FOOD ON THE FOOD

Pumpkin Cupcakes for Halloween

I guess there's some kind of storm coming, so I've been advised to get my Halloween post up before the power goes out and/or any one of these dead trees falls on my house. I don't know what the big deal is. As long as the winds don't go much above 20 mph, it should be fine. No problemo.

Here's a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting that you may decorate in whatever ghoulish fashion you might envision. I'm sure one of you is good at making jack o'lantern faces out of icing or what have you, but I am not. Bad things happen when I try to be creative. You'll just have to use your imagination. Keep me out of it!

But the cupcakes themselves are very, very tasty. Suffice it to say that a power outage is the only way I won't be making these again in the next 48 hours.


Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (print-friendly version)

This is my neighbor's pumpkin bread recipe paired with the cream cheese frosting I normally reserve for carrot cake. This recipe makes about 16 cupcakes or one 9-inch cake (double the recipe for a stacked cake).

Batter
1-2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
2 tablespoons water

Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (not light or whipped)
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2-1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a standard muffin tin with wrappers.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. In another medium bowl, mix the sugar, canola oil, eggs, pumpkin puree, and water until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir well. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins until about 2/3 full. Bake about 20 minutes, or until the middles rise and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature.

To make the frosting, whip together the softened butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Sift the confectioner’s sugar into a medium bowl (sifting is very important to prevent lumps). Add half of the confectioner’s sugar and mix until smooth, starting at low speed so that the sugar doesn’t fly everywhere and then gradually increasing speed. Mix in the rest of the confectioner’s sugar. Frost the cooled cupcakes, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Note: Bring on the fresh pumpkin if you have it (sugar pumpkins or long pumpkins are best). Cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake at 375°F cut-side-down on a rimmed baking sheet for 45 minutes to an hour. Scoop the tender flesh out of its skin and puree in a food processor for about a minute. Set the pulp in a fine-mesh strainer to drain for an hour before using. (You can substitute squash, too!)

Thursday Tease: Bacon Potato Tart

So I told myself no desserts for a week, and what did I do? I made myself a bacon and potato tart for dinner, which included copious amounts of cream, caramelized onions, and a buttery crust.

I don't know who I think I'm fooling. That's still dessert! Sprinkling a little bacon on your pie doesn't change the fact that it's still a pie!

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Some Observations About Writing a Dessert Cookbook, Part 3

I swore after finishing my cookbook that there would be no more desserts for at least a month, maybe two. I was tired of cooking on such an unforgiving schedule, and frankly I was getting sick of dessert. I know you hate me a little for saying that, but it's true. Sometimes a girl needs some fiber in her diet is all I'm saying.

But, let's see, in the two weeks since my deadline passed, I've made a cake, a lemon tart, a big batch of pumpkin butter, and not one, but two, apple pies. There may or may not be another one in the oven right now! What happened to taking some time off? Maybe do a cleanse, or reacquaint myself with some fitness equipment? Eff that: Momma needs some sugar. And by sugar I mean actual sugar. Keep your sloppy kisses and genitalia away from me!

Part of it is habit. I'm simply used to eating cake at 10 a.m. That's the new normal. Without that sugar infusion (and the subsequent ones at 2 and 8 p.m.), there's no telling whom you might encounter should you happen to knock on my door bearing campaign materials. Weepy Tammy? Bewildered Tammy? Murderous-Towards-Trespassers Tammy? (One valuable piece of information I learned is that when you answer the door, before the solicitor in question even starts to speak, immediately curl up your face and hiss like a rabid raccoon, never breaking eye contact, drawing out the sound into a low growl, and your interaction is over before it even starts.)

Another possible factor in my continued dessert rampages is that I'm used to being very busy. Previously, I was rigidly bound to a schedule I secretly feared was beyond my capabilities. I was almost too busy to eat the confections I baked. (Almost.) Now there's a hole in my day that can only be filled with doughnut holes. And wouldn't you know it, I have just the recipe! How convenient! Maybe I should test it again just in case? Yeah, I'm pretty sure there could be some improvements. The next thing you know, the sink is full of dirty dishes and I'm collapsed on the couch like a pregnant lady with a cinnamon-sugar mustache. Trust me, nobody wants to see that.

I have thus far managed to stave off obesity, don't ask me how, but I'm still a good 10 to 15 pounds heavier than normal. And though I had a good gym routine going for a while there, now I'm all, yeah, whatever. Who cares? The damage is done. Twice now the new fitness guy had to wake me up because I was drooling all over the electrical components of my cardio machine.

So I have some tough love ahead of me if I hope to rebuild my physical and mental strength and stamina. By the time the book comes out next fall (2013), I should be back to normal, whatever normal is for me. Meanwhile, I still have all of these goddamned pumpkins, and they really, really want to be in a pie!

On Finickiness, By Dad

While organizing my manuscript notes, I came across a conversation that my dad and I had probably sometime last year, which I jotted down so I wouldn't forget and then promptly forgot. I remember the conversation well, though, because it's one we have often—just sub in a different vegetable. Let's listen in:

Him: You think because you like everything, it makes you special? It just means you have no standards.

Me: Oh, really!

Him: No standards whatsoever!

Me: No, it means I'm able to recognize the merits of a wide variety of things. Maybe if you tried some different foods, you too would learn to recognize deliciousness when it hits you in the face.

Him: Standards mean things have to live up to something for you to accept them. I like fewer things, ergo I have higher standards.

Me: Oh, for god's sakes, are you going to eat those artichokes or not?

Him: I don't like artichokes.

Me: *sigh*

Children are easier to reason with!

I Wrote a Cookbook!

Well, last month was one wild ride! Four hours after submitting my completed manuscript to Running Press, I slumped downstairs to the kitchen where the kids were waiting for me to pour the milk into their cereal (they don't seem to want to take that next, final step into breakfast self-reliance).

9YO: Mommy, did you finish your book?

Me: Mmmhmmm... (shuffle shuffle)

6YO: Yay!! Now we can play with Mommy all day instead of going to school!!!

Never has a more horrible idea been issued in so sweet a voice! I gave him extra hugs and kisses as I pushed him onto the bus, tugging violently on the folding door until it closed in one final jerk. Then I took to my bed in broad daylight and didn't get up again until the kids tumbled off the bus in the afternoon. I repeated that pattern for the rest of the week, interrupting it once to pull myself together for my birthday, and then dissolving again as soon as the coast was clear.

Now I feel like a million bucks! Ready for anything! Do you want another book written? Why, I'll start one right now! What do you want to read?!!

Meanwhile, click over to The Batmom for a peek into the kitchen of a gracious, last-minute recipe-tester (and one of my best writing buddies).

Then stop by Frowning Judgment for some thoughts on cheese overindulgence. I'm glad my concoctions could help push him over the edge onto the path of the righteous.

Again, I have to thank you guys for stepping up to help out when I really needed you. I couldn't have finished this book without you!

Tuesday Tease: Creme Brulee

Manuscript = Done