Browned Butter Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Spiced Bourbon Pumpkin Glaze

Because everyone else is doing it. That's an acceptable reason to do something, right? All the predictions of what 2012 will bring got me thinking. It always does. I’m always wrong. Let’s move on.

Julie’s Grand Food Trend Predictions of 2012!
[Let’s be honest, this list is grand as in lofty. My lofty notions of what I wish 2012 would bring. One can dream, right?]

• First off, I just need to say that macarons are not a new trend. They’re an old trend. They are not the new cupcake. Cupcakes are not out. Both are delicious, infinitely adaptable to many flavors, and portable - and thus will remain around until people decide they hate sugar. Cakepops, pies, donuts, and any obscure French pastry may join alongside them, but they will not replace them.

• Already trendy vegetables will find new ways of staying on peoples' plates. Kale chips and roasted Brussels sprouts are so 2011. They’ve officially been introduced to the masses. Now that the initial shock has passed that these past-maligned veggies are as tasty as they are nutrient-dense, we’re ready for new ways to eat them. Less approachable ways. Like raw! Massaged kale salads and shredded sprouts slaws I’m looking forward to seeing you on a restaurant menu or two! One can dream...

• Quick pickles. 2011 was the year of savory canning. We discovered we could mass-produce not only blackberry jams and dill pickles, but also our own tomato sauces, and pickles of the non-cucumber variety. And kimchi? That was a craze all its own. While acidic, fermented foods are fabulous in their funkiness, who has time for all that? Tossing crunchy raw veggies with a quick salt/vinegar/sugar solution produces quick and refreshing results to liven up richer dishes.

• Approachable game. Game meats are nothing new, but I’ve traditionally seen them at nicer restaurants, setting their menu apart by offering something beyond just the same ol’ proteins. I’m all about fine dining on squab leg and venison loin, but I think we’ll see more rabbit burgers and wild boar meatloaf - more casual restaurants using game to reinvent the classics. Because, inextricably, the classics are always boring and need reinvention yet we are unwilling to let them stray too far from our forks.

• Exotic spices are no longer very exotic. You know smoked paprika has arrived when you can buy it in the big bulk container at Costco. And that’s a great thing because smoked paprika makes a lot of dishes more yummy, and I go through it, well, in Costco quantities! Finding cardamom used to be such a treasure hunt, I would covet the lone jar I was able to locate, only breaking it out for the most appropriate of flavor pairings. Now each spice company not only sells garam masala right alongside the curry powder, but I’m thinking we’ll see ras el hanout and zaatar in the near future as well.

• Food trucks and craft breweries are reaching critical mass, a girl can only get ripped off eat and drink so much, but they are another trend that’s not going anywhere. I foresee the not as well executed places falling on hard times while the real gems will be just fine. After all, both of these trended so hard in the first place because of crazy internet buzz. People will still buzz about the places that are worth while. And yes, sour beers are the new IPA. Glad I’ve finally started developing a taste for them.

• I have no idea what the next diet fad will be, but vegan and gluten free have proven to be such a profitable marketing scheme for food companies, I’m sure something will pop up. Perhaps something as simple as sugar-free? Sugar is the latest evil, after all. But I just don’t see that happening. It’s also an addiction. While I might disagree, the world at large would argue that eggs (runny eggs!) are not habit forming. Nor is sourdough bread. Supposedly. If I had my way, the next fad would be “reasonably sweet”. I’m all for sugar, just not in the ridiculous quantities we use currently.

That’s it! My wishlist for 2012. Can we get on this, people? Take to the interwebs! #hashtag things! If we can get runny yolks on rabbit burgers at Applebee’s by September, I’ll learn to brew killer beer at home and give you all a bottle. Promise.

This whole exercise was really just to distract from the fact that I’m posting a recipe with nothing more than this grainy Instagram picture a couple of shoddy pics I shot on my iPhone. The holidays have really thrown me for a loop and come 8pm on a Tuesday night I am decidedly unwilling to break out the fancy camera to get the money shots while I drool all over the floor in anticipation of stuffing my face with the confection in question. Sorry.

The confection in question contains really amazing things that will make you drool everywhere too. Browned butter. It’s very 2011. It makes things buttery (obbbbviously), with a nuttier flavor. You know how I love the nutty flavor. … Please resist the dirty joke I just opened myself up for. We have cake to talk about. Pumpkin cake. Oh yes.  We’re not over the pumpkin yet are we? Good. Because it’s delicious. I know come December 1st, every fiber of my being screams for gingerbread flavored anything. But this cake is very heavy on the spice. Including ginger. Not pepper though. Good in gingerbread, but cardamom is best when it comes to pumpkin. And of course it has bourbon. The smokey flavor goes swimmingly with the browned butter. Bourbon, browned butter, and pumpkin. In a cake. You can forgive the picture now, right?

And let’s not forget the glaze. I love glaze on a bundt cake. The way it oozes over the cake when you first mix it. Watching it harden into a shiny shell, like it’s protecting something precious. Because it is protecting something precious. Unless you mixed up the salt and sugar. Then it's not so precious anymore. Then there's the panic that sets in when it slides right off the cake because you didn’t thicken it enough, as you hurry to scoop it up and re-pour it so you can get adequate glaze coverage. Oh yeah, that’s another reason I didn’t take any beauty shots. Thicken it right, people. You won’t want any paltry coating of this glaze. I used the remaining few tablespoons of the canned pumpkin puree in the glaze to boost the pumpkin oomph. And of course more bourbon. Oomph indeed! With the maple syrup and spices, I wanted to eat just a bowl of glaze. I might have licked a scoop or two off my finger, but you'll never know for sure.

So here’s to pumpkin, a food that will always be trendy. And delicious.  And remember to always brown your butter.

…

Please resist the dirty joke I just opened myself up for, and instead tell me what you'd like to see hit it big in 2012.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Spiced Bourbon Pumpkin Glaze

Cake adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

For the cake:
6 oz. (¾ cup) unsalted butter
8.5 oz. (2 cups) AP flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp salt
7 oz. (1 cup) granulated sugar
7.5 oz. (1 cup) firmly packed brown sugar
1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
3 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup Greek yogurt, room temperature
3 TB bourbon
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 TB bourbon
1 TB maple syrup
2 TB pumpkin puree
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp nutmeg (optional)
pinch of fine sea salt
1-2 TB milk, if needed


For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with baking spray.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the butter turns a rich, golden brown, swirling or stirring often so it doesn’t burn. Keep a watchful eye. It goes from brown to black very quickly. Pour the browned butter into a small bowl and let it stand until cool but not solidified.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, Greek yogurt, vanilla, and bourbon until well combined. Whisk in the browned butter until it’s well blended. Stir in the flour mixture and mix until it is just combined.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and cool it completely on a cooling rack.

For the glaze:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, bourbon, maple syrup, and pumpkin puree, until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps. Add the spices and salt and whisk to combine. Add the milk (if needed), a small amount at a time, until the glaze is thin enough to pour and drip, but thick enough to stay mostly on the cake. Glaze too thin will pour right off the cake. If it’s too thin, add more powdered sugar until your desired consistency is reached.
2. Drizzle the glaze over the completely cooled cake. Give it a few minutes to set up, then slice and enjoy.

Halloween Trifle

I’m going to drop some embarrassingly honest Julie history on you.

A few years ago I ate out pretty much every meal except breakfast. My gourmet kitchen offerings back then? Something along the lines of 2 cans of chili dumped in a bowl with a package of shredded cheese, sour cream, and a jar of salsa, microwaved until melty and disgusting and enjoyed with a giant bag of blue corn chips. No joke. We called it nachos and boy was it ever delicious. Generally, we were happier to pay someone else to prep our plates, so we’d stop at Rubios or Panera. I’d order something one might consider on the healthy side - by comparison to some of their other offerings - a burrito bowl, or a cup of soup and half sandwich. But let’s be honest, I couldn’t say no to just one fish taco on the side, or a stop at Maggie Moos next door for ice cream.

I never exercised with any regularity. I couldn’t run for 5 minutes, let alone a mile. Even the sensation of my heart rate in the proper cardio zone had me asking my doctor if I had exercise induced asthma. Oh, you mean it’s supposed to feel like I’m gonna keel over and die? Ick! There were bouts of motivation where Husband and I would trek out to the gym for a couple of hours - once or twice a month at our best - and eke out some semblance of a workout. But wouldn’t you know it, I only ever put on pounds. Maybe it’s because we’d always stop at Jamba Juice on the way home from those workouts?

I admit, I was a victim of the Chili’s quesadilla explosion salad - the one that famously caught flack when they started posting the nutritional stats on their website. The “healthy option” many of us were outraged to learn actually had 1200 calories. But let’s not blame Chili's for my dissatisfaction with the scale. The choice of where to eat and what to order was all mine. In the end, my seemingly good habits were bad habits, and my bad habits were downright disgustingly awful habits. No wonder every shopping spree had me wondering why the clothes kept getting smaller and smaller!

So what changed? Looking back, everything. But not all at once. I didn’t wake up one day and say to myself "From this day forward I will change all my habits." Heck no! When did it change? I can’t even pinpoint how long it’s been since I lost that first pound. It was so gradual and non-purposeful. Has it really been almost 3 years?  I started reading a food blog or two. I tried a recipe here and there to pretty good success. I started going for walks, and playing around on that new-fangled Wii Fit. I did things that required a small, doable change. And when I got comfortable with that routine, I did a little more.  Can you believe just being a little more mindful of the choices I made and being a little more realistic about what those choices meant would get noticeable results?  How noticeable?  Well, I lost that first pound.  The hardest pound of my life.

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts by food bloggers I follow talking about their struggles with balancing food obsession and a healthy lifestyle. It really got me thinking about my own weight loss journey, and looking back, my food obsession and weight loss developed hand in hand. Go figure.

Now that I eat salads heavy on vegetables and light on dressing (and no cheese quesadillas on top), I can work in a little dessert without totally undoing my day. Like cookies. And mousse. And curd. All together in a trifle. I had never made a trifle. I would even go so far as to say I didn’t think I was much of a trifle person. But I take it back! Trifles are as awesome as the delicious components that are their makeup.

This trifle came about so very randomly. I got a bag of oranges four CSA shipments in a row. I was overwhelmed with oranges! But I didn’t want to just juice them. I wanted to really use their orange essence in something that would showcase their awesomeness. Because oranges are awesome. Sweet. Acidic. So I decided to make a curd. Despite the unfortunate name, curds are delicious. They’re bright and tart; sweet and creamy. But generally not something to enjoy alone. They’re a great accompaniment. 

Accompany what? Chocolate, of course! I originally considered pudding, but Husband requested chocolate mousse. Good call. So glad I listened. The light as a cloud, bittersweet mousse contrasted so nicely with the heavier, creamier sweet yet tart curd.  And this curd was all about the orange essence.  I didn't just use orange juice, you see.  I reduced it first. So I could get as much orange flavor out of those babies as possible!  And if you have to ask if I boozed it up, do you even know what blog you’re reading? I opted for Grand Marnier in the chocolate mousse to compliment the orange curd, and bourbon in the orange curd because I love the dimension the smokiness adds.

The flavors together were wonderfully indulgent, and the layers of orange and deep brown made me think instantly of Halloween. But I wanted a crunch element for texture, and what’s a Halloween treat without pumpkin? I love pumpkin! It pairs great with chocolate and orange. So I made the crunchiest cookie I could think of: biscotti! Pumpkin biscotti to be exact. It’s crunchy yet slightly crumbly texture was perfect for crumbling in between the chocolate mousse and orange curd layers, or leaving whole and dunking.

Who needs chili reminiscent of dog food in nachos when you can have this?  Definitely a small change for the better.

Any personal Halloween confections being made in your house this year that are strictly for personal, non-treat-or-treater enjoyment? 

  

Halloween Trifle

Makes ~8 individual trifles, depending on your container, or 1 big one

4 cups chocolate mousse (recipe below)
3 cups orange curd (recipe below)
8-10 pumpkin biscotti (recipe below)

1. In a 4-6 oz. glass container (like a glass mug or jar), spoon in a layer of chocolate mousse, about 2 TB. Add a layer of orange curd, a little shy of 2 TB. If you want the biscotti crumbled directly into the trifle, crumble about ¼ of the cookie over the orange curd. Continue layering until you reach the top of your container, ending with a chocolate mousse layer. 
2. Repeat for as many containers as you would like to prepare.
3. Alternatively, if you are doing one big trifle, just follow the same procedure, but increase the quantities until you have an inch or so for each layer (or however you prefer it!). 

Chocolate Mousse

Adapted from David Lebovitz

Makes 6-8 servings

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used 70%)
6 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
¼ cup dark-brewed coffee
¼ tsp of sea salt
4 large eggs, separated
⅔ cup, plus 1 TB sugar
2 TB Grand Marnier (or bourbon)
1 TB water
½ tsp vanilla extract

1. In a bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, melt together the chocolate, butter, coffee, and salt, stirring frequently. Once smooth, remove it from the heat to cool down.
2. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.
3. In another bowl set over the pot of gently simmering water, whisk the egg yolks with the ⅔ cup of sugar, liquor, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is light and thick, like runny mayonnaise. Whisk constantly so the yolks don’t curdle. 
4. Set the bowl with the egg yolk mixture in the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick (it will make thick ribbons when you bring your whisk out of the bowl). Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks. It might look broken at first, but just keep mixing, and it’ll smooth out.
5. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or by hand if you have the stamina), beat the egg whites with the salt on medium-high speed until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff (don’t over-beat!), then add the vanilla and mix on low to combine.
6. Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then in two increments, fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don’t overdo it or the mousse will lose volume. It’s ok to have a few white streaks.
7. Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm.

Orange Curd

Adapted from Ina Garten

Makes about 3 cups

4 oranges, at room temperature
¾ - 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from the 4 oranges above)
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
¼ cup bourbon (or Grand Marnier)
⅛ tsp sea salt

1. In a small saucepan, bring the orange juice to a rapid simmer and reduce until you have ½ cup of liquid. Set aside to cool.
2. Remove the zest from the oranges with a vegetable peeler or zester, no pith please. Put the zest in the bowl of a food processor. Add the sugar and pulse until the zest is very finely minced and evenly distributed among the sugar. 
3. Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the sugar/orange zest mixture and beat on medium speed until it is light and fluffy, a few minutes. Add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, then add the reduced orange juice, liquor, and salt. Mix until combined.
4. Place a mesh strainer over a medium bowl and set aside. Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan and cook over low heat stirring constantly for about 10 minutes, until it is thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon (~175 degrees if you have a candy thermometer). Be careful not to overcook, or it will curdle. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it through the strainer set over the bowl. Refrigerate the curd until fully cooled, a few hours. It will thicken further as it cools.

Pumpkin Biscotti

adapted from Simply Recipes

Makes about fifteen cookies

1 ½ cups of flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
½ cup of pumpkin purée
1 TB bourbon
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and spices.
2. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin purée, bourbon, and vanilla extract. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Give it a rough stir to incorporate the ingredients.  The dough will be crumbly.
3. Flour your hands and a clean kitchen surface and lightly knead the dough until it is uniformly mixed. It will be a little on the sticky side. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, form the dough into a large log, about 1 inch tall and 15 inches long. Bake for 22-28 minutes, until the center is firm to the touch. 
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees. Let the biscotti cool for 15 minutes and then, using a serrated knife cut into pieces about an inch wide. Lay the cookies flat on the baking sheet and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Let them cool completely.

St. Patty's Day Cake

When reflecting back on my greatest culinary successes over the last couple of years, I think the most rewarding ones have been the experiments. The dishes that I went in with a harebrained, what-the-heck attitude, and came out with something to log in the favorites section of my recipe archive (i.e. this blog). It’s more satisfying knowing my creativity didn’t completely lead me astray. Know what I mean? I can still track the evolution of how this cake came to be. It was a quiet Saturday afternoon, and I wanted to bake. What? I had no idea. There were no recipes on the tip of my brain that were jumping out at me to bake them. I hunted around my go-to food blogs, printed some possibilities, and brought them to Husband for final approval. Aren’t husbands handy when you’re feeling indecisive? One of the recipes was a chocolate stout bundt cake with a chocolate glaze. Chocolate + booze + Husband = a must make. I was prepping the ingredients when I had a thought. Here’s the creative process in action, people. Check it out:

Me: Hey Babe, what do you think about baking this as a sheet cake instead of a bundt?

Husband: Umm…

Me: That way I could do a frosting with some Bailey’s instead of the chocolate glaze.

Husband: But I like chocolate…but a Bailey’s frosting sounds good too…Hmm…

Me: Oh! I know!!! I could try doing an avocado buttercream! With Bailey’s! And white chocolate!

Husband: Avocado? In the frosting?

Me: Yeah, it does the same thing as butter. Remember Alton Brown did it on an episode of Good Eats?

And with the mention of AB, as is usually the case, Husband was all confidence and trust. If Alton says it’s good, it’ll be good. Did I ever mention I have that show to thank for my Le Creuset dutch oven? Thanks for Kiwi, AB!

And that’s how this cake was born. A lazy day and a lack of dessert in the house. This was a few weeks ago. I’ve made it a total of three times already. We love it that much. I still have dreams about it.

The cake itself is a great recipe. Obviously, I never got around to trying the original recipe, but if a chocolate stout bundt with chocolate glaze is the order of the day, I’m sure this one would be a big winner. A rich, velvety stout goes with chocolate like bananas and bourbon. I was curious whether the quality of beer would make that much difference in the cake, so I used Guinness my first attempt. An admirable baking beer, to be sure, but I’m a bit of a craft beer snob these days (I do live in the city with the most craft breweries per capita, after all), and it’s an everyday beer, if yaknowhatImean. On a later attempt I used Husband’s all time favorite stout he is completely obsessed with at the moment. It wasn’t exactly a side-by-side comparison, since they were made several weeks apart, but I think the smoother, nuttier flavors of the higher quality stout definitely came through in the cake.

But if you’d like the excuse to bake this cake several times in succession (not that you need an excuse besides that it’s delicious enough to make several times in rapid succession), go ahead and forget I mentioned it. It is March, after all. Stouts are cheap!

My cake had a few extra additions from the original recipe. I wanted to up the St. Patty’s Day theme, so I threw in some whiskey…because why not, right? I also added come instant espresso powder and cayenne pepper, just to elevate the flavors a bit more. Supposedly coffee makes chocolate things taste more chocolaty – works for me! - and I also might have a spice addiction. But that’s another post. Sufficed to say, both those additions are completely optional, but as the cake turned out light as a cloud, moister than pudding, but still with all the flavor of a decadent chocolate cake, I’m going to go ahead and recommend them! The best compliment I can pay this cake is to say it wasn't just a vehicle for the frosting. As much as I loved the frosting, I found myself making sure each bite was the perfect ratio of frosting to cake.

Speaking of frosting. Since you’ve been good enough to read all this way, I should probably tell you a bit about avocado buttercream. It’s not a new concept, by any means, but it’s not exactly run of the mill either, is it? So regular buttercream frosting is really made up of two main components – powdered sugar and fat. That fat is usually butter, though I’ve seen it in combination in shortening too. The fat provides the creamy, melt in your mouth texture, and the powdered sugar provides the sweetness and stability. Everything else tweaks the flavor or texture, and it is pretty much optional. Avocados - poor, misunderstood avocados - are on many people’s naughty list because they are very high in fat. But fat is not fat, people! While shortening is grown in a lab with methods I don’t want to know about, and butter, while amazingly delicious, is made up of saturated animal fats, avocados are high in wonderful, plant-based monounsaturated fats. Now I’m not fooling myself into thinking this cake is good for me, but a healthy diet is as much about the minor choices we make in our day as the major ones, right? And if you don’t buy any of that, how about the fact that this St. Patty’s Day cake has green frosting, and I didn’t use a single drop of food coloring! Point for Mother Nature!

I know you’re wondering, so I will allay your fears posthaste. You can’t taste the avocado. You won’t believe there’s avocado even in it. Seriously. Would it be uncouth of me to say you won’t believe it’s not butter? Really, besides making the overall cake a slight iota healthier, and providing a natural and very appropriate greenish tint, the avocado doesn’t really factor in. You could definitely just replace the avocado with an equal amount of room temperature butter (just make sure you let the chocolate mixture cool first, so you don’t melt your butter). No worries. Hey, since there's no butter, I guess this would technically be an avocadocream frosting?  And a term was coined...

What makes this frosting delicious is a combination of white chocolate, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and a splash of whiskey for good measure. I don’t know what to say about it other than it is a sweet, smooth, ooey gooey frosting. I added the Bailey’s and whiskey to the white chocolate while it was melting because I was going more for flavor than a punch of alcohol. But don’t worry, it’s not shy. It still has creamy and ever so smoky flavor that warms you up from the inside out, and the white chocolate provides a nice counterbalance of sweetness that is more interesting than just straight sugar. A perfect pair to a chocolate stout cake.

Since it's just an unassuming sheet cake, it certainly isn't winning any beauty pageants. But that's part of its charm.  It will fit right in with your corned beef and cabbage.

Have I mentioned I’ve made this cake three times already? I wish I could say I gave most of it away. I gave some of it away. But most of it ended up in my tummy. Ok, mostly in Husband’s tummy. But you didn’t hear it from me.

Got any harebrained kitchen experiment fantabulous success stories of your own?

St. Patty’s Day Cake

aka: chocolate stout cake with white chocolate Irish cream avocadocream frosting

cake adapted from Smitten Kitchen

For the cake:
1 cup stout
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
⅓ cup whiskey
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 TB instant espresso or coffee powder (optional)
2 cups AP flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
⅔ cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9x13” baking dish with nonstick spray. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the stout, butter, and whiskey to a simmer. Add the cocoa powder and instant espresso, if using, and whisk until it is fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a bit. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cayenne pepper, if using. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sour cream together on medium-low speed until they are well blended. Add the vanilla and blend. Add the stout mixture, making sure it is cool enough that it won’t hurt the eggs, and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until it is mostly incorporated, then use a spatula to fold any loose bits of flour into the batter. 
3.  Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish, smooth it into an even layer, and bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let it cool completely in the dish.

For the avocadocream:
1 cup white chocolate chips (or ~6oz. of a white chocolate bar, chopped)
¼ cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 TB whiskey
1 cup avocado flesh (~2 medium avocados), well mashed
1-2 TB fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
2-3 cups powdered sugar

1. In a double boiler (or a bowl sitting over a small saucepan of simmering water), melt the white chocolate. Add the Bailey’s and whiskey and stir to combine. Let it cook for a bit if you want the alcohol to burn off a bit, otherwise, remove it from the heat and set it aside to cool. 
2. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the avocado on medium speed for a minute or so, until it’s smooth. Add 1TB of lemon juice, vanilla, and salt, and mix to combine. Add the cooled chocolate mixture, and mix until it is well combined. 
3. Working ½ cup at a time, with the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar until a thickened, gloppy consistency is reached. Important note: the frosting will thicken more as the chocolate cools, so don’t worry if it’s not firming up like you expect. It’s more important to watch the level of sweetness from the sugar. Add the other TB of lemon juice to balance the flavor if desired. 
4. Once the cake is cooled, spread the frosting over the top in an even layer, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Buttermilk Pie

Has it really been almost 2 weeks since Thanksgiving!? Where did last week go? Oh yeah, it was swallowed up by the ugly bug that’s been lazily kicking the crap out of my immune system and other bodily functions. Let’s just say...I wouldn’t recommend drinking the pink eye tears of a toddler. That’s a story for another time. 

Did you think the long hiatus between posts was because I was compiling a mass of Thanksgiving pictures? A collage of every dish and paragraphs upon paragraphs of wordy description? Sorry to disappoint, but I have a confession to make - I didn’t take any pictures during Thanksgiving. None. My camera battery is still sitting on the charger, currently residing under my feet. I don’t know who I am anymore! But that’s just what happens when you spend 2 days in the kitchen and 5 days entertaining family.

Ah family. My family. And our ridiculously stubborn adherence to superfluous traditions. I love that about us. A movie on Christmas day, preferably on a sci-fi or fantasy theme. It’s tradition! Mom reading the Polar Express in front of the fireplace on Christmas Eve. It’s tradition! Me squeezing behind the driver’s seat on any family outing, even though the passenger side has more legroom. It’s tradition! And of course, Thanksgiving comes with its own set of traditions. Starting, naturally, with the menu. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie are the musts. I remember the year my mom tried to get away with not serving mashed potatoes. My sister called a family holiday party foul and made them herself. I might have helped, but I was a lazy, moody teenager, so I probably didn’t. Sorry sis!

Sure, every family has dishes they love and want year after year. In my family, we actually have dishes a lot of us don’t like, but we make anyway. Like the cranberry sauce. My sister always takes a no-thank-you helping, so I knew she wasn’t a fan. But it wasn’t until this year that I realized my parents also aren’t cranberry sauce eaters. Yet it’s always on the table! Well, minus the year my mom had it in the nice serving bowl, sitting in the fridge, and forgot to take it out. Guess now I know why she didn’t miss it. Heh. I probably could have gotten away with not having any, but I figured it’d be way more fun to try and make a cranberry sauce everyone would actually enjoy. Not to mention...it’s tradition! I made a cranberry applesauce, hoping the natural sweetness from the apples would be a nice contrast to the tartness from the cranberries without the cloying sweetness of regular sugar. Along with a little fresh ginger to make it more savory and a healthy glug of Grand Marnier (ok, maybe two healthy glugs, after encouragement from my mom), it was a success. My sister had seconds!

I’m sure I’m blowing the minds of my family as they read this post. Can you believe I used to be a picky eater? There were several foods I didn’t like, and even more foods I probably would have liked fine, but still wouldn’t eat. For years I thought I didn’t like guacamole. Really my sister didn’t like it, and I had just taken her word for it. And now I’m talking about changing people’s minds about foods they don’t like! I’m blowing my own mind here.

The pumpkin pie at my Thanksgiving table has a bit of a history. My grandma, on my dad’s side, always brought the pumpkin pie. She wasn’t a baker (not that there’s anything wrong with that), so she would dump a can of Libby’s pumpkin pie filling into a store-bought crust, bake it, and bring it over with a can of reddi-wip. To me, that was pumpkin pie. It was good and all, but I didn’t exactly grow up with the impression that pumpkin was the be-all and end-all of pie flavorings. Turns out my mom doesn’t even like pumpkin pie. How did I never know these things before?!

This year I wanted to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. A good one. My first attempt was a bust. I don’t want to talk about it...except to say that I took issue with the massive amounts of heavy cream and sugar the recipe called for. Then I saw a recipe for a sweet potato buttermilk pie that used lowfat buttermilk instead of heavy cream, and folded in whipped up egg whites for a light and fluffy texture. I was intrigued! After my mom mentioned what she didn’t like about pumpkin pie was the puddingy texture, I thought this might be just the thing. So I swapped out the sweet potato for pumpkin, but kept just a little sweet potato in there for a flavor boost. Pumpkin can be a little on the bland side, ya know. I adjusted the seasonings, upped the sugar (sweet potatoes are sweeter than pumpkin, after all), and of course, I added booze! It’s not pumpkin [insert delicious baked good here] without bourbon, right? Another thing that turned me onto this recipe was blind-baking the crust first. No worries about a soupy pie or a soggy crust.

The resulting pie was a light, fluffy, spiced pumpkin cloud.  And still so silky smooth without the heaviness. The trick was definitely folding in the egg whites. It really kept the pie light. I was concerned the lightness of the texture and lack of fat would lose the pumpkin pie flavor, but the spices still came through beautifully. And the hint of sweet potato added a nice layer of sweetness. It seemed to be a success. It didn't last long, and as my mom put it, “Julie, I enjoyed my slice...and I don’t even like pumpkin pie.” Good enough for me! Into the archives this recipe goes.

But wait! I haven’t even mentioned the whipped cream! It was an afterthought. Spur of the moment. I bought heavy whipping cream, thinking I would just whip it up with a little sugar right before dessert. Nothing special, but better than the canned stuff. Well 4 glasses of wine and a big turkey dinner later I had the bright idea to whip that cream with maple syrup and a splash of bourbon instead...

Oh my word. 

That is all that can be said about this whipped cream. Nevermind the two pies and vanilla ice cream I had on the table for dessert. I wanted to just eat gobs and gobs of this whipped cream. Yeah. It was that good. It went great on the pie. I highly recommend you don’t skip it.

PS: If you're wondering why I have pictures of the pie when I said I didn't take any, it's because this was my test run.  It was a new recipe after all.  Better safe and full of pie than sorry, right?

Pumpkin Buttermilk Pie

adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pie

½ cup mashed sweet potato (1 small potato, poked with fork and microwaved for 7 mins)
1 14oz can pumpkin puree
4 TB unsalted butter, melted
2 TB fresh lemon juice
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp kosher salt
3 large eggs, separated
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 TB AP flour
3 TB bourbon
¾ cup buttermilk
1 pre-baked pie crust (recipe below)
maple bourbon whipped cream (recipe below)

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the sweet potato and pumpkin puree. Add the butter, lemon juice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, and salt and mix thoroughly after each addition. 
2. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a whisk for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar and beat until they’re a creamy light yellow color, about 2 minutes. Add the egg mixture to the pumpkin mixture and stir until the eggs are fully incorporated. Add the flour a little at a time, stirring after each addition until thoroughly incorporated. Add the buttermilk and bourbon and stir until incorporated. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites to soft peaks in a clean, dry bowl. With a spatula, gently fold the egg whites, one-third at a time, into the sweet potato-buttermilk mixture until thoroughly combined. Pour the mixture into the pre-baked crust and bake on the middle rack of the oven set at 375 degrees until the center is firm and set, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool the pie completely on a rack, then chill for at least 4 hours before serving. 

For the pie crust:
1 ¼ cups flour
1 ½ tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 TB ice cold vodka (or substitute water)
ice cold water

1. Cut the butter into small pieces (I do quarter tablespoons), and place in the freezer along with the vodka for about 30 minutes, or until it just starts to freeze. 
2. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Dump the mixture out onto a large cutting board or clean counter. Using a bench scraper (a rolling pin also works), work in the frozen butter by smooshing the flat side of the bench scraper into the flour, scooping and mixing it often. When the butter pieces are all flattened and well incorporated, use your fingers to break up any large pieces until they are pea-sized. Sprinkle the vodka over the dough and mix, then 1 TB at a time, add enough water until the dough just comes together, and all the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough into a ball and cover tightly in plastic wrap. Smoosh the dough flat into a hockey puck shape and refrigerate for 1 hour. 
3. After the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 325 degrees and place the dough on a well-floured cutting board or clean counter. Turning often, and using as much flour as you need to keep it from sticking, roll the dough into an even layer about ¼” thick, or until it is large enough to fit into your 9” pie plate with ½” overhanging. Move the dough to the pie plate and trim any excess dough, leaving that ½” overhang. Fold and pinch the edges of the dough around the pie plate so it’s nice and pretty. 
4. Lay a sheet of aluminum foil over the dough and carefully on scatter pie weights (I use dried beans). Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 12 minutes. Remove the pie weights and the foil, prick the bottom of the crust with a fork, and bake for another 10 minutes. 

For the maple bourbon whipped cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 TB maple syrup
1 TB bourbon

1. In a stand mixer, add the cream, maple syrup, and bourbon. Start the mixer at a low speed and work up to high to avoid splashing. Whip the mixture until it is thickened. Taste the whipped cream and add more cream, maple syrup, or bourbon according to your preference. If you’re shy, you might want to start with just a tsp or two of the bourbon. 

Lightened Up Green Bean Casserole

It will come as a surprise to no one when I tell you that I am a big fan of Thanksgiving. Besides being a holiday whose sole purpose is the celebrate food (let’s face it, that whole giving thanks concept is just an excuse to stuff our faces...and I’m okay with that), it’s one of only two holidays where my whole family generally congregates together - the other being our Passover seder, which I consider Thanksgiving for Jews (plus singing!). I love family congregation! Which is why I also never miss a wedding, graduation, or other fun family party.

Due to my current reduced circumstances, Husband and I decided to forgo travel this year and just stay at home. Thankfully our families are awesome - his parents (and their canine companion), my parents, and my sister, her husband and my nephew are all coming to town to celebrate with us. Yay! Also due to my reduced circumstances, I have a lot of alone time on my hands, and I spend a lot of it thinking about food. Okay, most of it.  As a result I’m not just excited for Turkey Day, I am Thanksgivingsessed! I had the menu all planned out a month ago. Actually, more like two. I have since also created an Excel spreadsheet that details ingredient totals, my shopping list, a to-do list for the week, and a full schedule for the day before and the day of. I may be crazy, but the first step is admitting you have a problem right? Anyway, I’m also playing it smart. I’m planning to tackle most of the cooking myself, so I have to make sure I have my game plan all worked out. How else would I have realized that while I'm baking two pies, I only have one pie plate?  No worries, the problem is already solved.  I do get flustered cooking on a schedule, but with everything planned to a T, how could anything go wrong? Yes, I know I just ensured that everything will go wrong. But between all the guests, there will be more than enough cooks in the kitchen to sort things out. I’m breezy!

Besides being in need of a fun project, our families have been so awesome and supportive this year, we’d really like to treat them a nice dinner. It’s the least we could do. So we’re going all out! A 16lb heritage turkey, free-range and organic of course, brined and roasted, and with all the fixins around the table: gravy, cranberry applesauce, grilled mashed potatoes, sourdough apple pecan stuffing (technically dressing since Husband is squeamish about bird germs), beets with a balsamic reduction, hashed Brussels sprouts, sweet potato rolls, and - as I mentioned - two kinds of pie for dessert. Apple and buttermilk pumpkin pie, with vanilla ice cream on the side. I’m sure I’ll be posting all about it after next week. Of course, a lot of those recipes aren’t mine (some are!), so I’ll post links at the bottom of this post in case someone is in need of ideas.  I can vouch for them all except the stuffing, though I'm sure it'll be delicious. And if those don't entice, I may have developed my own Thanksgiving side last weekend. Read on!

This isn't my first time hosting my family for Thanksgiving, but it is the first time since my big transformation. I wanted to keep all the familiar flavors, but put the Julie spin on them, so last weekend I tried out some recipes - roasted one of those cheap $5 turkeys from Vons and made gravy from pan drippings for the first time (killed it!). I also used it as an excuse to make some dishes that didn’t quite fit into my Thanksgiving menu.

See, I had been toying with the idea of green bean casserole. Thanksgiving + Food Network = lots of mention of green bean casserole. I was thinking of the one traditionally made with condensed cream of mushroom soup and crispy fried onions on top. That dish doesn’t so much scream yummy deliciousness to me, more like heavy, preservative-induced stomachache. But the flavors of the casserole still appeal. Plump green beans in a creamy sauce with earthy mushrooms and fragrant herbs, topped with sweet onions and just a little crispy crunch for texture. Sounds good, right? Well I set about seeing if I could lighten the dish up and make it into something presentable. I don’t know if I accomplished presentable, but it sure was tasty. 

I started with frozen green beans - haricot verts from Trader Joe’s, actually. Then I created the mushroom cream sauce using evaporated milk. I hadn’t used evaporated milk before, and the stuff is just great. It’s just milk with some of the water evaporated out, so it’s already nice and thickened, but much lighter than using cream. I caramelized onions, since that’s my favorite way to eat them. But caramelized onions are soft and buttery, not crispy crunchy. No problem. After the onions caramelized, I added a little butter to the pan with some bread crumbs, and tossed everything together. I topped the green beans coated in the mushroom cream sauce with the onions and bread crumbs, and after it baked up, it came together juuuuust right. Plump green beans, creamy mushroom sauce, and sweet onions with a crunch. Mission accomplished!  Panko bread crumbs would probably  be even crunchier and better (I buy whole wheat panko), but I had some whole wheat bread to use up, so use whatever is easier for you.  Next time I might experiment with throwing some walnuts in as well, though I would probably catch flack from Husband, since he's really not a walnut fan.  It's terrible, I know.

I'm always fascinated by other families and their own traditions.  What are you doing for Thanksgiving?  Pot luck or solo hosting?  What's in the menu?  And finally, how delicious is Thanksgiving food?  Right?!

Green Bean Casserole

Makes about 18 servings

2 16oz bags of frozen green beans, thawed (or fresh and blanched)
16oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 12oz can evaporated milk
1 medium shallot, minced
5-6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 TB dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp celery seeds (optional)
1 cup white wine
2 TB flour
4 TB unsalted butter, divided
2 medium onions, quartered and sliced
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/2 to 3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (~3 slices of bread) or panko bread crumbs
2TB olive oil
kosher salt to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. You’ll also need a 9x13” baking dish. 
2. In a medium skillet, heat 1TB olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Sweat the onions until their water is released, stirring often to prevent browning. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions turn golden brown and caramelize, about 45 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat 1TB olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and a pinch of kosher salt, and cook until the mushrooms have given up their water and softened, about 7 minutes. Add the paprika, pepper, cayenne, thyme, sage, and celery seeds, mix everything together and cook for 1 minute. 
4. Clear a space in the pan and add 2TB of butter. Once it melts, mix in the flour, and let the mixture cook for a minute or two to remove any raw flour flavor. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits. Simmer the mixture until about half the wine has cooked out. Add the evaporated milk and stir to combine everything. Let the mixture simmer for about 3 minutes, until it has thickened a bit. 
5. Turn off the heat and stir in the green beans, tossing until they are well coated in the mushroom mixture. Pour the green beans into your baking dish and set aside. 
6. Once the onions have caramelized, add the white wine vinegar and toss to coat. Melt the remaining 2TB of butter, and when it has melted, add the bread crumbs and toss until the bread crumbs are well-coated with butter and evenly mixed with the onions. Spoon the bread crumb and onion mixture over the green beans in an even layer. Bake the casserole for about 45 minutes, or until the topping is a crunchy golden brown. 

Links for Thanksgiving dishes:
Cranberry applesauce
Sourdough apple pecan stuffing
Sweet potato rolls
Hashed Brussels sprouts