Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

I'm baking these as I type this and the house smells AMAZING! Like fall just kicked in my front door and made itself at home! I haven't actually tasted these yet, but based on smell and the 4.5 star rating the recipe got on allrecipes.com, they're gonna be awesome!

Ingredient:

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1.5 cups flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease and flour muffin tins or use paper liners.

Mix sugar, oil, and eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Add in wet mixture, then add chocolate chips.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 20 -25 minutes. (Only took about 17 in my oven).

Pumpkin Ravioli

Every bit as amazing as it sounds. I forgot to take pictures, but it's probably for the best because as delicious as it was, I don't make the prettiest ravioli! It was my first time; I'll get better. This recipe is from Food Network's Wolfgang Puck and uses the pasta dough recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 10 Tbsp unsalted butter (heck yeah!)
• 1 lb fresh pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
• 2 cups heavy cream (double heck yeah!)
• 1/2 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp fresh sage, minced
• 2 tsp fresh thyme, minced
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 recipe pasta dough (below)
• 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
• Semolina or all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 shallots, chopped

Heat a saute pan over low heat and add 4 tablespoons of the butter. When the butter is foamy, add the cubed pumpkin and cook, stirring often to stop it from sticking and burning, until it softens and falls into a puree.

Turn the pumpkin into a saucepan, add 1/2 of the cream and half the herbs and cook over a low heat for approximately 1 hour, or until the puree is thick and the liquid has evaporated. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Remove from the heat and beat in an additional 2 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in the beaten eggs, season, to taste, with salt and pepper and set a side to cool.

On a floured surface, roll out the pasta as thin as possible. Cut into 2 sheets and brush 1 of them with egg wash. Using a teaspoon, place 24 equal mounds of the pumpkin puree on the egg-washed dough, about 2 inches apart. Cover the mounded dough with the second sheet of pasta and press around the mounds of pumpkin to seal the dough.

Using a ravioli cutter or a sharp knife cut the ravioli. Dust a tray with semolina and place the ravioli on it.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, while you make the sauce.

Prepare the sauce: In a saucepan, reduce the stock with the shallots to 1/2 cup. Add the remaining cream and reduce by half. Over a low heat, whisk in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, a little at a time, over low heat. Strain the sauce into a clean saucepan and add the remaining sage and thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add the ravioli to the rapidly boiling water and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain. Add the ravioli to the sauce and bring just to a boil. Correct the seasonings.

*I used canned pumpkin instead of fresh pumpkin and a little red onion in place of shallots. I also did not strain the sauce before finishing it. It turned out soooo good! And I gotta say, Joe is one of the best sous chefs a girl could ask for!

Pasta Dough

Super basic, super simple recipe for homemade pasta dough. Modified* from Mr. Wolfgang Puck's recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 eggs
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place all ingredients in food processor and process until dough begins to mass on the blade, 1-2 min. Remove and press into a ball. Wrap ball in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least two hours to rest before rolling and cutting.

I borrowed Grandma's pasta cutter from Mom for this. Man, that's the only way to go! I can't imagine rolling that dough out thin enough by hand. It's so easy with the pasta machine! (I know, I totally sound like an infomercial...)

* The only modification I made from the original recipe was to use just all-purpose flour rather than half all-purpose and half semolina. Because I did not have semolina on hand. And I may or may not know what semolina is... And I'm pleased to say it turned out great without it!

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

Thanks to Jenny for this recipe, which comes from the "Everyday with Rachel Ray" magazine. We made it for a quick, easy Saturday lunch and it worked great! It could become a weekend tradition. I doubled the recipe and cooked it in twelve regular sized muffin pans. I think we should try it out for a party sometime.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
4 ounced cut up pepperoni
1/2 cup store bought pizza sauce
2 Tablespoons chopped basil
1 red bell pepper, sliced.

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350*. Grease a 24 mini-muffin pan. Mix together flour and baking powder; whisk in milk and egg. Stir in cheese and pepperoni. Let sit for ten minutes.

2. Stir the batter and pour into the muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes, until puffy and golden.

3. Microwave pizza sauce to warm, and stir in 1 Tbsp. basil. Remove pizza puffs from pan and sprinkle with other Tablespoon basil. Serve puffs with red pepper slices on the side and sauce for dipping!

Apple Squares

Most criminally delicious use of fruit...since Kali's peach upside down cake, that is. ;) This is my take on a recipe from allrecipes.com. I doubled the apples from their recipe (and I think I might go crazy and quadruple the apples next time), replaced walnuts with pecans, and added only half the cinnamon sugar. Here's my variation:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 1/2 white sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup apple, chopped
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp white sugar (for topping)
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon (for topping)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x9 pan. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Blend in the mixture of dry ingredients until just combine, then add apples and pecans. Spread mixture evenly in greased pan. Combine the remaining cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the top.

3. Bake for 25-30 minutes until bars spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan and cut into squares.

I may or may not have had these for breakfast this morning. Okay, I did. And they were delicious! I also think these would we awesome with whole wheat.

Peach Crisp

We decided to make a crisp with the fresh peaches we got from Atle this fall. The plan had been to dutch oven it, but we ended up making it at home so I used my sweet new ramekins. I tried a new recipe from Anne Burell of the Food Network. Such an awesome crisp recipe! I'm planning on trying it with apples soon.

For the filling:

• 5 large ripe peaches, pitted and cut into chunks
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup tightly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• Pinch kosher salt

For the topping:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pea sized pieces
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 to 2 tablespoons cold water
• Special equipment: 6 (6-ounce) ramekins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the filling:

Toss the peaches in a large bowl with the zest and lemon juice. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Divide the filling evenly between the ramekins.

For the topping:

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor except the water. Pulse until combined, this will take about 30 seconds. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time until mixture is clumpy but crumbly.

Top each ramekin with the topping. Be sure to loosely sprinkle the topping and not pack it down. The idea is to look very crumbly and craggy.

Place the ramekins on a sheet tray and bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the filling is hot and bubbly and the topping, brown and crispy.

* I used pecans instead of almonds and left the raisins out. So good!

Pineapple (or Other Fruit) Skillet Upside-Down Cake

By popular demand, here it is, from Rick Bayless' "Mexican Everday" cookbook.

So YUMMY!

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 1/2 cups pineapple, or berries, or peaches, or apples, or nectarines, or... you get the picture
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (or soured milk) or plain yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*. Melt butter in a 10" skillet with an ovenproof handle, preferrably non-stick, over a medium heat. Swirl it around until it turns nut-brown then pour into a medium bowl. Without wiping the pan out, sprinkle the brown sugar into the skillet and top with a fruit layer.

In a bowl, mix together the flours, salt, soda and baking powder. Mix the white sugar in with the browned butter. Add the egg and mix; then add buttermilk/yogurt and mix. Pour into the dry indregients and whisk together.

Pour batter over the fruit. Put skillet in oven and bake 35 minutes or until cate is golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove and cool 10 minutes.

Put a plate over skillet, and using oven mitts, flip them over together in one quick movement. Remove the skillet and serve cake!