Pumpkin Pie Fudge

Every time I smell the aroma of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg I am immediatly transported into fall. That means pumpkin pie, pumpkin picking, the Yankee Candle Flagship store, and Halloween. The Yankee Candle Flagship store is where autumn and Christmas happen year round...that's right, 365 day a year Christmas. This time of year, the scents of autumn fill your nose the second you walk in the door. It's a magical place my family loves going every year. If I could live in the Bavarian village or Santa's workshop I totally would.

I'd love to pull up a sleeping bag next to the enormous Christmas tree or eat dinner in the midieval castle. Sometimes I think I would love to work there, but then I realize that the magical aura of the place has something to do with it being a once-a-year autumn/holiday affair. It's special and it should stay that way, not get worn out and old like the Six Flags New England theme park located five minutes away from my house. I would never want to do that to Yankee Candle.

The same holds true for seasonal and holiday flavors like pumpkin. I don't want to grow sick of drinking pumpkin coffee or eating pumpkin pie. Which is why I look forward to autumn so much every year. All the things that I love and want to experience year round surround me, and I can allow myself to make things like this amazing pumpkin pie fudge. I would love to place a pretty box of this pumpkin fudge in every room of the house. Then again, I like to overdue things and I don't need the calories. That's what they invented Yankee Candle pumpkin pie candles for ;)

2009 - Santa's at Yankee Candle 365 days a year!

This year Riley is finally old enough where she will appreciate the wonder of autumn, Halloween, Yankee Candle, and leave raking. I can't wait to experience autumn with her! I wish everyone a great holiday season and I hope that those of you who don't experience fall where you live get to make a trip or at least feel a little warmer and cozier after this post. :)

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

*candy thermometer
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground allspice
3 cups sugar
2 tbl corn syrup
1 cup pumpkin puree
9 oz white chocolate chips
7 oz jar marshmallow fluff

Before you start, have all your ingredients ready and a clean sink to put the hot pan/candy thermometer into. Spray an 8x8" pan with cooking spray and line with sheets of aluminum foil for easy removal.

In a deep heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat melt the butter and evaporated milk. Whisk in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice until no lumps remain. Add in the sugar and corn syrup and stir until melted. Mix in the pumpkin puree. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Now would be a good time to put in the candy thermometer. Stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan constantly to prevent burning, bring the mixture to 234 degrees on the candy thermometer (soft ball stage). This might take a while and the mixture might sputter and spit hot fudge mixture at you, but it is important to keep stirring; wear oven mitts if your hands are hot.

Once the mixture reaches temperature, immediaty remove it from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips and marshmallow fluff until melted. Immediatly pour it into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Let sit for about 2 hours to set, slice, and enjoy!

Recipe heavily adapted from Annie's Eats.

Spicy Mexican Corn Bisque

Canned corn has a pretty sordid history with me. I grew up with mostly home-cooked dinners and lunches. At school, if it happened to be pizza day or taco boat day my mom would give me money to buy school lunch. That was when I tasted canned corn for the first time. Even as a child I remember turning up my nose at its canned taste. It's not that I was a food snob (totally not), just that I was only fed fresh or frozen corn. Most canned things left a bad impression on me, which is why I was so excited to take on the challenge of producing a very diverse Fiesta in a Can menu for September's Foodbuzz 24x24. My very first thought was that I wanted to make a Mexican flavored canned corn bisque.

Going back to the food snob thing, I received as a gift for my fourteenth birthday three cookbooks (which I still have today): Rachel Ray's first 30 Minute Meals cookbook, Paula Deen's The Lady and Sons dessert book, and a very beloved Mexican cookbook Classic Mexican Cuisine by Jane Milton. So I was not a food snob, but I totally loved to cook and bake. The classic corn soup got my attention (along with the fresh salsa, tortilla soup, fried plantains, etc.), and I made it for dinner one night...good but not great. It was a recipe for a plain old corn soup using a ton of roasted red pepper. That was many years ago and I hadn't made corn soup since until last week. Using canned corn sounded like a crazy challenge. Spicing it up with some mexican flavor sounded like fun. I came up with this recipe which is very loosely based on the original, and I have to say it actually came out pretty darn good. In fact, one person even said it was their favorite dish. So there you have it, a perfectly edible and possibly delicious corn soup made from canned corn and spiced up with a ton of mexican flavor. I hope you enjoy!

Spicy Mexican Corn Bisque

2 tbl vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
2-15 ounce cans whole kernel corn, drained
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup canned evaporated milk
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the crushed red pepper, cumin, and coriander and cook another 30 seconds. Add the corn, cooking another 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add to a food processor with a little chicken stock. Puree until smooth. Return to the pan, add the rest of the chicken stock, and simmer another 10 minutes. Add the evaporated milk and salt and pepper to taste. Serve.

Homemade Corn Tortillas with Salsa and Con Queso Sauce

Homemade corn tortillas have an amazing flavor that is quite unlike anything store-bought. If I had to explain it, I would say that they're just more...corny. (No pun intended.)

For this month's Foodbuzz 24x24 the challenge presented was to use only items that were already in our cabinets or fridge. Well, I bought this Maseca, masa harina (found in the Spanish section of my grocery store), a long time ago and I still had it hanging around. I don't keep tortillas on hand unless it's taco night so keeping a bag of corn flour handy is great.

These tortillas were used in two different preparations. They were rolled up with chicken and black beans in advance, refrigerated, then pulled out on the day of the dinner and baked, smothered in cheese and enchilada sauce. I have to say, they were absolutely delicious this way, and they kept overnight in the fridge perfectly.

The second preparation took the same beginning steps as the first - cooked on a skillet to make a corn tortilla. But then they were sliced into triangles and fried to make tortilla chips. At first, the chips were salty and crunchy bites, if not a little bit bulky. But after a few hours they began to get tough and chewy. The flavor after frying becomes much like that of a Frito...veryyy corny.

If you are brave enough to make these you should know a few things. 1. You don't need a tortilla press, rolling the dough between two plastic zip-loc bags works just fine. 2. Unless you have a large griddle, baking these off on a cast iron pan gets time consuming. 3. The only way to get them onto the griddle/pan in one smooth piece is to fling them with might from your hand screaming "bam!" as you do it.

The corn tortillas freeze well but will only keep in the fridge for a few days. If you're going to the trouble to make them, it is worth making a double or triple batch and freezing the leftovers. Also, I can't forget to talk about the salsa and con queso sauce! The salsa is a great alternative to fresh or jarred. The con queso is so cheesy and good! There were no leftovers when I served it, and surprisingly it was the easiest menu item to make.

Homemade Corn Tortillas

*Makes 12 tortillas

2 cups Maseca
pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups warm water

In a large bowl, whisk together the Maseca and salt. Add in the warm water and mix until a dough forms, adding more water in teaspoons as needed.
Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into balls. Keep them covered so they don't dry out. Starting with one ball, form into a tortilla using a tortilla press with two pieces of plastic wrap (or plastic bags) on each side. Alternatively, you can place the dough between to plastic bags and roll out with a rolling pin.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat until very hot. Cook the tortilla for about 1 minute or until the lower surface becomes blistered. Flip over and cook on the other side until blistered. Keep warm in an ovenproof dish covered in a kitchen towel while you finish cooking the rest of the tortillas.

To make tortilla chips, heat a pot of oil to 375 degrees and add triangular slices of tortilla. Cook until golden brown and salt immediatly.

Recipe adapted from The Classic Mexican Kitchen by Jane Milton.

Canned-Fresh Salsa

28 ounce can whole plum tomatoes
3 ounce can fire-roasted chiles
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp ground coriander
salt and pepper

Drain the tomatoes and reserve the liquid. Add the tomatoes, chiles, onion, garlic, and coriander to a food processor. Pulse until desired consistency, adding in the reserved tomato juice as needed. Salt and pepper to taste.

Salsa Con Queso

1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup salsa

In a medium saucepan, melt together the evaporated milk and cheddar cheese until smooth. Stir in the salsa. Serve.

Foodbuzz 24x24: Fiesta In A Can!

I've been working very hard on this month's Foodbuzz 24x24, and it's finally here! Finding low-budget and pantry items to use for this meal was challenging, but the results were anything but cheap!

First off, the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival is right around the corner, and Foodbuzz wanted to give 24 lucky featured bloggers the opportunity to receive a little extra help with the costs of plane tickets, hotels, etc. San Francisco, here I come! Thank you Foodbuzz!

The catch: not to use any money in preparation for this month's 24x24, but to look into your very own pantry for low-budget staples and use them to make one fantastic creative meal. This "Fiesta In A Can" uses not only canned but boxed, packaged, and fresh items with a long shelf-life, making them perfect for stocking up on.

Shopping list for Fiesta In A Can menu:
block cheese
     cheaper than pre-grated and with a longer use-by date, grate it yourself
chicken breasts
     or any meat on sale that you will use, buy extra and freeze some for use whenever
masa harina
     in the mexican/spanish section or at spanish grocery stores, it's NOT cornmeal
onions and garlic
canned goods: - evaporated milk - plum tomatoes - corn - fire roasted chilies - chicken stock - coconut milk - pineapple slices -
     get unsalted vegetables and check the expiration dates just to be sure
dried goods: - pinto beans - black beans - flour - sugar
     plan ahead when using dried beans, set them in a bowl of water the night before to reconstitute
vegetable oil
dried spices: - cumin - chili powder - coriander - crushed red pepper - garlic powder - cinnamon -
     great to keep around for mexican/spanish food

The Menu

Appetizers
Homemade Corn Tortillas
    -masa harina
Homemade Salsa and Con Queso Dip
    -canned plum tomatoes
    -onions
    -canned fire-roasted chilies
    -garlic
    -dried spices
    -block cheese

Main Dishes
Spicy Mexican Corn Bisque
    -canned corn kernels
    -canned fire-roasted chilies
    -canned evaporated milk
    -dried spices
Homemade Refried Beans and Spanish Rice
    -dried pinto beans
    -rice
    -canned plum tomatoes
    -dried spices
Shredded Chicken Enchiladas with White Sauce
    -frozen chicken breasts
    -onions
    -garlic
    -masa harina/homemade corn tortillas
    -dried spices
    -block cheese
Spicy Black Bean Enchiladas with Red Sauce
    -masa harina/homemade corn tortillas
    -dried black beans
    -onions
    -garlic
    -block cheese
    -tomato paste
    -chicken stock
    -dried spices

Dessert
Churros
    -canned coconut milk
    -flour and sugar
    -vegetable oil

Drinks
Pineapple and Coconut Margaritas
    -canned pineapple juice
    -canned coconut milk
    -tequila
Coconut Water and Pineapple Soda
Corona

All of the foods were very well-received! Overall, the favorites were definitly the spanish rice, con queso dip, chicken enchiladas, and churros. The tortillas were fun and easy to make, but a little less successful as tortilla chips than as enchilada wrappers. Surprisingly everyone loved the canned corn bisque! The enchiladas were delicious, and everyone had fun experimenting to make different margaritas. I can't wait to have another dinner party soon!

How easy is it to buy a few extra canned goods when you're shopping so that when there's no fresh produce in the house you can still have a great meal? I really have all (well, almost) of these ingredients in my house on a regular basis. Recipes will be up soon, for now here are some pics. :)

Homemade Chicken Tenders

I have a confession. I've been buying dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets for months. Dino-nugs we call them. Good ole dino nugs are the only way I can get meat products into my two year old's mouth. She swears they are the same Buddy, Tiny, Shiny, and Dawn from Dinosaur Train! She screams if I try to put a regular shaped chicken tender/nugget near her face. Somehow, I came up with a remarkable solution to re-name chicken tenders "homemade dino-nugs". She TOTALLY goes for it! Who knew all I had to do was come up with a catchy name? I give her the really tiny "baby" ones. We pretend they're baby dinos.

Chicken Tenders

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a large metal rack on top of a baking sheet.

Carve any fat or tendons off of the chicken breasts. Place one chicken breast in between two large sheets of plastic wrap. Using a kitchen mallet or other heavy object, pound the chicken breast to 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. Repeat with the other chicken breast. Going against the grain (i.e. across the short part of the chicken breast rather than the long part) cut strips of chicken.

In a medium bowl whisk together the milk, dijon mustard, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Place the chicken strips in the milk mixture to marinate while you prepare the breadcrumbs. In a second bowl mix together the breadcrumbs and salt and pepper to taste. Shake off a chicken strip, dredge to coat in the breadcrumb mixture, and lay flat on the metal rack. Repeat with remaining strips.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through and slightly golden. Serve with dipping sauce, ketchup, or as is.

Light Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup low fat sour cream
2 tbl milk
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
pinch cayenne pepper
1 chopped chive or green onion
salt and pepper to taste

In a small bowl mix together all ingredients until combined. Serve as a dipping sauce with chicken tenders and vegetables.

Maple Apple Pie Oatmeal

I love to make oatmeal. There are certain things in this world that just make me feel comforted and oatmeal is one of them. Coffee, muffins, fuzzy scarves, cute boots, car heaters, and chilly autumn winds are some more things that fall into my "comfort" list. Is it any wonder that I have an entire notebook page dedicated to fall baking ideas? :)

This week I decided to take a spin on my usual comforting oatmeal recipe. I haven't posted my usual cinnamon raisin oatmeal recipe yet, but I had to share this one immediately with all of you. I just love the way this nods to fall in all the spices, the apples, and the warm maple syrup. Plus, it's not bad on the wasitline either ;).

Some things on my fall baking to-do list? I plan on doing many things with my basket of apples since I missed out on the picking season last year. Definitly an apple pie is a must this year along with candied apples, baked apples, and homemade apple sauce. I love the kinds of baked goods you can freeze or give as gifts. Muffins and cookies are perfect for fall for just this reason. I love making an extra batch and sticking the remainders in the freezer to pull out on the fly when Miss Riley has a craving for a cookie.

Maple Apple Pie Oatmeal

1 medium apple, peeled and sliced
3 tbl light brown sugar
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbl butter
1 cup oatmeal (not the quick-cooking)
1 cup water
1 cup milk
2 tbl maple syrup

In a small saucepan heat the apple, 2 tbl brown sugar, nutmeg, allspice, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon over medium-low heat. Cook until softened, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add in the butter and stir until melted.

Meanwhile, heat the oatmeal, water, milk, 1 tbl brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon in a pot until boiling. Turn the heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes or until tender. Spoon into a bowl and top with the apples and 1 tbl of maple syrup. Makes 2 servings.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Coffee Cake

I get way too excited about random simple things...enter this pumpkin cinnamon chip coffee cake *jump for joy*. Why do we all love pumpkin so much? I don't have all the answers, but I will tell you that I feel slightly guilty for making this, mainly because of my own set of "holiday standards" in which I promise myself I will hold out on baking with pumpkin until after Halloween. Fail. Epic fail.

This coffee cake is delicious in the morning with a cup of coffee or for dessert. It tastes like fall and the cinnamon chips make it feel slightly decadent. You could definitly put a glaze on it and make it even more dessert-like. I'm keeping my eye out for a pumpkin-shaped bundt pan, because I think this would be adorable baked in the shape of a pumpkin.

I'm super happy I tried out this recipe when I did, because I am now positive that I will be making it for any brunches in the near future and even an extra one to freeze or give as a gift. It absolutely rivals the pumpkin muffins from Dunkin' Donuts that I love to eat with my pumpkin coffee. And, actually, the recipe in its original form was for pumpkin muffins so I'm positive this would make killer jumbo muffins. Make a bunch and freeze them for homemade pumpkin muffins anytime. :)

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Coffee Cake

3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (8 tbl) salted butter, melted
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup milk
1 16 ounce package cinnamon chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl whisk together all of the wet ingredients. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Carefully mix until the dry ingredients are completely moistened. Do not overmix, batter should be lumpy. Gently fold in the cinnamon chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

*To make pumpkin cinnamon chip muffins, bake at 400 degrees for 17-20 minutes. Makes 24 regular sized muffins.

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker.

Chinese Celery Salad

Chinese celery salad is really a glorified way to eat celery that makes it more enjoyable and less "I'm eating celery because I'm on a diet". It's obvi a really great recipe for anyone that's on a diet...i.e. just about EVERYBODY. I think you know what I mean. I love making delicious desserts and cheesey fried things, but when I'm really feeling ambitious about losing weight I try to cut down my portions of these things and replace the gap with low calorie vegetables. The problem is that plain veggies get a little boring and it's hard to come up with ways to make them different without using oils and fats.

This could be a great side dish in a Chinese themed dinner with peanut chicken and noodles, but I made it for myself. All for myself. I think it may just have negative calories...meaning the effort it takes to make this and then chew and swallow burns more than the actual celery calories...I'm probably wrong. I'm only a nursing student, I don't have to be perfectly reliable on these things yet. Whether it has negative calories or only 30 calories it's damn tasty and worth the effort it takes to blanch the celery (yes, you can blanch almost anything) and whisk up the dressing ingredients. Plus, after blanching those annoying fibrous celery strings come off so easily with the peel of a knife. The celery stays slightly crunchy and you don't feel like you're just eating celery...even though you totally are. ;)

Chinese Celery Salad

1 bunch of celery
1 tbl rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sugar
4 tbl soy sauce
couple dashes hot sauce
sesame seeds (optional)

Clean up the celery and cut each stalk in half. Blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes and immediatly drain and cool. Slice into bite-sized pieces on the bias and put in a medium sized bowl. Whisk together the rest of the ingredients and toss with the celery. Chill.

Recipe adapted from Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn.

Pistachio Sables

I guess I've gotten (partially) out of my cupcake rut. I was so disappointed after three batches of failed cupcakes in less than a week that I was starting to lose a little bit of motivation. Add to that school starting up again (which = stress) and a small amount of passive aggressive energy from someone (I'm not good with that), and I've been in a little bit of a rut. But I'm happy to say I took the first steps to solving my problems and bought some brand new baking powder and baking soda. I'm prepared to re-try my Nutella cupcake recipe again, for the third time tonight. :)

In the meantime I've decided to post something. I feel like I haven't posted in a long time, but I guess it's only been a few days. These pistachio sables are something I've had my eye on for a while. I kinda have a pistachio thing lately. I go through phases. I've got a jar of shelled pistachio meat tucked away in my cupboard waiting for future uses. These and some pistachio pudding (ehhh...still working on it) were my start. Consider them a really buttery sugar cookie made awesome with tons of pistachios. The flavor of the nuts really shines through since the cookie is so simple (not even vanilla extract in here). I love them, and could easily have eaten the whole batch myself...but I'm being good.

This recipe is cut in half and makes about 12 large cookies. You could easily double it and freeze the leftovers. I know it's a little strange to use 1/2 of an egg white, but I bake so much that I usually have a tupperware of egg whites in the fridge. Measured out I used about 2 tbl of egg whites for this.

Pistachio Sables

8 tbl salted butter at room temp
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 large egg white
drop of green foodcoloring (optional)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup roughly chopped pistachios
sanding sugar or raw sugar for rolling

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and powdered sugar on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the egg white and food coloring and beat until just combined. Add in the flour and beat on low until almost combined. Add the pistachios and beat until combined on low speed for about 30 seconds or less.
Roll the dough into a log about 8 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll in sanding sugar or raw sugar to coat, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the cookie dough log into 3/4 inch slices and space about 1 inch apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until firm to the touch but with no golden brown color. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from The Art of the Cookie