Happy Thanksgiving! Pumpkin swirl cheesecake

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!  I hope all of you have had a safe and wonderful weekend, surrounded by good friends and family...and...of course a table ladened with the bounty of the season.

My Dear Little Cardamummy asked me to bring pumpkin pies to dinner (yes, plural).  I was all set to whip up something special but my body had other plans.

The day I was to bake I awoke with the beginnings of a cold.  Little surprise as my life has been busy as of late--between my new client that's a teeny bit of a distance away along with my volunteer responsibilities (oxymoron??) I've been burning the candle at both ends.  Long days, late nights and little time to actually take care of myself (or cook...or blog).  This isn't a complaint, just a statement of how my life is right now.

Knowing full well food I cook when I'm not feeling at my best rarely turns out well, I succumbed to the  bigscarymegamart and picked up a couple of pies. I must admit my heart seized a titch when I saw what their head office decreed as "regular price".. +$8!  The "sale" price was $6.  Good gravy.  Given these are factory pies, frozen and then heated in the bowels of the store, I question the $6 price tag...and do not believe the $8 at all.  Alas, I was in a bind and I paid $12 for two rather mediocre pies.

Thanks to Mum's home cooking and a bit of rest, I'm feeling a bit better now.

Needless to say, I wanted to get back into the kitchen and create an autumnal dessert.  My mind turned to my original thought of a swirled cheesecake.

Cheesecakes are rather easy to put together and once you master the basics, easily adapted to a myriad of flavours and combinations.  This time I decided to created a chai-spiced pumpkin and vanilla swirled cheesecake--something that celebrates the season's bounty and brings a titch of warmth to the cooler night air.

The resulting cheesecake is creamy, mildly spiced and perfect for a gathering.  If I were to have served this at dinner, I would have roasted some pear slices tossed in honey, vanilla and cinnamon and served each slice of cake with the warmed fruit with a spoon of Chantilly cream.

Chai-spiced pumpkin & vanilla swirled cheesecake
Yield: 1 20cm (8") cheesecake

Ingredients

For the crust
225g/560ml/2.25c graham wafer crumbs
100ml/0.33c+1Tbsp melted butter
pinch of salt

For the filling
750g/3 bricks cream cheese, at room temperature
250g /1.25c sugar
1tsp/5ml vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
3 eggs, at room temperature
100ml (0.33c + 1Tbsp) heavy cream, at room temperature
275g/280ml/1c+2Tbsp pureed pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
2 cloves, ground
2 pods' worth of cardamom seeds, ground
0.5tsp/2.5ml ground ginger
0.25tsp/1.25ml ground cinnamon
a kettle of boiling water

Method

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Wrap the outside of the springform pan with tinfoil (this will help to minimise leakage--both from the batter leaking out, but also the bain marie's water from seeping in.

For the crust:
Prepare the crust by mixing all its ingredients together and pressing firmly and evenly onto the bottom of the cakepan.  Set aside.

For the filling:
Cut the cream cheese into cubes, and cream together with sugar.  Blend in eggs, one at a time, scraping well between each addition.  Mix in vanilla and cream until well blended.

Reserve about one third of the batter in a jug and set aside.

Add the spices and pumpkin puree into the larger quantity of batter and blend until evenly mixed.

Pour half the pumpkin batter into the prepared cake tin and then pour, in alternate dollops the vanilla and pumpkin batters.  With a skewer or handle-end of a teaspoon, swirl the batters together until you've attained the desired visual effect.

Tap the filled tin on the counter to release any trapped air bubbles.

Place the tin in a roasting pan and pour boiling water in the roasting pan until it reaches approximately half-way up the side of the springform tin.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the outer area of the cheesecake is set and the middle jiggles.  Turn off the heat and let the cheesecake sit in the oven, as it cools, for one hour.

Remove  from the oven and let cool on the counter until it reaches room temperature.  Chill in the refrigerator.

Serve with Chantilly cream, poached or roasted pears, and/or drizzled caramel.

cheers!
jasmine
I'm a quill for hire!

Temple Food: Curried Roasted Squash Soup

After a week of meals that looked like

and

(along with other things that came from oil- and sauce-spotted containers, icing-stickied paper sacs, and lidded plastic cups which barely contained melted sugary goo topped with more sugary goo),

It's time for a bit of temple food after a week--and more specifically a weekend--of semi-hedonistic cavorting with old and new friends. More veggies, less meat. More roasting and steaming, less frying.

My week is still busy, so the simplest thing for me to pull together as part of my recentring was a pot of curried roasted squash soup. Like most soups (and most things I cook), I made it on the fly. I roasted the squash when I got home, let it cool overnight and made the soup the next night, after work. The end result was sweet and spicy, creamy with a bit of an edge. Exactly what my body craved.

Curried Roasted Squash Soup
Yield approx 1.5-2L, depending upon how thick you like your soup.

Ingredients
1 acorn squash (pepper squash), approx 1kg (2lbs)
a little oil for frying
1tsp (rounded) (6-7ml) curry powder
0.5tsp (2.5ml) turmeric
1 onion, finely chopped
0.5 thumb (2.5cm/1") ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves minced
water
0.5tsp (2.5ml) Worcestershire sauce
1tsp (5ml) vinegar
salt
black pepper
chilli pepper (to taste)

Optional:
finely chopped coriander leaf or flat leaf parsley, for garnish
sour cream, for garnish

Method
Preheat oven to 170C/325F. Lightly oil a foil-lined cookie tray.

Cut the squash in half. Scoop out the pulp and seeds.

Place the squash halves, cut-side down, on the oiled foil-lined tray and bake for about an hour or until the flesh is fork tender.

Remove from oven and let cool. When the squash is cool enough to handle, peel off and discard the rind. Chop the flesh into large chunks.

Fry the curry powder and turmeric in oil until fragrant. Add the onions, coat with the curry mixture, and cook until soft and translucent. Stir in the ginger and garlic until they release their oils.

Add the chunks of cooked squash, and give the pot's contents a good turn or two with a spoon. Pour in enough water to cover the squash. Turn up the heat and let the contents come to a boil for about 10 minutes. Turn the flame down to a simmer, lid the pod and let blurble for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

By this point the squash should easily yield to the pressure of a wooden spoon, if not have totally disintegrated. Either mash the squash, blitz with a hand whizzer, or puree the soup, in batches in a blender.

Return the soup to the pot. Over a flame, thin with more water to a desired consistency. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and vinegar. Add salt, pepper and chilli powder (if using) to taste.

If you wish, serve with a dollop of sour cream, chopped coriander leaf or parsley.

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!

Pumpkin scones

I find it amazing how hyperpriced, underqualitied and overroasted beans can set the standard for coffee. Now it seems that purveyor sets the standard for pastries too.

As you can tell, I'm not their fan.

Time and time again I've heard people wax lyrical about said purveyor's red velvet cake and recently their cakepops. At this time of year, it seems as if their pumpkin scones have won lauds and honours from those accustomed to their wares.

I tried one. I found it absolutely amazing that a lead-like pastry coffined by icing so thick, that it bore more of a resemblance to an oversized Trivial Pursuit wedgie, could be as dry as sawdust.

This is considered to be an amazing scone? I'll just chalk that up with other opinions like Chef Boyardee is the best Italian food (yes, said by a guy I used to date), Combo Number 3B at that restaurant around the corner that gives you free fried rice with orders that cost more than $15 is what people really eat in China (unless you are in China and the resto around the corner really does have a Combo Number 3B), and edible oil products are just as tasty as real cheese or actual whipped cream.

Part of the issue is, I think, this obsession with encasing every baked good in icing. Cookies, cakes, cupcakes, muffins and scones. Heck...I wouldn't be surprised if pies and tarts get the frosted over. Oh wait...certain commercial Bakewell tarts have fallen victim.

It's gotten to the point that I think people honestly believe that a thick slathering of icing sugar held together by butter/ margarine/ shortening/ water/ lemon juice/ stuff I don't want to think about will absolve all evils of the baked good it smothers.

No. No it doesn't.

I fully realise we all have different ideas as to what a scone should be like--heck, people can't agree how to pronounce the word--but I'm of the belief that a scone should be light, tender, abundant with nooks and crannies to nestle in clotted cream, jam or butter...and uniced.

I also think its pronunciation should rhyme with "lawn" as opposed to "loan."

Maybe that's the other problem... Maybe what the ubiquitous coffee shop sells is a scone-rhymes-with-loan (would explain the price), and I'm looking for a scone-rhymes-with-lawn (heck, I have no airs...I'll eat my scone on a lawn).

With about a third of a cup of leftover pumpkin puree, from Thanksgiving baking, I decided to make some pumpkin scones-rhymes-with lawns. After looking at about half a dozen recipes, and referring to my favourite one by Tamasin Day-Lewis, I came up with this one.

I'm quite happy with these scones. They come together easily, are tender, lightly pumpkinny and not cloyingly sweet. Perfect warm with a bit of butter.

Pumpkin Scones

adapted from recipes by Tamasin Day-Lewis, Shoebox Kitchen, Baking and Books, Eggs on Sunday and Pinch My Salt

Yield 12 (with a 6.25cm/2.5" cutter)

Ingredients
100ml (0.33c+1Tbsp) yoghurt
75g (0.33c/85ml) pureed pumpkin
1Tbps (15ml) cream of tartar
0.5tsp (2.5ml) cinnamon
0.5tsp (2.5ml) ground ginger
0.25tsp (1.25ml) ground cardamom
0.25ml (1.25ml) ground cloves
0.25tsp (1.25ml) ground nutmeg
280g (2c/500ml) all purpose flour
1.25tsp (6.25ml) bicarbonate of soda
0.25tsp (1.25ml) salt
65g (0.33 c/85ml) sugar
55g (0.25c/60ml) very cold or frozen butter
50g (0.33c/85ml) dried cranberries
25g (0.25c/60ml) walnut pieces

milk, cream or eggwash
sugar or demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Method
Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with parchment or tin foil.

Mix together the yoghurt, pumpkin, cream of tartar and spices. Set aside.

Sift together the flour with the bicarb, then mix in the sugar and salt. Grate in the butter. Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture looks like a combination of coarse bread crumbs with some pieces the size of small peas.

Quickly fold in the yoghurty mixture and lightly knead into a soft spongey dough. Incorporate the fruit and nuts.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1.25cm (0.5") thickness and cut into rounds. Remove to the lined baking tray and let rise for 10 minutes

Brush the tops with milk, cream, or an egg wash made of an egg beaten with water and sprinkle the top with a little granulated or demerara sugar.

Bake for 8-12 minutes. The scones will have risen, the bottoms will be a medium golden and the sides will have firmed a bit.

Notes

• Don't use pumpkin pie filling
• If you don't have all the spices, change them as you will, or simply use 1.75tsp of pumpkin pie spice (though I'm not entirely sure what's in it)
• Omit the fruit and/or nuts, or use what you think will work nicely
• Of course...the number of scones you'll get is dependent upon the size of cutter you use.

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!

Happy Thanksgiving! Double Chocolate Whisky'd Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians.


I know I've been remiss in posting my foodie adventures (and yes, there have been some), but *gasp* I've been going out! and having fun!


More about that later.


Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Yes. Canada celebrates Thanksgiving. We've been doing so since 1578 when the English explorer Martin Frobisher was absolutely thrilled he didn't become a popsicle while searching for the NorthWest passage. About 30 years later Samuel de Champlain (the foodie he was) and his French settlers initiated their own feasts of thanks.


My Dear Little Cardamummy has quite a fondness for pumpkin pie. It's not really Thanksgiving unless there's a pumpkin pie on the table. My Big Strong Cardapoppy on the other hand, calls all pies "apple pies" (including cherry, pumpkin and banana creme) and, from what I've gathered, isn't too fussed on what the sweet is. He just wants a 10kg/22lb turkey on the table (did I mention it's usually just three or four of us for lunch?). Yes, really.


Needless to say, after a certain amount of negotiation and some consternation, I won the dessert battle (really, Mum store bought pie?) and I was allowed to bring in dessert.


I immediately cottoned onto the idea of a chocolate pumpkin pie. I checked my library to see what there was--a number of pumpkin pies, but no chocolate pumpkin pies. My online search basically came back with three recipes, and their permutations reposted over and over and over again. None of them truly excited me, so I put on my apron and started playing.


The finished result was this pie--chocolatey but not overpowering the pumpkin, laced with warming spices that remind me of both falling leaves and crunching snow. Underneath it all is a deeper warmth carried by whisky and vanilla.

Double Chocolate Whisky'd Pumpkin Pie
Adapted from recipes by Edna Staeber, Martha Stewart, Baking Bites and Dreena's Vegan Recipes.


Yield: one 9" pie (1.75" deep)


Ingredients


For the crust
170g (1c+3Tbsp /295ml) all purpose flour
20g (4Tbsp/60ml) cocoa
25g (4Tbsp/60ml) sugar
0.25tsp (1.25ml) salt
85g (6Tbsp/90ml) very cold (if not frozen) unsalted butter
2 egg yolks, beaten
0.5tsp (2.5ml) vanilla extract
1-2 Tbsp (15-30ml) ice water


For the filling:
28g (2Tbsp/30ml) unsalted butter
70g (0.33c/85ml) semi sweet chocolate chips
2Tbsp (30ml) heavy cream
0.5tsp (2.5ml) cinnamon
0.25tsp (1.25ml) ground cardamom seeds
0.125tsp/ 1/8tsp (0.6ml) ground cloves
0.125tsp/ 1/8tsp (0.6ml) nutmeg
pinch salt
135g (0.66c/170ml) brown sugar
280g (1.25c/310ml) pureed pumpkin
2 eggs3-4Tbsp (45-60ml) whisky (see notes)
1tsp (5ml) vanilla extract


Serve with any of the following, if desired
Whipped cream/Chantilly cream
Ice cream
Icing sugar


Method
For the crust


Sift together the flour, cocoa, sugar and salt. Grate in the butter with the large holes on a box grater, then rub in the butter into the dry ingredients, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the beaten egg and vanilla then dribble in enough water so the dough comes together but is not wet or tacky. Form the dough into a disk and pop into the fridge for 30 minutes.


Preheat oven to 300F/160C. Lightly butter a pie tin that's 9" wide and 1.75" deep (approx 22cm wide, 4.25-4.5cm deep).


Line the pie tin with the dough that's been rolled out to approx 0.5cm (0.25") thickness. trim the edges and crimp the crust as you see fit. Dock the bottom and sides of the crust by piercing the dough with a fork's tines--I do this until it reminds me of my dentist's acoustical tiles. Line the crust with tin foil and then weight it with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes.


Remove from oven, take the foil and the weights off and let cool as you make the filling.


For the filling:
Preheat oven to 375F/190C.


Melt the butter until slightly foamy. If you're doing this on the stovetop, turn off the hob and add the chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Add the cream, spices and salt and stir until smooth. Mix in the brown sugar. Set aside to cool slightly.


In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin eggs, whisky and vanilla, until well mixed. Fold in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture and mix until you cannot see streaks of orange or brown. Pour evenly into the cooled crust and smooth the top. Bake for 40-55 minutes. The filling will be set and an inserted skewer will come out clean.


Remove from the oven and let cool completely.Serve with whatever accompaniment (or none at all) you wish


Notes:

• You don't have to make the chocolate shortcrust if you don't want to. A regular shortcrust or graham wafer crust will be fine (but then it would simply be a Whisky'd Chocolate Pumpkin Pie...nothing wrong with that).
• Do not use pumpkin pie filling. Goodness knows what's in that stuff.
• Whisky. I suppose it's optional, but it's Thanksgiving (or Christmas, or whatever occasion that warrants pie). You may feel better with a few drams of whisky.
• More about whisky. I'm Canadian, so I use rye/Canadian whisky. You can use what you have on hand (even if it means bourbon, scotch or Irish whisky). If you don't have whisky in the house, use brandy, rum, cognac or creme de cacao (or whatever else you think may work) :)...I welcome any and every effort to make this pie happier

cheers!
jasmine
I'm a quill for hire!

Butternut squash, bacon and apple soup

Apologies to those who are looking for one of my usual life-based missives. The fact is said life, such as it is, has taken over and I've been left flicking through photographs and recipes to find something to offer. Quite honestly, if I didn't, you'd be left with that not-so-exciting slow cooker pork sandwich recipe I'm not-that-excited about.

Earlier this year when I reviewed Jennifer McLagan's Fat I noted her pumpkin and bacon soup was okay but needed something more. I liked the contrast of a silky pumpkin soup with crispy bacon crumbles, but I just thought the flavours could be a bit more.

After playing a bit I came up with this recipe, based on McLaglan's recipe and others written by Trish Magwood and Molly Katzen. It's relatively quick and more than easy--the most laborious part is blitzing the soup, but really a masher would do if you want something a bit more textured. The result is a combination of sweet, smoky and savoury silkiness that's perfect in cool autumn, winter or even early spring nights.

Enjoy!

Butternut squash, bacon and apple soup
Yield: Approx 2-2.5 L (8-10c)

4-6 rashers bacon, crumbled and fried to a crisp, with its fat reserved
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
500g (approx 1lb) butternut squash, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
2 tart apples (Granny smith, for example), peeled, cored and cut into chunks
250ml (1c) white wine
1L (4c) vegetable stock (cold, preferably)
250ml-375ml (1-1.5c) apple cider or juice
cayenne pepper (optional)

Cook the onions until translucent in the bacon fat. Add the garlic and stir until its fragrance is released. Pour in the wine and stir until the liquid has evaporated.

Add the bacon, chunked squash and squash and give the pot a good stir. Add the apple juice and enough stock to cover. Let blurble over medium-high heat until the squash and apples are soft.

Remove from heat and mash or blitz with a blender (stick or jug) until it is as smooth as you wish. Return to the heat and add as much hot pepper as you wish. Stir, taste and balance flavours as your palate dictates.



Note: You can decide not to blitz the bacon with the soup and simply sprinkle a few shards onto the soup before serving.




cheers!
jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!

Pumpkin cupcakes

'Tis the season to be pumpkinny.

I suppose this could be a Savour the Season post...and if I'd given more thought to it, I'd probably have trekked out to the pumpkin patch, snapped some photos and done up a proper StS badge...but alas, I did not.

The fact is, I was stuck for Hallowe'eny treats. Last year I didn't do anything for this spooky day--didn't dress up, didn't do the treats. I wanted to rectify the situation.

This year, I wanted to be a bumble bee. We have a great theatrical costumer in town and I recall seeing the striped top, wings and other bee-like acutriments a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, I was in an all-morning meeting and couldn't buzz around like I wanted...well, I could have, but it wouldn't have been advisable. Sigh...the problems of being a somewhat responsible grown up...

So I recycled a previous "costume" --dressed normally and wore my tiara (yes, I do own one)...whenever people commented on the headpiece I'd just say in my breathy bunny voice, "What tiara? I don't know what you're talking about," or "Princess? Why do you think that I'm only a princess one day a year?"


The treats weren't as easy to sort out. A few years ago I came up with ghoulish witch fingers...people are still talking about them. I'd seen some other seasonal goodies and thought about doing something really gross, but I've been run off my size sixes.


The fallback plan is always cupcakes. After some pondering, I decided on pumpkin cupcakes with orangy cream cheese frosting.


The frosting was thrown together without measuring...roughly 125g cream cheese (half a packet) a big knob of butter, a couple or four spoons of icing sugar, a dribble of orange essence and a teaspoon or two of orange juice.


The cupcakes are great--moist, spiced like a Thanksgiving pie but with a fluffy crumb...and very, very easy.


I'd thought I'd only bake a couple dozen...and I was well on my way to do that...but accidentally added the entire 796ml tin of pumpkin into the bowl, instead of half. OOPS. Well...I quickly doubled the rest of the ingredients and was soon up to my ears in pumpkin cupcakes. Oh well...there are worse fates...like not having any pumpkin cupcakes.


Pumpkin Cupcakes
yields four dozen cupcakes (depending upon size of bowls and how much you fill them).

500g cake flour
2 dspns baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
seeds from one cardamom pod, ground
1 tsp salt
225g butter
250g brown sugar
250g sugar
4 eggs
1/2 c whipping cream mixed with 1/2c water
1 796ml tin pumpkin


Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and paper the bowls of your cupcake tin(s).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb, spices and salt; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in sugars. Beat in eggs, two at a time. Add flour mixture alternately with milk (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour)--scrape down the sides of the bowl after each flour addition. Fold in the pumpkin.

Dollop into muffin tray bowls and bake for 25ish minutes or until an inserted tester comes out cleanly. Let cool completely before icing (optional).

cheers!
jasmine