Pumpkin Ginger Pecan Cheesecake

Warning: This picture is old.


I say that not because it changes the greatness of this cheesecake. I say that because I don't want you all showing up on my doorstep, demanding pumpkin ginger pecan cheesecake.

Because... you guys... it's really that delicious.

For Thanksgiving two years ago (like I said... old), I wanted to do something traditional... but more exciting. So, instead of a good ol' pumpkin pie, I started researching pumpkin cheesecakes. It had to have been done, right?

And, boy, had it.

I ended up combining the filling from Sweetest Kitchen's Pumpkin Walnut Cheesecake and my own crust of ginger snaps, chopped pecans, sugar, and melted butter.

I riffed Sweetest Kitchen's crumble topping by swapping out the walnuts for my tiny pecans.

Trust me: it was all perfect. Perfect creamy pumpkin sandwiched between rich ginger snaps and sweet, mapley pecans.

Make. It. Tomorrow.

Or for Thanksgiving. Your choice.

French toast, the right way?

It's been weeks since I made this French toast.

Maybe even a month. But... boys and girls... my mouth is watering as if I were sitting in front of this decadence right now, after having fasted for a week.


What's so great about it?

Well... in addition to the fact that it is French toast made with PUMPKIN BREAD (I knoooow!), it is French toast that I actually made the right way.

I didn't know I was making it wrong all these years, but I was.


The right way starts out as I thought... A couple of eggs, some milk, and whatever flavoring sounds good to you. This time I shook in some cinnamon and splashed in some vanilla.

But... then... you let the bread soak in it. Now... this... for me... is different. I've always been a dunk, dunk, pan person myself, but... no longer! Let that jank soak!

When it does make it to the pan, just brown it. Don't worry about the innards, they'll get their due in a minute, when you...


bake it.

That's right, kittens. This is where the magic happens.

All that cinnamon vanilla custardy mix that crept into the the crevices of that soaking bread earlier, is now going to souffle up and make for the most wonderful, fluffy/firm French toast experience you've ever had.


Just look at that heft! That crumb! That sweet, pumpkin, cinnamon, vanilla, eggy goodness!

Ugh. Ima need a minute.

Naany-Naany-Boo-Boo...

Pssst...

I toasted half a piece of my garlic naan Monday night to go with my eggs and facon.

Gurl.

It was so good.


Eggs, fluffy and cheesy. Naan, warm and garlicky. Facon, umm... well... facony.

Just... wanted to let you know.

*slinks back into the blog shadows*

Hey, hey, it's a cupcake!

And a sneaky one with a twist, at that. Look!


You see it? It's got a chocolate chip cookie bottom. Mmm... now that's decadent. And soooo easy.


Just make up a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and put about a half-inch layer of dough in the bottom of your well-greased cupcake tin. Cover the cookie bottom with cake batter (I used a homemade funfetti for these cupcakes.)


Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes out clean, and voila! You've got a cutie patootie cookie bottomed cupcake that turns out of the tin like a charm. If you look closely, you can see the very subtle line between the cookie and the cake.

I made just a few of these with some leftover ingredients as an experiment, but it worked so well that I'm excited to try it out with different flavor combinations. Like... a gingersnap bottom and a creamy peach cupcake. Or... a chocolate chip/oreo bottom and a cookies and cream cake. OR... an oatmeal cookie with a bright, strawberry cake.

Oh... this is just too good. If you'll excuse me, I'll probably be thinking about combinations for the next few days. Hmm... What combo would you try?

Rock me, Mama, like a...

Wagon Wheel!

I made the above goodness based loosely on my girl Marilla's Three Cheese Spirals. And today... I just want to nom the hell out of them.

Sadly, I made (and ate) them about four weeks ago.

April Fools!!! (Burger & Fries)

I hate April Fools Day. Hate it. More than Valentine's Day (which I don't fully hate, truth be told). April 1st makes me nervous. This year I accidentally scheduled student conferences over April Fools Day and breathed a deep sigh of relief when the day ended and not one of my students did anything stupid.

What does any of this have to do with the burger?

Not much. Only that I made it in April. And there is no meat to be had in this Bacon Cheeseburger. Honest.

Watch. We'll start from the bottom.


One whole wheat English muffin, toasted in the panini press.


One chargrilled Boca burger, fried up in a little bit of oil in a skillet. A piece of pepper jack cheese on top.


Two strips of facon.


English muffin top.

I'm sure you're skeptical. I mean, I was. I'm a fan of the meatless products, but I don't put too much stock in them. They are usually blandish, rubbery, or otherwise just passible as foodstuffs. How-ev-er, this burger was excellent. Frying it up allowed it to brown really well and cook without being tough or soggy. And you all know how I feel about facon. So... as you can see... I started noming on this burger as soon as I assembled it. About 10 minutes later...


the fries were done and made a quick stop on some paper towels before being piled high on my plate. And there is a little April Fools-like twist to the fries too. They aren't potatoes, as you can tell, but they aren't sweet potatoes either. Those are carrot fries. And they are amazingly delicious.

To make them, just cut carrots into fry shapes, toss in olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 425 for about 25 minutes, flipping them once at the midpoint, and then... eat them all. I used three big carrots for this one portion and it was perfect.

Oh em gee. This was a really great meal.


A Note about Vegetarianism: Sunday night when I mentioned this meal to friends, Blair scoffed at it and informed me that our continued friendship hinged on my continued enjoyment of actual meat. Just in case some of you are ready to take your carnivorous ways elsewhere, I'll say that I love animals and I love eating them.

And... as a matter of fact, thanks to Blair, I sucked on my first crawfish head this weekend. And went back for more. So there's that.

Dessert-on-Dessert Action

Today I made a pie.


A sweet, traditional, unassuming pie.

Or did I?

Of course I didn't. You know me better than that by now, don't you?

What I actually made was... well... this.


A cookie cake pie. Or, as I've begun to call it, The Peter, Paul, and Mary.

(Yeah, yeah, just hear me out. I also wanted to call this the Britney, the Circus, or the Threesome, but Peter, Paul, and Mary just seemed classier.)

I'll explain this open-minded, party all-the-time dessert from the ground up. You can make this entire dessert from frozen bits and box mixes if you want. I believe Cakespy was the original poster, but Kitchen Koala has also made it and I followed her confetti cake recipe for my pie.


It's fairly simple. Start with a pie crust (I used a frozen one... because I had it) and add a layer of cookie dough to the bottom (I used a mix... because I had it). Cover the cookie dough with cake batter and bake the whole thing at 350 degrees for 35 minutes to an hour. I've seen different times recommended, but I've also seen squidgier versions of this pie. I baked mine for between 50 and 55 minutes, until the cake tester came out clean. This way, my cake was fully cooked and it didn't fall when it cooled. Perfection.

Where I diverged from my cookie cake pie predecessors was in the topping. Cakespy used vanilla buttercream and Kitchen Koala used a cream cheese icing. How-ev-er, this was far too sweet a prospect for me. I love sweet, but even I have to draw the line somewhere.



So I topped my pie with Julia Child's Italian Meringue and popped it under the broiler for a minute or so. The meringue is light as air and allows the pie crust, chocolate chip cookie, and vanilla almond confetti cake flavors to shine. You got all that, right?

I hope so. Because having all these fantastic flavors all in one bite is an amazing experience.


If the word "mouthgasm" doesn't mean anything to you, then make this pie, eat a slice, and call me later.

Margarita Cupcakes

I make a lot of cupcakes. You've seen some of them.

Some of you lucky b-i-t-c-h-es have gotten to taste them. And some of you that have tasted them with me probably realized that I'm pretty critical of my favorite little treats. There is always something I could have done better. Baking time, amount of sugar in the icing, flavor composition... it usually needs tweaking. It's not often that I'm impressed by my own baked goods.

That said...

I'm impressed with these Margarita Cupcakes.



They are white as can be and pretty boring to look at, but my goodness are they flavorful. And they certainly should be... most of the liquid in the batter is margarita mix, tequila, and triple sec. When lime zest and a white cake mix join this party, there really shouldn't be any more questions about whether these cupcakes are winners.

I made these suckers for a Girls' Night (that I hosted?!?) and they went over well. I mean really well. There was some sighing. And moaning. And one girl said she didn't want the cupcake to end. And... since they are minis and 3 actually make up one regular cupcake... I don't think any of us really policed ourselves.



I also didn't police myself Sunday when I had three of these suckers for breakfast and another two with dinner. Luckily, I was only left with five after I sent each of the girls away with a plate Saturday night.

Anyway... you don't care about that... you're interested in this: Margarita Cupcakes by In Mama Joe's Shadow. I followed the cake recipe exactly, but I did not make the icing suggested here. I mistakenly tossed the leftover margarita mix after I made the batter and I forgot to pick up lime juice while running my errands. So while the girls chatted about pregnancy tests and zebra masks at the kitchen table, I whipped up a quick lime cream cheese icing with one stick of butter, one block of cream cheese, and lime juice, zest, and powdered sugar... all to taste.

Fabulous. I wouldn't change a thing.

Salmon Panini of Dreams

We haven't been together long, by my panini press and I have had some great times together. The press' coming out party involved pound cake, Nutella, and a banana, but most days she and I stick to more basic faire. Grilled cheese with pepper jack, toast for egg sandwiches, that sort of thing.

Since I bought the press though, I've been dying to find a recipe for a jaw-droppingly good, hot, flavorful panini. You know... like the ones you get at bakeries and coffee shops.

Well... dear readers... I found it.

The Jaw-Dropper

My source, BigOven.com, called this the Grilled Smoked Salmon Panini with Red Onion Ribbons, but that is just boring. And not quite what I made anyway.

Okay, there are two things you need to make in advance when you plan to make a Jaw-Dropper. Marinated onions and a killer cheese spread.

To marinate the onions...


Whisk up 1T vinegar (I used Apple Cider), 2T lemon juice, 2t mustard, and 1t minced garlic. Add 3T olive oil while whisking continually. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss one thinly sliced red onion (or whatever onion you have) and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

For the spread...


Mix up 4 oz. cream cheese, 2 oz. goat cheese, 1/4t pepper, 1T lemon juice, and 1t mustard.

To build the sandwich...


Spread the... um... spread... on both sides of the bread.


Add a layer of canned boneless skinless salmon and press it into the cheese.


Top the salmon with marinated onion.

Close the sandwich up, grill it for 3 minutes on the medium setting and voila.


This sandwich made all my panini dreams come true. Salmon is a much milder canned fish than it's cousin, the tuna. Combined with my jams, cheese of goat and cream, this sandwich is a total winner. The spread is creamy and the onions are snappy, tangy bits of goodness.

I will say that the recipe called for things that I didn't have and therefore didn't use. Things like lemon jest, capers, spinach, green onion, and ciabatta. So... head over to BigOven's recipe (linked above) to read what this sandwich was really meant to be. However, if, like me, your cabinets are somewhat bare and you don't mind your panini being a bit pale, then take my version of the recipe and run with it!

And... the best thing about having made this panini tonight is...


I'm set and ready to do it all again tomorrow.

Leftovers FTW!

Give us this day our daily Guinness

And forgive us our box mixes, as we forgive those who store buy against us.

Or... something like that. I may be off... but I'm close, right?

Ladies, Gentlemen, and the rest of us, sometimes the easy way out really is the most rewarding. Right before Christmas, I picked up a beer bread mix that had been discarded near the onions at Walmart and it might have been the smartest decision I made in 2009.

(Call shenanigans and see if I don't smack you. I dare you.)

Anyway... here's how I went from two bottles to heaven.

This beer bread mix requires only 12oz of beer (not lite), so I used what I had... Guinness Extra Stout. Mmmm...


Now... about this pic... I took a normal cheesing-with-ingredients-pic and then forgot that I set the camera to take 2 pictures. So, pic 2 caught me dancing to the electrofunk I was playing at the time. Of course I liked the bizarre pic more.

Back to the bread... the most difficult part was opening both bottles. That's... not bad.



Then again... getting the mix out of the bottle was also a bit of a challenge.


I mean, really, is the kitsch factor great enough to justify the literal bottleneck?! In the packagers' defense, they do include a helpful "Tip" on the back: "Use a long kitchen utensil to loosen flour if any remains in the bottle."


Oh... okay... sure... but I just have a question for ya. What "long kitchen utensil" would you recommend I use to reach about 12" into a bottle that has an opening smaller than a nickel?

In the end, I just shook it. Like a polaroid picture. And that did it.


The beer goes right on top of the mix, gets stirred in with a wooden spoon (per the bossy bottle... I used a bamboo spoon and I don't think the bread was any the wiser), and then the whole shabang goes into a greased and floured loaf pan.


While the bread was baking for 45-50 minutes (I pulled it at 42) at 375 degrees, I whipped up a Vanilla Cinnamon Honey Butter to go with.


Of course I didn't think to set out my stick of butter earlier, so my non-microwaving self chopped up the butter and set it on top of the stove for a few minutes.


I then whipped the butter into submission and added 1 and 1/2 tablespoons honey, 1/6 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/6 teaspoon cinnamon, and a pinch of salt since my butter was unsalted.

And then I waited patiently for the bread to bake. And when it came out...


Uhhh... I was... pleasantly surprised.

Kids, this bread is wicked good. My loaf was perfectly baked at 42 minutes. It formed a perfect crust all the way around without browning much at all. The insides are tender and so delicate for a bread mix. It might as well be from scratch. No one would call you out if you showed up with this goodness, I promise.

Now, the Guinness Extra Stout does pack a punch. The bread tastes pretty stout itself. I love a good stout (which is why you can find it in my fridge), so I couldn't tell you how this will go over with non-fans. I'll update with that info later.

But... may I recommend that you pair the bread with a sweet butter? Perhaps... a Vanilla Cinnamon Honey Butter? That just might do the trick.


Ungh. This bread and butter combination is really. really. good.

I finished that piece you see in front of you, and I immediately cut and buttered myself another one.

Since I can't imagine that there is much difference between one odd beer bread mix and another, I'd give you a great big thumbs up for the beer bread mix. If you see one... especially if it is oddly placed... I think that must have had something to do with the goodness of mine... then pick it up and try it out. Hopefully you'll be as deliriously happy with yours as I am with mine.

Siiigh.

Paula's Mini Burgers in Puff Pastry: All the Good

I don't have a lot to say about these burgers. The take away message is, "Make them now, you won't be sorry."


I watched Paula make a full-size version of these with her sons the other day, and I was very impressed. The burgers are no fuss extra lean ground beef, seasoned with salt, pepper, ketchup, mustard. I got 9 mini burgers out of 16 oz. of ground beef.

After the burgers are fully cooked (I browned them in a skillet and then baked them through), just top them with a piece of cheese, wrap them up in thawed frozen puff pastry, and bake them again. Couldn't be easier.


The only thing easier than making them is... well... eating them. Enjoy!

Here's your recipe:
Paula Deen's Mini Burgers in Puff Pastry

Sunday Brunch (for Two!)

Yes, yes, I know. Sunday brunch is quickly becoming a habit with me.

But, ya know, there are most definitely worse things.

So here's what I had for brunch today and what I recommend you make for brunch at the next available opportunity (Sunday?).


4 strips of bacon, baked for ease and smoke detector testing (mine's fine, by the way). 4 eggs, slow scrambled with milk, a slice-o-Kraft American cheese, salt and pepper. And a holy mess of fried potatoes.

Mmm... let's spend a minute with those potatoes, shall we?!


My grandmother (mom's mom) made the best fried potatoes. They were perfectly browned in just the right amount of oil. Seasoned only with salt, pepper, and onions, the potatoes were simple and comforting and absolutely amazing. Breakfast-for-Dinner at Mammaw's house was a rare treat that we ALL got excited about. Honestly, boys and girls, I don't even remember the other dishes served at those breakfast gatherings. The potatoes were just that good.

So... that's the nostalgia... now here's the joke:

My aunt (mom's sister, Mammaw's daughter) set out to make these fried potatoes this summer. She reached back into the recesses of her mind and did her very best to recreate Mammaw's fried potatoes. What she ended up with was disastrous and she came to me wondering what went wrong. After she talked me through her process, I asked a question: "Hmm... how much oil did you put in the skillet?"

(Ready yourself for the punchline.)

She replied, "Oh... about this much" raising her right thumb and pointer finger to show about an inch and a half. (O_O)

Too much! Too much!

Anyway... since then I've been trying to make those fried potatoes on my own. And, I think I've got it. Today, I spiced them up Creole-style because I didn't have any onions but the basic idea is the same.


Mammaw's (Creole) Fried Potatoes

Vegetable Oil
Potatoes (red-skinned, cubed)
Minced Garlic
Creole Seasoning (Tastes Great on Everything!)

1. Take a turn of the pan with the vegetable oil. (Just a turn, more than that and you'll be deep frying your potatoes. You just want to brown them. Right, Anita?)

2. Add the chopped potatoes to the hot oil, spread them out, sprinkle garlic and Creole seasoning over them, and walk away. Seriously. Let them brown.

3. Flip them a few times as they brown, but give them several minutes between flippings. This the most important part of the deal. Just do it. After flips, season again if you want.

4. Taste test along the way. Stop when they are perfect.


Finally, take all your food stuffs to the table, share them with your house guest (No? That's just me? Well... aren't I just the lucky girl?), and then please go on to seize carpe the diem day.

P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Pancakes

I've not fed myself well this week.

I started off on the wrong foot by eating 5 or 6 of those skullikin cupcakes on Monday. After two more on Tuesday, I threw the rest away. I did it as a self-preservation move, my local friends saw it as an attack.

About mid-week, I ran out of staples like bread, milk, and ground turkey. By Friday, things were getting desperate: Fiber One poptarts for breakfast, pickles and a granola bar for lunch, and a hastily purchased frozen pizza for dinner.

Yesterday (Saturday) I started with toast (from defrosted bread) and yogurt. I think that technically my lunch was a bottle of Fat Tire at Oktoberfest in Savannah. Lupper was fried shrimp and fries. And... if you follow my Twitter (@afiercehair), you'll know that I finished my day (or began this one...?) with a Big Mac around 2:30am.

Needless to say (but I will anyway... does anyone else hate that expression?), I woke up this morning feeling the need for something decidedly wholesome and breakfast-like. Never mind the fact that I woke up after normal breakfast hours. That's not important.

Without staples like milk or bread, I've been eating a lot of eggs, so I knew those weren't an option. In a moment of bravery, I decided to make pancakes. After trolling the interwebs for a bit, I found the perfect pancake recipe. Search no longer, friends. The recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes at Food Plus Politics made the most perfect pancakes I've ever made... possibly ever eaten. I'll explain...

These pancakes are light and fluffy and perfectly cooked. The flavor is spot on and pancake-y. No added flavorings or frou frous. And these are not greasy pancakes. I know some would disagree with me, but I don't like my pancakes to be greasy with crispy edges. A good pancake should taste great on its own at any temperature and without butter or syrup. And these pancakes definitely do.

(It might not hurt that some of them have dark chocolate chips in them.)

I learned a couple of things about pancake cooking today, so I'll share those as well.

First, the skillet or griddle should be on Medium heat. Not high and loud and sizzly like I'd always thought. Pancakes are gentle creatures and they don't need to be rough-handled and flashed into a crazy pan. Patience and a gentle, slow cooking works beautifully.

Second, instead of butter (careful!) or a non-stick spray (ew), pancakes should cook in vegetable oil but just a light brushing of it on the griddle. I don't have a brush, so I awkwardly used a paper towel. This small, small bit of oil kept the pancakes perfectly brown and unstuck.

And that, boys and girls, is all I know about pancakes.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some grocery shopping to do.