Pumpkin Thing

The premise behind the You Want Pies With That? event is to make a pie based on the chosen theme. Then everyone who made a pie that month can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the most votes gets choose the theme the following month. Jeanette and I had the honor of choosing a theme for October. We decided on "Masquerade Pie" - make a pie that has a secret.

We suggested that "You can conceal your pie's secret identity (with a robe of dark chocolate, maybe?) or disguise your pie as one thing when it's really something else (like a mock apple pie deceptively made with Ritz crackers instead of apples). You can use a mysterious, unusual or surprising ingredient in your pie or if you're more inclined to step out from behind the mask, you can reveal a secret recipe or technique."


I decided to make something that I hesitantly call pumpkin pie squares. The recipe is based on a recipe I got from a restaurant in the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco. I've been making this recipe for over a decade now, but I never know what to call it. That restaurant called it a pumpkin pecan pie, but that name never seemed right to me. So I ended up calling it that "pumpkin thing". The restaurant makes the recipe in two 9-inch round pans, but I found it easier to make the recipe in one 9x13-inch cake pan or one 10-inch round springform pan. If I make it in the 9x13 pan I call it pumpkin pie squares, but if I make it in the springform, it's just that pumpkin thing.

The dirty little secret to the pumpkin thing is the use of boxed cake mix. The cake mix, which is sprinkled on top of the pumpkin batter in the pan, becomes the crust when you invert the baked pumpkin thing. I am almost embarrassed to say the words "cake mix" when people ask me what's in the crust. The pumpkin thing is one of my two most requested recipes. The other is the toffee almond bars which also uses boxed cake mix. What is it about cake mix that people love so much? I will never understand it.

The internet is filled with variations of this recipe and most of them are named pumpkin dump cake or similar. But no matter its name, it's no secret that people love the pumpkin thing.

Pumpkin Pie Squares
(aka Pumpkin Thing)

One 30-ounce can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
One 5-ounce can of evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk)
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
One 18-ounce box of yellow cake mix (Pillsbury or Better Crocker brand)
1 cup chopped pecans
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Line one 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking pan with parchment paper and coat with baking spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine pumpkin, both sugars and evaporated milk. Beat in eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt and then pour batter into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle half the cake mix over the batter. Sprinkle on the pecans and then the remaining cake mix. Drizzle with melted butter.

Bake at 350F for 60-70 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool in pan for 2 hours on a cooling rack. Loosen and gently invert onto a serving platter. Carefully remove the parchment paper. Leave it pumpkin side up.

Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 or 3 hours before slicing.

Macarons with Salted Almond Butter Filling

I am writing this post as I munch on a Miette chocolate macaron that my husband bought me. That should tell you how well my macaron making experience went during this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. Ami S. asked us to make macarons using a recipe from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern. We could use any filling our hearts desired.

[Note: Macarons, which originated in France, are meringue sandwich cookies typically made with almonds. They should not be confused with macaroons (you know, those coconut ones).]

I have always wanted to make my own macarons, but laziness usually prevails. It's much easier to just pop over to Miette or Paulette (both in Hayes Valley near my beloved Blue Bottle), but they can be pricey at $1.50 and $1.60 each respectively. I never leave without 2 macarons. And more often than not, it's more like 6 or 12! But the DB challenge was a perfect opportunity to try making them myself.



I read posts by Helen, Duncan and Veronica. I watched videos in French even though I couldn't understand 90% of what they were saying. I religiously read the DB private forums about macaron making. I ordered an insanely large bag of blanched almond flour online and stocked up on plenty of eggs and confectioners' sugar. And I started early in the month, soon after the challenge was first announced, which is uncharacteristic for me since I always wait until the very last minute to try the recipe. The great part about starting so early was that I was able to try the recipe many times before the posting date.

Attempt 1
Unblanched (skin-on) almonds (Trader Joe's almond meal). I aged my egg whites at room temperature for 24 hours and whipped them to stiff peaks. Single sheet pan. I tried both parchment and silicone baking mats. No problems removing the macarons from the pan using either. Macarons have the ruffled foot, but the foot extended beyond the border of the shell. Some had fissures and cracks. Helen's advice was to mix less and to stack a second sheet pan underneath the first to promote even heat distribution. The almond skins gave the macarons a more pronounced almond flavor, but the skin-flecked shells appeared less refined than ones made with blanched almonds.


Attempt 1: Batter flattened out nicely.


Attempt 1: Some shells developed fissures.

Attempt 2
Blanched (no-skin) almonds (Honeyville almond flour). I aged my egg whites at room temperature for 24 hours and whipped them to stiff peaks. I used a second sheet pan and silicone baking mats. No problems removing the macarons from the pan. I was careful to gently fold in the almond-sugar mixture into the beaten egg whites. The ruffled foot did not extend beyond the border of the shell (yippee! - that's how it's supposed to be). But I had a huge air pocket under the shell (blah! - not what I want) and they looked like hamburger buns which my taste testing co-workers found amusing. Using blanched almonds gave the macarons a more delicate flavor than those made with unblanched almonds.


Attempt 2: Foot ruffle good, air pocket bad, looks like hamburger bun.

Attempt 3
Blanched (no-skin) almonds. I aged my egg whites at room temperature for 24 hours and whipped them to stiff peaks. I used a second sheet pan and silicone baking mats. After watching some how-to videos and reading the DB forums, I decided to mix in the almond-sugar mixture with purpose instead of gently folding. Advice was to "fold and press" to incorporate the almond-sugar and to somewhat deflate the batter. The batter should be smooth and "flow like magma". Also, I tested the batter by making sure a ribbon of batter drizzled on top of the rest of the batter would disappear within 30 seconds. After piping out the batter I also gently rapped the sheet pan to release any large air bubbles.

My baked macarons were flatter than in attempt 2, but the ruffled foot extended beyond the border of the shell and I still had that pesky air pocket under the shell. The macarons would not come off the silicone baking mat even after letting them cool for a couple hours. So I had to bake them in the oven until they would come off. That extra baking time darkened the shells to a light golden brown. They still tasted good but a bit toasty. The photo at the beginning of my post is from attempt 3.


Attempt 3: Shells darkened from extra baking to get them off the silicone mat, darned air pocket still there.

Attempt 4
Method and results identical to attempt 3, but I didn’t bother re-baking them to remove them from the silicone mat. I just scraped them off the silicone mats with an icing spatula. They were a sticky mess but the thin delicate outer shell remained intact.


Attempt 4: Batterlooks promising.

Attempt 4: I just can't get the ruffled foot right.

Even though they all tasted really good with the salted almond butter filling I made, I would consider all four attempts failures. Attempt 2 had the best ruffled foot as it did not extend beyond the border of the shell. Attempts 3 and 4 had the right flat shaped but the ruffle was wrong and I still had that air pocket. I need to figure out how to get rid of the air pocket! It happens when I gently fold the almond-sugar mixture into the beaten egg whites and it also happens when I "fold and press" with purpose. I am getting pretty good at piping out the macaronage into circles of the same size. I am now officially obsessed with making them over and over again until I get it right. Then I will no longer need to buy them anymore.

The fine print:
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

The Scent of Cardamom

The taste and scent of cardamom is hard to describe. It's very distinct and unique. If you're familiar with it, there is no mistaking it. If you're not familiar, then you might say it's floral with a hint a ginger. I would never describe it as spicy. Cinnamon is spicy. Ginger is spicy. Cardamom is not. I am at a loss for how else to describe the mysterious and exotic cardamom.

The yogurt along with the half pound of butter makes this coffee cake moist and definitely not low in calories. But the cardamom permeates each bite and gives the illusion of something bright and fresh that belies any sense of heaviness. The sweet filling is the perfect counterpoint to the fragrant cake. The cinnamon scented walnut filling holds its own yet does not compete against the cardamom infused cake. If you like cardamom chances are you'll love this coffee cake.

Cardamom Coffee Cake
(adapted from "The Bake Sale Cookbook" by Sally Sampson)
(makes one Bundt cake)

Filling:
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups whole milk plain yogurt (or sour cream)

Preheat oven to 350F. Generously butter and flour a 12-cup capacity Bundt pan.

To make the filling:
Combine walnuts, both sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix well. Set aside.

To make the cake:
Sift together flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt. Set aside.

Place butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl before each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Add half the flour mixture and beat well. Add 1 cup of the yogurt, continuing to beat. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the remaining half of the flour mixture. Add the remaining 1 cup of the yogurt and beat well.

Pour one-third of the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Sprinkle with half of the filling mixture. Repeat and top with remaining one-third batter. Bake at 350F until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and a tester comes out clean, about 60 minutes.

Cool for 20 minutes in the pan and then invert on a rack. Cool to room temperature. Dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired.