Pumpkin butter is this delicious thing that tastes kind of like pie, a lot like fall, and is the perfect match for cinnamon raisin bread.  My intention when I decided to make pumpkin butter was to have something to add to my collection of jars on top of my kitchen cabinets.  But pumpkin butter can’t join those jars.  It’s too special.

As it turns out, home canning pumpkin butter is really dangerous.  You shouldn’t do it.  You could get sick.  You could get others sick.  Just don’t.

What?  You want reasons?  Oh… well, it has something to do with the texture of pumpkin and how difficult it is for the pumpkin to reach the necessary temperature to kill all those bad botulism spores.  I read about it last week.  If you don’t trust me, just look it up.  You’ll see.

But not canning the pumpkin butter is alright by me.  Because I have these super cute jars I got from world market.  You know… the ones where the lid is connected to the top and kind of swings around on this fancy metal apparatus.  One of them has a green ceramic lid.  I like it.  I just poured the pumpkin butter into a couple of these and refrigerated them.  I took one home to my parents’, and sent the other with the boyfriend for Thanksgiving.

The recipe is easier than you can imagine.  I adapted it from here.

Pumpkin Butter

• 1 (29 oz.) can of pumpkin purree
• 1 cup apple juice
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in large saucepan.  Cook on high heat, stirring constantly.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat; let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.  Pour into jars and refrigerate until serving.

Today, let’s talk pie.  Pumpkin pie.  Remember my old recipe?  It’s been revamped, and you won’t miss the gluten a bit.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Pumpkin Cheesecake:

Crust:

• 2 1/2 c. Bob’s All Purpose Gluten Free Flour
• 1 T. xanthan gum
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 T. molasses
• 2 t. ground ginger
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 c. salted butter (cut into 1 cm cubes, very cold)
• 1 egg
• 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 c. cold water (more, if necessary)

Mix first six ingredients together. I like to use a pastry cutter to really work in the molasses. Then, cut the butter into the flour mixture until shaggy. (I never understood that term until I started working on this recipe. Trust me when I say that you will too.)  Now pour the dough out onto the counter and create a sort of volcano.  Drop the egg and the vinegar into the middle and mix it all up.  Add cold water as necessary, but be stingy.  It may seem dry at first, but keep working it.  Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours.  (Let’s be honest: I usually can only tolerate an hour, and it doesn’t turn out so bad.)

Filling:

• 1 pkg. cream cheese
• 2/3 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 can pureed pumpkin
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t. ground ginger
• dash of ground cloves

With electric mixer, mix thoroughly cream cheese and brown sugar. Stir in condensed milk, eggs, and pureed pumpkin. Finally, mix in cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

Putting it together:

Adding flour if necessary, push a tablespoon of dough into each muffin cup and up the sides. It’s important to make sure there are no holes in the mini pie crust. Spoon filling into crusts until full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. You want the filling to be nice and puffy and the crust to be golden brown.

Google knows when something is a big deal.  Trust me.  People are posting recipes so you can make your own, others are yammering on about how exciting the first pumpkin spice latte of the year is.  People love them.

And I’m not judging.  The pumpkin spice latte was the first time I ever had coffee and didn’t think “That’d be good… if you could just get rid of the coffee flavor.”  I just wasn’t raised on coffee.  My parents don’t drink it.  And my caffeine of choice through college was always diet coke (interestingly, this is what I would get when I had the pleasure of taking a sip of my dad’s drink as a child).  I’ve had roommates who drink coffee like it’s their job.  And when you’re a student, I guess it kind of is.  And I’ve just never really gotten into it.  I would always prefer a soda or a cup of tea.  Always.  … except the pumpkin spice latte.  It has this rich, earthy flavor… mixed with fall spices and the richness of cream.  It’s a match made in heaven really.

Did you see my birthday ice cream from a couple days ago?  Pumpkin ice cream is really a pretty good idea.  … but I really had to wonder if we could make a sort of pumpkin spice latte ice cream.  We can.  I did.  You should too.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

For the recipe, I basically merged two of David Lebovitz’s recipes together. This recipe for coffee ice cream.  And this recipe for pumpkin ice cream.  I made a few minor adjustments, and voila!  Here’s how it goes:

Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans (I went with decaf because I like to eat ice cream in the evening)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coffee
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the milk, coffee beans, sugar, salt, spices, and 1/2 cup heavy cream together in a medium saucepan.  Cook over low heat until steamy (not boiling).  Cover, remove from heat, and let steep for approximately 1 hour.

Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl.  Prepare ice bath: a big bowl with a bunch of ice in it, and a littler, metal bowl sitting inside of that.  Pour the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream in the smaller bowl; then put a mesh strainer on top.

Now reheat the milk mixture.  Once hot and steamy, pour some of the milk mixture into the eggs and mix together.  Now pour the egg/milk mixture into the milk mixture.  Cook on medium until thickened.  Remove from heat.  Pour through mesh strainer into ice bath.  Mix in brown sugar and coffee grounds.  Now chill this mixture thoroughly (preferably overnight).

Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla.  Strain again to get out any chunks.  Then freeze according to ice cream maker’s directions.

I wasn’t in the mood tonight for any of my tried-and-true recipes.  But I also wasn’t in the mood to buy expensive ingredients or make anything too involved.  Which means it was the perfect time to look through my 1970’s Betty Crocker cookbook.  I found a recipe called “Tomato-Pepper Chicken” which was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to make.

Chicken ready to simmer in tomato sauce

Basically, you bread the chicken, brown it in shortening (so 70’s!),  cook up the peppers and onions, add tomatoes, mushrooms, and tomato sauce, then simmer the chicken until it’s cooked.  It turned out great, but here are some changes I’ll make next time.  1) Use less shortening. Maybe even replace it with olive oil. 2) Use chicken thigh fillets instead of leg pieces to cut down on the fat from the skin, and to make it easier to eat.

Dinner is served! Mixed greens and fresh mozzarella on the side.

While I was making this and while I ate it, I listened to Ella Fitzgerald on Spotify.  It was a pretty perfect night!

If I were in kindergarten, I would get a big fat for “follows directions”.  It’s amazing I ever made it through college the way I completely disregard directions.  As I’m sure you can imagine, sometimes this “flaw” leads to absolute disaster.  It’s why I’m a bad baker.  And other times, it leads to complete brilliance.  It’s why I’m a good cook.  True facts.

In ice cream making, it generally leads to a mess.  You know… if you don’t freeze the bowl completely before trying to freeze the ice cream.  For the record, it was frozen-ish.  I didn’t completely disregard the owner’s manual.  It was just… a bit sloshy inside, still.  Just a bit.  My first ice cream recipe didn’t so much turn into ice cream.  It more turned into a delicious beverage.  The second time wasn’t much better.  Third time’s the charm, though.

And now that I’ve gotten the freezing part down, I’m back to not following directions.  In this case, it turned out great.

See?

I found this recipe.  It’s posted all over the internet.  Apparently, this David Lebovitz guy knows a thing or two about ice cream.  And I’m sure it’s a good recipe.  I’m also sure that what I ate this afternoon was not that recipe.  So by all means, try his.  But also try this one.  Because, while similar, my version has an absolutely intense chocolate flavor that was probably created by the extra chocolate I put in it.  Whoops.

Before I tell you that this is the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever eaten, you should know something.  I don’t actually like chocolate ice cream.  When the boyfriend and I are picking out ice cream, he always goes for something with a chocolate base.  I always choose something with a vanilla base.  We’re ice cream incompatible.  Not sure if that’s a deal-breaker…  But this ice cream has changed all of that.  It’s chocolate.  It’s ice cream.  And I love it.  So does the boyfriend.

Chocolate Ice Cream:
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder (I skimped, it’s true.  Go Dutch-processed if you want.  I’m sure it’d be good.)
• 8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks

Start by whisking together the 5 egg yolks.  You can do this later, but I have trouble multi-tasking.  Get them ready and out of the way.  Do it in a medium bowl.  You’ll use this later.

Whisk together 1 cup of cream and the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, then reduce temperature.  Simmer for 30 seconds.  Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips.  Mix together until the chocolate has all melted.  Slowly mix in the remaining cup of cream.  Pour this into a second medium bowl.  Place a mesh strainer on top of it.

Now take the same saucepan and mix together the milk, sugar, and salt.  Warm milk mixture over a low heat.  When it’s warmed through, slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg yolks, just a bit at a time.  You don’t want to scramble the eggs.  Now transfer the egg mixture back into the saucepan.  Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat until thickened.  Pour the mixture through the mesh strainer into the chocolate mixture.  Now place that whole bowl into an ice bath and stir until cool.  Chill the mixture until cold to the touch.  Then freeze according to ice cream maker’s directions.  (Seriously.  Do what they tell you to.)

Then I saw this come up on my google reader.  For starters, I don’t make anything fancy.  I take fancy and make it casual.  It’s what I do.  I’m good at it.  So “Fancy Sloppy Joes” isn’t really my style.  But do you know what is?  Sneaking veg into sloppy joes.  So I ran by the grocery store on my way home from work, all prepared to pick up some carrots and zucchini to put inside of them.

These are a bit on the spicy side of things, but feel free to modify them to your taste.  I wouldn’t at all frown on you if you wanted to use a spice pack, either.  I was going to, but the only brand I could find put all kinds of gluten into it.  Dumb.

I ate it on two slices of Rudi’s multigrain, and while the flavor was great, the texture wasn’t quite right.  The bread fell apart in my hands so I went at it with a fork.  Manageable, though not ideal.

Sneaky, Sloppy Joes:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 zucchini, shredded
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 c. water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• dash red pepper flakes
• salt to taste (I probably used a couple teaspoons)

Cook the ground beef and onions over medium high heat.  Drain off any excess grease.  Mix in veg, water, tomato paste, and the remaining ingredients.  Cook until veg is soft and cooked through and excess liquid has thickened.

… than when shows contradict themselves.

Like in Better Off Ted, when Linda says she’s been with the company for 6 months, but then a few episodes later, they flash back 1 year and a half to where Veronica steals her up-do.

Or in Gilmore Girls, when Lorelei tells Dean that “she’s not riding your motorcycle”, and Dean’s all like, “I don’t have a motorcycle.”  Then, in the very same season, when Christopher first shows up, Dean is like “I have a such and such kind of motorcycle.”  Ugh!  Annoying.

But since I’ve been so negative, let me tell you about something I do like.  In fact, I like it a lot.  Cherry cobbler.

This cobbler is pretty much divine.  For serious.  Oh yea.  And it’s gluten free.  Oh, you didn’t realize that?  Yea.  Nobody would know if I didn’t tell them.

This cobbler is amazing, and can be made with a variety of fruit.  It comes out crispy on the top.  Soft and fluffy underneath.  With the warm, juicy fruit beneath that.  I blame it on the butter, myself.  I blame a lot of stuff on butter, actually.  Anyway, try this.  I fed it to a bunch of gluten lovers, and they didn’t know the difference.

I’m opting out of giving you a picture for two reasons.  My roommate didn’t take any.  That lazy bum!  Also, because… well… cobbler isn’t the most photogenic of foods.  Mostly the first.  The second one is just my justification.

Cherry Cobbler:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. butter, melted
• 1 c. milk
• 1 3/4 c. Bob’s Red Mill all purpose, gluten free flour
• 3 t. baking powder
• 2 c. sugar
• 4 c. cherries, pitted (or thereabouts)
• 1/2 t. cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375.  Then pour the melted butter into a 13×9 pan.

Now, you deal with the cherries.  Get them in a big pot on the stove with 1 cup of the sugar and the cinnamon.  Stir those bad boys until they boil.

Meanwhile, mix together the milk, flour, sugar, and baking powder.  No lumps.  I mean it.  Get your whisk out.  A fork just may not do the trick.  For serious.  Listen to me.

Now pour the batter over the butter.  Don’t you dare stir those two together.  Then dump the cherries in after that.  Again, don’t stir.

I said “don’t stir”.  That doesn’t mean you can’t be strategic about your dumping.  You know what I mean…

Now bake it all together for 30-40 min or until golden brown on top.

Their brownies, however, get a big “whomp whomp”.  They taste like… chemicals.  I first described this to the boyfriend as a funky “aftertaste”.  After further reflection, I’ve decided it’s a funky “during-taste”.  That’s ok, though, because flourless chocolate cake is easy to make, and it’s practically the same thing only minus the chemicals and plus the richness.  Do it.  Now.

On the other hand, the pancake and waffle mix gets thumbs up from me.  See?

Breakfast for dinner = awesome

The waffles tasted like real waffles.  And you know it’s true because a gluten-lover thought so as well.  For reals.  The fresh whipped cream and strawberries were a nice addition too.  And I sprinkled cinnamon because I felt like it made the photo look “legit”.  Not going to lie.  That was the only motivation.  But it worked, didn’t it?

See that cinnamon?

Something else I should probably add:

Best AJ ever!

Seriously.  This apple juice is amazing.  Simply Apple.  So converted.  I don’t care if it does cost me an extra buck.  I’m never having regular apple juice ever again.  This tastes like a bunch of apples are having a party in my mouth.  Not even kidding.

This stuff is boss.  Totally boss!

It's not symmetrical. Don't judge.

I tasted a bit before I served any to the boyfriend.  I told him that it tasted like it wasn’t gluten free.  He didn’t believe me.  Until he tried it.  Now he does.  He likes it when I make pizza.

The one downside to this pizza is that it’s a bit hard to serve.  Not impossible, but a little tricky.  Here’s my recommendation.  You can use it to cut the pizza, and also to help pick it up.  It’s a slightly more effective at desticking the pizza crust than a spatula.

Also, you should buy one.  Period.  You’ll use it way more than you think you will.  I promise.

When strawberries are in season, make strawberry upside down cake.

And when you’re gluten intolerant, do it anyway.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

I was in a weird mood tonight.  I told my roomies that I needed some “Jen-Jen” time.  I did.  Real bad.  I locked myself in my room and laid on my bed.  Didn’t do anything.  Just laid there.  Then I watched Gilmore Girls.  Then I laid there some more.  It was pretty great.

I made this cake a few nights ago.  It was amazing fresh.  It wasn’t bad a few days old, though.  That is to say: I’d totally eat another piece.

But let’s talk about this cake.  It’s basically a pineapple upside down cake minus the molasses and canned fruit.  I’m pretty ok with those.  And then, naturally, I removed all of the gluten as well.  That part is optional, I suppose.  Here are the details:

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Strawberry Upside-down Cake:

• 1 pint strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1-2 Tbls. butter, melted
• 1 box yellow cake mix, prepared according to directions on box

Note: These are really approximations.  A lot of it is going to depend on the cake mix you use and the pan you put it in.  GF cake mixes usually make less than standard boxed cake mixes.  If you’re curious, I went Betty Crocker.  But only because I’m new to this, and it’s one of the cheapest I could find.  I also cooked mine in my 10 inch spring form pan.  The spring form-iness of the pan wasn’t the point, so if you don’t have one, don’t sweat it.  I was just going for a big pan that would create the maximum strawberry to cake ratio.  More cake is going to mean more strawberries and more sugar.  Be flexible, and have fun.

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease the bottom of your pan.  Seriously.  I mean lightly.  Spread the strawberry slices all over the bottom of your pan.  They can overlap a bit, no biggie.  You definitely want coverage, though.  Sprinkle the strawberries with sugar.  All of it.  I’m serious.  Now pour the butter evenly over the strawberries.  (My mom used to use pineapple juice instead of butter here, mostly because she reserved the juice from the can.  It totally works here, and if you’re looking to cut back on unnecessary fat in your diet, I recommend it.  It’s quite yummy, still.  Promise.)

Here’s where I started mixing up the cake batter, and that turned out to be a really good thing because it gave the butter and sugar and strawberries to all kind of hang out and get to know each other.  You definitely want the sugar, butter, and strawberries to be good friends.  Trust you me.  You do.

Dump the batter on top.  Be a little bit more gentle than that since you don’t want the strawberries to get messed up.  Make sure the batter is spread evenly.  Then bake that cake according to box directions.  I think it’ll be around 30 minutes.  Don’t be silly, though.  Make sure it’s done.  Ovens vary like whoa.

Once it’s cooled for a bit, flip that baby out onto a plate.  It’s the most deliciousest thing ever.  No lie.