Czech Cherry and Spice Squares

 

I've been eyeing this recipe for a long time, but all the egg yolks and sourcing cherry jam put me off.  I wasn't sure they'd be worth the trouble and expense, but the recipe intrigued me, so I finally decided to make them.

I followed the recipe exactly to make 24 squares.  Here's what I used:

1 cup walnut pieces
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground clove
pinch fine salt
1½ sticks salted butter, diced and slightly chilled
5 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons brandy

Filling
1 cup cherry jam
1/2 lemon, zest finely grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 egg white, for brushing

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 8 minutes. Cool completely.  Butter a 9 x 12½ -inch baking sheet pan, then cover bottom with parchment paper. Pulse the walnuts with the sugar, in a food processor until fine and powdery, about 2 minutes. Add the flour, spices, and salt, pulsing until evenly combined. Add the butter, yolks, and brandy and pulse until mixture starts to come together. Stop mixing and pull the dough together by hand, press and roll into a thick log about 8 inches long.  Cut the log crosswise into 12 equal pieces. (If the dough is very sticky, refrigerate it until easier to work with, about 30 minutes.) Lay 8 pieces of the dough on the bottom of the pan. Press and spread the pieces together with your fingertips to cover the pan evenly.  

Stir the cherry jam, lemon zest and juice together in a bowl.  Spread mixture evenly over the surface of the dough with the back of a spoon.  Roll the remaining 4 pieces of dough out on a well-floured surface about 1/8-inch thick. Use a small decorative cutter to cut the dough into 24 pieces. Evenly place the pieces on top of the filling in 6 rows of 4. Alternatively cut the dough into long strips with a pizza wheel or knife, and place them on the filling in a lattice pattern; or cut the dough into ovals and lay them on the filling in a decorative pattern. Brush decorative layer of dough with egg white.  Bake the squares until golden brown, about 40 to 45 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a rack. Cut with a serrated knife into 2-inch squares.

If I were to make these again, I'd use a mixer rather than the food processor once I'd pulverized the nuts.  Dry mixes never mix up well in a food processor and it completely blended the butter into the dough.  It would mean another pan to clean, but the food processor container would be easy to wash from just the nuts.  I suspect the whole thing is done in the processor for supposed ease, but I find it a hassle. 

I was hesitant to dump all the egg yolks and butter in at the same time, so it did the butter first, then the yolks one by one.  My dough ended up fully homogeneous, which I'm guessing was not the goal.  It probably should have been more like pastry dough, with bits of butter showing. I also forgot to brush the tops with egg white, so they're dull instead of shiny.  I used less than half the dough reserved for the cutouts, so I could have started with less and used larger cutters.  I made 1/4 thick cookies with the remainder, which baked up in about 10-15 minutes and burned quickly.

Tips:  Cut parchment paper large enough to come completely up the sides of the pan so the preserves don't touch the pan.  (Once baked, the preserves stick hard to the edge of the pan and pull away from the crust.)  Leave two ends of

the parchment paper to overhang the ends of the pan, then use these as handles to lift the cookies out of the pan after they've cooled and prior to cutting.  Use dry spaghetti to lay out cutting lines in order to get the decorative cutouts properly centered.  Cut on a board using a gentle sawing motion, especially on the hard edges.

Conclusion: Good, but not 5 egg yolks good.  I think these would be just as tasty with nuts and spices mixed into a shortcrust pastry dough, like what I use for lemon squares.  And they'd hold together better.  (VERY crumbly.)

Recipe:  Czech Squares via Food Network

A Santa Fe Christmas! Orange Cornmeal Cutout Cookies

Every time  I go to Santa Fe, I come back wanting to make some sort of New Mexico-inspired cookies involving corn meal and perhaps piñon seeds.  I decided to revise this recipe for Mexican Orange-Cornmeal Sandies for this occasion.  Based on my comments on the original recipe, I reduced the sugar slightly, as well as the orange extract.  I debated about the nuts, and finally decided to throw in piñon seeds.

Here's what I used:

2 cups flour, plus extra for rolling dough
1/2 cup finely ground yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1/4-1/2 cup piñon seeds (about 1-2 oz.) toasted and coarsely chopped

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In a bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add orange zest and orange extract and beat until thoroughly combined.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Stir in piñon seeds. Divide dough in half, shape into disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  On a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut out dough and place cookies 1 inch apart on lightly greased baking sheets.  Repeat with remaining dough, gathering up scraps, re-rolling and cutting until all dough is used. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 2 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Conclusion:  I liked my changes except...  I forgot to add the piñon seeds!  I stuck them in the surface of one cookie, but it looked sort of weird and I was afraid they'd burn so didn't do the rest.  But they added a nice flavor.  Still, this recipe simply spreads too much to be good for cutout cookies.  Maybe I can modify a different recipe for this combination.

Baked pumpkin two ways

 

Two different pumpkin recipes, one savory, one sweet.

Spicy Pumpkin and Greens

2 2- to 3-pound sugar pumpkins

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 small onion, diced

1 plum tomato, diced

1 Scotch bonnet chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (or about 1/2 teaspoon dried)

1 clove garlic, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

1 pound frozen, chopped, sturdy greens, thawed (or about 3 bunches fresh; I used kale)

1¼ teaspoons coarse kosher salt

1 cup evaporated milk

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

4 tablespoons breadcrumbs (preferably panko)

1½ cups shredded sharp white cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Slice off the top 1½ inches of the pumpkins and discard. Scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp. Have onion, tomato, chile, thyme, and collards ready to go.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, tomato, chile pepper, thyme and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the scallions and collard greens, add salt and cook, stirring, until the greens are slightly tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in the evaporated milk and nutmeg and bring to a gentle boil. Stir in 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs, the cheddar cheese and the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cook, stirring, until the cheese melts and the mixture thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Put the pumpkins in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and fill evenly with the collard greens mixture.

Toss the remaining 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs with the Parmesan. Sprinkle over the filling. Add 1 inch of boiling water to the baking dish. Cover loosely with foil and bake until the pumpkins are tender, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until browned and bubbly on top, about 30 more minutes. Let cool 5 minutes, then scrape the pumpkin flesh and serve with the collards.

I made only one pumpkin and the large skillet was too large, drying out my ingredients. If making only one pumpkin, use a medium skillet. I used a large bunch of fresh, curly kale and the filling didn't even fill a small pumpkin. (I don't know the weight.)  I was going to use a roasted Poblano chile, but it was bitter and not hot at all, so I used two red jalapeños. Careful with the salt if using fine salt.

Apple-Pumpkin Brown Betty

1 2-to-3-pound sugar pumpkin

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup cubed bread (preferably from a baguette)

2 Gala apples, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup golden raisins

1 tablespoon rum (optional)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

kosher salt

maple syrup, for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Slice off and reserve the top 1½ inches of the pumpkin. Scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bread and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 4 minutes; transfer to a bowl. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, apples, brown sugar and raisins to the skillet and cook until the apples are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in the rum, vanilla, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Return the bread to the skillet.

Put the pumpkin in a small baking dish and fill the pumpkin with the apple mixture. Cover with the pumpkin top and add 1 inch of boiling water to the baking dish. Cover loosely with foil and bake until the pumpkin is tender, 2-2½ hours. Remove the foil and pumpkin top and return the stuffed pumpkin to the oven. Bake until the filling is lightly browned, about 10 more minutes. Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle with maple syrup. To serve, scrape the pumpkin flesh and stir into the apple mixture.

The Gala apple I bought was tasteless.  (I planned on baking only one pumpkin and therefore thought I was halving the recipe, so I bought only one apple.)  Fortunately, I also had an Envy, which was crisp and delicious, so I added that.  I used a sourdough loaf, quite stale and not very dense, and threw in some dried, natural cranberries.  I'm intrigued by the substitution of half an onion for half an apple, as one commenter did.  Cheddar cheese might be a really good addition, though.

I messed up the baking a bit because I put the pumpkin top back on the savory pumpkin and left it off the sweet one.  It was supposed to be the other way around.  So the apples dried out a bit, and the cheese and bread crumbs didn't get toasty.  (It was a little challenging following both these recipes at once.) 

Note:  the sweet pumpkin wasn't super sweet and could be served as a side dish or a light dessert as is.  For a standard dessert, it needs ice cream or whipped cream at minimum.

Conclusion:  These recipes were good, but it comes down to baking inside a pumpkin is a PITA.  Trying to scoop out proportionate amounts of filling and pumpkin flesh is pretty much impossible, and very messy.  You can't help but get more filling at first, and meanwhile the pumpkin skin is falling apart, and the whole thing is steaming hot while you're trying to handle it.  This is a cute idea in theory, but the reality is ridiculous.  Both of these were worth making again, but I'll have to find another method. 

Recipes:  Spicy Pumpkin and Collards and Apple-Pumpkin Brown Betty, both via Food Network

Blueberry muffins I

I have in my mind the perfect blueberry muffin, but I've never been able to create it.  (My second and third attempts can be found here and here.)  I looked at 3 muffin recipes I have, two of which I've made with moderate success; the third was nearly identical to one of the others.  I had notes on my impressions, and suggestions for changes.  So I've cobbled together my own recipe here, cutting it in half to yield 6 average-sized muffins.

Here's what I used:

3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 extra large egg
1 cup fresh blueberries, divided
1 tablespoon heavy cream
3 tablespoons orange flower water

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then mix in the oats.  In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and beat until light.  Starting with the dry ingredients, add half at a time, alternating with the liquids and stir until just mixed.  Fold in the blueberries.  Drop into 6 greased muffin tins and bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Cool on a rack about 10 minutes, until firm enough to be removed.

I wish I'd had some fresh basil to try out with the blueberries, but in the absence of that I decided to try adding something floral.   My orange flower water tasted really watery, so I wanted to use as much as I could, but didn't want to omit all the dairy entirely, so I used a little heavy cream (for the fat and flavor).  In the end, I still don't think I could taste it.

I omitted vanilla because in one of the earlier versions I didn't like it.  Perhaps there was too much (1 teaspoon).  But these needed something.  I'd tried cardamom before and not sure it was "it".  Didn't think I wanted cinnamon.  Definitely not ginger...  I don't know.  I tried out dipping the tops in melted butter and then cinnamon sugar for one and cardamom sugar for another; both were tasty, but then why wouldn't they be?  I'm looking for THE complimentary spice or herb or flavor.  The search continues.  (Hence the "I" in the title.)

Conclusion:  While this wasn't "the" recipe, they were good.  Nice texture.  Could use a wee bit more salt (and if dipping tops in butter, that could be enough) and perhaps even just a little more sugar, depending on the berries.  I also wish I'd thought to add some dried blueberries, which are sweetened and might have been sufficient.  Contrary to logic, 1 cup of berries really is too much.  I want cake and berry--- not berry and some crumbs.  (And these were unusually large berries.)  I think I will add a little vanilla in the future, but still undecided on what else.

It's Halloween! A ghoulish cake

The competition was for scariest dessert.  I knew I had it, hands down, with this skull cake.  ...  You know what won?  A kitty litter cake.  PLEASE!  She threw together a few packaged ingredients!  What says "Halloween" about a "cake" made to look like a box of kitty litter?  Nothing.  The reason she won was because about 25 of her co-workers applauded for her and the winning entry was based on noise level.  It was a damn close call, even so.  And I'm not bitter at all.

Just look at this amazing creation!

Sigh.  If only it hadn't been so much work.  Almost everything that could have gone wrong, did.  I bought cake mix because I figured it was fool proof.  I don't make many cakes so I don't have a preferred recipe.  I got strawberry with the idea of mixing a little black food coloring to make a sort of gross, grayish pink, inside-the-skull color.  Well, I added too much black, which frighteningly made it look just like chocolate.  (Tells you something about artificially flavored desserts, doesn't it?  It even tasted like chocolate. And that tells you something about tasting with our eyes first.) Then the cake face stuck in the pan.  (WHY do we have to grease and flour a "non-stick" pan???  And then it sticks anyway.)  After much fussing, it came out... or part of it did.  The actual face stuck firm.  I managed to pry it all out in a few pieces and put it back together.

         

                                           Yes folks, that is a strawberry cake.

I wanted to use the cooked flour frosting I've used before, which I really like, but I decided to add a little cream cheese, thinking it would create a firmer product.  (Cream cheese is firmer at room temperature than butter.)  What a disaster.  I can only assume that was the cause of the frosting refusing to firm up at all.  No matter how much I whipped it, it stayed runny.  Like soup.  By then I was exhausted and had to go to bed, so I threw a towel over the cakes, hoping they wouldn't dry out too much, and stuck the soup in the refrigerator, hoping the chill would help.

The next day, the frosting was firm, but as soon as I started mixing it, it went back to soup.  Advice on the interwebs was to add sugar (gross), DON'T add sugar, add meringue powder, chill it, add more butter...  I added some sugar and some meringue powder to no avail.  I went out and bought canned stuff for emergency backup but the ingredient list grossed me out and I couldn't bring myself to use it.  I started over with fresh butter, then slowly added the soup, and that way managed to get a usable frosting.  By this time I'd spent all morning and was due at the luncheon in 30 minutes.  I started decorating. 

I glued the face together with frosting, and then the two halves.  When I used this skull pan for a Guy Fawkes cake, I had no trouble with the face sliding off, but this time it did.  I had to prop it up with more cake under the chin.  I used gummy eyeballs, one hanging by licorice laces (from a booger-filled eye socket), licorice lace hair, and candy corn teeth.  Then I dripped a little green icing slime from eyeballs and teeth.  The final touch was the meat cleaver (which I would have liked to have embedded in the skull but was afraid it wouldn't hold up.)

In the end, not only did the cake not win, but it didn't even hardly get eaten.  People didn't know how to cut into it, even though I got it started by slicing off the top of the head.  They want to cut it like a regular cake, but that gets you either little frosting or most of it.  So it got destroyed.  Making it look even scarier.

October ABC challenge: fruit and nut pull-apart muffins

The original recipe is for a pull-apart bread made in a loaf pan, but I'm more likely to eat half of it in one sitting when it's like that, so I opted to use muffin tins for individual servings.  I also reduced the recipe by half.  Other modifications are in italics and strikeout.

Here's what I used:

1¼ cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided (reserve 1 tablespoon)

1 tablespoons granulated sugar

1⅛ teaspoons active dry yeast

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter

1½ ounces whole milk

2 tablespoons (2 ounces) water

1 egg (at room temperature)

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Filling:

½ cup granulated brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ large tart apple, cored and diced small

2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1/4 cup fresh cranberries, chopped

For the dough, in a medium mixing bowl whisk together 1 cup of the flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt. Set aside. Whisk the egg and set aside. Place the milk and butter in a small bowl (I used a liquid measuring glass) and heat in the microwave carefully until the butter has just melted. Add the water and vanilla extract, then let stand until it registers 115 to 125 degrees F (or just barely cool enough to hold your finger in.) Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula. Add the egg and stir the mixture until all is incorporated. Add the remaining flour (except the 1 tablespoon reserved) and stir with the spatula for about 2 minutes. The mixture will come together but be slightly sticky. (I had to stir for about 5 minutes with a wooden spoon, stretching the dough.) Place the dough in a greased, 2-cup glass measuring cup. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Make Ahead! >> The dough can be risen until doubled in size, then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning. If you’re using this method, let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before following the roll-out directions below.)

For the filling, in a small bowl whisk together the sugar and cinnamon, then stir in the chopped apple, cranberries, and walnuts until evenly coated. Set aside. Grease and flour 8 muffin tins.

When doubled, deflate the risen dough and knead the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour into the dough. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 12 x 10-inch rectangle. Brush the melted butter across all of the dough. Spread the sugar mixture evenly all over the dough (if there is any accumulated juices, drizzle that over the dough too). Slice the dough into 6 x 4 strips for a total of 24 squares/rectangles (they might not all be the same size/shape and that's okay). Create 8 stacks of 3 layers each and fit each into a greased muffin tin cut-side up. Cover with a kitchen towel and place in a warm place for 30 to 45 minutes, or until almost doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover a sheet pan with foil and place on the lowest oven rack to catch any drips. Place the muffins in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the tops are very golden brown, and an instant read thermometer placed into the center of a muffin reads at least 190 degrees F. (The top may be lightly browned, but the center may still be raw. A nice, dark, golden brown will ensure that the center is cooked as well.) Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of each muffin to loosen before removing. Serve warm or at room temperature. They are best served the same day.

I don't like overly fussy recipes, at least not when it comes to preparation. I don't know why she has us segregate the dough ingredients. And why did we hold out that small amount of flour at the end? Was it just to help manage the sticky dough while we did a quick knead? And this layering... Not a fan. Rollups are fussy enough, but this took it to a new level of hassle. I wish she had shown her pan full of layers before they had risen. It seems like there would have been a lot of room in that pan, letting the layers fall apart.

I made this recipe into muffins because I thought it might keep better that way (and help with portion control.  Ha!  I ate 4 immediately.) That change gave me some trouble with construction. I originally thought I wanted at least 4 layers and I assumed the loaf would serve 8, therefore 6 tins would be sufficient. Her loaf actually serves 12. I saw how messy and unwieldy those stacks were going to be, and then found 4 layers completely filled--overfilled--the tin, leaving no room to rise. Fortunately 24 divides by 3, so I expanded from 6 muffins to 8.  I was still concerned with how much they might overflow the tins while rising and baking, but they did okay.

Conclusion: These were very good, but as I was putting them together I wished I had added cheddar cheese. I guess this recipe is reminding me of another October challenge from 2014 with this apple cheddar twist bread. I'm glad I added the nuts and cranberries (could have used more cranberries) because the flavors were a little one-dimensional. I was surprised when I removed the muffins to find most tins had syrup in the bottom, so I turned the muffins upside down like sticky buns. The bread was very soft and pillowy and the muffins weren't too sweet. I like this recipe, but I prefer a chewier bread and found this technique too bothersome.  

Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread via Brown-Eyed Baker

Pumpkin Spice Cookies: pumpkins and autumn leaves

 

Everything is pumpkin spice these days, right?  It can get a little out of hand, but since it's for only a short time once a year, I'm okay with it.  Now, if marketers started saying, "Hey, people are really into this stuff!  Let's give it to them all year!" that would be another story.  But once a year, it's a good reason to try new things.

So here I am with pumpkin spice cookies.  There is no pumpkin involved*; these just contain the spice mix that goes into pumpkin pie.  So all these "pumpkin spice" items would be more appropriately called "pumpkin pie spice mix" whatevers, but it doesn't roll off the tongue quite as nicely.

The assignment my art group had this week was for anything seasonal, artist's choice.  What with decorations and shorter days and festivity plans, the idea of stretching myself further with an "art project" was taking the fun out of the activity, which defeats the point.  So I opted to make autumn themed cookies.

This recipe seemed a little light on spices compared to this other one, but since I've never made either I decided to test the one that had a raising agent to see how the designs worked out.  (In looking this recipe up again, I found she has added canned pumpkin to the original.  I did not use the pumpkin, but wish I had... just because.)  I followed the recipe faithfully, with only two small changes.  There was no salt in the original recipe and that is not a good thing.  Also, I think my allspice has expired.  I use the berries and crush them as needed, but still they don't seem to have much flavor, so I doubled that.  I have no idea whether it made a difference.

*She has since added pumpkin to this recipe, which she says makes a softer cookie.  It's an optional ingredient.

Here's what I used to make about 3½ dozen 3" cookies:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
1/4 teaspoon allspice (I used 1/2 teaspoon)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2/3 cup granulated (white) sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (best quality available)

1/4 cup pumpkin puree (optional)

In a large bowl bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and spices. Stir with whisk to combine.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add both sugars and beat until fully combined and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla (and pumpkin, if using) and beat to combine. Scrape down the sides of your bowl with a spatula. While the mixer is running on low, add the flour mixture, slowly.  Mix until all of the flour is incorporated, and the mixture begins to ball up and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Dump out the dough onto a clean work surface, knead in any extra bits of flour or dough, and divide the dough into two large balls. Place balls of dough in a plastic bag (or plastic wrap), flatten dough into large disks and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.  (If you leave it too long, it becomes quite hard and difficult to work with.) When the dough has chilled, roll out onto lightly floured surface and cut out desired shapes. Bake cookies in a pre-heated, 350F oven, on ungreased baking sheets, 9-15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.

Frosting (approximately 1/2 cup):
2/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1½ teaspoons Wilton meringue powder
1+ tablespoon warm water
food coloring gel

Mix the first 3 ingredients on low with a mixer, adding more water as necessary to produce a
somewhat thick paste. Add color, and continue to mix and adjust water until desired consistency is achieved.

I left the dough in the refrigerator until the next day and had to let it sit out for a bit to soften.  However, once warm, the dough is very soft and can be difficult to work with.  For that reason, I ended up chilling the dough between rolling sessions, as well as the sheets of cookies prior to baking.  (I wanted to make sure to preserve the designs, but that didn't end up being an issue.)

Aside from their taking longer to bake (and that might have been my oven --- it seemed to be losing temperature), these were easy to make and baked up really well.  Despite so much butter and a raising agent, the didn't spread or lose their shape and also retained the designs.  Which means this recipe would work well for a stamped pattern.  Good to know.

For the decorative icing, I reduced the original recipe by a factor of 6 to produce about 1/2 cup or so.  The directions were to mix it for 10 or more minutes, but I didn't know what I was looking for, and other directions said it wasn't necessary.  So I didn't.  Also, it seems formulas vary; here's another that uses more meringue powder.

Conclusion:  Absolutely delicious!  They were lightly spiced, but still noticeably so, and they made the kitchen smell fabulous.  They were crisp, but with a delicate crumb, and could easily be manipulated for crispness by rolling them thicker or thinner.

Recipe:  Pumpkin Spice Cutout Cookies via Glorious Treats; Royal Icing via Wilton

Grain-free pumpkin bread

It's a glorious fall morning---the kind that calls for something warm and spicy from the oven.  I've had such success with this grain-free banana bread, I wanted to try the recipe with pumpkin so I could indulge during the season without guilt.  Bananas have a natural sweetness that pumpkin doesn't have, so I did add some sugar to the recipe (I was out of erythritol) and dried fruit.  (I kept the dried fruit minimal in case I didn't like it.)

For round one, here's what I used:

2 cups almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon pre-ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon molasses
4 large eggs
1/4 cup melted butter/ghee (combined)
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup sweetened, dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease an 8.5 x 4.5 loaf pan.  Combine dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and whisk together until is well mixed and there are no lumps.  Add the wet ingredients and stir until combined.   Add the dried fruit and combine.  Pour into loaf pan and smooth the top.  Bake for about 45-55 minutes. (Bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.)  Remove loaf from oven, let it cool in the pan for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling. Store in the refrigerator.

My 8.5 x 4.5 loaf pan is still in storage, so I used a 9x5, which really was too large.  But even though the loaf was thinner, it was underdone, heavy and dense.  I baked it for 50 minutes, but it needed another 5-10 minutes.  I could see that after about 10 minutes out of the oven, as it sunk in the pan.  Otherwise, the flavor was good.  Moderately pumpkiny, mildly sweet, good spice level, could have used a little more salt (I see I made that observation in the original recipe and had increased it)....  I like the raisins, but I'm not completely sold on the cranberries.  I've had other pumpkin items turn out heavy and dense; I wonder if cooking down the pumpkin to evaporate some of the liquid would help.  (I wonder if Libby's has started thinning their pumpkin puree, because this never used to be a problem.)

Conclusion: Not bad for a first try.  I need to find that proper pan size and make a few adjustments.  It will be reducing the moisture of the pumpkin puree that will be the trickiest.  I'm also wondering if any oil is needed in this recipe at all, since there's so much in the almond flour already.