Pumpkin Cake with Pecan & Cream Cheese Streusel

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I’ll bake for the fun of it, I’ll bake for company, I’ll bake for you when you’re sad or sick.

I’ll also bake to bait.

Why did I bake this beautiful coffee cake today?

I’m totally baiting.

But don’t worry, this cake is for a good cause.

I’m using it to remind my boyfriend that some things are more important than going in to the office on the weekends.  Sleeping late, wearing sweaters and taking walks, spending an afternoon at the dog park, reading the newspaper in jammies while eating your favorite fall flavors baked into a cake.  Personal sanity and mental heath make the list, too.

I think this coffee cake will do trick.  Who would choose work over digging into a spicy, nutty slice of pumpkin cake with cream cheese and streusel?

Time to get started.  Lots of steps, but none are difficult.

Cream cheese goodness, check.

 

 

 

 

Let’s go on the streusel.

 

 

 

 

We’d better batter.

 

 

 

 

Put it all together.

 

 

 

 

Bake and cool.  Patience, patience.

 

Weekend breakfast bliss.  Have another cup of coffee, do the crossword puzzle.  You can work on Monday.

 

Pecan & Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Crumbles
 
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This spiced pumpkin cake is perfect with coffee for breakfast or dessert. It would also be great for your Thanksgiving brunch.
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Serves: 12-16
Ingredients
  • .
    For the Cake
  • 3 c. All Purpose Flour
  • 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1½ tsp. Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. Ground Ginger
  • 1 tsp. Cardamom
  • ½ tsp. Ground Cloves
  • ½ tsp. Allspice
  • ¼ tsp. Black Pepper
  • ¾ tsp. Salt
  • 1 c. Unsalted Butter, softened
  • 1 c. Granulated Sugar
  • 1 15 oz. can Pumpkin
  • ½ c. Buttermilk
  • ½ c. Sour Cream
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 4 Eggs
    For the Streusel
  • 3 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, chilled and cut into pieces
  • ½ c. Dark Brown Sugar
  • ½ c. All Purpose Flour
  • ¼ tsp. Salt
  • ½ tsp. Cinnamon
  • pinch of Black Pepper
  • 1 c. Pecan Halves
    For the Cream Cheese Topping
  • 4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
  • 2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, softened
  • ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • ¼ c. Light Brown Sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour a tube pan.
  2. Combine sugar, flour, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Cut in chilled butter until crumbly. Add pecans halves. Set aside.
  3. Cream butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and brown sugar until light and creamy. Add a splash of milk in nessecary. Set aside.
  4. Whisk to combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, and spices in medium bowl. Set aside.
  5. In another medium bowl, whick together pumpkin, buttermilk, sour cream, and vanilla. Set aside.
  6. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy- about 5 minutes on high speed. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well.
  7. With mixer on low speed, add a third of the dry ingredients, mix until combined, followed by half of the pumpkin mixture, and repeat, mixing until just blended.
  8. Spread half of the cake batter into prepared pan and sprinkle on half of the pecan struesel. Spread the remaining batter on top and evenly dollop on cream cheese mixture and sprinkle with remaining struesel.
  9. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 1 hour. Allow to cool in pan for at least 30 minutes.

Sweet & Spicy Toasted Squash Seeds

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I try to take time to do a couple nice things for myself everyday.  Today I drank my coffee in bed, took a walk with my camera, and made myself a tasty treat that didn’t require any trips to the grocery store.

If you’re like me, you eat a lot of squash throughout the fall and winter.  And if you don’t, you’re missing out on wondrous squash soups, squash risotto, roasted squash hash, squash puree, stuffed squash, and…

…lots and lots of squash seeds.

But those are not garbage or even compost.  Those seeds are your favorite autumnal snack!  They’re the best thing to munch with beer, contribute a little crunch to a salad, or add a little pop to your perfectly pureed soup.

Super easy to make- just clean, soak, season, and toast.

 

 

 

I enjoyed some of my seeds under a clear blue sky with a glass of apple cider and a good book.  What are you going to do with yours?

 

Sweet & Spicy Toasted Squash Seeds
 
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These roasted squash seeds make a crunchy garnish for soups and salads and are a perfect nibble with drinks.
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Ingredients
  • 1 c. Squash Seeds (cleaned, soaked in salted water overnight, and rinsed)
  • 2 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • ½ tsp. Cinnamon
  • ¼ - ½ tsp. Cayenne Pepper
  • 1 tsp. Rosemary, finely chopped
  • ¼ tsp. Kosher Salt
  • 1 Tbsp. Dark Brown Sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325°.
  2. Combine prepped squash seeds with oil, spices, rosemary, salt, and sugar; stir until seeds are evenly coated.
  3. Spread seeds evenly over baking sheets and bake until seeds are golden and toasty, about 25 minutes. Stir often and watch carefully as these can easily be burned.
  4. Allow to cool before serving or transferring to an airtight container.

Steak Tartare alla Roscioli

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Ready?  Come on let’s go.

Let’s twist and turn our way through old streets of Rome until we find a spot for dinner.

Right, left, straight, through the piazza, right, right, oops we’re down a dead-end alleyway.  Admire the beautiful geraniums spilling off the balcony and continue your mission.  Dinner, looking for dinner.

Hmm…this place looks interesting.  Roscioli.  It’s a beautiful deli in front and a cave like dining room in the rear.  There’s an unkempt, surly looking man running the cash register, gorgeous cured meats in the deli case, and huge bowls of Roman artichokes.  This’ll do.

You’ll order quite a bit here.  How couldn’t you?  You are forced to examine everything in the case while the surly guy deliberates over which table to bring you to.  He double checks to make sure you’re both americani.  Check, check.  He shuffles papers, you gasp over the mortadella with a two foot diameter.  Holy baloney!  Your table is ready.  You can stop eating with your eyes and get down to serious business.

Like I said, it’ll be hard to not eat a lot here.  Everything just looks so fresh, so good, so Italian.  You want it all.  You order several things to share.  You eat, you enjoy.

Four months later, you remember this meal.  You remember how happy you were this night, still in the beginning of your two week-long vacation.  You remember how much more pleasant it was to have feet that ached from walking miles over old cobblestones than from wearing bad shoes on a twelve hour shift.  You’ll remember the cool wine cellar you snooped around in (discreetly) while you waited for the restroom.  You’ll remember all of this.

But four months later, only one dish will haunt you.

The steak tartare.  So simple, so fresh, so Italy.  The meat was from a very special herd of cows, of course.  As if you’d want to eat just any cow!  What else?  Ripe, red as the meat, diced tomato.  Fruity olive oil.  A mound of beautifully creamy, oozy Burrata.

So Italian that maybe I shouldn’t even try to recreate at home in the Midwest.  Maybe I should just cherish the memory.

No.  I’ve got to do it and I’ve got to do it now while I can still find a decent tomato in these parts.  This is crucial.  This dish is only going to have a couple ingredients so they had all better be the best I can find.  Go to the butcher for the meat.  Splurge, you only need a little.  Is there a nice cheese shop nearby?  Head there for the freshest, imported Burrata.  Farmer’s market for the tomato.  Wow, even shopping for this dish makes me feel Italian.

Chop the meat.  Peel and dice the tomato.  Grate a little shallot.  Drizzle the oil.  Sprinkle some salt, a pinch of pepper.  Mix and make it look pretty.  Top with a bit of Burrata and serve with a few crostini.

 

 

Talk.  Reminisce.  Plan your next trip to Italy.


Steak Tartare alla Roscioli
 
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Use only quality beef from a trusted butcher. This recipe will serve 2 as a main or 4 as an appetizer.
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Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • 8 oz. Lean cut of Beef (I use tenderloin)
  • 1 medium Ripe Red Tomato
  • 1 small Shallot
  • ¼ Ball of Buratta
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
  • Coarse Ground Black Pepper
  • Baguette
Instructions
  1. Place beef in freezer for 10-15 minutes. This will make it much easier to cut.
  2. Thinly slice baguette for as many crostini as you feel necessary, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake in 400° oven until golden and crunchy, about 10 minutes.
  3. Peel, seed, and dice tomato. Place in medium bowl.
  4. Dice chilled beef, add to tomatoes.
  5. Grate shallot over tomato and beef mixture. Stir to combine. Season with extra virgin oil, salt, and pepper.
  6. Mound tartare on serving plate, making an indent to hold the Buratta.
  7. Gently cut a wedge of Buratta and place in indentation.
  8. Serve with crostini.

Spiced Maple Molasses Granola

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I was so excited to tell you about my latest take on homemade granola that I did something stupid.

Really, really stupid.  Still feeling bad days later kind of stupid.

I dropped the camera.  And not just any camera.  The really nice dslr camera Matt and I bought together that I was afraid to touch for the first month.  The camera that has safely been up and down mountains, on sea-faring boats, and through crowds of thieves.

The camera could get through all that but couldn’t make it through my first week as a food blogger.  See there probably isn’t a camera in the world that is a perfect match for a girl who is flailing about the kitchen, five minutes before she needs to run out the door, trying to get the perfect shot of a bowl of granola so she can write another post when she gets home from work at midnight.

So the camera fell.  And the lens is hurtin’.  And I feel dumb, but my tragic story should not stop you from making this tasty granola.  It’s actually super easy and as long as you aren’t trying to take a perfectly “pin”-able photo while sprinting out the door, nothing bad will happen.  And should something bad happen, at least your house will smell of warm baking spices for days and you’ll have an abundance of yummy spiced granola to help comfort you.

Okay…gather your goods.

Oatmeal, coconut, almonds.  You could use pecans but almonds have more crunch.  Golden raisins, candied ginger, dried apricots.  Molasses, maple syrup, butter, oil.  Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, clove.  Anything else you might put in your favorite spiced molasses cookies.

Melt the butter, oil, syrup, and molasses.

Add your spices, nuts, coconut, and oats.  Admire the many shades of brown as you stir to combine.

Now it’s time to get toasty.

Golden and toasty, take it out of the oven and let it cool on a rack.  Get your dog out of the kitchen.  Get yourself out of the kitchen.  Go for a walk- it’ll make you feel better about all the granola you’re about to consume.

Welcome back.  Add your dried fruit, candied ginger, and…

…that’s it.  You’re done. Wasn’t that easy?  You never have to spend $6 on 4 ounces of artisanal granola again!  Put it in some mason jars.  Keep the big one for yourself.  Give the pint jars to friends.  Bake some apples and sprinkle granola on top.  Add a dollop of yogurt, call it breakfast; add a scoop of cinnamon ice cream and call it dessert.

And don’t worry too much about me and my camera issues.  Thankfully I have a boyfriend who accepts me for the clumsy, spastic klutz that I am and insisted we spring for the diamond warranty.

5.0 from 1 reviews
Spiced Maple Molasses Granola
 
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This granola is easily customized with whatever dried fruits and nuts you like and makes a very nice home-made gift.
Author:
Serves: yields 7 cups
Ingredients
  • 4 c. Old-Fashioned Oats
  • 1 c. Whole Almonds
  • ½ c. Coconut
  • ¼ tsp. Kosher Salt
  • 1 tsp. Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. Ground Ginger
  • ½ tsp. Cardamom
  • ½ tsp. Ground Cloves
  • ½ tsp. Nutmeg
  • ¼ c. Maple Syrup
  • ¼ c. Molasses
  • ¼ c. Olive Oil (or Vegetable Oil)
  • 2 T. Butter
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • ½ c. Golden Raisins
  • ½ c. Dried Apricots, chopped
  • ½ c. Candied Ginger, slivered
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Combine oats, coconut, almonds, salt, and spices.
  3. Melt butter with oil, maple syrup, and molasses. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
  4. Add dry ingredients to butter and syrup mixture. Stir until oats and nuts are well-coated.
  5. Spread mixture onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake until golden and toasty, about 30 minutes. Watch carefully and stir several times while baking to prevent burning.
  6. Allow granola to cool on baking rack.
  7. When granola has cooled completely, add dried fruit and candied ginger. Store in airtight container.

 

Kale, Radicchio & Wheat Berry Salad with Parmesan

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This is a salad that aims to please.  It’s hearty and healthy, grainy and nutty.  It’s easy to make, beautiful to admire.  It’s there when you need it and willing to cater to your whims.  This salad won’t let you down.

What  are we waiting for?  Let’s put it together.  Get the wheatberries simmering; this’ll take awhile.  Let them do their thing while you do yours.  Take out the trash , iron a shirt, water your houseplants.  We’ll meet back in forty-five.

Assemble your team.  Dark green kale meets garnet-colored radicchio, crisp apple, shallot, and walnuts.

Kale gets chopped, rinsed, and spun while radicchio is turned into ribbons.  Toast the nuts, turn the apple into matchsticks, and slice the shallot.

Treat your wheatberries to some zippy dijon, a glug of walnut oil, couple splashes of vinegar.  Grab the rest of the gang and toss in a big bowl.  Add curls and shards of Parmesan.

Congratulations, now you have a big tasty salad that’s going to see you through the week.  Put it in your lunchbox, eat it straight from the salad bowl at midnight, or serve it as a side.  You could saute it and serve it warm.  You could add some lentils or sweet potatoes.  Don’t like the idea of a vegetarian main course?  That’s fine, top it with a luscious, bone in, grilled, double cut pork chop.  This salad is not here to judge.  This salad works for you.


5.0 from 2 reviews
Kale, Radicchio & Wheat Berry Salad with Parmesan
 
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This versatile salad makes a satisfying, healthy lunch or a great side with pork for an autumnal or winter dinner.
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Serves: 6 as lunch, 8 or more as side dish
Ingredients
  • 1 c. Uncooked Wheat Berries, cooked according to package instructions
  • 1 bunch Dinosaur Kale, tough center stalk removed, leaves chopped
  • ½ head Radicchio, thinly sliced
  • 1 Honeycrisp Apple, julienned and sprinkled with lemon juice
  • 1 handful Walnut, toasted and chopped
  • 1 medium Shallot, thinly sliced
  • 1-2 T. Dijon Mustard
  • 1-2 T. Walnut or Olive Oil
  • 1-2 T. White Wine Vinegar.
  • Kosher Salt
  • Coarse Black Pepper
  • Parmesan (Sharp Cheddar would be good, too)
Instructions
  1. Place warm, cooked wheat berries in large salad bowl, add 1-2 T. dijon mustard (depending on how much bite you like) and toss to coat.
  2. Add oil and vinegar, season generously with salt and pepper.
  3. Add kale, radicchio, and shallot. Toss well, seaon with additional oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper as needed.
  4. Add nuts and apples, toss gently.
  5. Divide among plates and top with plenty of shaved Parmesan.