Spiced Pumpkin Bread with a Twist

Here is my attempt to drunken my famous pumpkin bread. I halved the recipe because I didn't want to waste my fresh pumpkin puree on what could be a drunken disaster. Top this bread off with bourbon cream cheese frosting and everyone will forget all of their worries.

When serving this, slice the bread and then cut the slices in half. Place the frosting in a ramikin or another similarly cute dish. Then arrange decoratively on your favorite IKEA serving tray.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Adapted from Epicurious

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree (or solid packed pumpkin from can)
2 tablespoons bourbon

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour one 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin and bourbon. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in walnuts, if desired.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool 10 minutes. Using sharp knife, cut around edge of loaves. Turn loaf out onto racks and cool completely.

Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from AllRecipes

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons premium bourbon

Preparation

Beat softened butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar and bourbon. Beat until creamy. 

Some Kitchen Tips: 

To Make Fresh Pumpkin Puree:
Here is detailed blog post about making Pumpkin Puree, pictures and all. Or you can use my quicky method below.

1. Choose the right kind of pumpkin of the many pumpkin varieties available.  
• Decorative pumpkins which are used for Halloween are grown with color, structural strength, a flat bottom, and a sturdy stem as their main attributes. The flesh tends to be bland, watery, and fibrous. 
• Culinary pumpkins have firmer flesh and a sweeter taste. There are many varieties of culinary pumpkins, including Small Sugar, Winter Luxury, Golden Cushaw, Cinderella, Fairytale, Jarradale, Sandman or Cheese Pumpkins. 
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Cut the pumpkin in half, stem to base. Remove seeds and pulp. Cover each half with foil.
4. Bake in the preheated oven, foil side up, 1 hour, or until tender.
5. Scrape pumpkin meat from shell halves and puree using a hand blender, regular blender, or food processor. You can strain to remove any remaining stringy pieces if you like. I've also just used a potato masher, knowing that further mixing will take place during any recipe I make.
   
6. Measure into quantities for your favorite pumpkin recipes, usually 1 to 2 cup portions and place into freezer bags.
7. Label contents, date and quantity and store in freezer until ready to use.

Sifting Dry Ingredients

I can remember learning how to bake from my mom. She makes fantastic pies and brownies. When the recipe called for sifting the dry ingredients, we would dig deep into the cabinet and pull out the hand sifter. I dreaded this contraption. It was old and well use. It was difficult to clean and had small bits of crusted flour in the mesh from previous uses. Not that was a huge health hazard, but it grossed out the 10 year old version of me. It required repetitive squeezing of the handle to push the ingredients through the mesh. My wrists and fingers would cramp up.

Luckily they now make a battery operated version of the sifter and sifting is a more enjoyable experience for me. I bought my sifter at Fante's, one of the best kitchen stores in the U.S. which happens to be 3 blocks north of my house. You can buy both of these sifters and several other versions at Fante's dedicated web page of sifters.

And why is sifting important? It keeps things airy and light. It also helps to evenly mix multiple dry ingredients that may have different weights and grinds. One could say sifting helps to marry the dry ingredients. Luckily I know the Deaconess of Desserts when I need help with marrying things.

It's Just Like Dating: Amaretto Mascarpone Apple Bread

When I stumbled upon this recipe, I took a look at the ingredients and the photo and got really excited. Marscapone? Amaretto? Cinnamon? Wow, this is too good to be true. I imagined an experience that paralleled tiramisu but with a whole new set of flavors. As required by all good food bloggers, there was a photo and the bread looked delicious.

I gathered all the ingredients and started mixing them. Huh, 1/4 cup of sugar? I guess I didn't pay too much attention to the quantity of ingredients. How can anything taste good with only 1/4 cup of sugar? Yikes, this could be the first warning sign of a bad recipe. When do I add the applesauce? Hmm, the recipe author "forgot" to mention that in the directions. Maybe applesauce was included as part of the "apples" when she said "Stir in mascarpone and apples until combined."

When I added the flour, the batter seemed too dry and I figured this is where I should add the applesauce. All ingredients in and mixed together and I first tasted the batter. It didn't taste so good. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good enough for me to lick the bowl clean.

At this point I realized that this recipe was much like starting to date someone new. At first I was wowed by the ingredients. I spent several days thinking about how good it was going to be, just like I do when I meet a guy I really like and go on a first date. Once I actually got a good look at the recipe, I found the quantities and directions a little odd. But we're all a little odd in some ways aren't we? Then my excitement about the recipe was tampered by how everything tasted when mixed all together, much like getting bored by the third or fourth date or realizing he's not a good match for you.

When I took the bread out of the oven, a rich creamy almond smell from the amaretto hit me. "Ooooo yum" this may be good and actually work out! I took a bite, as good as I imagined! So maybe, taking it out of the oven is like a really awesome follow up date, and the guy is worth a few more dates to see where things go.

After a few good weeks/months of dating, it's time to introduce him to your friends - but with baked goods you don't have to wait that long. Taking the bread to my friend's party tomorrow will be the true test of how good the recipe is! Hopefully it won't be out shined by my drunken pumpkin bread. Stay tuned for that recipe!

Amaretto Mascarpone Apple Bread
Adapted from Vampituity

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter
2.5 egg whites
1/3 cup applesauce
2/3 cup Mascarpone*
1 medium-sized apple (McIntosh recommended if you can ge them), peeled and cut into 1/4" pieces (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup Amaretto liquor

Icing
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon Amaretto liquor

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Coat 8-1/2" x 4-3/4" loaf pan with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon and salt. Set aside for later use. At medium speed, beat granulated sugar and oil until combined. Beat in egg whites, 1/4 cup of Amaretto, 1/3 cup of applesauce and flour mixture until combined. Stir in mascarpone until combined. Fold in the apples. Spread mixture evenly in loaf pan. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes.

Mix confectioner’s sugar and with the Amaretto. Drizzle over loaf. You may need to add more or less confectioner's sugar to get your desired effect. This ratio comes out as a lovely sugary coating, but not like thick kind you put on cinnamon rolls. Any bit that dribbles down the side onto the plate will mopped up by the cake to make an extra sugary bottom. Delish.

*Claudio's in Philly offers a good deal on the marscapone cheese - 8 oz for $3.99. At DiBruno's they were charging $14.99 for a 16 oz container. I heart the Italian Market just as much as I heart dating analogies.

Chocolate Stoudt Cake

OMG this cake is freakin' delicious and it's from one of my favorite cooking blogs Smitten Kitchen. My friend Emily made this cake the other night - it took no time at all to mix up and put in the oven. Kevin helped by drinking the other half of the stoudt and buttering the bundt pan. If only I had a boyfriend like that...

I took some pictures but they look like I drank an entire six pack of stoudt before I took them, so I will just link out to the Smitten recipe and you can see how good your cake can look. It's good to have goals. I'm pretty sure the cake will still taste fantastic no matter what it looks like.

Mmmmm, I just had a piece of the cake. Damn. Two days later the cake is just as moist and yummy. Be careful, one piece is never enough. Schedule an extra work out or two during the week you make this cake. One minor alcoholic modification was made to the Smitten adaptation - coffee liquer was used in the ganache instead of instant coffee crystals. Ganache is a fancy french word for easy-to-make chocolate frosting made with heavy cream.
Chocolate Stout Cake
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen who Adapted from the Barrington Brewery in Great Barrington, MA via Bon Appetit (wow, gotta give props where props are due, no matter how many people have reposted this recipe)
Cake Ingredients
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
Ganache Ingredients
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon coffee liqueur

Cake prep:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter or spray a bundt pan well; make sure you get in all of the nooks and crannies. (Some people even go so far as to brush the inside of their bundt pans with melted butter–you cannot be too careful!). Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cake to rack; cool completely in the pan, then turn cake out onto rack for drizzling ganache.
Ganache:
For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee liqueur in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of cooled cake.

Holla World, Holla Whiskey Bread

About 2 years ago, I came up with the idea of writing a cookbook that contained recipes that used alcohol, any kind of alcohol as one of the ingredients. With fervor, I started collecting recipes and experimenting with ways to add alcohol to some of my favorite recipes. Well, time has passed and there is no cookbook, just lots of notes, and a 15 pound weight gain which I blame on all the desserts I made in those first few months of trying out recipes!

I recently bought some pears from the Greensgrow Farm up in Kensington. As they sat uneaten and quickly ripening on my table, I was motivated to return to the alcohol cookbook project. This Hooten Holla Whiskey Bread was one of the first recipes I worked up. It originally called for raisins, but I substituted pears. This recipe is added to my banana bread, pumpkin bread recipes and completes my dessert bread trifecta. The molasses and nutmeg give it a good spicy taste to offset the sweetness. If you like gingersnaps or whiskey, you'll like this bread.

Pear Whiskey Bread

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

1 cup flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup bourbon, plus more for you (I used scotch whiskey because that's what we had in our cupboard)

1 cup pears, peeled

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preparation:

1. First, take the bourbon or whiskey out of the cupboard and pour yourself a shot. I like mine on ice.

2. Now, pre-heat the oven to 300 degrees. Butter and flour an 8 1/2 -by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan.

3. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the beaten eggs, a little at a time.

4. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg, and add to the batter. Then beat in the milk.

5. Combine the molasses and baking soda and mix into to the batter. To help prevent the pears and pecans/walnuts from sinking, dust them with flour, shaking off the excess. Mix them, along with the bourbon, into the batter until combined.

6. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes up clean, 1 3/4 to 2 hours. Yes, it really is that long, maybe even longer. Makes 1 loaf.

NOTE: According to the original recipe, whiskey cake keeps practically forever, wrapped in aluminum foil, in your refrigerator. It gets better and better too, if you juice it up once in a while by using an eyedropper to add a little more whiskey. Unfortunately, I have lost the copy of the original recipe which I blame on the second shot of whiskey. I'm sorry I can't give credit to the original author of this recipe.