Pumpkin Biscuits

I couldn't have pumpkin chili without some type of bread product on the side.  My typical chili pairing is cornbread.  I love cornbread and I briefly thought about making pumpkin cornbread (I still have every intention of making it soon) but I wasn't craving cornbread - I was craving biscuits.  Because it's pumpkin week, regular biscuits wouldn't do, I had to make pumpkin biscuits.

I've actually made this recipe before and because the chili I made was a light recipe, I didn't want to blow the whole healthy dinner vibe by making full fat biscuits so I made these lighter pumpkin spice biscuits.

Pumpkin is actually a really good substitute for butter and oil in baked goods.  Most of the time you can substitute half of it with pumpkin or mashed bananas or applesauce to lighten up the recipe.  It won't be exactly the same as the original, but it will be close enough to satisfy your craving.

These biscuits have a mixture of white and whole wheat flour which adds great texture to the biscuit.  The moisture comes from a little butter, applesauce, pumpkin and buttermilk.  I love buttermilk in my biscuits!  There is a little brown sugar and honey in these biscuits - but they are not sweet.  They are still savory which means they're biscuits not scones.

Because of the relatively small amount of butter and the pumpkin and applesauce in the dough it is very soft and sticky so it's a bit hard to cut into circles.  I imagine these would turn out just as well if you dropped them on the cookie sheet instead of cutting them out.

These little guys are pretty darn tasty and an excellent accompaniment to the turkey pumpkin chili I ate them with.  If you've ever had a sweet potato biscuit, they're similar to that - they're got the texture of a biscuit with just a hint of sweetness from the pumpkin.

I'm pretty sure that I liked them better than CA did - I went back for seconds and thirds but he refrained and no matter how many times he says he likes something, if he really loves it he'll eat more than one.

The recipe for these biscuits can be found at The Realistic Nutritionist.  I followed it exactly.

The sweeter side of pumpkin returns tomorrow.

Enjoy!
Julie

Turkey Pumpkin Chili

Day 2 of Pumpkin Week is dedicated to how versatile pumpkin is.  I love the fact that you can use pumpkin for savory dishes as well as sweet treats.

It's starting to get cooler around here and right when the weather starts to turn I always want to make chili.  This is not your traditional chili and not just because it has pumpkin in it (I just realized I need to share my mom's sweet chili with you - it's pretty delicious too!).  It's more like a white chili because it doesn't have any tomatoes in it.

This is a crock pot recipe (although you could cook it on the stove as well if you're not in a slow cooker mood).  I generally get irritated with slow cooker recipes that have you cook the food before you put it in the crock pot (what's the point of using the crock pot if you have to dirty another pan?) but I give this one a pass.

The night before I intended to eat this chili, I browned the ground turkey and sauteed the onions and spices (I may have snuck in a jalapeno as well to spice things up a bit more).  I put the turkey and onions along with all the other ingredients (pumpkin, white beans, chilis, chicken stock, etc.) into the crock pot and then stuck the whole thing in the refrigerator.  When I got up the next morning all I had to do was take it out of the fridge and plug it in.  I find that assembling everything the night before makes the whole crock pot dinner thing easier to handle before I've had a cup of coffee.  I don't much of anything before coffee.

When I got home from work the house smelled really great and the dog was already licking his chops (poor Sconnie had been tormented by the chili smell all day long and he never got to eat any of it).  Unfortunately when I opened the lid of the crock pot the chili didn't look so good.  I was frightened but pulled myself together enough to stir the pot and add a little more water and while the chili still looks like dog food at least it doesn't look dry and burned.

Despite the chili's less than stellar appearance, it tastes great!  It was warm and comforting, just what I needed on a cool night.  The bonus is that this is a pretty healthy recipe.  It turns out that pumpkin is really good for you until you mix it with two sticks of butter and a cup of sugar.  Who knew?

This recipe can be found on Skinnytaste.  The only change I made was to saute a diced jalapeno with the onions.

Enjoy!
Julie

PUMPKIN WEEK!! Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

I'm so excited about what is coming up this week!  I've got a whole week of pumpkin recipes in store for you.  I'm always sad when summer comes to an end, but one thing that cheers me up is to see the end caps at grocery stores filled with canned pumpkin.

I couple of years ago I hosted Pumpkin Day for a few girlfriends.  We (I) spent the majority of the Fall obsessed with all things pumpkin and in order to get the need for pumpkin out of our (my) systems we (I) decided to have an entire potluck dedicated to the orange stuff.  It was amazing!  It didn't necessary relieve me of my pumpkin madness, but it did help me transition to my December peppermint addiction.  As Fall approached this year I knew I wanted to make some delicious pumpkin treats to share on the blog and when I "accidentally" put four cans of pumpkin puree in my grocery cart I figured I'd go ahead and give you an entire week of pumpkin treats.

I'm kicking the week off with a bang!  These pumpkin snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies in the whole world.  I'm not kidding.  I've had this recipe for a few years and I have to actively refrain from making them all year long... saving them for Fall makes them even more special when I finally get to eat them.

These cookies are pretty similar to a regular snickerdoodle - a chewy sugar cookie that is coated with cinnamon sugar.  However, this one adds pumpkin puree into the cookie dough.  What could be better than pumpkin and cinnamon?

It's pretty simple to make which is unfortunate because I could definitely make a batch of them every day and eat every one of them.  They're really delicious.

I've made it clear on this blog before that I prefer chewy cookies to crispy cookies - these are even better than chewy - they're fluffy like perfect little pumpkin pillows. 

The recipe for these can be found on Annie's Eats.  I follow the recipe closely except that I do not flatten the dough balls before baking.  I think leaving them round makes them even more fluffy and I like that about them.

Pumpkin goodness continues tomorrow...

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 63: Bran Muffins

I'm not sure how I feel about bran muffins.  When I worked in the bakery we sold a TON of bran muffins.  I think maybe people believe that they're healthy and while they might have more fiber in them than regular muffins, they're still loaded with as much sugar and fat as regular muffins.

Despite the smorgasbord of ingredients it takes to make these muffins, the batter comes together pretty easily. 

Butter and sugar are creamed together.  To that you add eggs, honey and molasses followed by alternating the dry ingredients with the buttermilk and half and half.

The completed batter also has pears, golden raisins and pumpkin seeds in it. 

The pears are supposed to be poached pears like the ones used in the pear feuillette but I was not about to go through that process for 1 1/2 tablespoons of pears so I used regular, fresh pears.

The raisins are raisins.  They're gross.

The pumpkin seeds are great, but I'm confused by them.  Every time I clean out a pumpkin to make my Halloween Jack-o-Lantern the pumpkin seeds are white.  Even after they're roasted they're white.   So why is it that when I buy pumpkin seeds they're green?  I'm not alone in this question, the cashier at the grocery store asked me the same thing and I didn't have an answer for her.

These muffins didn't bake up as fluffy as some of the other ones in the cookbook.  I'm not really sure why.  It's probably the fiber.

These are not my favorite muffins in this book.  The best thing about them are the green pumpkin seeds.  They add a good crunch to the muffin that I enjoy.  They are definitely the most filling muffins so far but filling does not a great muffin make.

I had a friend visiting and she claimed to like these muffins.

CA disliked these entirely.  He didn't even finish one.  He thought the worst part was the pumpkin seeds.

Opposites attract.

Enjoy!
Julie

Turkey Plantain Lasagna (Turkey Pastelon)

I went to Puerto Rico a couple of years ago and came back with an obsession with plantains.  There is a dish there called Mofongo that is essentially mashed, fried plantains served with some kind of sauce and protein.  It is amazing!

CA even made it for me a few months ago and it was just as delicious as I remember.  It had shrimp and a spicy sauce on it.  He really does like me.

Plantains are not bananas.  They look like bananas and have a subtle banana-like sweetness but they're much starchier like a potato.  I love them.  They come in either green which is less sweet or ripe which is a bit sweeter but still not as sweet as our bananas.

The plantains in this recipe essentially replace the pasta in this "lasagna". 

They are peeled, thinly sliced and seared on each side in a non-stick skillet.

In between the plantain layers is a turkey picadillo which is the "marinara sauce" of this lasagna.  It is a combination of ground turkey, onion, garlic, tomatoes, bell peppers, cilantro and tomato sauce seasoned with cumin and oregano.  That's all fairly regular, but the special addition here are alcaparrado peppers.  I'd never heard of these until I read this recipe and I was totally shocked when I actually found them in my grocery store.  It's a mixture of green olives, capers and pimentos.  A couple tablespoons of these along with a couple tablespoons of the brine go into the picadillo and it had a huge impact on the flavor!  The sauce almost has a Spanish flavor with the salty olives and capers.

Did I mention there's also cheese?  It can't be lasagna without cheese.

A mixture of eggs, egg whites and milk are used to bind the whole thing together.

This is a really yummy variation on lasagna.  I love the flavor of the olives and of course I love the plantains.  It also reheats really well - especially with a little salsa on top. 

Did I mention this is a light recipe?  I know, right???

This recipe is from one of my favorite blogs - Skinnytaste.  She does an awesome job lightening up some classic dishes using real ingredients.  I've made so many great recipes from this site - you should check it out.

Enjoy!
Julie

Hasselback Potatoes

I may never make a regular baked potato again.  This little technique is so easy and really gives a plain old baked potato a little bit of pop!

I've been scouring the internet trying to figure out why these are called hasselback potatoes and all I get are references to Matt and Elisabeth Hasselback and a million recipes for hasselback potatoes so maybe they're not named after a stegosaurus' cousin and that's just what they are.

Hasselback potatoes are essentially potatoes that are thinly sliced about 4/5 of the way through so that they have slits in them but the slices are all still connected together... like an accordion.  The idea is that you increase the surface area of the potato that gets direct heat and the potato gets crispier on the outside while still staying soft and baked potatoey on the inside.

I elected to put a slice of garlic in between every other slice of my potato because I love garlic and I'm pretty sure that all food slits are meant to be stuffed with something extra delicious.

After stuffing them with garlic, I brushed a combination of melted butter and olive oil all over them, including inside of each slit and then seasoned it generously with salt and pepper.  (I really mean generously - it's hard to over-salt a potato!)

After baking, the slits opened up a little and I sprinkled them with a little Parmesan cheese and popped them back in the oven for a few minutes to make sure it melted.  A sprinkle of freshly chopped chives and these potatoes are done.

These guys are pretty great!  I wish they had turned out a little bit crispier so next time I make them I'm going to crank up the heat a little bit (I baked them at 425 so I might bump it up to 450). There are a ton of possibilities with these potatoes... perhaps a little bacon and sour cream for a loaded hasselback potato or some sauteed mushrooms and blue cheese.  You could really dress these little guys up.

Hasselback Potatoes
Makes 2 potatoes

Ingredients
2 Baking Potatoes
1 T Butter, melted
1 T Olive Oil
1 large or 2 small cloves of Garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
2 T grated Parmesan Cheese
2 T chopped Chives

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (or 450 degrees for crispier potatoes).  Thinly slice each potato accordion style, leaving the bottoms in tact.  Push a slice of garlic in between the slits of the potatoes.

Combine the butter and olive oil.  Brush each potato with the mixture making sure to get in between the slices.  Season with salt and pepper.

Place the potatoes in a baking dish and bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour until the insides are soft and the outside is browned and crispy.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and return to the oven for 5 minutes.  Remove the potatoes from the oven and sprinkle with chives.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 62: Speculoos

Speculoos are a simple spice cookie from Belgium.  The spice in them is all cinnamon which makes them perfect for Fall.

These cookies are made in a typical cookie dough fashion...

Butter is creamed with white sugar, brown sugar and honey.  That is combined with a mixture of regular flour, cake flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda and salt.  Done.

I think it's interesting that there is whole wheat flour in this recipe.  In the end I think it pairs really well with the cinnamon and gives some weight to the cookie.

The dough needs to be chilled for a while so that you can roll it out - there's quite a bit of butter in here (fine by me) so it needs a chance to harden back up.

I cut these into what I'm claiming are leaves, although I have a sinking suspicion that this isn't actually a leaf cookie cutter, but a clover cookie cutter meant for St. Patrick's Day.  Oh well.

Thomas gives two suggestions for topping these cookies - either with powdered sugar after they are baked or with crystal sugar before they are baked.  I opted for the latter with turbinado sugar and I'm glad I did.  The sugar adds a nice crunch.

I really liked these cookies - the cinnamon makes them very warm and comforting and perfect as the weather is getting colder.  CA liked them too even though he doesn't like spice cookies.  He's full of surprises.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Enjoy!
Julie