Pumpkin Spice Bread

While this bread was delicious, next time I am going to try a simpler recipe. Quick breads just shouldn't require five bowls to prepare the ingredients. This is definitely a spend more time cleaning up than baking recipe, and while it was wonderful, it didn't quite justify all the extra work.

Special thanks to Alycia for lending me her fancy camera!

First Snowstorm: Easy Carrot and Ginger Soup

This recipe is perfect in every way. It's healthy, creamy, tastes like Fall, and, most importantly, so simple to make. Even better, the forty-minute wait is the perfect amount of time to let you catch up on the latest episode of your favorite show! (How is the Downton Abbey finale already here?)

{Recipe Adapted from http://www.simplecomfortfood.com/2011/01/17/carrot-soup/}

You will need:

2 large yellow onions, diced

2 pounds of carrots, peeled, and roughly chopped

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2 tbsp unsalted butter

6 cups of chicken stock (or vegetable)

2 tbsp ginger,

1/2-1 cup of light cream (or 2% milk)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cracked black pepper

Add the butter, onion, carrots, garlic and ginger to a large soup pot and cook for about 8 minutes. Add in the stock, bring to a boil and then lower the heat, cover the pot and simmer for about 40 minutes.

Use a hand blender or toss the mixture into a blender/food processor to puree the soup. Then add in the pepper and cream to your liking (add the cream in slowly and taste as you go, I only needed about 1/2 a cup. Top with Parmesan Cheese. Enjoy!

Halloweekend: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

I first made these cupcakes with a friend last year in Copenhagen out of our mutual, hopeless love for all things fall. Of course when you are living in a foreign country for a short time, there is a lack of things kitchen-gadgety. But not even a dearth of muffin tins could keep us from this cupcake recipe. Driven by a passion for pumpkin our clever ingenuity led us to putting all our cupcake wrappers in a baking pan, ultimately leaving us with flat little amoeba cupcakes. #StudyAbroadProblems

Of course they were still the most delicious cupcakes in the world. It was sworn never to be repeated how many of those cupcakes we ate, but I’m pretty sure they were all gone by the next morning. Addictive. The maple cream cheese frosting is a must. You will die a glorious fall-scented death.

{Recipe Courtesy http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/11/pumpkin-cupcakes/}

Cupcakes:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for greasing pans
1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with 18 liners.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.

Add the eggs 1 at a time to the sugar/butter mixture, scraping down the sides after each addition. Then, alternate adding in the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth.

Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners so they are about ¾ of the way full.

Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.

Frosting:
Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy.

Makes 18 cupcakes

 

  HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!