TRICK OR TREATS

I like just about anything flavored with pumpkin, from granola and muffins to lattes and ice cream. With Halloween just a few days away, I was inspired to try a recipe that featured it as the main ingredient.

Bite size pumpkin cookies seemed like the perfect sweet and spicy treat to accompany my tricks. The following recipe produces a soft, cake-like cookie and is topped with a creamy, rich brown butter frosting.

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting

Cookie
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1 t allspice
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
4 T unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 t vanilla extract

Frosting
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 T milk
1 t vanilla extract
3 T unsalted butter


Preheat oven to 375.

For the cookies
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, allspice, cinnamon and ginger. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until evenly combined. Add the eggs, pumpkin and vanilla and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. The batter will seem extremely soft compared with most cookie doughs, but it will firm up during baking. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 10-12 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting
Place the sugar, milk and vanilla in a small bowl. Set aside. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, cook the butter until lightly browned and about 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat, add to the other ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy. Cover until ready to use.

When the cookies are completely cool, spread a generous amount of frosting on each cookie. Let the icing set before stacking the cookies or they will stick together.

RISE AND SHINE

My Sunday mornings usually begin with a run down to Crissy Field, followed by a skim latte and a gigantic breakfast. Well, by the time I usually cook and eat it, probably more appropriate to call it brunch.

This Sunday morning I had a fruit basket full of apples that I picked up the previous day while visiting my friend Maryann. Her dad has quite an expansive orchard and was more than happy to send me home with some of his bounty.

As I have mentioned in some of my other posts, one of my favorite sources for recipes is Williams Sonoma. Even more enticing than their website, is the catalog they send to your house that usually includes a few mouth watering recipes. I have gathered quite a large collection of them over the years. While the Ebelskivers are at the top of my ‘To Cook’ list, I still have not invested in the appropriate pan to make them, so on this Sunday morning I chose to make the Dutch Apple Pancakes. I cooked the pancakes in mini tapas pans (see below), but if you don’t have these, any oven proof skillet will work. I also increased the amount of apples and diced them instead of cutting them into long slices, as their recipe calls out. The only challenge of this recipe is refraining from eating the all the apples as you chop them.


Dutch Apple Pancakes

1 T unsalted butter
2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced into ½” pieces
3 T granulated sugar
1/2 t ground cinnamon
3 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1 T sour cream
1/8 t salt
1 t grated lemon zest
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat an oven to 400ºF. Spray two 6 1/2-inch tapas pans or an ovenproof skillet with nonstick cooking spray.

In a nonstick sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the apple, granulated sugar and cinnamon and sauté, stirring constantly, until the apple begins to soften and brown lightly, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until lightly frothy. Add the flour, milk, sour cream, salt and lemon zest and whisk just until a smooth batter forms. Immediately divide the batter between the prepared pans. Divide the apple mixture between the pans, trying to keep the apple on top of the batter. Bake until the pancakes are puffed and golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve immediately.

BABY CAKES

Today my office hosted a pot luck baby shower for my friend and co-worker Phoebe. I usually sign up for the ‘dessert’ category at most pot lucks and this time chose to practice my very amateur piping skills and made a cake to celebrate the occasion.

I wanted to use flavors that would appeal to most tastes, which left me with an array of options. I knew I wanted to use cream cheese frosting, because after all, who doesn’t love it. Now I needed to come up with a good cake base to accompany it. There is the traditional carrot cake that is usually paired with this frosting, but with the approach of fall and the holidays around the corner, I figured everyone would be getting their fill of similar spicy sweets.

I decided to browse one of my newer cookbooks, ‘More from Magnolia’, featuring recipes from the famous Magnolia Bakery in New York City. While I have not had the pleasure of visiting this well known establishment, I have read great reviews and figured I couldn’t go wrong with a recipe from their book. I chose their most popular, vanilla cake and alternately filled the layers with blackberry jam and the cream cheese frosting. I decorated the cake with a ruffle technique using a leaf tip and topped it off with lollipops and animal cutouts.

Vanilla Cake

1-½ cups self-rising flour

1-¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup milk

1 t vanilla extract

Filling

½ cup seedless blackberry jam (stirred until smooth)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 lb (two 8-oz. packages) cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces

6 T unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces

1-½ t vanilla extract

5 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

For the Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans.

In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth, at least 3 minutes. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended.

Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well. Gradually add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating continuously until smooth and creamy. Add food coloring if using. Cover and refrigerate icing for 2 to 3 hours, but no longer, to thicken before using.

To Assemble the Cake

Once the cakes are cooled cut each in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Pipe a ring of cream cheese around the outside top edge of the first layer. This creates a ‘dam’ and will prevent the jam filling from leaking out.

Spread half of the jam within the dam. Place the next layer of cake on top and spread with the cream cheese frosting. Place the third layer on top and repeat the process creating the dam and spreading with blackberry jam. Top with the final cake layer.

Frost the sides and top of the cake with a thin layer of the cream cheese frosting. To make the ruffled design, put remaining frosting into a piping bag fitted with a leaf tip. Weave back and forth creating an ‘S’ pattern about ½” wide. Repeat all the way around the cake.

LATIN FLAVOR

At a recent family gathering, I cooked a theme dinner of Latin flavors that started with a Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche followed by Fish Tacos with Baja Cream.

Ceviche is one of my favorite seafood dishes and I love to try all the different combinations. For those of you that also live in San Francisco, Fresca and Limon are two great restaurants that offer several varieties of ceviches with a broad range of ingredients from lime juice and coconut milk to yams and Peruvian corn. While I wasn’t able to find the same specialty ingredients they use to make their ceviches, I stuck to a more traditional method using a variety of citrus juices and served it with warm tortilla chips.

For the fish tacos, I like to place a variety of toppings on a plate and let everyone build theirs as they fancy. I think it is important to use good quality white corn tortillas and heat them thoroughly to make them soft and pliable.

Shrimp and Scallop Ceviche

½ lb. bay scallops
½ lb. medium sized shrimp (deveined and butterflied)
1 ear white corn
¼ cup red onion, diced
½ mango diced (medium ripeness)
2 jalapenos diced (membrane and seeds removed)
Juice of 2 limes
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 orange
Restaurant Style Tortilla Chips
1-2 t Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut each shrimp into 2 pieces. Rinse the shrimp and scallops and place in a bowl. Add the lime, lemon and orange juices. Stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 20 minutes.

Cut the kernels of corn off of the cob. Add the corn, onion, mango and jalapeno to the seafood. Let sit another 10 minutes or until the shrimp is pink and scallops are opaque and cooked through. Add salt and stir to combine.

Arrange the tortilla chips in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake 5-7 minutes until warm and fragrant. (Watch them closely as they can burn quickly). Remove from oven and serve with ceviche.

Fish Tacos with Baja Cream

1 lb Mahi Mahi
2 limes
*3 t Herb Seasoning containing Oregano and Sea Salt (see note)
2 T olive oil
2/3 cup sour cream
1/3 of a red cabbage, very thinly sliced
½ avocado sliced
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
½ cup crumbled cotija cheese (available at specialty grocery stores)
White Corn tortillas

*Note-I was able to find a meat seasoning blend that contains sea salt, oregano, paprika, pepper, celery, garlic, onion, rosemary, parsley. If you can’t find a similar seasoning use 3 teaspoons each of kosher salt and oregano and combine in a bowl.

Rinse the mahi mahi and place in a sealable storage bag. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 teaspoons herb seasoning. Let marinate about 30 minutes.

Place sour cream in a bowl. Add juice of 1 lime and 1 teaspoon of herb seasoning. Gently beat with a whisk until smooth. Add more seasoning as needed, to taste.

Cut the remaining lime into 4 wedges. Add the juice of one wedge to the fish right before cooking. Arrange the remaining wedges on a platter with cilantro, avocado and cheese.

Heat 1 T olive oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the marinated fish with lime juice. Cover with a lid and cook 3-4 minutes per side until opaque and flaky and cooked through. While the fish is cooking, heat a nonstick skillet over high heat and warm the corn tortillas; flipping often to heat through.

To serve, cut fish into pieces and place on top of warm tortillas. Top with cabbage. Let your guests add the other ingredients to their taste and top with the Baja cream.