Pecan pie is made from corn syrup.  And sugar.  And brown sugar.  There’s a lot of sweet going on in that thing.  And it’s no wonder, your average slice of your average pecan pie is going to cost you 65 carbs.  Cutting the number of calories per serving that dramatically probably means one of two things: 1) Artificial sweeteners; 2) Ew.  In fact, it means neither.  But I’m not miracle worker.  This isn’t really pecan pie.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

One of my father’s favorite desserts is pecan pie, and who can resist eating that around Thanksgiving.  My main goal then was not to make him pecan pie.  I knew that couldn’t be done well.  Instead, I set out to make something reminiscent of pecan pie, something decadent, and something without anywhere near that amount of sugar.  And the roommate seal of approval says this recipe is ready for the Thanksgiving table.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Pecan Creme Brulee:

For the custard:

• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together egg yolks and sugar.  Add in the cream and vanilla.  Whisk until smooth.  Now strain through fine mesh strainer.  Pour into 4 ramekins.  Now bake in water bath at 300 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.  When just set on the edges, remove from oven and let chill in the refrigerator for at least a few hours (I usually go overnight).

For the pecan topping:

• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

In a large skillet, toast the pecans over medium-low heat.  When aromatic, add in the butter and sugar.  Stir until coated.  Pour into a bowl and refrigerate.

To assemble:

Take the custard and top with about 1/2 teaspoon of dark brown sugar.  Set your kitchen torch to low, and torch them babies (keep moving… it’s easy to burn).  Then top with the sugared pecans.  Serves 4.

In the absence of a kitchen torch, you can totally use your broiler.  Just be careful not to burn the tops.

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.

It’s really not, though.  I promise.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Curious, aren’t you?

These babies are chewy.  They’re chocolatey.  They’re peanut buttery.  They’re good is what they are.

Lots of people had this idea where you make gluten free peanut butter cookies.  I’ve done it before.  And plenty of others have adapted that recipe to use nutella.  I was sad to not be more original, but it’s the sad state of things.  Unfortunately, people seem to be putting too much sugar into them.  And that makes me sad.  How would you taste the peanut butter?  Better yet, the nutella?

Peanutella Cookies:

• 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 1/2 c. nutella
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix the ingredients together.  Chill in fridge for an hour or so.  Place by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for approximately 10 minutes.

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’m having the most amazing hair day today.  That’s not braggy, is it?  I’m as shocked as anyone else, but I just woke up… and there it was.  Exactly how I wanted it to be.  And I didn’t do anything to it.  If this is any indicator of how this next year is going to go, I’m pretty ok with that.

Pumpkin ice cream.  I was going to make cupcakes for my birthday, but then my mom made me some this weekend.  So then I thought I’d make chocolate ice cream, and on Sunday, decided we’d go pumpkin instead.  I have no regrets.  You won’t either.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

So I like this David Lebovitz guy.  He really seems to know his stuff when it comes to ice cream.  … but sometimes his directions stress me out.  There’s not enough before-hand prep, and I’m afraid I’ll burn milk if I leave it on the stove when I’m separating eggs.  I’ve switched a few of the directions around, and I edited the spices a bit (because honestly, I don’t fresh grind much of anything).  Generally speaking, though, this ice cream is my adaptation of his adaptation, which gets confusing after awhile.  Here’s what I was working with.

Pumpkin Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon (gluten free) vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (100% pure)

Make an ice bath: a big bowl with a bunch of ice in it, and a littler, metal bowl sitting inside of that.  Then put a mesh strainer on top.  Keep this handy.  You’ll use it later.

Separate your eggs and whisk up the yolks.  Keep ‘em close.  Mix the milk, cream, sugar, spices, and salt over medium heat.  Stir constantly, and heat until just starting to bubble.  Now pour some of the milk mixture into the egg yolks slowly, while whisking the eggs yolks.  Do this nice and slow so you don’t cook the eggs.  That’s gross.  Now pour the egg/milk mixture into the rest of the milk mixture.  Cook over low (let’s be honest, I got impatient and turned the heat up) until thickened.  If you’re questioning whether it’s thick yet, it’s not.  You’ll know.

Now strain the thick custard mixture into that littler metal bowl that’s sitting in the ice bath.  Stir until cool, then refrigerate until chilled (preferably overnight).  Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla, then strain again.  Now freeze according to ice maker directions.

This ice cream tastes like fall.  You won’t regret it.

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.)

… 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.

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.

So I made this creme brulee.  Why?  Because my brother and sister-in-law gave me a kitchen torch for Christmas.  And N & R gave me ramekins for my birthday.  It kind of had to happen.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

The first time, I used this recipe.  It worked like a dream.  But Nathan wasn’t around to photograph it.  Besides, I didn’t really expect my first attempt to turn out so well.  Isn’t creme brulee supposed to be difficult or something?

… so I made it again.  Except I messed it up.  Because I only have 4 ramekins, not 6.  So I had to make 2/3 of a recipe.  Which is kind of hard to do.  And I’m usually pretty good at math.  But I don’t like measuring.  Remember that?

And I messed it all up.  Because I did 2/3ish of all the ingredients, except for the cream.  That was an accident.  It wasn’t the same.  But no complaints.  You know what that means?

Creme brulee is too easy for you not to make it.  Also it’s way too good.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  It’s good.  See?

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Chocolate Drizzled Peanut Butter Cookies

The card I stole from Mom's recipe box

Cream together:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 eggs

Stir in:

• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Shape into balls and place on cookie sheet. Mark the tops with a fork.

Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until light brown on the edges.

Melt and drizzle on top of the cookies:

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon shortening (helps to smooth it out)

Refrigerate a bit to let the chocolate harden, then enjoy!