into black sanding sugar, add eyes, and jab bones into neck. Dry. Add mouth and eyebrows. Cover cracks with black 'scars'.

Tombstone--White chocolate base. Dry. Dark green for grass. Dry. Black for RIP and add cracks to tombstone.

Jack Skellington/ghosts--White chocolate base. Dry. Black face. Dry.

Pumpkin/Jack-o-Lantern--Orange chocolate base. Sprinkle with orange sanding sugar. Dry. Add dark green chocolate stem and vine AND/OR black Jack-o-lantern expression.

Nonpareils--Dip in desired color. After excess chocolate is removed, add eyes and roll in cup of nonpareils. Dry.

Cauldron--Dark chocolate base. Tap off chocolate (need excess chocolate to form rim of cauldron). Place on waxed paper with stick in air. Dry. Add 'flames'. Red, orange and yellow. Dry. Turn over. Don't worry if the chocolate comes off the cake ball. Blob neon, or purple, or dark green into cauldron. Add eyes, bones, excess bits of colored chocolate (red, yellow, orange, etc), a few nonpareils and a touch of sanding sugar. Dry.

By the end of the day, I was beat and just dipped the last few cake balls into yellow chocolate for a moon effect. After they dried, I drew a bat or a witch riding a broom. I also used the green and orchid chocolate for monsters (the ugly cake balls) and added random eyes. I tried making a Dracula, but it didn't work out, but he tasted good! Oh, and I made a legless spider (I didn't have any licorice legs!) Dipped him in dark chocolate added eyes and rolled him in black sanding sugar.

And there you have it--Cake Pops 101.

Have fun creating!

Margaret

Foodie Friday -- Sad Cake

A few nights ago, my hubs drops a bomb that he needs to make something for their work 'holiday' party. They had to postpone the party from December to January because they were moving the office that month.

Anyway, he asked if we had the ingredients for Sad Cake. Of course, my mind is like a

steel trap--make that sieve--and all I could remember was yellow cake mix, pecans and coconut.

Well, I was wrong about the cake mix. It's actually Bisquick. And the last time I used my package of Bisquick was prior to the expiration date on the box--April 2009. My guess it was also the last time we made Sad Cake.

This snack cake is very good, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's healthy--it's no where near 'healthy' on the healthy-to-evil scale.

Sad Cake

2 cups Bisquick

4 eggs

½ cup oil

1 tsp. vanilla

16 oz. brown sugar (1 box)

2 Tbls. sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray Pam in 9 x 13 pan to coat. Mix all ingredients together and pour into pan. Smooth top. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

 

Foodie Friday -- Puppy Chow

Last week, I was chatting with a swim mom and she was telling me about a snack that her neighbor made every Christmas. This year the neighbor was going out of town and wasn't making this snack. This mom was lamenting the fact because her son loved it.

Just by her basic description, "powdered sugar" told me all I needed to know. I said it sounds like Puppy Chow. She looked confused--it could be because English isn't her native language, and she thought I was talking about dog food--and I went into greater detail of the crunchy cereal, peanut butter and chocolate mixed together and tossed in powdered sugar. She said that it sounded like this particular snack.

I thought I had the recipe on my blog. I didn't. So I just directed her to check Google.

I will mention that I've never made Puppy Chow. I've eaten it, but never made it. And when I Googled it, I found numerous variations of the same ingredients.

Here's one version:

Puppy Chow

1 (12 ounce) bag chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter
1 (12 ounce) box Crispix cereal or 1 (12 ounce) box similar cereal
1 lb powdered sugar

Melt chocolate chips, butter & peanut butter over medium heat, or microwave in 30 second increments. Stir to blend. Pour over Crispix in large bowl. Stir to coat. Pour confectioners sugar in paper grocery bag. Add Crispix and shake vigorously until it breaks apart. Serve in new doggie dish.

Another version:

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. vanilla
9 cups Crispix cereal (any flavor)
3 cups powdered sugar

Melt the first three ingredients in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in-between, until smooth. Add vanilla and stir. Pour over cereal and stir to coat. Place powdered sugar in large plastic bag, add cereal in batches, shake to coat.

Hints & suggestions:

• You can use Rice Chex cereal in place of Crispix. The key here is to have 'airy' cereal with two sides and air in between the layers.
• Rice or corn Chex cereal is preferable to wheat Chex. Wheat Chex has too strong of a flavor and it makes the snack too heavy. Just my opinion.
• I'd use a seriously large Ziploc bag to toss the mixture in powdered sugar
• IF you think there is nutritional value in this, you would be wrong. Jus' Sayin'. Any protein from the peanut butter is nullified by the high sugar overload.
• It's addictive. You will be eating it by the handfuls until your teeth start to hurt from the sugar content.
• Give it away to your neighbor's children. Let them deal with the hyperactivity from the little runts. . .

Enjoy!

Foodie Friday -- Gingerbread

When I posted last week's gingerbread truffle recipe, Marilyn mentioned that she'd never had gingerbread. After about 3 days, I realized she'd never TASTED gingerbread. Yeah, yeah, I'm a little slow. So I looked through the recipes I had posted and realized, I had never posted any gingerbread recipe.

And I have tons of gingerbread recipes, but I always go back to my mom's recipe. No, I have no idea where she got it, but I copied it over 30 years ago from her files, which means it was at least 30 years old at the time. I imagine she copied it out of Family Circle or Women's Day magazines. There are very few ingredients in this recipe and I had them all on hand.

If you expect this gingerbread to be sweet, you will be mistaken. Some recipes will top the gingerbread with a lemon powdered sugar glaze, but I like this straight up as a snack cake.

And I took pictures as I made this yesterday.

Gingerbread

1/2 cup shortening
2 Tbls. sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
1 cup boiling water
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together shortening, sugar and egg. Blend in molasses and water. Sift an stir in flour, soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Pour into greased and floured 9-in glass baking pan. Bake in preheated 325 degree F. oven for 45 to 50 minutes.

Enjoy, Peeps!

All the ingredients needed

greased and floured pan

flour mixture on liquid/shortening

Ready to pop in the oven

right before I popped it into my mouth!

 

 



Foodie Friday -- Applesauce

It's a sad statement about today's kids when they don't realize applesauce doesn't come in a jar. I found this out about a year ago when my daughter had a friend over and they were trolling for snackage. The little girl didn't know you can actually make applesauce.

As astounded as I was about this, my hubby told me that not everyone can cook, nor do they have the desire or the time to cook. *insert gasp*

But what do they do with apples that are starting to get a little soft, or mealy, or just taking up space in the fridge? Oh, I suppose you can make a pie, or strudel, or muffins, but applesauce is just too easy not to make. You need at least four apples, preferably green Granny Smiths, and sugar, water and cinnamon.

 Easy-peasy.

Applesauce

4 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped in ½ chunks

Sugar (Splenda works well, too), a Tablespoon or two, depending on apple tartness
Cinnamon, I didn’t measure it, but shook it heavily
Water

Place apples in medium saucepan; add enough water to come to the top of the apples. Place pan over medium-high heat and bring to boil. Cook apples for about 15-20 minutes, checking for softness and water level, add more water if apples are too dry.  While the apples are cooking, add sugar and cinnamon, stirring/tasting until desired color/taste.

When apples appear to be mushy smush apples into sauce using hand blender or potato masher. Taste for flavor and consistency.

Add more water, sugar or cinnamon, if desired.

If it’s too thin, then cook a little more water out.

*be careful. It’s thick and splashing apples can become like tiny napalm bombs*

 Enjoy those leftover apples!

FOODIE FRIDAY--Caramel Corn

This recipe is probably the oldest recipe in my collection. When I was in the seventh grade, girls had to take a Home Economics class while boys took woodworking. We learned to cook and sew-- And my best friend managed to sew her finger not just once, but twice. With all the school cuts over the last *mumble, mumble* years, I doubt if they offer it any more. Anyway, this was one of the first recipes I ever cooked.

Caramel Corn

1/3 cup margarine or butter

½ cup brown sugar
1 Tbls. white corn syrup (Karo)
¼ tsp. baking soda
 
Place all ingredients in saucepan. Bring to boil and boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, add soda, stir rapidly. Pour over popped corn. Gently fold popped corn into caramel. Careful, the caramel retains the heat.

I usually pop my corn in the same pan BEFORE I make the caramel. I eyeball it. Over high heat, heat roughly 2 Tbls. oil in medium saucepan, add 3 kernels of popping corn and cover. Once the kernels pop, add 1/3 cup of popping kernels and cover. They will start popping almost immediately. When the pops are 2-3 seconds apart, remove from heat and pour into large bowl.  Add salt.

Enjoy!