Tag: pumpkin

Mini Zucchini Muffins + Rivka’s Pumpkin Cake

We don’t have an eiruv in my community, which means that once you have a baby, you are stuck at home for Shabbos until your baby can walk! So getting invited out for Shabbos (to sleep over) is a real treat! A few weeks ago, my good friend Rivka, a shlucha in Long Island City, invited us, and we were more than happy to accept. Rivka’s mother is Moroccan and her family is in the restaurant business, so it is no surprise that she knows how to cook! She make some traditional Moroccan foods, but her table is a kaleidoscope of different cuisines.

Rivka is not only a good cook, but a very practical one. Instead of three courses on a late Friday night, she serves one. She made mini pumpkin muffins which she served at breakfast, for snack, and in a cupcake tree along with the Shabbos meal. Pumpkin cake is moist and dense, so it lends itself well to be served as a kugel. I myself have served it that way many times.

My kids were head over heels for the mini cupcakes (kids love anything mini, don’t they? maybe because it’s more their size!) so last week, I purchased a mini muffin pan, and went to work on some muffins for the kids. I’ve mentioned before how I’m not the biggest baker, and it has a lot to do with the fact that cake is just so unhealthy. When I see myself throwing white flour, sugar and oil into a bowl, I think to myself, “Am I really going to put THAT into my mouth?” Not that it tastes bad, cake is delicious. And I do buy it on occasion. It’s easier when I don’t see how it’s made (even though I know it’s full of junk). So, I justify this recipe by reminding myself that it’s filled with zucchini, a vegetable :)

Feel free to make this cake in a bundt pan, it is absolutely delicious any way you bake it. You can make a zucchini bread in loaf pans, or larger cupcakes which you are free to frost with a maple cream cheese frosting!

NOTE: When I make these, I like to shred double the amount of zucchini and freeze half for the next time. Just thaw the zucchini in a strainer and press down with a paper towel to squeeze out excess water.

Mini Zucchini Muffins

2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1-2  tsp cinnamon (depending how cinnamony you like it)
1 tsp salt
2 cups grated zucchini, unpeeled
chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:

Whisk sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla together. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold in the zucchini. For mini muffins, bake at 350 for 18 minutes. For a loaf or bundt pan, bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Rivka’s Pumpkin Cake

These work extremely well in mini muffins because they are more dense but still very moist. When I called Rivkah for the recipe, it turned out to be nearly identical to mine (hers called for just 1/2 tsp more of the baking soda and powder).

I have made these to serve as a kugel, filling muffin tins with the batter, and adding a tsp of blueberry pie filling in the center (I happen to have a picture of it because I had made them on my anniversary Shabbos, and as luck would have it, the blueberry pie filling turned out as a heart in one of them, so I served it to my husband and told him I made it that way on purpose!)

2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 15oz. can pumpkin (not pie filling)
chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

Whisk sugar, oil and eggs together. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold in the pumpkin. For mini muffins, bake at 350 for 18  minutes. For a loaf or bundt pan, bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

NOTE: If you’d like to make this as a kugel, and you feel it’s too cakey, you can double the amount of pumpkin (either by using 2 cans, or by using 1 and halving the batter ingredients). Adjust baking time accordingly.

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Savory Hamantaschen Trio

I am SO excited to post these delicious and festive savory Hamantaschen for Purim! Honestly I was more excited about making these into triangles, then about how they would taste. But once I gave them a try, I couldn’t even pick a favorite – they were all THAT good. I’m not gonna lie, making these Hamantaschen is time-consuming. But in my humble opinion, they are well worth the effort. You can make them for your Purim Seudah or give them out for Shalach Manos. You can probably even make them in advance and freeze them. Go ahead and get creative with the fillings. You can do a deli roll one – just cut up some turkey and pastrami into strips, mix it up with some bbq sauce or honey-mustard. Or try a brocolli, cauliflower or carrot filling. Really, anything goes. If you have more of a bagels ‘n lox kind of meal, you can make very large triangles with the puff pastry, bake them (empty), and fill them with eggsalad, tuna, or any other dips (think serving bowls). Or make individual salad bowls for each place setting. The skies the limit, really! So go ahead, get out your rolling pin, and in the spirit of “Venehapoch Hu”, whisk up a batch of these “not your typical” hamantaschen!

Prepare the dough:

What you’ll need:
1-2 boxes of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets
rolling pin
flour
wide-rimmed cup or round cookie cutter

Leave puff pastry in the fridge overnight to thaw. Remove from fridge. Flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out the pastry until it is thin. With a cup or cookie cutter, cut out circles in the pastry and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Take your leftover dough and roll it out to the same thickness. Cut more circles, until you have used up all your pastry dough. Refrigerate your circles as they will be difficult to use if they are left out.

For the Cabbage Filling:

What you’ll need:
1 bag coleslaw
1 large spanish onion
1 tsp sugar
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
oil for sauteing

Slice your onion and saute in oil until golden. Add coleslaw, salt, pepper, and sugar and continue to saute until coleslaw shrinks and softens. Stir occasionally, and add more oil if needed.

For the Spinach-Mushroom Filling:

What you’ll need:
1 bag baby spinach
1 container mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
oil for sauteeing

Saute 3 cloves of garlic in oil, until fragrant, but not browned, about 2 minutes. Clean and slic mushrooms and add to the pan. Saute for 2 more minutes. Add baby spinach, salt and pepper, and continue to saute until spinach is completely wilted.

For the Pumpkin Filling:

What you’ll need:

1 can Libby’s pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
3 tbsp flour

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until incorporated.

Assembling the Hamantaschen:

What you’ll need:
prepared puff pastry circles
prepared cabbage filling
prepared spinach filling
prepared pumpkin filling
2 eggs, whisked
cookie sheets

Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly grease your cookie sheets and set aside. Remove your pastry from the fridge and let thaw for a few minutes.  Brush the circles with egg, and fill with a spoonful of filling. Pinch the corners together to form triangles. Brush again with egg. Lay on a cookie sheet.

Bake & Serve!

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until golden.

HAPPY PURIM!

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Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed yet, but I’m not that big into baking. I do it every once in a while, but not all the time. Why? Well, first of all, I don’t particularly enjoy it. It’s too technical. I like the creative freedom that I have with food. Baking on the other hand, it’s very scientific. You need to follow the recipe to the tee, otherwise, it won’t come out right. Also, it makes a huge mess. Not that cooking doesn’t. But baking, I just feel like there are the measuring cups, spoons, bowls, the mixer, the gazillion ingredients. And lastly, most importantly, it’s just so fattening! I’d rather eat food! With that said, I did make some really yummy pumpkin whoopie pies yesterday. I halved the recipe, because who needs all that temptation lurking.

Based on my experience, I’d like to make a suggestion. If you decide to halve a recipe, do yourself a favor, and rewrite it, because chances are, if you work off the original, and you think you’re gonna make the calculations in your head, halfway down the line you suddenly forget and you screw up the entire recipe and have to start from scratch all over again!

Now being as I have a daughter who’s severly allergic to milk, I decided to make these parve, using toffuti cream cheese. I also substituted smart beat light margarine for the butter. This resulted in a runnier filling (see pics). I would suggest going with the original dairy recipe, or, see my other alternative below.

To make the pies, I used organic pumpkin puree that I found at Pomegranate around Thanksgiving time. I think it adds that extra richness of flavor to the pumpkin. (Trust me, I’m no organic addict, I just find that when I do buy organic, the flavors are more full-bodied) The pies come out so incredibly moist, with that kick of spice you get from nutmeg and ginger, and the warmth of the cinnamon. Really yummy on a cold winter day. B’teavon!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Adapted from browneyedbaker.com

Yields about 2 dozen assembled whoopie pies, depending on the size you make them. These are medium.

For the Pies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
3 cups canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Maple-Cream Cheese Filling: (see below for a delicious alternative to this filling)
3 cups powdered sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside. In a separate bowl, Mix the sugar, brown sugar, oil, pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture until completely combined. Using a scoop or tablespoon, drop a rounded, heaping tablespoon of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.

To make the filling, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth with no visible lumps, about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then add the maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth.

To assemble the whoopie pies: Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe or spoon the filling (about a tablespoon) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spread to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.

ALTERNATIVE TO CREAM CHEESE FILLING (PARVE):

Now, as an alternative to the cream cheese filling, I must tell you about this DELICIOUS maple butter I bought recently (available at Benzs Gourmet). It was sitting in my pantry, waiting to be paired with the perfect match. And I have to say, pumpkin whoopie pies is it! The butter is like thick creamy maple syrup, sticky and sweet! I couldn’t resist spreading it on a few sandwiches. The result was extremely rich-tasting, too much for more than a couple of bites.

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