Pumpkin Pecan No-Knead Bread

I really love bread.  I feel like I need to just come right out and say that because we have another no-knead bread recipe here.  If I really love bread, then I really, really, really love no-knead bread. It's just so easy peasy, your house smells FANTASTIC and you have yummy bread to gorge on.  What's not to love really?  

I embraced the season and made a pumpkin version similar to the Guinness Cherry Pecan bread I made earlier this year.   This pumpkin bread is not remotely similar to a sweet smushy pumpkin quick bread but rather like those big crusty loaves of raisin pecan artisan loaves you find in the bakery.  It's pretty fantastic fresh but even better toasted up with some cinnamony fruit butter.  It's definitely a perfect snack after an early morning walk through fall colors. 

Behold, Pike's Peak.  See it?  That snowy peak way, way, way back there?  I bought a new guide book and saw that a photo of this open space that had phenomenal view of Pikes Peak.  

I checked the book again after the walk....they tricked us by using a telephoto lens.   Still a lovely walk anyway. 

This particular walk was a little experiment to see if Brooklyn could potentially be normal around big dogs.  Since the attack, my formerly angelic and ultra-submissive dog goes into full-on Cujo mode anytime she sees a big dog.   Her behavior is so over-the-top that strangers take to crossing the street rather than passing us on the sidewalk.  The other day a woman with a German Shepherd left the path and crossed a field in order to avoid my crazy snarling dog with her dripping gnashing teeth.  Yeah, I see a few puppy PTSD sessions  in our future.

I was hoping that maybe an easy way to re-introduce her to big dogs would be to meet up with a big dog she already knew.  We went ultra-big in this case...go big or go home right?

Can you find the peek-a-boo Boston in this picture?  Love that face. 

Yeah. Turns out she's just fine with her BFF.  

Being crazy is exhausting.

So the pumpkin bread.  You know a recipe will be A-OK when it starts out like this.  

Same overnight process as the other no-knead breads.  I love how bubbly and yeasty and yummy it looks and smells in the morning.

I baked this in my 4.5 quart cast iron pan and found it required a bit more baking time.  This recipe is slightly bigger than the other ones so recommend using a 5.5 quart pan if you have one.  The recipe below assumes you do...if using a smaller one, you'll want to cook for at least an additional 10-15  minutes covered.  Bread is done when it sounds hollow when you knock on it.  And of course, bread  is delicious when you eat it.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pecan No-Knead Bread

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup water
1 tbsp yeast
1 15-oz can pumpkin puree
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1tsp salt
4 cups flour plus additional for working surface

1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together pumpkin puree and water until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients except pecans and cranberries and stir well to combine. 
2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or plate and set aside for 12-18 hours or overnight. 
3. Heat oven to 450 degrees. 
4. Heat pecans in skillet over medium high heat, shaking pan often to prevent burning.   Remove from heat when pecans are lightly toasted.  Set aside. 
5. When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a 5.5 quart cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 25 minutes. 
6. While the oven and pan is preheating, add cranberries and pecans to dough and stir well. 
7. Dump dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball. Let rest until pan is ready.
8. Remove hot pan from the oven and carefully drop dough into ungreased pan. 
9. Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes. 
10. After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
11. Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack. Let cool before slicing

Butternut Goat Cheese Pasta

Do you have ingredients that you buy every time you shop regardless of whether you have some at home?  I had a friend who buys avocados every time she goes to the store.  She always has piles of them in varying levels of ripeness accumulating on her counter. 

For me, it's cheese.  I counted 17 pkgs of shredded cheese (I kid you not), 5 blocks of artisan cheese, 2 wedges of parmesan, 3 full size balls of fresh mozzarella and 2 enormous logs of goat cheese when I cleaned out my fridge yesterday.  We won't count the Costco bag of string cheese--those belong to Brooklyn as she is more diligent about eating her cheese than I am. 

All that to say that I adore cheese.  It frightens me to think of a refrigerator without it.  And with so much cheese, I needed to make cheese with a little pasta today. 

This "recipe" was quite the evolution.  It started with an idea to make a goat cheese mac-n-cheese type dish. While searching for mac in the basement "pantry" I realized that 1) I didn't have macaroni and 2) I still had a butternut squash from last fall.  Seriously.  I store them in the cool basement and while they last months, I was surprised that this one lasted months and then some.  So then I wanted to make something with butternut squash. Butternut squash and creamy goat cheese is definitely good eats. 

The evolution didn't stop there.  True to most of my cooking, it's all often about what' closest or what whim hits me....

....I was going to sautee the onions in coconut oil but then I found bacon in my fridge....bacon it is.
....I was going to make the sauce with white wine...for all of a second.  Then I saw the beer that I'd just opened, sipped, and decided I wasn't in the mood for.  When you are cooking just for yourself, you can use the beer you just sipped.

Beer is definitely not standard or expected but I was thrilled with the result.  Seriously.  Beer has that malty, hoppy flavor that translated into a hearty sauce that was fantastic with the goat cheese.

A full pantry search yielded exactly one pkg of pasta.  The luck continues.

I'm not the world's biggest pasta eater but this was a combo that I loved, loved, loved.  It might even persuade me to eat pasta twice in the same week.  The sweet butternut squash was a perfect contrast to the salty bacon, tangy goat cheese and malty beer.  I love a happy accident.

Butternut Goat Cheese Pasta

Ingredients:
8 oz dried pasta
4 oz bacon diced
1 cup diced onions
2 garlic cloves minced
2 cups cooked cubed butternut squash
4 oz goat cheese
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
1/2-2/3 bottle of lager
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
Fresh basil (optional)

Directions:

1. Place a large pot of water on to boil
2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add diced bacon and cook until bacon is crisp.  Remove all but 1 tbsp of the bacon grease
3. Add pasta to boiling water and cook per directions on pkg
4. Lower heat to medium low and add onions and garlic.  Sautee until onions are tender, about 5-6 minutes
5. Return heat to med-high heat, add squash, goat cheese and parmesan and stir well.  Add lager and cook for 3-4 minutes or until sauce thickens.  
6. When pasta is al dente, spoon pasta directly from pasta water to butternut squash pan (do not rinse pasta as this helps the sauce stick to the pasta) Mix to combine and serve immediately with fresh basil if desired

Pumpkin Cranberry Waffles

Is pumpkin only for the fall?  I say nay.  

Fall seemed to fly by soooooooo quickly that I can guarantee I did not get my pumpkin fix...enter pumpkin waffles.  Leftover cranberries from Thanksgiving (yes that long) contributes a bit of tang to the somewhat seasonally confused cinnamony waffle deliciousness. 

I think yeast adds that wonderful yeasty smell and bread taste that is so comforting.  It takes an extra hour over non-yeasted recipes but makes a light fluffy waffle with that oh so perfect scent. 

Enough said right?

Pumpkin Cranberry Waffles

INGREDIENTS:

1 envelope active dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup chopped cranberries
melted butter for the waffle iron
maple syrup for serving

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, mix warm milk with yeast. Stir and set aside to proof, 10 minutes. 
2. In a large bowl whisk together pumpkin, oil, vanilla and eggs. Add yeast. 
3. Add remaining ingredients except cranberries and beat together, scraping sides as needed.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and rise 1 hour. 
5. Stir cranberries into batter.  Preheat waffle iron. 
6. Brush hot iron with melted butter and ladle batter into iron spreading gently to the edges.  
7. Close and cook to desired doneness. Serve warm with syrup and whipped cream. 

Glazed Pumpkin Donuts

I'm jumping on the baked donut bandwagon, even after swearing off purchasing any more one-use wonder types of pans.  I caved.  Cute, little donut pans...what resolve can withstand that temptation?  Not mine apparently. 

Baked pumpkin donuts are just about the easiest thing ever and they kind of look like they took more work than your average muffin don't they?  But yeah, not so much.  Easy peasy....as in dump the wet ingredients, turn on the mixer and then add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  I suppose if you were being technical about it all, this is really a muffin shaped like a donut, but since it's baked in a donut pan, it holds that donut firm shape.  And when dipped in a glaze, it's remarkably similar to cake donut.  I bet if you dunked the entire thing in glaze, you'd swear it was pretty darned close to a fried cake donut. 

The most time consuming part was filling the pans and even that was pretty easy.  I piped it one time and then used a mini cookie scoop the second time and have to say that I prefer the scooping version.  

Of course I used the cinnamon chips again...call me giddy from having found them for the holidays after a long year's absence.  I melted them with some butter, added powdered sugar and a splash of milk to make a glaze.  

I can't explain the powdered sugar on top of the cinnamon glaze except to say that I did because I could.  

Or more likely, I was hoping for that sugary sweet sensation that you get from a glazed donut.  Coming from person who finds most desserts too sweet, that's saying something.  In the end these are donuts and should send you into sugar shock with just a bit... I did actually prefer these with the regular 'ole sugary sweet glaze that forms that awesome sugary sweet crust on donuts.  Yep.  I liked them so much I had to take them to the office after just one lest I like them repeatedly at home all by myself.  I've included both glaze recipes below though so you can decide yourself. 

The recipe from King Arthur flour is definitely a keeper--these went pretty quickly.

Glazed Pumpkin Donuts

adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 can pumpkin puree
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 3/4 cup flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In bowl of mixer combine eggs, pumpkin, oil, sugar and pumpkin pie spice and mix well
3. Whisk together dry ingredients and add to pumpkin mixture.  Mix only long enough to combine. 
4. Spray donut pans lightly with oil (these definitely need this even though the pans are generally non-stick.  I made the mistake of not greasing the first time and the donuts stuck like crazy)
5. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter into each donut cavity (about three cookie scoops full) and spread around. Tap gently to settle batter. 
6. Bake 15-18 mins.  
7. Let cool 5 mins and transfer to rack to cool completely before glazing. 

For the regular 'ole glaze:

5 tbsp butter, melted

2 1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 tbsp hot water

OR

For the cinnamon chip glaze:
1 cup cinnamon chips, melted
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp hot water (start with one and add second if needed to thin out glaze)

1. When donuts are cool, prepare glaze by whisking together all glaze ingredients. 
2. Place rack with donuts onto cookie sheets to catch dripping glaze.
3. Dip top half of donut into glaze and set on rack.  Allow glaze to harden.

Makes 20 donuts

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Pancakes

With snow finally forecasted to fall and the weather turning chilly, it just feels right to be let go of all inhibition and fully embrace pumpkin everything.   What could be more obvious than pumpkin pancakes right?

When I hear the word snow in the forecast, I get that irrational fear of being snowed in without baking supplies kind of like Laura Ingalls was during The Long Winter.  You never know when the next blizzard is going to roll in and who wants to be stuck with anything short of 12 cans of pumpkin for baking and for puppies right? Yes, my snow baking stash grew by epic proportions and we received less than an inch last night.   It's what Laura would do though, I'm quite sure. 

I also stocked up on cinnamon chips--love these things and they pair perfectly with pumpkin.  I have a hard time finding them outside of the holidays so stock up during the holidays when they are readily available.  They are phenomenal in pumpkin scones... I have those planned next weekend when some friends come over for brekkie.

Yes, you could just make pumpkin pancakes and they would be good but they are so much better with cinnamon chips...they add a cinnamon roll type flavor to the pancakes.  Can you tell I heart them so?

When I was in Alaska, we stayed with my friend of a friend in Homer.  She made these awesome sourdough pancakes for brekkie one morning and I watched closely while she made the starter the night before.  Then I mostly forgot and had to Google it.  It's pretty much 1-1 parts flour and water with some yeast tossed in.  For this recipe I combined flour and oats for a little whole grain goodness. 

The yeast adds a little, well, yeasty flavor and I love the slight tang of letting the batter sit overnight.  I especially love just tossing a few more ingredients into the bowl in the morning and getting right to the pancake making.

The oats made for a slightly flatter pancake, so if you prefer your pancakes fluffier, replace the oats with flour.  Flat, fluffy, pumpkin pancakes aren't too bad either way. 

Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Pancakes

INGREDIENTS 1 2/3 cups flour 1/2 cup rolled oats 2 cups warm water 1 teaspoon yeast 1/2 of a 15oz can of pumpkin 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon oil 1 egg 1 teaspoon baking soda Do not use a metal bowl or spoon The night before making the pancakes mix yeast, flour, oatmeal and water together. Cover and let sit in a warm place overnight. The next morning, heat griddle to 350.   Add pumpkin, salt, sugar, oil, egg, and baking soda to the pancake starter and stir to combine. Ladle batter onto griddle and sprinkle cinnamon chips over pancakes.  Cook until golden, edges are firm and bubbles rise to the top and pop.  Flip and cook 2-3 minutes more or until golden. Serve with your favorite combination of maple syrup,  powdered sugar and whipped cream

Pumpkin Poppers

The happiest of baking seasons is upon us...fallpumpkinthanksgivingchristmas baking season. It's one of my favorite kitchen seasons of the year and I don't think it's just me.  There's just something about that first turn of the weather that seems to have everyone jumping in the kitchen.  The pinterest pins of fall baking goods seems to have grown exponentially and I'm constantly torn on what to make next. 

When I saw these pumpkin poppers, I knew they were it--no need to keep looking.  They were moist and cinnamonny and perfectly bite sized.  Nothing bad going on here.

They start out as little mini muffins baking in a little mini muffin pan and then when they come out of the oven they are dipped in butter and then cinnamon and sugar.  I'm not going to say no to that. 

Many say they prefer smaller sizes because of the portion control.  I find that small bite size foods cause me to mindlessly eat more.  Case in point...two poppers dipped and placed on the plate.  Two poppers eaten before the next is even rolled.  

These were pretty awesome and definitely a keeper.  I'm already planning the next batch with a swap out of the cinnamon sugar coating for a donut glazed icing.  Thank you Pinterest. 

Pumpkin Poppers

adapted from Domestically Speaking

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (plus 2 tbsp if at high altitude)

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk

For cinnamon sugar coating:
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare mini muffin pans.  (I made about 36 mini muffins with this recipe)
2. Whisk together dry ingredients in medium sized bowl.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix gently until it’s just combined
5. Fill mini muffin cups 3/4 full and then bake for 10-12 minutes
6. While they’re baking, melt butter and in a small bowl combine sugar and cinnamon
7. Let the poppers cool for a few minutes and dip in melted butter. Roll immediately in cinnamon and sugar.

Pumpkin Dutch Baby Pancakes with Cream Cheese Drizzle

I know that I should wait until Labor Day before I begin my shift to autumn but being one week early isn't too bad right?  Denver mornings have been deliciously chilly enough to need a fleece and I've seen autumn type flowers at the market.  I needed pumpkin too.

Since my mini cast iron skillets were sitting on the stove, it was a pretty obvious thing to me that I needed to make a pumpkin version of dutch babies.

I turned to my favorite dutch baby recipe and ran it through a couple of trials.  I feared just straight pumpkin would make the batter too heavy to rise, even with less flour, and I was right.  For the second trial I beat the egg whites into stiff peaks and folded it into the rest of the batter that had been blended together.   This allowed the pancakes to rise perfectly in the oven and deflate when pulled out. 

Pumpkin pancakes of course call for a cream cheese drizzle....cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and milk.  Not too shabby.

This is definitely a make again and again type recipe for the fall season.  Extra cream cheese drizzles make it all the better. 

Pumpkin Dutch Babies

4 tsps butter, cut into one tsp slices

2/3 cup flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/4 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp pumpin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 large egg whites

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 block)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place the flour, sugar, salt, 1 cup of the milk, vanilla, pumpkin, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and 2 whole eggs into a blender and process for 30 seconds. Let rest for 1 hour at room temp or overnight in refrigerator. (If refrigerating, allow batter to come to room temp prior to baking)
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place 4 individual sized cast iron pans in oven to preheat. (or one 10 inch cast iron skillet)
3. Beat 2 egg whites with a beater until they form stiff peaks.  Gently fold batter into egg whites until fully combined
4. Carefully remove hot pans from oven and place 1 tsp of  butter into each.  Swirl to melt.
5. Carefully pour the batter into the preheated skillet. Sprinkle with half of the fresh raspberries
6. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are puffed and brown.
7. While dutch babies are baking make cream cheese drizzle by combining cream cheese, powdered sugar, remaining 1/4 cup milk and vanilla in a small saucepan over med-low heat.  Whisk over heat until smooth and serve drizzled over dutch babies.