Pumpkin Spice Maple Muffins

Spice Girl
You start to get a whiff of it in the air right around August 20th and then the scent keeps getting stronger as August gives way to September. By the second week of September not only do you smell it but you see it popping up all over. And sometimes, in very strange places.

Then, it’s the first day of fall and you just can’t escape it. It’s everywhere! And, just when you think you’ve conquered your demons and can live a life free from craving that scent, that flavor, it’s spicy sweet claws grab a hold of you drag you back in. Pumpkin Spice is back. Can nobody save us?

I’ve been trying to put off the inevitable for a while now if only to enjoy Fall’s favorite pumpkin spice flavor in fall. Two days in to the new season…and I caved. It was the ultimate peer pressure. My inbox has been overflowing with newsletters and recipe suggestions like enterprising pushers all devoted to pumpkins and winter squashes of all shapes and forms. (Try us, they said. Just one little taste couldn’t hurt. Yeah, right.)

There was a maple pumpkin walnut cheesecake, and a pumpkin soup with apples and ancho chile, pumpkin ravioli, savory pumpkin tarts, pumpkin with lentils, stuffed pumpkin, chicken and pumpkin with dumplings (be still my heart), and on and on.

Amidst the bevy of sweet and savory possibilities sweetened with maple syrup or spiced with cayenne, I came across this very easy recipe for Pumpkin Spice Maple Muffins. What I like most is the use of whole wheat flour, which gives the muffins a hearty nuttiness—as opposed to some of the sweeter versions out there. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out, though, that a lovely cream cheese frosting would make these muffins otherworldly.

If you are one of the stalwart few who thus far have not succumbed to the frenzy that is pumpkin and it’s spices, I applaud your resolute determination in the face of mouthwatering scents and rampant marketing. And, I encourage you to continue on where I failed. In the meantime, I’ll be over here, eating a muffin.

Pumpkin Spice Maple Muffins
Adapted from the New York Times
Yields one dozen muffins

The turmeric gives these muffins a deep orange color. Browning the butter beforehand provides a vaguely nutty, deeply caramelized flavor that makes for a delicious muffin. For a gluten-free version of this recipe, just substitute the flour with an equal amount of Cup4Cup Multipurpose Flour. Read more…

Slow-Roasted Salmon

We eat a lot of Salmon for dinner. Sometimes I grill it and sometimes I roast it in butter. It can be poached and it can be pan seared. But, I recently came across another way to cook it, Slow-Roasted Salmon, and it blew my mind.

Cooking salmon is not hard. But, one does tend to worry about over-cooking it, especially because of the price tag. Nothing worse than ruining an expensive piece of fish (or meat for that matter) by over cooking it.

Good News! This newest method I found is foolproof.

I was thumbing through my new favorite cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid Heat and came across this recipe for Slow-Roasted Salmon. It is a very simple, straightforward method of cooking your salmon and the result is a buttery-textured salmon that literally melts in your mouth. It’s fantastic!

Next time you have a big piece of really nice salmon, give this a try. You’ll never go back to your old method…

Slow-Roasted Salmon
Yields 4 to 6 servings Read more…

Honey-Cinnamon Ice Cream with Toasted Pecans

The Buzz
Have you ever had houseguests who just didn’t know when it was time to leave? We’ve been having that problem for a while now. For the past month we have been hosting a few hundred bees that decided to build their hive in the walls of our garage and now it is time for them to go.

I have always liked the idea of having my own bee hive for a number of reasons. Honey, obviously but also just to have my own personal army of pollinators. The reality would require more time than I am able to devote to it, which is why we have spent the past weeks figuring out the most harmless method to send the bees on their merry way.

If there is any good news (and when you have a swarm of bees there’s usually not a lot of good news) it is that our buzzy friends decided to make their home in an area that is relatively far away from our house and easily accessible via my veggie garden. That last part probably has something to do with their spot of choice. It is also the reason we tried to wait it out to see if they would just move on. They didn’t. It’s prime real estate. And, we all know the first rule of real estate; location, location, location.

After consulting with a local bee expert, and not wanting to harm the bees in anyway, we came up with a plan to get the bees out of the wall. And it worked. But then the bees just decided to build their hive under the eaves of the garage roof complete with honey comb. So we are left with no other option.

Today the saga will end with our bee expert coming to collect the colony and take it away to live with the other happy bees in her hives. Once they are gone, we will be able to open up our garage wall and see what they left behind. If the long line of ants are any indication we are looking at a pretty sticky situation.

It probably comes as no surprise that I’ve had honey on the brain lately. So, when I came across this recipe for Honey-Cinnamon Ice Cream with Toasted Pecans, I knew I had to give it a try.

Honey-Cinnamon Ice Cream with Toasted Pecans
Adapted from Epicurious
Yields about 1 1/4 quarts

The warm cinnamon flavor melds wonderfully the earthiness of the honey and pecans. An added bonus to this Honey-Cinnamon Ice Cream is that honey lends itself to extra-creamy ice creams, which you’ll notice immediately when you taste this one.

This ice cream is delicious when topped with fresh, sliced peaches. Read more…

Cracker Jack Ice Cream Cake

Take Me Out To The Ball Game
I recently came across a photo of a Cracker Jack Ice Cream Cake when I was looking through a magazine about great American cakes. And, it blew my mind. It combines a number of things that I love all in one: cake, ice cream, and baseball.

If you have been reading this blog with any regularity you will know of my love for baseball—and nothing says baseball more than Cracker Jacks…well, maybe hot dogs and beer. But, you get the idea.

Full disclosure, I am a fan of peanuts in my ice cream as well as caramel but I have never even considered putting cracker jacks on my ice cream. Mind blown.

This Cracker Jack Ice Cream Cake is fairly easy to make, especially if you use a springform pan, But, it does require freeze time. So, be sure to plan ahead if you are making this for a special occasion…but who really needs a special occasion?

Cracker Jack Ice Cream Cake
Yields 8-10 servings Read more…