Happy Halloween!

My Halloween recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Above & Beyond Parsley. Above & Beyond Parsley is a Junior League of Kansas City cookbook. I've had this cookbook since it's first publishing in 1992 and have been making these muffins almost every year since.

These muffins are delicious! The butterscotch chips add a nice sweetness to the pumpkin. They travel well and were treats on Friday for my office.

Butterscotch Pumpkin Muffins

1 3/4 cup flour, sifted
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugars, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Create a well in the middle of the mixture.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, pumpkin and butter. Stir in the butterscotch chips. Pour into the well of the dry ingredients. Fold together just until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix.

Spoon batter into greased muffin tins. (I use cupcake liners) Spoon batter evenly into muffin tins. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool.

Chocolate Creme Brulee - Chocolate With Francois (CWF)

What recipe to choose for my new baking group, Chocolate With Francois? There are so many great recipes in this book, it was hard to pick just one. Afterall, what doesn't sound good when made with chocolate???!!! Since Creme Brulee is one of my favorite desserts and I love, love, love chocolate, it seemed perfect to choose Chocolate Creme Brulee.

I am normally a Creme Brulee purist. I like the white Creme Brulee. For home baking, I have used the same recipe for years. It has the perfect creamy texture and the flavor doesn't taste too much like egg.

I was excited to try my first Chocolate Creme Brulee. Since it's only the two of us, I decided to make a half recipe. I ended up with three 6-ounce ramekins. I think I could have filled them a little less full and had enough for four. The recipe calls for extra bittersweet chocolate. Francois defines extra bittersweet as 72 percent chocolate. I couldn't find 72%, so I used Ghiradelli 70%.I think a good chocolate is one of the keys to this recipe.

I always use white sugar for the carmelized top of the Creme Brulee. Francois suggests using brown sugar. Brown sugar, however, contains too much moisture, so he recommends drying it. To dry it you spread the brown sugar on a cookie sheet. Bake in a 200 degree oven for an hour. When you take it out, if the sugar is lumpy, use the paddle attachment of your mixer to break up the lumps.

I am sad to say, I didn't love, love, love this recipe. I wasn't happy with the appearance of the carmelized top. I tried one with brown sugar and one with white sugar. I think the reason is the darkness of the chocolate causes the carmelized sugar to look very dark. One of my favorite things about white creme brulee is the beautiful golden brown carmelized top. The flavor didn't wow me. Although I am a dark chocolate fan, to me this wasn't sweet enough and the texture wasn't as creamy as I would have liked.

I am proud to be creating along side a very talented group of ladies. You can find the links to their blogs over at Chocolate With Francois.

Chocolate Creme Brulees
From Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

Custard
6 ounces 72% chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup sugar
8 large egg yolks
3 cups plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Topping
1 cup sugar

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 300.
Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Combine the sugar and egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk until well combined.
Bring the cream to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Remove from the heat, and stir in the chocolate until it is melted and the mixture is smooth.
Slowly pour a fourth of the cholcate cream into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep the yolks from curdling. Pour all of the yolk mixture into the chocolate cream and whisk until everything is combined.
Strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a pitcher or a bowl. (The custard will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 2 days.) Pour the custard into eight 6-ounce ramekins. Place the ramekins in a rimmed baking sheet or a shallow baking dish and pour about 1/4 inch of water into the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 1 hour, until the custard is just set. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate the ramekins until the custard is completely set and chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

Finish the dessert: Place a rack as high as you can in the oven and preheat the oven to 500. With the ramekins on a baking sheet, spread the top of each custard with an even layer of about 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place them in the oven as close as possible to the heat source. Broil until the sugar melts completely and forms a crisp, caramel colored crust, about 2 minutes. Keep a close eye on the oven, as the sugar can burn very quickly. Serve immediately.

You can also use a small blowtorch to carmelize the sugar. It allows you to control the heat better as you run the blowtorch over the sugar. I always carmelize using this method. I have never had much success carmelizing in the oven.

Indoor Gardening Week Four

Week Four is the first time to feed the AeroGarden. The seed kits come with nutrients to feed the plants. The nutrients are added to the water and at the same time you make sure the water reservoir is full. The AeroGarden has a red light that flashes when it is time to feed and water the garden. How easy is that?

As you can see from the photo the herbs are starting to grow. The chives are still slow in getting started. The chives didn't grow well last time. I hope this isn't a sign they aren't going to do well this time.

A few more weeks and even though it's cold outside, we'll have beautiful fresh herbs.

Culinary Boot Camp Week 4

Tonight we learned poaching and braising. I braise meats, especially ribs, so I was pretty familiar with this technique.

Tim asked me what we did in class tonight. I said we learned how to poach chicken. Now remember this is the guy that last week thought we were learning how to trust our chicken. He said "Poach chicken, did someone shoot the chicken on someone else's property"?

I've never poached anything before and I am not sure it's a technique I will use. I like my chicken or fish to have some color to it. While the fish and chicken we poached in class had wonderful sauces, they were very pale and just not as appealing as a nicely browned piece of meat.

We also learned about "mother sauces". Mother sauces are the five "grand sauces" as defined by Auguste Escoffier. Escoffier was one of the most famous chefs in the early 1900's. The sauces are Bechamel, Espagnole (the base for demiglace), Tomato Sauce (creamy, not marinara),Hollandaise and Veloute. We made Veloute. It was a wonderful, creamy sauce we used on the poached chicken. Veloute also makes an excellent base for creamed soups. I think my first veloute at home will be the base for Cream of Mushroom soup.

Next week is the final class in the series.

Devils Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting - SMS

I can't remember the last time I made a layer cake. I was digging in the cabinet where I keep the baking pans and pulled out the round pans. Apparently I've never baked a 9" layer cake...my round pans are 7". I had enough for the two 7" rounds and 6 cupcakes.

We went to see our friends Karen and Larry in Kansas City this weekend. We had this cake for dessert last night. This recipe called for strong black coffee. I was a little concerned because Larry doesn't like coffee at all. I tried one of the cupcakes and couldn't even tell, so I knew we were good!! I made the frosting as Karen from Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More suggested. It was sooooooooo good! I can't imagine following the frosting recipe in the cookbook, seriously 6 sticks of butter???!!! I am all about rich, decadant desserts but that would have been too much, even for me!!! The cake was fabulous! This was my favorite SMS so far and you can bet I will be making this cake again...SOON!

This weeks recipe was chosen by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon. Holly you rock! This recipe was the best! Visit the SMS site to see what finishing touches all of the creative SMS bakers put on this delicious cake!!

Culinary Boot Camp Week 3

Tonight was my favorite night so far! Of course, I forgot the camera! We roasted a chicken the chef had brined prior to class. We learned how to truss a chicken. I was telling my husband and he said "You learned how to trust the chicken?".

The techniques for tonight's class were dry heat methods, roasting and grilling. We grilled pork chops and served them with a delicious mustard sauce. These were the most tender pork chops I've ever eaten. They were marinated in a simple marinade of oil, worchestershire, garlic, and salt and pepper.

We made Spinach with Bacon and Pine Nuts. Bacon makes everything yummy! Our other side dish was glazed sweet potatoes. They were beautiful and delicious.

I am really enjoying these classes and it's only increasing my desire to go to cooking school. Next week poaching and braising. I've never poached anything, so I am looking forward to learning about this technique.

Roasted Delicata Squash

I've never tasted delicata squash. The nice thing about winter squash is they keep so well. I picked this one up several weeks ago at the farmer's market and it was perfectly fresh when I used it last night.

Squash is so easy to prepare. The biggest challenge is cutting it in half. The secret to making cutting it in half easier is to put in the microwave for 60 seconds prior to cutting. It softens it just enough to make it easier.

I cut the delicato squash in half and then cut the halves in half again. Drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper and a little brown sugar. Topped them with some fresh thyme. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 -40 minutes until the squash is soft when tested with a fork.

I found the delicata squash to be a milder flavor than butternut or acorn but still earthy and delicious.