Pumpkin Pie

That Martha Stewart. She has yet to let me down. I made this pie with my friend Shannon on Saturday and after we were done, it was a little bit like, Really? That's it? Convinced we had done something wrong, we stuck the pie in the oven and I held my breath as we tried what I knew to be a doomed pie. Luckily, Shannon had made pies before and really believed in the pie the entire time. It. was. delicious. And so incredibly easy.

We didn't have time to make the crust by scratch. But I have quite a few pumpkins and I will definitely be trying a slightly altered version of this recipe. The recipe makes for quite a bit of "pie stuff" left over that would otherwise have overflowed the crust. We just baked the leftover in what is probably a 4-inch diameter Pyrex bowl, but it is probably enough to make another 6-inch pie.

Here's the recipe from Martha Stewart's website.

Ingredients- Makes one 9-inch pie

• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups fresh Pumpkin Puree, or canned
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 egg for glaze
• 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
• Pate Brisee (Pie Dough)
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pumpkin puree, and 3 eggs. Beat well. Add evaporated milk, and combine. Set aside.
2. Between two pieces of plastic wrap, roll pate brisee into a 12-inch circle. Fit pastry into a 9-inch glass pie plate; trim dough evenly along edge, leaving about a 1/2-inch overhang. Pinch to form a decorative edge. If the dough begins to soften, chill for 15 minutes.
3. Make the glaze: Beat the remaining egg, and combine with heavy cream. Brush glaze very lightly on edges of pie shell. Fill pie shell with pumpkin mixture. Transfer to prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy! If anyone knows any good recipes for baked (roasted?) pumpkin seeds, please let me know. I love them.

Jacques Torres's Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these last week and I'm going to say it straight: I forgot the salt. Secondly, I didn't have any cookie pans so I put them in the oven in Pyrex containers and as a result, could only bake like 7 at a time. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart's website and it's way too huge. I still have some cookie dough in the fridge to bake. I think I'd be willing to make them again because my thought is that they would taste really perfect with the salt. This time, though, I would halve the recipe. There ain't nobody that needs that many cookies.

Recipe:

1 pound unsalted butter

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar

4 large eggs

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour

3 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 pounds Jacques Torres House (60 percent cocoa) Chocolate or other best-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
3. Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 26 5-inch cookies, apparently. (I think it makes a lot more; plus 5 inches is pretty huge for a cookie)

Stuffed Peppers

Great weekend. I think I'm beginning to master work hard, play hard. Saturday morning, instead of the usual puttering around until it's almost too late to leave the house and get to work on time, I stuffed some peppers, pictured above.

I don't have exact quantities of things I used. I think this is one of the first times that I decided to just throw things together. Usually, I don't have that kind of confidence in the kitchen, so if I'm making something, I like to know exact quantities. I also know that it makes it frustrating to read about, but it's also great because I think that the taste will be about the same and not taste awful if you aren't precise.

I used:

• Two poblano peppers
  
• Couscous (substitution for rice because I may have made way too much couscous at some point last week)
  
• Black beans from a 15 oz can (still have half the can leftover)
  
• Mozzarella Cheese
  
• Onions (afterthought... actually, more like: ingredient that I bought for this purpose, then forgot about and remembered at the last second)

Baked for 30 minutes at 425 F.

Throughout the course of the morning, I became curious about how to chop onions "correctly," and thus did some research. It's great that research now means Youtube searching. I came across a video that shows what is apparently the only way to do it correctly, but it lasted 10 minutes, so that was not going to happen. I like this one because the lady in it is so country and this is how I will be chopping onions until someone shows me a better way in under ten minutes:



After working, drove to central Illinois to visit some favorite people. Although I was proud of remembering to take a picture of the pepper, there were definitely no pictures of the night. A great time was had by all, though. Headed back up the next morning (while wanting to stay longer!) to work at my various jobs and ended up getting back home to relax at 10:30 PM or so. Awesome weekend; I feel so lucky to love my jobs and friends. Also have jobs in which the parents will often offer me cake and Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes.

"You Should Sell These to Starbucks"

[Image by Shutterbean]

One of my goals (which I should really compile so that they are not floating around everywhere- "everywhere" being my brain) is to only eat the sugary things that I make myself. This is my reconciliation of my desire to eat healthier but also still bake. I would like to note that it is really, really hard to avoid buying Trader Joe's Highbrow Cookies. I like slightly crunchy cookies most of the time (I SO go through phases in cookie preferences) and these are irresistible. Inherently, there are many problems to this goal, which I need to work out. For example, what about Molly's Cupcakes or the myriad of delightful Chicago bakeries that I can't help but love and at which I share experiences with friends? There will need to be some thought put into this.

To me, baking is like the less-intimidating, more approachable version of cooking. This autumn, I plan on improving my cooking skills, and yet I feel this inexplicable need to ease into it... and if someone would hold my hand through the entire process, that would be preferable. In the meantime, while I wait for takers, I've been wondering what I can bake for $21. It turns out that I can't get out of making banana bread... over and over again. I made some a few weeks ago on Thursday. Then two more loaves Friday. Then two more loaves yesterday. It also turns out that you can actually make five loaves of banana bread for $21 and still have a lot of leftover ingredients. I am only running low on the yogurt, vanilla extract, and butter. I look forward to trying out some new recipes in the upcoming weeks.... hopefully. It's just that this stuff is so good. And as of yet, I have been unable to mess it up. And I mess up baking a lot, in the most careless ways.

I've been giving it to co-workers and friends left and right. One of my co-workers is obsessed with it and came into work on a day off to get some. And it may be the sole reason that we are friends. But that is another story for another day. One thing I like is that there are no nuts because I feel as though I've recently met quite a few people who are allergic. But I'm sure that they can be added.

I used the recipe from Shutterbean and I believe she got it from a book called Mad Hungry: Recipes for Men and Boys.

Tessy's Banana Bread

• 1 cup plus all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• coarse salt
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (I used 1/2 cup plain yogurt)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 large banana, mashed (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

• 1 tablespoon cold butter, cut into pieces
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon flour
• salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a loaf pan. Or be like me and use Pam. I make enough mess in the kitchen. Me and butter hands don't mix.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup flour, the sugar, baking powder, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

3. Stir in the melted butter and the buttermilk (or yogurt). Add the egg and beat for 1 minute. Add the banana and vanilla. Stir until well combined. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

4. Make a topping by mashing together the tablespoon of cold butter with the tablespoon of flour, the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of salt. Distribute the topping evening over the batter. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until cake tester or toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Cut and serve from the pan.

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Next up, I'm thinking about trying out zucchini bread or some sort of cookie. I almost always crave cookies.