Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Always a holiday favorite. This recipe makes 2 loafs so you can keep one for yourself and give the other one away. Or in our case....eat both :-)

2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin (one 15oz can is a scant 2 cups so if you want the full 2 cups you'll have to buy the bigger can)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla pudding
4 large egg whites
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

_{Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2004}

Homemade Applesauce

I've been an absentee blogger lately, but I had to stop what I was doing and add this recipe. It is fantastic! The only time-consuming part is peeling the apples, then you just throw everything in the oven and ignore it for awhile. The recipe is adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. I made it to use up a bag of apples we had and immediately ate it warm for dessert after dinner. It has a great autumn flavor.

Zest and juice of 1 large naval orange
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
7 apples, I used some local British ones
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large knob of unsalted butter, about the size of a walnut
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel, quarter, and core the apples and toss them into a nonreactive Dutch oven or enameled iron pot. (I used a ceramic casserole dish). Add the zest and juice of the orange and lemon half. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and allspice. Cut the butter in 2 or 3 pieces and add to the pot. Cover with a lid or foil. Bake for one hour, or until all the apples are soft. Mash with a fork. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: the Barefoot Contessa's recipe calls for about twice as much butter, but I didn't think it was necessary.

Tiramisu

There is some discussion on whether we should "soak" the ladyfingers or just "dip" like the recipe says. Those ladies were so thirsty though, I don't see how 2 cups of espresso would ever be enough for a "dip". We ended up doubling the espresso mixture.

2 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 pound (40g) mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon Meyers Rum
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups espresso coffee (Kimbo is my brand of choice)
2 tablespoons Frangelico liqueur
2 tablespoons Tia Mari liqueur
2 7-ounce (200 g) packages plain ladyfingers, soft or dried
7 ounces (200 g) semisweet chocolate, grated (we used bittersweet Scharffen Berger)

1. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a 5-quart mixer. Beat them together on medium speed until well blended, pale in color and slightly thickened
2. Add the mascarpone and beat until smooth. Reduce the speed, add the rum and vanilla and blend until well mixed.
   
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold half of the egg whites into the mascarpone mixture.
   
4. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the espresso, Frangelico and Tia Maria.
5. Dip the ladyfingers in to the espresso mixture and use them to line the bottom and sides of a 9 x 9-inch casserole dish (we used a 13 x 9-inch dish).
6. Place half of the Mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers.
7. Sprinkle half of the chocolate evenly over the first layer of the tiramisu.
   
8. Repeat with the dipped ladyfingers, the remainder of the masecarpone mixture, and the remainder of the chocolate to finish.
   
9. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
   

Pumpkin Bars

My friend Kristen made these bars for dessert the other day, and in between me scarfing down the first and second bars, I asked her to forward the recipe to me immediately. I unfortunately ate a pumpkin loaf from Starbucks (it's really just a slice) everyday for two weeks while studying for my first year law school exams, so I think I know a little something about pumpkin bars. Kristen's bars are delicious! And, unlike the Starbucks "loaf," they are fat and calorie free ;-)

Bar/Cake Ingredients
4 eggs
1 ½ cup sugar
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 can pumpkin (15-16 oz.)
2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon cinnamon

Set out cream cheese and butter for icing (to get them to room temperature) while you make the cake portion.

Mix eggs and sugar with a mixer. Add oil and pumpkin. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Grease jelly roll pan (deep cookie sheet) and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely before icing.

Icing Ingredients
3-4 oz. cream cheese (1/2 bar) at room temperature
¼-1/3 c. butter at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk or cream

Cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Add powdered sugar. Add milk or cream until desired consistency.

Pecan Pralines

I'm not going to lie, I had a minor breakdown the first time I attempted this recipe. The second attempt was an improvement, but still not restaurant quality. The pralines weren't as hard as I wanted them. I think it takes a decent amount of practice to get these right because you have to recognize the point in time when you should stop cooking the praline mixture. In my case, it seemed to be a small window. I'm sure a candy thermometer would help, but I don't have one. So, that being said, good luck!

4 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 (14 oz) cans Borden's Eagle Brand condensed milk
2 cups water
4 cups broken pecan pieces

Bring all the ingredients except the pecans to a boil in a 5-6 quart heavy pot. Once boiling, lower the heat to a frisky simmer. Do not stray far from the stove; the mixture will foam over the sides of the pot for the next 20 to 25 minutes. Continue to whisk down the foam with a heavy metal whisk, until the foaming settles and no longer overflows.

Continue to cook at a frisky simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Do not stop cooking until the praline mixture has solidified enough to make several soft balls. To see if the praline mixture has solidified enough, drop 1/4 teaspoon of the hot candy into a cup of cold water. Let is sit in the water for about 30 seconds, then try to form a soft ball with it. Until you can form a ball, the mixture is not ready. Once ready, add the pecans, stirring them into the candy thoroughly.

On a table, butter a 3-4 foot piece of butcher paper. The candy will be too hot to touch. With one tablespoon, dip into the pot and remove a 1 1/2 to 2 inch patty, then use another spoon to scrape the "ball" of hot candy onto the butcher paper. Leave the balls of candy on the sheet to cool and harden, 30-45 minutes. When the candies are hard enough, pack them individually or together in an air-tight plastic container. They will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.

Makes 36-45 pralines.