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Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

November 26, 2014

Today I’m sharing a simple recipe for easy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. You can have this recipe whipped up and in the oven in less than ten minutes! The end result is warm, moist muffins full of pumpkin flavor with chocolate chips and walnuts throughout.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

It's that time of year! Hard to believe my favorite quarter of the year is now almost ⅔ gone. Not many things better than back to back months of holidays. Starting with Halloween, although that isn't really a holiday. But it sure is a reason to whip up some really fun candy. In my world, that's almost a holiday. Then we have Thanksgiving and onto Christmas and New Years. 90 days of feasting and spending quality time with loved ones. And now that we are ⅔ into this, I hope you are spending some time for yourself today amid all the preparations for tomorrow's feast

I try to prepare as much in advance as I can, but even with doing that one can still have a lot of work to be done on the big day. And it's usually a full house on Thanksgiving, so not only are you foraging ahead, you now have an audience. So before the plane lands, and the taxi unloads family and friends at my door, I like to have some me, myself and I time today. Nothing better than an afternoon coffee and a simple muffin to kick start me into the cooking chaos known as Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins are an easy treat that people can pair with their morning coffee or enjoy mid-afternoon when they need a snack. With ingredients you likely have on hand, except maybe the pumpkin, you can have these muffins ready before the first round of family or friends enter your door this holiday season. Not expecting a large crowd? These muffins also freeze well if you need to set some aside for another time.

Pumpkin Recipes

I had an extra can of pumpkin from the Pumpkin Stout Cupcake recipe that I made a month or so back, and figured why not use it up. I pulled out a Pumpkin book that I picked up at the local grocery store in the checkout line. You know the book I'm talking about. The little 5x7 theme book that contain the basic brands recipes. A company called Favorite Brand Name Recipes published this book. They had a nice little pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe that looked appealing.

I made a few minor modifications to the recipe to get what I was looking for. The original recipe also called for ½ cup chopped walnuts. Since I'm not a big walnut lover, that was a little much for me. You could easily omit this, or even go with ¼ cup instead to reduce the amount of walnuts. And of course, if I'm reducing walnuts, I'm adding to the chocolate chips by that amount.

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour
Baking Powder
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Salt
Pumpkin Puree
Brown Sugar
Whole Milk
Unsalted Butter Melted
Eggs
Semisweet Chocolate Chips
Walnuts

How to Make Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Muffins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins Process Collage

While your oven is preheating to 400 F, line your muffin baking tray with paper liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a medium bowl beat pumpkin, brown sugar, milk, butter, and eggs until well blended. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir together. Then add your mix-ins: chocolate chips and walnuts. Mix until just moistened.

Spoon evenly into your muffin cups filling paper liners about ⅔ or ¾ full of batter. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let muffins cools for 10 minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely on a wire rack.

Tips For Pumpkin Muffins

You can use either semisweet or milk chocolate chips.
You can use either paper liners or spray your muffin pan with nonstick spray and skip the liners.
If you don't have pumpkin pie spice, you can easily make your own. You can use 1 teaspoon cinnamon with ¼ teaspoon of ginger and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg mixed in.
I like to sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top of the pumpkin muffins before baking. There are plenty in the batter, but why not give it just that little extra love.
If you don't want chocolate chips in your pumpkin muffins you can leave them out. (But I'm not sure why you would?)
These freeze really well. Place them in an airtight plastic bag and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to use, take out from freezer and let thaw at room temperature.

It's a simple recipe, with a short 10 minute preparation time and a baking time of 15 minutes. They are best enjoyed warm, but will easily hold for a few days.

Enjoy the recipe, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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Here are a few of our favorite pumpkin recipes:

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Nailed It! Cherry Semifreddo Popsicle

November 24, 2014

We are back to the nailed it or failed it series after a week off to spend some time in Vegas at the World Food Championships. It's always interesting to see chefs under pressure in a battle for a $100,000 prize. Vegas is always good for some entertainment! We are still working from the Bachour book, and continuing to learn new things with each recipe. This week we attempted the cherry semifreddo popsicle.

Cherry Semifreddo Popsicle

Bachour plated this with a pistachio microwave sponge cake and pistachio tuile. I prefer chocolate with my cherry desserts, so I switched it up a bit. We went with the cherry semifreddo recipe from the book, but instead plated it with a chocolate almond microwave sponge cake and a chocolate tuile.

Ok, back to the cherry semifreddo. There is nothing difficult about this semifreddo recipe. It probably took 20 minutes to prep and create, then it sat in the freezer until very firm. The microwave sponge cake is also very easy. The majority of the time was for the 2-3 hours of refrigeration before cooking in the microwave for 40 seconds. The cherry gel is just a matter of mixing a few ingredients and refrigerating until cold. Hopefully you are noticing a theme for all these components. About 15-20 minutes of prep and cook time, a few hours of refrigeration, then plate and you have a great refreshing dessert.

Ingredients

Eggs
Salt
Sugar
Cherry puree
Heavy whipping cream
Almonds
AP flour
Chocolate
Cocoa powder

How to Make The Semifreddo Popsicle

If you don't have popsicle molds for the cherry semifreddo, you could easily mold them with small silicone tart molds and freeze. You just need to be able to get them out of the mold. So get creative, and work with what you have in the house. No need to run out and purchase new pans or molds for this recipe. You can see with the comparison image, that I didn't have the same popsicle mold that he had, so I just used what I had in the cabinet.

What's The Difference Between Semifreddo And Ice Cream?

You might be wondering what’s the difference between semifreddo and ice cream? In Italian "semifreddo" means "half-cold" or "half-frozen". Semifreddo is made with different ingredients than ice cream: semi-whipped cream, eggs, and sugar. Eggs aren’t always present in ice cream, but are necessary in semifreddo. Sugar can act as an antifreeze, so the amount of sugar, 20-27%, is integral to achieving the soft, creamy texture. Unlike ice cream, semifreddo isn’t churned, so it’s able to stay soft and creamy. It’s compared to having the texture of frozen mousse. Since semifreddo isn’t ice cold like ice cream, it’s a dessert fitting for cooler temperatures too. Once you take a bite of a cherry semifreddo popsicle you’ll notice the creamy, velvet texture.

How To Serve Semifreddo

Unlike ice cream that is served by scooping, semifreddo is typically prepared in a loaf pan and sliced or poured into a shape mold. To create a cleaner presentation when serving your semifreddo, I recommend going with toppings instead of mix-ins to your semifreddo batter. This will result in cleaner slices when you plate it. I’ve heard of semifreddo being compared to a sundae. Just pile your toppings on top!

For this recipe I topped each popsicle with dots of cherry gel, a piece of chocolate almond sponge cake, and garnished with tuile. Try out this cherry semifreddo recipe We would love to hear how you do!

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Here are a few of our favorite cold dessert recipes:

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Lamb Tagine with Couscous

November 21, 2014

Back in October I went to an event called Byte of Texas. It was an all day event designed for food bloggers. It was mostly an educational, weekend long experience for people in the industry. I love going to these to see old and new friends, learn a few things and always eat yummy food. Of course these events always have brands there representing their products that bloggers could use. I'm not talking about paper and pencils for writing; I'm talking about food. And this one was no different.

Now being a pastry gal, nothing sends my heart fluttering like seeing bulk containers of butter, heavy whipping cream or chocolate. But that was not the case at this event. One of the days there I met Tyler Winograd from the American Lamb Board. He was offering up review samples of lamb shoulder. Usually I pass on these samples because my expertise is pastry. But I started thinking... why not...I don't cook lamb very often, but I love it... What a great opportunity to try a new recipe and see what I end up with. So I decided to request a sample of some lamb shoulder.

And now here is the part where I get to say, the American Lamb Board isn't paying me for this post, all thoughts and comments are my own, and whatever else the governing agencies think I need to say, etc. I like lamb and wanted to try a new recipe, simple as that. Now we can get back to the post since I am done with the disclosure of how I got the lamb.

I can imagine what you are thinking. Should be interesting right? As with anything new, I realize there are experts in the field that will always know more than I do. And with that said, I'm glad to have one of those experts as a friend. I partnered with fellow chef, Jen Symes, to create this recipe. She has 15+ years of experience cooking in fine dining restaurants and is living in Austin at the moment away from her home in Australia. Jackpot right? This gal can cook, and boy does she know lamb!

So within seconds of sending her a text to see if she was up for partnering on this project, she had responded with a few menu ideas, and we ran with it from there. We decided to go with a very basic lamb tagine with couscous. It's a long process, but the prep time is short and mostly what happens is that you return to the pot to stir once an hour or so and adjust the liquid amounts. This meal is definitely worth the wait. The lamb is transformed into a thick aromatic stew of meltingly fork tender meat. All perfectly paired with a couscous containing the sweet flavor of golden raisins and apricots. Kinda makes me wish I only used half of the lamb so I could make it all over again this week.

Friday Food Reads - Homemade Decadence

November 10, 2014

This weeks Friday Food Reads is the new book by Joy Wilson called Homemade Decadence. I will say, I know of Joy the Baker, AKA Joy Wilson, but I have never tried one of her recipes. When I saw the cover of the book with the words "irresistibly sweet, salty, gooey, sticky, fluffy, creamy, crunchy treats," how could I not want to pick it up and try out a few recipes. The two recipes I made from the book could be described easily by many of the words listed above plus the words home cooked and delicious.

Her story is cute. She is living and working out of a tiny bungalow in Venice, CA. Living many years in San Diego, I understand what she means by tiny bungalow. Hopefully she has at least 500 sq feet of living space, but I have seen many of those bungalows, and if it gets to 700 sq feet, she is living large. And it seems with many of those old bungalows, kitchen space was not a priority. Her oven is tiny size, the fridge is tiny, and if she has more than 5 kitchen cabinets, I'm super excited for her. She even makes mention of having to buy mini baking sheets because that is all that will fit into her oven. But what kept me reading is a statement she makes. "It's not the size of one's oven that makes a baker; it's the amount of butter in one's fridge and passion in one's heart."

I'm reminded of the time I staged at an Austin restaurant, Uchi. For those of you that don't know what staging is, let me explain. During culinary school, when you have very limited restaurant experience, one can work for free at local restaurants to learn skills. It's not a job, as we know a job to be. It's a learning experience. The culinary student, me, gives up her time, and in exchange the restaurant gets free labor and teaches me how to work in a kitchen. It's an invaluable experience, yet to this day, I still don't understand how the labor boards allow it. But that's an entirely different blog post.

So back to Uchi. Uchi is a restaurant that is in an old bungalow, maybe 800 sq feet. The kitchen is small to make the most of any other space in the house to allow for dining patrons. My first day there, I was assigned my workspace in the kitchen. It was the size of a half sheet pan. I was not to exceed the space because there was another kitchen worker standing right next to me carefully guarding their half sheet pan of space. But what those pastry chefs whipped out in that little amount of space was just amazing. It really was about the passion in their hearts and the desire to make the patrons happy.

One can see as they read through the cookbook, Joy is overflowing with the passion she has for baking. She has been doing it since childhood and it has created many wonderful memories for her, which she shares throughout the book. I made the banana bread biscotti and the peanut butter cream pie. The recipes were simple and easy to follow. Both were good, but that peanut butter cream pie was just good old fashion homemade comfort food. Sweet, creamy, fluffy. Did I say sweet? YUM

Joy The Bakers, Peanut Butter Cream Pie

November 9, 2014

For those of you that haven't picked up the "Homemade Decadence" book by Joy Wilson I wanted to share the Peanut Butter Cream Pie recipe from the book. This was the second recipe from the book that we made. We fully enjoyed the sweet, creamy, peanut buttery, deliciousness she calls pie. To read more about my thoughts on Joy’s cookbook, head over to my Friday Food Reads post on it.

Peanut Butter Cream Pie

This thick, irresistibly creamy peanut butter cream pie is an extremely easy recipe you can have prepped and in the fridge in under 30 minutes. First, you’ll bake your crust. Then you’ll prep the peanut butter filling and whipped cream topping. Put it all together and pop it in the fridge for 4 hours. You’ll have a sweet pie dessert that will be hit with any peanut butter lovers among your family and friends!

I used my favorite store bought chocolate cookies to make the crust for this recipe. Oreos! Joy used a graham cracker crust in her recipe, but I knew that the peanut butter and chocolate combination would be hard to beat! One of the features I liked about Homemade Decadence is that Joy listed many pie crusts. All the recipes are designed to mix and match to work with the flavors you like. So that is one thing I appreciated about this recipe is being able to try a different crust!

Ingredients

Peanut Butter
Heavy Whipping Cream
Cream Cheese
Brown Sugar
Salt
Vanilla
Oreos
Sugar
Butter
Powdered Sugar

How To Make No Bake Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Don’t have time to create your own Oreo cookie crust? You can buy an already made Oreo pie crust or chocolate pie crust at your local grocery store. If chocolate isn’t your flavor, a graham cracker pie crust would also pair nicely with this peanut butter cream pie. You can find graham cracker pie crusts premade as well.

How to Make Peanut Butter Cream Pie

First, make the chocolate cookie crust. Preheat your oven and get to mixing. In a bowl combine the Oreo cookie crumbs, sugar, and pinch of salt. Add the butter and stir with a fork until the mixture is thoroughly moistened. The mixture will have a crumbly texture. Dump the crumb mixture into a 9 inch pie dish and press the mixture along the bottom and sides of the dish. Put it in the oven for 12-15 minutes, baking until the crust is slightly browned. Once it’s done, let it cool before adding the filling.

Make the Peanut Butter Filling

Next, assemble the peanut butter filling. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream until it holds soft peaks. Transfer to a medium bowl.

Keep the same bowl from the mixer, but add the paddle attachment. Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the brown sugar, salt, and vanilla and beat well. Add in the peanut butter and beat until smooth. Take out the bowl from the mixer and fold in a quarter of the whipped cream. Continue to fold in the whipped cream a quarter at a time and fold in until the mixed, but still fluffy. Spoon the filling into your oreo crust.

Make the Whipped Cream Topping

Next, you’ll make the whipped cream topping. Grab a clean bowl and use the whisk attachment on your electric mixer to beat the cream and confectioners sugar until it holds soft peaks. Add the whipped cream topping to the top of the pie. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Before serving the pie, add chopped peanut butter cups on top and drizzle with melted chocolate. Enjoy!

Expert Tips:

Don't use natural peanut butter for this. As much as I love it, it will be a bit runny for what you are trying to achieve. Also, be sure to use creamy peanut butter and not chunky peanut butter.
When whipping heavy cream you want your mixing bowl and cream to both be cold.
Don't skip the refrigeration time, you want the pie to firm up in the refrigerator.
To get clean cuts, clean your knife between each cut.
Store this pie in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
If you find you have too much and want to freeze some of the pie, it freezes well. Wrap in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

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Here are a few of our favorite peanut butter recipes:

Nailed It! Key Lime Verrine

November 8, 2014

This week on the nailed it or failed it post we made the Key Lime Verrine from the Bachour book. If you have been following along with this series of posts you know that last week we made the manchego cheesecake that was covered with graham cracker crumbs. Those same graham cracker crumbs are used in the verrine. As any kitchen should, we are always trying to make the most of our ingredients, and this seemed like a logical next recipe from the book. Later in the week, we had friends in town and used those same crumbs to make a key lime pie. I’m now down to one lime and a little bit of graham cracker left. I’d say, all in all, a pretty good use of ingredients this week!

Key Lime Verrine

The Key Lime Verrine is simple to make. I cut the recipe down to make twelve servings. I was going to go with six, but once you try them, you will want a second. They are served in individual mini glass dishes, with an ounce of key lime curd topped with graham cracker crumbs and blueberries. This is the perfect mini Key Lime Pie dessert!

The hardest part of the recipe was squeezing the juice out of the tiny little key limes. The second hardest part was not eating all the key lime curd before I could get them plated. To me that says this is a simple Key Lime dessert recipe!

Ingredients

Key Lime Juice & Zest
Unsalted Butter
Brown sugar
Granulated sugar
Honey
All Purpose Flour
Whole Wheat Flour
Cake Flour
Salt
Baking Soda
Cinnamon
Eggs

What is a Verrine?

A verrine is an appetizer or dessert composed of decadent layers served in a small thick glass. The word “Verrine” is French for “small glass.” The transparency of the glass allows you to see the colorful layers involved, so presentation is highly valued in this popular French dessert.

What’s the Difference Between Key Lime and Regular Limes?

One important note for this recipe is not to substitute regular limes for Key Limes. You can taste the difference. The Key Lime is known for its aromatic scent and a more tart, acidic flavor.

Key Limes are grown in Mexico, Florida, California, and the West Indies. They are smaller, slightly yellow in color, lighter skinned, and contain more seeds. When a recipe calls for key limes, I try my best to find them. The limes you typically find in your grocery store are called Persian Limes. They’re dark green, oval shaped, and contain more juice than the Key Lime.

Simply put the tangy aroma of Key Limes really takes this dessert to the next level, so don’t trade them out. Tart, sweet and intensely citrus flavored is what this dessert is all about.

Need more ideas for how to use Key Limes? I like to recommend "The Flavor Bible," by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. This book has thousands of recommendations for flavor combinations. I believe it’s an essential book every cook needs in their kitchen!

How to make Key Lime Verrine

First, you’ll make the graham cracker crumbs. Preheat your oven to 350° F. Use the paddle attachment with your stand mixer to cream butter, sugars and honey together in a bowl. Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and fold into creamed butter until smooth. Then roll out the graham cracker dough between two sheets of parchment paper to ½ inch thickness. Remove the top sheet and bake on a ½ sheet tray until golden and firm.

Next, you’ll make the Key Lime Curd. In a double boiler combine sugar, eggs, Key Lime zest and juice. Whisking often, cook for about 10-12 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in butter, adding one piece of butter at a time, until smooth. Strain and pour 1 ounce of curd into 12 glasses. Refrigerate Key Lime curd overnight until set.

When you’re ready to serve, top the glasses of Key Lime Curd with 1 tablespoon of graham cracker crumbs. Garnish with blueberries brushed with Valrhona Cristal Absolute neutral glaze.

How To Serve Key Lime Verrine

To serve this Key Lime Verrine, I garnished each glass with blueberries brushed with Valrhona Cristal Absolute neutral glaze.

If you don’t like blueberries or don’t have them on hand, you could top this Key Lime Verrine with raspberries or strawberries. A drizzle of lime caramel or even coconut whip cream would also be a nice compliment to this tangy dessert.

Give this Key Lime Verrine a try! We would love to hear how you do with the recipe.

Lissy_Serena_Key_Lime_Verrine_Comparison-

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Here Are a Few of Our Favorite Citrus Flavored Recipes:

Candy Corn

November 3, 2014

It’s no secret that candy corn is one of the most well-known Halloween treats. According to the National Confectioners’ Association (NCA), 35 million pounds of candy corn are produced each year, or 9 billion kernels. That’s a lot of candy corn! Surprisingly, making homemade candy corn is easy! This homemade candy corn recipe creates bright and chewy kernels, perfect for any ghost or goblin to enjoy on their trick-or-treating adventures.

Love it or Hate It

Personally, I’ve never been a big candy corn fan. People either love it or hate it. The waxy texture wasn’t appealing to me and the over the top amount of sugar seemed a little too much for a piece of candy. On the other hand, some people love the sugary kernels and can’t get enough of it! The tricolors and waxy shine lead to people eating kernel after kernel (or handful after handful) of this pure sugar confection.

Candy Corn

While surfing social media, I saw Alton Brown had created a candy corn recipe. I knew this was the one thing I would make during Halloween season. Even if it was the day after Halloween! My loved ones are slightly addicted to candy corn, so I figured I would give it a try. It has to be better than what comes in the bag!

Tackling homemade candy corn is a challenge for candy making 101. There can be a fine line with the temperature that’ll either result in nailing or failing the ideal texture!

I posted Alton’s recipe on Facebook and within a few minutes, I got a comment that says, "sounds good, but there isn’t any real honey in the ingredient list." The next comment said, "no honey, no candy corn…#standards." Challenge accepted!

Alton used corn syrup instead of honey in his recipe, so for my version of candy corn I ended up using a blend of light corn syrup and honey. You’ll read more about my trial and errors below, but I ended up creating the delicious, sweet homemade candy corn with the exact texture it's known for.

Ingredients

Powdered Sugar
Nonfat Dry Milk
Salt
Sugar
Light Corn Syrup
Honey
Unsalted Butter
Vanilla Extract
Food Coloring

Trial and Error

It took a few batches to get this to work. I started out by replacing all the light corn syrup with honey. Two issues with this. The candy was just like I dipped my finger into the honey jar and grabbed a big lick. It had no resemblance to candy corn flavor, and it was a sticky mess that was almost impossible to roll out. Then once rolled out, it slowly started to spread. So instead of little triangles of candy corn, we had soft gooey messes.

The second batch, I went with a blend of light corn syrup and honey. The flavor was perfect! But still a sticky mess. I will say almost all of them were eaten. Even if they were ugly, they were tasty.

I was left wondering a few things.

The original recipe called for the sugar syrup to be cooked to 230°, which I was doing. Was my thermometer off a few degrees?
I had just opened a brand new bag of organic confectioners sugar. Is there something different with this compared to non organic?
Did the honey change the way the sugar reacted once hardening?

So I started with the easiest to determine. Checked the thermometer. Spot on.

Then I did a little bit of research on organic confectioners sugar. And not too much out there on the web about the way it behaves compared to non organic sugar.

Perfect Candy Texture

After that research, I decided to change the cooking temperature of the sugar syrup. I bumped it up to 242° and it worked. Amazing what 12° can do when you are talking about sugar. This left me with candy that was still a tiny bit soft. You could now hold it, move it, and shape it. So there you have it!

Thanks Alton Brown for the inspiration and my new addiction to candy corn! You can bet I will be making these at Christmas time, with red, white and green. With just a tiny change in color it can easily become reindeer corn for your Christmas snacks.

FAQ

When was Candy Corn invented?

Candy Corn was invented in the 1880s by a Philidephia candymaker, Georg Renninger. The recipe was bought by Goelitz Confectionary Company, now the Jelly Belly Candy Company, and has been producing it since 1898.

Why is Candy Corn most popular around Halloween?

When Candy Corn was first produced lack of automated machinery meant it was only made seasonally. Production would start in late August and continue through the fall. It remained unchanged for over 100 years and became a Halloween favorite.

Today candy makers have made Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter themed candy corn. More flavors of have also been introduced such as peppermint and pumpkin spice.

How popular is candy corn?

In a poll by the NCA, candy corn ranks second on the favorite Halloween candy list at 13%. What’s number one? Chocolate rules the favorite Halloween candy poll at 70%. Chewy and gummy candy make up the remaining third and fourth favorite Halloween candies.

What is the right way to eat candy corn?

People eat the kernel pieces in a variety of ways. In a survey by the NCA:
42.7% of people start with the narrow white end.
46.8% of people eat the whole piece at once.
10.6% of people start with the wider yellow end.

For more fun facts about Candy Corn check out this article!

What about you? Do you love or hate candy corn? If you love it, what way do you like to eat it? I’d love to hear what you think! Give this recipe a try and let us know how it goes.

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Here are a few of our favorite Halloween inspired desserts:

Ovenly's Spicy Bacon Caramel Corn

October 24, 2014

Spicy bacon caramel corn is not for the faint-of-heart. This savory and sweet combination of flavors will surely get your attention! Made with beer, this dish has just enough spice to keep you going back for more - especially before it's gone! What can be better than popcorn mixed with salty bacon and sweet caramel? This is an easy recipe for spicy bacon caramel corn that is perfect for your next fall event.

Spicy Bacon Caramel Corn

After finishing up with Friday Food Reads, I wanted to share a recipe from the Ovenly cookbook. I tested four recipes from the book and each one of them left me wanting more. No failed recipes, all accurately written, and best of all, simple. No special ingredients or equipment. Just down to earth, well made, delicious food.

It was a tough choice deciding which recipe to share. Because I'm in Austin, and it's football season, it seemed like caramel popcorn would be the perfect snack to please any tailgate party. I have to warn you that there is a wide range of spice level for this spicy bacon caramel corn. Since this recipe uses cayenne pepper, I recommend going light in the beginning unless your audience is full of folks that happily tolerate hot, spicy flavors. If you have spice lovers, add more cayenne pepper and make sure a cold brew is nearby.

Ingredients

Bacon
Popcorn
Baking Soda
Cayenne Pepper
Sugar
English Ale
Butter
Salt

How to Make Spicy Bacon Caramel Corn

Spicy Caramel Bacon Corn Process Collage

First, preheat the oven to 400°F. Then with nonstick cooking spray, spray 1 large mixing bowl, 1 rimmed sheet pan, and 2 metal mixing spoons.

On a separate non-greased rimmed sheet pan, lay the thick cut bacon strips and bake for 30 minutes or until very crisp. Once done remove the bacon slices with tongs and spread them on a tray or plate lined with paper towels. Once the bacon has cooled, crumble it. While the bacon is cooling, leave the bacon fat on the rimmed sheet pan and also allow to cool.

Make The Popcorn

In a large pot with a lid or in a popcorn popper, heat the bacon fat over medium high heat. Add the popcorn kernels to the pot. Cover the pot with the lid and cook until all the kernels have popped. Shake constantly so the popcorn doesn’t burn. Transfer the popcorn to the prepared large mixing bowl. Add the crumbled bacon and mix together.

Make The Caramel

In a small bowl, combine the baking soda and cayenne pepper. Set it aside. In a large heavy bottomed pot, combine the sugar, ale, water, butter, and salt. Attach a candy thermometer to the edge of the pot and cook on high heat until the mixture boils. Let it boil until the mixture reaches 305°F and the caramel is a golden color.

Once the caramel has a light caramel color, remove it from the heat and mix in the baking soda and cayenne. Stir for 30 seconds, or until any clumps of baking soda and cayenne have dissolved. Immediately pour the caramel over the popcorn in the bowl. Using the prepared spoons, combine the caramel and the popcorn. Mix until the popcorn is well coated with the caramel.

Next, spread the caramel coated popcorn on the prepared rimmed baking sheet. Let it cool and then break it into bite sized pieces by hand. Store the popcorn in an airtight container for up to one week!

Baking Soda in Caramel Corn

Right before pouring the caramel onto the popped corn, you add the baking soda to the caramel. This is going to make the caramel bubbly and foamy so make sure your pan is large enough. It fills the caramel with air making it easier to coat the popcorn. Once the caramel corn has cooled, the air bubbles help to create a softer caramel, which makes for a better bite.

How to Separate Uncooked Kernels From Popcorn

There are a couple of ways to separate the uncooked kernels from the popcorn. You want to do this step. Nobody likes biting into uncooked kernels. The first way is to pour the cooked popcorn into a large bowl. Shake the bowl and the kernels will fall to the bottom of the bowl. You can then scoop the popcorn out into another bowl. By the time you get to the bottom, only the kernels should be left.

The second way will depend on your bowl size and if you have a large enough cooling rack. Once you have your cooked popcorn in a bowl, place a cooling rack on top of the bowl and turn it upside down and shake. This should let all the kernels fall through the cooling rack and the popcorn will stay in the bowl.

Enjoy this spicy bacon caramel corn! I know I did. If you want to take the flavor to another level, I'd suggest a drizzle of chocolate on the bacon caramel popcorn for an extra wow factor.

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Here are a few of our favorite recipes for fall season:

Friday Food Reads - Ovenly

October 24, 2014

For the first Friday Food Reads Cookbook Review, I thought I would go with the cookbook Ovenly by Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin. And I will say, this book did not disappoint. After finishing the book and testing four of the recipes, I can't even begin to imagine why I haven't been to the bakery! Then I remembered, they have only been doing what they do since 2010, and their New York's Best New Bakery status only happened in 2013. Considering it's only 2014, I don't feel too far behind the times.

How Many Cookbooks Does One Need?

Over the last week, I have finally taken the time to catalog all my cookbooks and get them into library software. WOW... I can't imagine why I waited so long to do this. I don't think I really understood the benefits of this until working at America's Test Kitchen with their 3,000 plus cookbooks. 3,000 cookbooks really do make my 200 cookbooks seem relatively small in comparison, but I'm already loving the benefits of just going into the software and finding all my recipes in one central location when I am on the hunt to make something new and looking for ideas. While I was cataloging, I thought it might be nice to devote a post to Friday Food Reads. No sense in having all these books if I can't share and make recommendations. Although, being a food photographer, sometimes I easily get sucked into the pretty pictures and forget why I opened the book to begin with. Hey, what's a gal to do?

About The Authors

The book starts with great stories about who Erin and Agatha are and how they ended up where they are today. I love reading these stories. As someone who spent many years in corporate America doing a job she was good at, but just didn't have a love for, I can understand someone's need to change careers and pursue their passions. The transition times, the hopes, the worries, the concerns, and the strong desire to turn their hobby into a business, are something a lot of people can relate to.

Their story seems genuine, and you can easily feel the passion they have for what they do. You can bet on my next New York trip, when I make it to the bakery, I don't want to just eat the food. I want to meet these two business women that bake with their hearts and don't bother trying to fit into a particular mold. Their story is an inspiration for all aspiring bakers.

Lesson From The Book

My favorite lesson learned from the book: "In every blundered recipe there is a culinary creation waiting to be discovered." This is so true. And I think as we become more and more comfortable in the kitchen and more familiar with the ingredients, we become much more flexible with just using what we have and making something work. As Erin and Agatha said, "Cooking is an adventure!"

Should You Buy The Book?

And after reading this cookbook, I would say, "Run with it. Create what you love and always...Eat Dessert First!"

Other Cookbook Reviews

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Pistachio Microwave Sponge Cake

October 23, 2014

We have made it to week nine on the nailed it or failed it blog series. We are still working from the book Bachour and learning something new every week. I loved the 40 second microwave cake so much last week from the praline semifreddo recipe, that I decided to continue on with the Pistachio Microwave Sponge Cake.

Pistachio Microwave Sponge Cake

Now this recipe didn't go as planned. It is slated for a remake one day once I restock the pistachio paste. The original recipe had a yield of 24 servings, which is way more than I or my willing tasters would ever need in one sitting. So I cut the recipe in half and planned for 12 servings. I thought it was odd that this recipe only had three ingredients when all other sponge cakes in the book had five to six ingredients and were much more of a liquid batter. The batter was then put into the iSi Whipper and refrigerated for the suggested three hours.

Once the three hours were up, I ended up having to spoon it out of the whipper, since it was too thick to actually come out of the whipper by the intended way. At this point I was going to scrap it, but figured, I came this far, I may as well see what happens in the microwave. What's the worst that could happen? A small explosion? I could live with that so I got the cleanup equipment ready. I pushed 40 seconds on the timer and stood back to see what happened.

There was no explosion and the cake did cook. It had a very nice flavor, but it was very dense compared to the microwave sponge cake I had made last week. I'm justifying that it needed to hold the lemon cream like a bowl. A light and airy would have not done the job and the lemon cream would have leaked out. Is the texture as Bachour intended? I don't think so. Normally I would have remade it right then, but swear words, I ran out of the pistachio paste. Hate it when that happens!

Reasons to Retest a Cake

After having worked at America's Test Kitchen, I have learned that retesting could take days to determine the actual problem of the cake, if there even is a problem.

The obvious things are:

1. It is actually the way it is supposed to be, and I don't know any better.

2. I could have incorrectly measured ingredients, or the scale has died.

3. My ingredients could be old.

4. The recipe could really be printed incorrectly, happens all the time in cookbooks.

For the first test, I will recreate the cake exactly as I have done today. That will let me know if ingredients were measured properly, and it will eliminate the question of if the ingredients were old.

If it turns out the exact same, I am left with reason number one, that's the way it is suppose to be, or reason number four, incorrect printing in the book.

Pistachio Microwave Sponge Cake Process Collage

Is Pistachio Paste The Same As Pistachio Butter?

Pistachio paste is a smooth creamy mixture that contains no salt, sugar or other ingredients. You can easily make paste at home if you have a food processor. It's just a matter of processor time. In as few as 5 minutes to 10 minutes you can go from raw pistachios, to crumbs, to powder to paste.

Fresh pistachio paste has a short shelf life. You can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks, or you can freeze it for up to three months.

Easy Homemade Lemon Cream

This lemon cream is an easy recipe to make and it pairs well with many things. You can use this to fill many cakes or pastries or even use it as a spread on your favorite biscuit or muffin. Lemons are the highlight of the recipe so be sure to use fresh lemon juice. Never use bottled lemon juice for these recipes. You really want to enjoy the flavor of fresh lemons.

Next Steps

Lissy_Serena_Pistachio_Microwave_Sponge_Cake_Comparison-

I'm going to print the recipe as written because all the other components were excellent. One day I will retest the sponge cake to determine if there is a texture problem or if that's how it's supposed to be. If you love pistachio, the pistachio paste is great to work with and left this cake tasting delicious, although very dense.

Give this pistachio sponge cake a try. I'd love to hear that I simply scaled out the ingredients incorrectly and it worked perfectly for you. If you are interested in any other recipes in this blog series, you can find all past weeks on the site.

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Here Are a Few Of Our Best Cake Recipes:

Praline Semifreddo Popsicle

October 18, 2014

We have made it to week #8, in our Nailed it or Failed it series. It's still a little hot in Texas, so why not go with the Praline Semifreddo Popsicle. It was perfect for eating, but almost a little too hot for photographing. Even with keeping these frozen for the image, once plated, I had only a few minutes to photograph this semifreddo popsicle before it started melting in the fall heat.

Praline Semifreddo Popsicle

Not a lot of changes to this Bachour recipe. I did scale down the ingredients to make only six popsicles. One other change was that the recipe called for almond hazelnut praline paste in the semifreddo and the cremeux. Best I could find locally was Valrhona Hazelnut praline paste. If you don't have access to this in a local grocery store, Amazon has just about everything now a days.

I made popsicles in a mini Silikomart silicone mold. Each popsicle was about 3". The mold was easy to use, but I would recommend gloves when you take the popsicle out of the mold. The best part about making this was, of course, the hazelnut malto. Every time we get a chance to play with tapioca maltodextrin to make snow, it puts a smile on my face.

What is semifreddo?

In Italian "semifreddo" means "half-cold" or "half-frozen". Unlike ice cream, semifreddo isn’t churned, so it’s able to stay soft and creamy. It’s compared to having the texture of frozen mousse. Typically 6 hours is long enough to freeze your semifreddo, but freezing overnight is even better. Unlike ice cream that is served by scooping, semifreddo is typically prepared in a loaf pan and sliced or poured into a shape mold. One perk of semifreddo is that you don’t need an ice cream maker to make it! Once you take a bite of a praline semifreddo you'll notice the creamy, velvet texture.

Praline Semifreddo Popsicle Process Collage

How to Make the Praline Semifreddo Popsicle

Heat 48 g cream in a small pot and whisk in praline paste until smooth.
Heat the egg whites and sugar over a double boiler, whisking constantly, until the graininess in the sugar is gone.
Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whip to medium peaks. Fold ⅓ of meringue mixture into praline cream, then fold in the remaining whites.
Whip 137.5 g heavy cream to soft peaks and fold into meringue praline mixture.
Pipe praline semifreddo into popsicle molds, insert sticks and freeze until firm.
Unmold a popsicle and place onto center of plate. P.S. Highly recommend wearing gloves when you take the popsicle out of the mold!

Tips for Microwaving Cake

My second favorite part of this recipe was the microwave sponge cake. There is something great about 40 seconds in the microwave and you have a cake! Here are a few tips to make the process go smoother.

All microwaves are not created equal. The first one you make is going to be the experiment to test the microwave. Cooking time will depend on your voltage and watts.
I cooked this for 40 seconds on high power.
Put your cup on a paper towel in the microwave. It makes for easy cleanup if you have an overflow.
Don't fill your mug more than half way full to prevent overflows.
This cake is not meant to be cooked and stored for later. Microwave cakes are meant to be eaten once done.

I will say this dessert may be more than a home cook might be up for. It isn't that it is hard, but I don't know a lot of home cooks that have an iSi whipper in the cupboard. Once we start talking about specialized equipment, and ingredients like maltodextrin, praline paste and agar agar, it could make a lot of people's eyes glaze over and run them off. It's not that any of these ingredients are hard to come by, they just aren't a regular pantry staple. But if you are looking for a wow type of dessert that isn't too difficult to make, with perfectly paired flavors, this praline semifreddo popsicle could easily be your go to recipe.

Lissy_Serena_Praline_Semifreddo_Popsicle-

Tips for Photographing Ice Cream

Set up everything you possibly can for the photograph in advance, leaving room for the ice cream to be placed in last minute.
Have your photograph in mind, and work fast.
Use a tripod and have your camera setup and ready to go. Use a stand in ice cream to get your focus set.
Paper towels or a wet cloth should be within reach. Makes for a quick drip wipe up if needed.
Make sure you have more than one frozen item to be photographed. Then you can easily swap out if you want different angles or other photographs.
Make it simple. Make the props and ice cream look natural. It's ok to have a few drips. Go ahead and embrace them.

Give this semifreddo a try, we would love to hear how you do. If you are still catching up on the other seven weeks of the nailed it or failed it series, here's where you can find all the past weeks.

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Lissy_Serena_Comparison_Praline Semifreddo_Popsicle-

Here are a few of our favorite summer recipes:

Mascarpone Cream Macaron with Berries

October 10, 2014

I can't believe we are on week number seven of the nailed it or failed it series. Wow, time has really zoomed by. This recipe is from the Bachour book, with a few minor changes. If you have missed some of the past weeks you can catch up. This week we are making the Mascarpone Cream Macaron with Berries and an Almond Pistachio Cake. It is a very nice flavor combo if you love almonds and pistachios as much as I do. There was nothing hard about this recipe. And the only time consuming piece was the berry gel, which needed about 4 hours of refrigerator time to cool. One could easily make this a day ahead of time and just keep it cold in the fridge.

Mascarpone Cream Macaron with Berries

For this recipe we tried a Mastrad brand large macaron pastry sheet. I have never used one of these to make macarons but I gotta say, it worked. The only problem with this was it was a little larger than a half sheet pan, so I ended up having some of the sheet hang off the edge of the pan. Nowhere did the instructions say that I could just place this into the oven without putting it onto a sheet pan. It was also a little lightweight, and I was worried without a sheet pan underneath to support, I would end up ruining the macarons. I do like the convenience of having a ridge to hold the mixture in place, but if you don't have one of these, a good sharpie and a piece of parchment paper work perfectly fine.

Use a cookie cutter that is the size of a macaron you are looking for, and just trace the circle with the sharpie until you have filled the parchment paper with circles that are about 1" from each other. Then turn the paper over so the ink is touching the sheet pan, and start piping onto the circles.

Ingredients

Mascarpone Cheese
Whipping Cream
Eggs
Powdered Sugar
Granulated Sugar
Almond Flour

Macaron vs. Macaroon: What’s the difference?

Macaron and Macaroon are two different cookies with two different, but extremely similar names. A Macaron is a French sandwich cookie made of two flat almond flour based cookies with a jam or ganache filling in between. Macarons are what we’re creating in today’s recipe.

A Macaroon is an American dessert that features shredded coconut formed into a rounded cookie, sometimes dipped in chocolate. Two very similar words, but two totally different cookies!

Macaron Tips

Weigh and measure all your ingredients before you start.
Do not skip the sifting step. This is extremely important and keeps any clumps out of your mixture. Lumps in the mixture will flatten your macaron.
Before whisking anything always make sure your bowl and whisk are spotless and clean. No left over residue from anything should be in the bowl or on the whisk.
Slowly add the sugar to the egg whites in two or three parts. Don't add all at once.
When mixing the almond mixture into the egg whites, use a spatula. Gently fold in, do not over stir this.

Mascarpone Cream Macaron Process Collage

Almond Pistachio Cake

The almond pistachio cake is VERY dense. We baked this cake in a half sheet pan, but the cake was not as thick as what you see in the photograph. So we changed this to a ¼ sheet pan to get the thicker pieces of cake for the photograph.

Mascarpone Cream

The rosewater mascarpone cream is quite good. In the recipe, Bachour called for 2 tablespoon rosewater. It was overwhelming for my taste buds. I cut it down to 2 teaspoon instead. If you are someone that is sensitive to the smell of flowers, I will advise caution when using this. Before adding the rosewater, taste it. Make sure you like it and start with a small amount. You can always increase, but you can not decrease once it's in there. And if you find that you don't even like it, just leave it out. Heavy cream, cheese and sugar are always a good combo and make for a great filling.

So give this recipe a try, we would love to hear how it turned out for you.

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Recipe Source: SerenaLissy.com

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