You might remember that I mentioned that I had recreated my own version of Pumpkin Delights? Well, in order to do that I knew I was going to need some type of pumpkin filling. I figured I’d have to make pumpkin jelly, but I knew that pumpkin jelly was going to be a total pain to make and might not even turn out right.

That’s when it dawned on me. I could try to make pumpkin butter. I mean, I love apple butter, so why not?

It’s true – I love Apple Butter. I mean L-O-V-E, like in a totally committed kind of way. I’ve been making apple butter for years and we have a rather exclusive relationship.  Every year I increase the amount I make and every year I run out way before apples come into season the next fall. Sooner or later I’m going to make more than we can eat, but I haven’t gotten there quite yet.

So, what about PUMPKIN BUTTER? I started wondering . . . could anything be as good as apple butter? Is that even possible? Would apple butter get it’s feelings hurt if I cheated on it with pumpkin butter?

Well, I did a little searching and sure enough, pumpkin butter is easy to make. As a matter of fact, some people were even making it with canned pumpkin!

Now, I didn’t get all crazy like and use canned pumpkin, but I shared this recipe with a few friends before I posted it here for the rest of you and every one of those ladies did use canned pumpkin and every one of those ladies raved about their pumpkin butter. And, when I asked “Do you think this recipe needs to up on the blog?” I was answered with a very loud and very definite “Oh Heck Yeah.”

So here you go. Now please don’t go running off and tell apple butter. But most importantly, please do not skip this recipe, it is simply to die for.

P.S. This totally rocked in the pumpkin delight cookies, too.

Pumpkin Butter

7 cups of pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
1 1/2 C apple juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 1/2 C brown sugar

Start with (and adjust as you’d like):
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 cinnamon sticks + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Folks, this is about as basic as it can get. The hardest part of this recipe is trying to sleep through the heavenly smell while it cooks. That, or maybe taking the time to clean the mess up afterward.

All you do is mix it up in your crock pot and set it on low.

Let it cook overnight, or for 8-10 hours if you have a fire marshal for a husband. Place a screen or a splatter guard over the top – do not use a regular lid since we want this to cook down and get thick.

Mix well and remove cinnamon sticks. Test for spices and add if necessary.

In the morning make some toast and put a big glop on the top. And, don’t come looking for me when you gain 3 pounds after eating the entire batch, because, seriously, it’s not like I didn’t warn you.

Spoon into jars and store in the refrigerator. Canning is not suggested with mashed pumpkin, so you can freeze it or keep it in the back of the fridge.

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Picture this . . . 5 friends, invited to brunch for post shopping grub.

A lovely menu with fresh fruit, homemade cinnamon raisin bread, eggs, coffee cake, juice and fresh ground coffee is planned.  All that’s really left to do is to mix up the coffee cake and scramble the eggs – guests are scheduled to arrive in 45 minutes.  You turn to the fridge, humming as you go along and realize you are out.  of milk.

And.  Hubby has the car that you need to get to the store to buy milk.  And Hubby has the 5 friends in his car, and is scheduled to arrive in 40 minutes.

What do you do?

You could skip the coffee cake.  I mean, there’s raisin bread, it’s not like you’d be with out bread.

But, that doesn’t really work if you’re Angie Pangie.

I make a throw-down, fight-for-the-last-crumb, you-damn-well-better-not-forget-to-make-the-coffee cake-coffee cake. it really is so delicious that it seems nearly sinful.  And everyone who has ever had my coffee cake knows that when they get an invite to brunch they’re going to get to have some.  So, if you’re Angie Pangie, not making the coffee cake is not an option.

Here’s what you do.  You make it anyhow.  Because, my coffee cake can be made with milk, creamer, evaporated milk, OR powdered creamer.  It’s designed to be that versatile.

I love making my coffee cake because it seems so fussy with all the tasty struesel mixed in, but in reality . . . it’s simple and a perfect recipe for when you’re out of milk.

A lot of folks have asked me for this uber secret coffee cake recipe.  They’ve actually been asking for a lot of recipes.  I figure this is a peace offering for those of you out there (you know who you are) who have been frustrated with me for not sharing my coconut pie recipe, or my angel-sponge cake recipe, or any number of secret recipes.  I figure this is a compromise.

Happy holidays!  Here’s my gift to you, readers.

Angie Pangie’s Coffee Cake

2/3-3/4 cup milk, creamer, evaporated milk, or  2/3 cup water mixed with 1/3 cup powdered coffee creamer
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1/3 cup soft unsalted butter (margarine is o.k., but for the best flavor stick to butter)

Grease a 9 inch baking pan.  Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

If using water, whisk powdered creamer into warm water and set aside.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a mixing bowl.

Add butter and mix on low speed until the flour is evenly cut into the butter.  You can mix by hand, if you prefer.  This should look like dry sand when it is done.  Working the butter into the flour this way gives you a tender, buttery cake.

Add egg and milk (or milk substitute) and mix well.  Start with the 2/3 cup, and if the batter is too thick add more milk or creamer by the tablespoon until batter is spreadable.  Milk, creamer, and powdered creamer are all different enough that you have to be a teensy bit flexible with the amount you use.  This should be about the consistency of cake batter, maybe slightly thicker.

Spoon half of the batter into 9 inch pan.  Sprinkle half of the struesel over the batter.

Pour the remaining batter over the struesel and smooth with a spatula.  Do not worry if it is not perfect, or if it gets mixed up a bit.  Sprinkle remaining topping over the batter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  A knife inserted near the center will come out clean when it is done.  Cool for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Struesel Topping

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (or nuts of your choice – pecans are good, too)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons very cold butter, cut into pieces

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.

Use a fork or pastry blender to cut the butter into the mixture.  It should resemble wet sand when it is ready.  Do not leave any large chunks of butter.

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I know, I know. It’s been too long since I’ve had a weekday post, again. But, I finally have made it through the kids’ last two weeks of school. Any parent with a school aged-child knows what I am talking about: 4 different field trips, overdue library books to round up, cookies to bake for class parties (ohh, did you say cookies?), teacher thank-you gifts, bookbags overflowing with papers from a cleaned out desk, and bittersweet moments of watching your baby grow up. Yes, all this, times THREE children makes a blogger too busy. Thankfully, I’ve made it through all of this. And now begins. Summer. Vacation. I have no idea how I will fit in blogging this summer, but I do hope that it is easier to find the time rather than harder. I guess we will see.

Some of you may remember my very first post, where I gave up my favorite biscuit recipe. Well. I’ll be honest, I’ve been tweaking my biscuit recipe over the last couple of months because sometimes they just tasted a little “blah.” I’ve finally gotten the biscuit recipe to the point where I seriously salivate every time I say the word “biscuit”. And I want to share the new improved version. These are a little more work, but oh-so-worth it when you are in the mood for the best damn biscuit ev-ah.

This recipe comes from a hodge podge of ideas. It started with Orangette, and then I read an article about The Flying Biscuit Cafe (which I WILL visit soon), and from there I just started mish-mashing until I got what I was looking for. Let me know what you think.

Enough already, here you go.

The Better Biscuit

4 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup butter
2 cups buttermilk (approximately)
2 tablespoons cream
1-2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.

Use a pastry blender, fork, or fingers to cut in cold butter. I like to use my fingers and sort of “rub” the butter into the flour. I leave some big bits and some little bits.

Pour in buttermilk and mix just until everything is very moist. The dough should not be liquid, but it will be very wet. You can add a bit more buttermilk if necessary, or a bit less.

Generously sprinkle flour on work area and turn wet dough out. This dough is very difficult to work with, because it is so wet. (That’s what she said! HA! Sorry, I just couldn’t stand it one more minute.) Just flour your hands and the board (or counter) very well and be prepared to get messy! (That’s what she Er, uh, never mind.)

Flour hands and gently pat and press dough into a 1 inch thick circle. The goal here is to work with the dough as little as possible. This will keep them from being tough or chewy.

Use a biscuit cutter or an upside down glass to cut into rounds. You can re-work the scrap dough once to make more biscuits. Don’t work it multiple times or the dough will become overworked and chewy. Oh, and look, I bought a biscuit cutter! I’m seriously moving up in the world. I found this bad boy, along with a smaller cutter and a bigger cutter (as a set), for a dollar. I don’t feel too bad about buying a biscuit cutter (when a glass works just as well) when I only spent a dollar. Although, just 84 more dollars with the 1 dollar I spent on that biscuit cutter and I would have had enough for that hot little summer purse I’ve been eyeballing. *Sigh* Yes, well, getting back to the biscuits now.

Use a spatula to move the biscuits to a baking sheet or stone.

Now, because these aren’t nearly bad enough for our hips, arteries, or complexion; brush a small amount of cream on the top of each biscuit and sprinkle the top with sugar. This is the super yummy part.

Bake at 450 degrees for 12-14 minutes.

Without pictures:

The Better Biscuit

4 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup butter
2 cups buttermilk (approximately)
2 tablespoons cream
1-2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
Use a pastry blender, fork, or fingers to cut in cold butter.
Pour in buttermilk and mix just until everything is very moist. The dough should not be liquid, but it will be very wet. You can add a bit more butter milk if necessary, or a bit less.
Generously sprinkle flour on work area and turn wet dough out. Flour hands and gently pat and press dough into a 1 inch thick circle.
Use a biscuit cutter or an upside down glass to cut into rounds. You can re-work the scrap dough once to make more biscuits.
Use a spatula to move the biscuits to a baking sheet or stone.
Brush a small amount of cream on the top of each biscuit and sprinkle the top with sugar.
Bake at 450 degrees for 12-14 minutes.Similar Posts:

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Hey, it’s important that I start off this post by letting you know that I have made an extremely important executive decision.  O.k., well, actually two extremely important decisions.

First, I am not going to post about what I did with my pesto in this entry.

Second, I’ve decided that instead of calling my oldest daughter Z-DOW, I’m going to call her Katie – well, here on the blog, that is.

Now, for explanations.

It all started last weekend when Katie’s friend Mad invited her to spend the night.  Not really that unusual, except for that when Katie went home on Sunday, Mad promptly came down with the flu.  Then, on Tuesday, Mad and Katie had tickets to go see Rent – and had been waiting to go see Rent since December (when our family gave Mad the tickets for Christmas).  Mad made the declaration; “I don’t care if I have to crawl, I’m not missing the musical.”  And she didn’t have to crawl, but I do think she had to hobble a bit.  Anyhow, they went together – sharing air-space, and germs.  And, on Wednesday, (big suprise) Katie called around lunch time from school and said “I’m feeling really bad, could you come pick me up, please?” 

Since then, Katie has been really sick.  You know how when you’re really sick and you feel like total poo and you want something to eat, but you only want a very certain something?  Like, if you eat anything besides that certain something you’re certainly going to hurl?  Well, yesterday Katie wanted cinnamon raisin bread.  And, honestly, she hadn’t eaten anything beyond a few crackers since Tuesday, so I immediately made a loaf of cinnamon bread (It’s not that I’m nice, it was honestly self preservation because I didn’t want to deal with any further hurling.)  Which is why I’m not going to post about the pesto, just yet.  Because I made Cinnamon Raisin bread, instead of working with my pesto. 

During the course of Katie’s flu I started feeling bad about calling her Z-DOW here on the blog.  It’s just not nice.  I mean, I still think it’s hilarious when we call her Zarthax, Destroyer of Worlds, but it makes her really angry.  So angry, in fact, that I haven’t been able to even allow her to view my blog, for fear that we’d have a serious blow up when she found out that I’ve been calling her Z-DOW in front of the whole internet, for over a month.  So, I decided, based on said blow up based on how mean it was that I would change her name (again, self preservation here, folks).  And, based on the above mentioned blow up resolution to be nicer, I’ve gone with changing her moniker to “Katie”.  As in, Katie Ka-Boom.  You do remember Katie Ka-Boom, right?

Right, so anyhow, Katie is (as of this morning) starting to feel much better.  And, I think it’s because of the cinnamon raisin bread.  Well not really, but it did make her give me the weakest little smile when it came out of the bread machine all warm and fragrant.  Katie doesn’t really like sweets a lot, so she prefers I leave off the icing.  But, I do like the icing and am including the recipe for it.  I did leave it off this time, but if you decide you want the icing, just smear it on the loaf before you slice it, after you’ve let it cool a bit.  I have a really cool bread machine, so I make almost everything in it (including my meatloaf), but you’re welcome to make this bread in your mixer (if you have a good one, I don’t), or by hand.

If you’re interestested, here’s my bread machine:
Cuisinart CBK-200 2-Pound Convection Automatic Bread Maker

And my dream mixer:
KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixer

I’m going to get that promised recipe up next.  It shouldn’t be a big deal . . . although Aspie Girl woke up sick this morning . . . *sigh* 

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1 cup water
3 tablespoons margarine
3 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup raisins
cinnamon stick (optional)

For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar (icing)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-2 tablespoon whipping cream

Place the raisins in a small bowl and cover with warm water.  If you’d like, you can add a cinnamon stick to the water to help increase the flavor. For a really good loaf of bread, soak the raisins in triple sec.  Not for this loaf, though, since I’m feeing it to my children.  Just drink the triple sec yourself if you’re making bread for the kidlets.

Add all the ingredients to the bread machine in the order listed, except for the raisins.  Be sure to place the yeast in the opposite corner from the salt.

Set your machine to the sweet bread setting with light crust.  You can use the “regular white” setting if you’re machine doesn’t have a “sweet bread” setting.  If you have to set the size of the loaf, choose 1 1/2 pound.

Start the machine.

After 10 minutes, drain the raisins, discard the cinnamon stick, and add during the mix-in signal.

If desired, after the first rise, but before the second rise, oil your fingers, and lift the loaf from the pan.  Remove the paddle, and shape the loaf into an oblong ball.  Remove air pockets and make sure the raisins are mixed in well.  If you aren’t home, or don’t catch this (my machine beeps to signify this cycle), the bread will turn out fine.  This is just a nice touch.
When done, remove from pan and cool.

To glaze mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream until well blended.  Spread over the top of the bread and allow to set up for a few minutes.
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Tomorrow is a great day in the food world.  The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is known by many different names, but I personally like the name ”Fat Tuesday”.  Yeah, you heard me right.  Fat Tuesday.  I moved here from an area that was apparently lacking culturally – because before I moved to Michigan I had never heard of anything that sounds half as good as Fat Tuesday.  When I first heard it I figured – “Well, that’s gotta be right up there with Thanksgiving, or Halloween, or . . . hmm, gosh, I can’t think of anything much better.”  I mean, they don’t call Thanksgiving “Fat Thursday” or Halloween “Gorge on Snickers Day”.  Really, they should think about that, though.  Don’t ya think?  Me too.

So, I’ve decided that I need to participate in “Fat Tuesday”.  I’m not Catholic, but far be if from me to not follow the crowd.  Especially since, where we live, everyone eats doughnuts.  Well, they don’t really call them doughnuts . . . they call them “Punch-Keys”.   At least that’s what I thought they said.  Turns out they’re “Paçzki” – which is still pronounced just like I said (Punch-Key).  Paçzki are Polish doughnuts; fried, egg-y, and filled with all sorts of stuff – prunes, custards, preserves . . . well whatever.  It used to be that people made them to use up all the eggs, lard, and fruit in the house since they couldn’t eat those things during Lent.  Now they just make them because they’re good. 

Well, anyhow, I decided to make Paçzki this year.  Now remember, I’m not Catholic, and I’m not Polish either.  But, I am a doughnut lover . . . well, it brings to mind the Shakira song “Whenever, Wherever”

Whenever, Wherever
We’re meant to be together
I’ll be there and you’ll be near
And that’s the deal my dear

Yup, that’s me and doughnuts, er, ah, I mean Paçzki.

Well, there are a few other things I should tell you.  I’m not going to cook with lard.  I mean, I’m sure it’s very yummy, but I do have limits.  And I don’t do prunes, so I stuck to Strawberry and Lemon Curd.  Lastly, if I can use a mixer or a bread machine, I’m going to do that.  So, I did.  If you’re a radical-historically-acurate-purist-Paçzki-maker, I’m sorry.  No lard, no prunes, and I used my bread machine.  But, I gotta tell ya . . . these are looking really tasty.

I shared with a few folks that I was going to make Paçzki today, and they seemed shocked.  Maybe because they don’t realize that it’s not that much different than making bread.  I really think you should make a batch – because even though they were a bit time consuming, they weren’t difficult – and they are totally worth it.  Good thing Fat Tuesday only comes once a year.

Bread Machine Paçzki
SPONGE
3 teaspoons yeast 
1 cup lukewarm milk 
1 cup flour, sifted 
1 tablespoon sugar 

DOUGH
8 egg yolks 
2/3 cup powdered sugar 
2 tablespoons sugar 
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour, sifted 
2 tablespoons rum 
1/2 cup butter, melted & cooled slightly
FILLING
fruit preserves, lemon curd, or custard 

SPONGE:
Dissolve yeast in lukewarm milk, sift in flour, add sugar.
Mix, cover, and let stand in warm place to rise for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile
Beat egg yolks with powdered sugar, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.  Pour into bread machine pan.  Add sponge and rum.
Sift flour mixture over the egg mixture directly into the pan.
Start the bread machine on the dough cycle.  Keep a close eye on the dough.  It should be wet, and slightly sticky, but not soupy.
When the dough is beginning to look smooth and glossy start adding melted butter a couple of tablespoons at a time.  When the butter is incorporated add more butter, until you have added the entire 1/2 cup.
When dough cycle is complete, punch down the dough again and allow it to rise a second time for about 30 minutes (or until doubled).
Transfer dough to a well floured board, sprinkle top with flour, and roll out about 1/2″ inch thick.
With glass or biscuit-cutter, cut into rounds.
Let rise until doubled in warm, draft-free place.

Heat oil to 360-375 degrees in a fryer or a large pan.
Fry without crowding, until nicely browned on bottom, then turn over and fry on other side another 2 minutes or so.
Transfer fried paczki to absorbent paper towels and set aside to cool.
When cool, dust generously with powdered sugar, glaze or icing.
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