Caramel Coated Ginger Cake

I've got a To Do List. It's long and pertains solely to food. Go figure.

The list never actually gets done, it sort of just sits in my head and grows larger in size each day. But it's nothing to stress about, cause it's all reward in the end. Hence, the first product of my Christmas cravings: Ginger Cake. Including a few more To Do's that I  can check off.

#2- Open that dang jar of molasses and use it (for the first time might I add). Check

 #13- Make spices look like an awkward couple. Check

#4- Picture with neatly placed ingredients. Check

I just love the deep amber color and flavor that the molasses gives the cake.

Like a giant gingerbread cookie, allow the cake to cool.

 

In the mean time, make your caramel!

Check.

Pour, then let it ooze and be very generous with the caramel. The cake can handle it, can you?

The cake was moist and the caramel accented the ginger beautifully!

I'll leave you with this picture to drool over. Don't worry your not alone.

Ginger Cake
adapted from cookingchannel.com

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup molasses

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk (any fat content)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an eight inch pie pan and line with parchment paper (you could also use a cake or square pan).

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg until well combined. Set aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet in two batches, alternating with milk, until just combined. Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes.

Basic Caramel Sauce
makes just over 3/4 cup

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp water

1 tsp apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)

1/2 cup, plus 2 tbsp-1/4 cup heavy cream

In a large sauce pan, combine sugar water and vinegar, and bring to a high boil over high heat. Allow mixture to boil for 2-5 minutes until it becomes a deep amber color, watch carefully to prevent burning. At this point whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream until combined and remove from heat. At this point the caramel is done, but you can add the remaining heavy cream, a tbsp at a time, until your desired consistency. Allow the caramel to cool for 5-10 minutes before pouring over the cake.

To reheat, simply microwave for 15 seconds or warm on stovetop on low heat.

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Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This was my Thanksgiving experiment recipe. Thanksgiving? Really, your still on Thanksgiving Molly?

Yes, I know it's Christmas time. But I just cannot get over how bomb this was. And besides, this would be absolutely perfect at any time of the season. I assure you.

If you don't feel like or have the time to make your own pumpkin bread you can buy some or substitute any day old bread you have on hand. But this was Thanksgiving and I was going all out. I made the pumpkin bread a day in advance, then cubed and toasted them for 15 min. I wanted to eat that bowl like it was popcorn.

But I resisted and began custard-ing. Like the pumpkin bread wasn't enough, I threw in the rest of the canned puree into the mix. Oooh yea.

Smush

Pour in the custard and let those cubes of pumpkiny goodness soak in even more pumpkiny goodness. We suffered some custard losses and I'm not going to lie, spilled some curses along with it.

 I added a sugar walnut streusel to top it off and it made for fantastic texture and crunch. Sorry though,  didn't get many spectacular pics of the whole finished product.

But I had some experimental eating to do.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

adapted from Epicurious

1 loaf or 8 cups 1/2 in-1in cubed pumpkin bread

1 1/2 cups milk(any fat content)

1 1/2 cups half-n-half

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp bourbon (I didn't have any on hand, but by all means add it if you do!)

Cinnamon Walnut Streusel

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice(optional)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 flour

1/2 stick(1/4 cup) butter

For the Streusel:

Combine walnuts, spices, sugar, and flour into a small bowl. Using your hands, cut in butter till the mixture resembles course meal. Set aside.

For Pudding:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10-in baking dish. Place cubed bread onto a baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes, tossing halfway through. Allow to cool.

In a medium sauce pan, combine milk, half-n-half, vanilla, and sugar and bring to a simmer. 

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, maple syrup, and pumpkin puree. Slowly whisk in hot milk mixture until well combined. Whisk in bourbon.

Put cubed bread and any crumbs into the greased baking dish. Gently pour the custard mixture over the bread. Press down on the bread with your (clean)hand to make sure every piece absorbs some of the liquid. Sprinkle on the walnut topping then cover with plastic wrap and let soak for at least 30 min(I made mine in the morning let it soak for up to 6 hours. Be sure to turn off your oven if your not using it for a while). 

Place baking dish into a 9x13 baking dish and put on the oven rack. Fill the larger one with hot water about half-way up the pudding dish and bake for about 1 hour, until slightly puffed and center wiggles a bit. Remove from the oven and the water bath. Allow to cool for at least 30 min.

Thanksgiving 2011

The whole week preceding Thanksgiving, I checked, double checked, and triple checked the weather forecast on my iPhone. The whole week it told me it would rain. I'll admit initially I was a bit disappointed because I seem to associate Thanksgiving with a warm 5 o'clock sunset that lights up the house with an autumn glow. But as turkey day approached, I became content with the belief it would rain on one of my favorite days of the year. 

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the rain. But there are certain moments that I look forward to and visualize in a certain way, to the point where I'd think even the slightest disruption would ruin it. 

I don't think I'm the only person who thinks this way. I am sure others have their own perfect moments too. Perhaps it's relaxing after a long day at work, settling back home after being away a while, embracing someone you love, taking a bite out of something delicious, or relieving yourself on the toilet. We've all got one. Here were just a few of mine:

-Chopped stuff for stuffing. (Or dressing, if you're picky about the name)

-Pretty potatoes. 

-Peekin' in the oven. Like a creeper. Lookin' good.

- Warm, sunny autumn glow! Yes this day was perfect.

After working in the kitchen all day, a few hundred hugs, and a forkful from this plate, I'm pretty sure there was nothing that could ruin my bliss. Not even the rain.

For me, Thanksgiving is more like a day filled with perfect moments. Good food, good company, and good food babies.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And I couldn't be more happy. And hungry. School and dance have been kicking my butt and now it is finally time for rest.


And stuffing my face.


Even though I'll be heading back up home to beautiful and foggy San Francisco in a few days, I thought I could fit in another round of baking. I wanted something really easy and with few ingredients. While scrolling through a few blog archives, I found the perfect recipe from Joy the Baker.

Just four ingredients! The frugal college student in me couldn't be happier.

Peanut Butter. Good start.

Sugar. Yes, this did lead to one or two spoonfuls of sugar coated peanut butter. Don't tell me you wouldn't.

Then just one egg and baking soda. Thats it!

I had never done anything flourless before, so I halved the recipe just in case they wouldn't turn out and end up wasting perfectly good peanut butter. But it turns out that these are probably the easiest and most foolproof cookies imaginable. They were light and crispy on the outside with a slight chew in the middle.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

(adapted from Joy the Baker)

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar (1/2 white, 1/2 brown)

1 egg

1tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, beat together peanut butter and sugars till well incorporated and there is no loose sugar on bottom of bowl. Then mix in egg and baking soda. Using your hands, form balls of the dough or drop rounded tablespoons onto the baking sheets 2 inches apart. Using a fork, lightly press ridges into each ball. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

English Muffins

Who doesn't love english muffins? Lathered with butter or whatever spread you desire, an english muffin can set you up for your day.

But so what Molly? It's a muffin. Anyone can just slice open a store bought one and go on with their day.

But wait! 

I made these. Hold up... I made these? Yessiree!

I started with one. I was very cautious about actually trying the recipe because using yeast has been an intimidating task for me, and my first trial with yeast didn't exactly work out (by which I mean my whole wheat bread never rose and I was left with flat, dense toast for 3 weeks). So, I decided to see how the first one would turn out and judge whether it would be worth continuing. But I was semi-pleased with the result and continued with the batch.

And before I knew it...

I had finished! And had a good pile waiting to be eaten.

Or maybe just one. Look at it! Nooks and crannies and all.

Okay, I only ate one cause I made these around 6 pm and wanted to save the rest for the week and actually enjoy them in the morning. But of course I had to try a fresh one. Hurray for success!

I used used this recipe with a few tweaks:
- used whole wheat flour
- cooked them on a non-stick pan over low medium heat
- I got about 9 muffins out of the recipe

Turned out great. Try it for yourself!