Ginger Pear Cake

This cake was born from my anxiety. Whenever I am feeling crazy, anxious, kinda sick, or even just really happy, I want to be in the kitchen making something. It's probably some deep seeded control issue that I have (I can't control my brain, but I can control bread dough), but whatever. Being in the kitchen takes my head out of life , even just for a little while, and let's me concentrate on something else that really has nothing to do with whatever I am thinking about (unless I am thinking about food, in which I bake whatever food I am thinking about) Does this all make sense or am I just nuts?

So yeah, the other day I was having one of those days. I was extra crazy (for so many reasons) and really needed to just step away from my thoughts. I rushed home and just started grabbing stuff.. cake stuff.  I figured that If I was going to bake something that I might as well bake a little snack cake for the mr, especially sense he has to deal with this crazy. I had a large quantity of pears that were all ripening  at once sitting in the fruit basket, so I grabbed some of those. And I grabbed the ginger… well because why not.

And I made this cake.. and I felt better. And the mr got cake (also brought some to my sisters.. her and the kids ate it all within minutes). It was a win win situation. 

So now you know. If you are my friend and I am feeling some feelings, at some point, you will proably get a cake.

The stuff. A few pears,some fresh ginger, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Also have some white whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. And some oil, apple cider vinegar and a little bit of water.

Start with the pears. Cut in half, remove seed and stems, then chop/mince the crap out of them. It's cool to have a few big chunks., it adds some good texture. Take the pears and as much as the juice you can scrap from the counter and stick into a bowl.

Grate up a few good tablespoons of fresh ginger..

Tip. I keep my ginger in the freezer. its easier to grate and it doesn't go bad!

The ginger goes into the bowl with the pears, along with the oil, cinnamon, sugar, water and vinegar. Mix it all up . Then all that wet mixture goes into the bowl with the flour, baking soda and powder and the salt.

And that get's all mixed.. and now you have cake batter! 

Depending on you pears and how juicy they are, you might find that your batter seems to dry, just add in another 1/4  cup of water. The batter should be the consistency of like greek yogurt, not ruing, but not stiff either.

Preheat you cook box (oven)

Dump the batter into a well greased 9x9 inch pan. Slice up another pear into thin strips (I only used half, then ate the other half)

Lay the slices on top to make it look all pretty. Do what I did, or some other design (it's your cake to make pretty any way you want). Once you do that, stick the cake into the oven.

When the cake is a nice deep golden brown, take it out of the oven.

Maybe let it cool for a few minutes, letting the smell wrap around your head so that you smell like baking all day. No cut yourself a slab, grab some coffee, and go for it. 

Enjoy

-C

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Pear Ginger Cake

Makes a 9x9 inch single layer cake

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 2 cups minced , super ripe and jucey pears (about 2 whole pears)
• 2 tablespoon freshly frated ginger
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4- 1/2 cup water
• 2/3  cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 350

Take pears, remove seeds and stem, and chop the crap out of them until they are tiny little pieces. Scoop pears, and any juice they leave behind into a bowl. Add in the sugar, oil, cinnamon,  ginger, vinegar,  and  1/4  cup of water and mix until incorporated. In a seprertare big bowl, mix together the salt, baking soda and powder with the flour. Add in the wet mixture and mix until fully incorporated.  If the batter seems to dry (should be the constancy of whipped potatoes or greek yogurt), add in another 1/4 cup of water. 

Scoop batter into a greased 9x9 inch baking pan. If you want to make it pretty, grab another pear and cut into thin slices and place right on top of the batter in any fashion you like. 

Place cake into oven and bake until a nice dark golden brown,about 40-45 minutes ,or until a tester stuck in the middle comes out clean. 

Remove, let cool in pan, and cut yourself a big slab, grab some coffee e to tea, grab a book, and eat it. .

Honey Mustard Pretzel Popcorn

What are you going to be doing this weekend? Are you dressing up all crazy, taking a little or two door to door for bite sized pieces of candy, or are you maybe giving out candy? Are you going to some spectacular Halloween party, or are you thinking more tricks then treats and are planning on TP-ing the neighbors or creating some mischief around town. 

Whatever you are doing, it's sounds like it's going to be a blast. Just note, if you are being mischievous  don't be an asshole about it. Stealing candy from kids is wrong,(steal your candy from adults) and TP is cool but spray paint and things that are permanent are not. And stay away from my houses! 

Anyway, the Halloween situation  is always the same with me and the mr. We say that we need to do something fun and different every year. Maybe a party, or even just some human intreat ion. But just like every year, we give in to our inner hermits. Our Halloween night will be as followed: Lock ourselves in the house, drawing the shades,(note that we would totally give out candy, but our door is down a very narrow and dark driveway, behind a fence, and pretty much inaccessible to people) watch a movie  (thinking Donnie Darko or maybe even old reruns of Halloween Rosanne.) eat popcorn,and go to sleep at a very reasonable hour.  And now that I say it out loud, our evening sounds like the most perfect way to spend the night. Especially because of the popcorn.

Let's just stop and think about this popcorn a minute……...

Ok, so do you get it now?. This is an epic popcorn combo. Mustard is for everything. A slightly sweet honey mustard all drizzled on  popcorn, well that's just craziness. And if you are like the mr., the pretzel crumble just takes it over the top. If we had made plans, I would probably have to cancel just so I can stay in an eat this popcorn.

And I have a hunch that this flavor combination will pair very well with a handful or two of some halloween candies. 

POPCORN TIME!!!!!

The stuff. A big ass bowl of air popped popcorn.  Spicy brown mustard (can use any mustard) honey (can use maple) a little olive oil and a few pretzel sticks. (can use any pretzel shape you like)

Bag the pretzels, grap something heavy (rolling pin works great) and smash the pretzels into tiny little bits.

Just like this

In a little pot ) mix mustard, oil and honey together. Place on medium  heat and mix continuously until the mixture is hot and a nice liquid pourable consistency. 

Now you can do this any way you want, but my way is probably the best. Dividie popcorn in two bowls and drizzle each bowl with equal amounts of mustard sauce.

Flip one of the bowls ontop of the other and shake the crap oiut of it.(or until the popcorn is evenly coated)

And the popcorn is all nice and evenly coasted. Now dump in the crushed pretzel and repeat the double bowl shake.

Check it out… Some fantastical popcorn

Now don't you want to turn the lights off and snuggle on the couch with this bowl?

Share if you want, but hey, it's just popcorn so you can taotally eat it all yourself. 

Happy Friday.. And Happy Halloween

-C

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Honey Mustard Pretzel Popcorn

makes 10 cups (enough to share between 2 people)

• 10 ish cups of air popped popcorn
• 3 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey (sub maple or agave if vegan)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3-4 pretzel rods (or whatever shape) which makes about 1/2 a cup smashed (use gluten free if needed)

Take pretzels and place them in a bag of some sort and using something heavy (like a rolling pin) smash the pretzels until they are a smallish crumb (some big shanks are good too)

In a small sauce pot, combine the mustard, honey, oil, and mix to combine. Stick pot on stove and heat on medium until sauce is hot and liquidy. (can get the same result by using a microwave safe bowl and sticking it in a microwave at 20 second intervals until  hot)

Evenly distribute popcorn into two big bowls. Take the warmed up sauce and drizzle all over popcorn in  each bowl the, for the fun part, flip one bowl onto the other and shake the popcorn all around to evenly coat. Remove a bowl, toss in the pretzel crumbs and pieces and place the bowl back on. Shake again.

Popcorn is ready, now eating it!

Delicata Upside down Cake

I have so so so many winter squash. It's getting kind of out of hand. The mr is even making me a couple of wall shelves specifically for the squash so we can get our table back (it is currently covered in squash and tomatoes). I hoard them and I can't exactly tell you why. I think there is a part of me that is afraid that sometime durning the winter I am going to ran out of squash and am going to be forced to eat, I don't know, other food. And there also the part of me that knows that I will eat it all and why the hell not hoard them.. they are so pretty and lovely and…..well because I can! When I sit here and think about it,  there is no real logical reason for me to have so many, especially sense I will be doing a winter farm share and we get squash at each pick up all winter long. 

Hum….Things to think about..Oh well. I'll just call it a little werido quork of mine… squash hoarder, which is much better then a trash hoarder or a "stupid shit I found on the side of the road"  hoarder (that would be the mr.. but I don't judge).

So yeah,  I might need a squash intervention, or I can just make everyone around me happy by baking them sweet ass squash treats. I have shared and I always like to share my squash loot (see, another resin to have so many) but I found that most of the people in my life do not have the same kind of hunger for savory cooked squash.(weirdos) But you know what they do like? Cake Everyone will eat cake.

And for this cake I used delicata. It is really sweet,(I think all on its own it taste like a sweet dessert) so tasty, and easy to cook, The perfect squash for a cake. Add in the warm fall spices and you got yourself a winner. And bonus.. if you have heard that there is a canned pumpkin shortage this year and are are worried about you pumpkin fix. Stop. You don't need canned pumpkin. Just make your own puree and make it with all the squashes, especially delicata. 

Now go bake a cake.. I will probably make another one this weekend while I start on eating/baking with the sweet dumplings and buttercups that are piled on the fridge (seriously.. I have squash EVERYWHERE!)

The stuff. In the big white bowl there is white whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda and powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Then we have some brown sugar, oil, water with some vinegar and a already baked delicata squash. Also going to need another uncooked squash, earth balance and a little more brown sugar for the upside down part.

First off, grab yourself 10-12 inch skillet, preferably one that you have not just cooked garlic in. 

Slice up the uncooked delicata into 1/2 inch slices and remove the seeds (to roast later)

Stick the earth balance and the lesser amount of brown sugar into the skillet and place it on low heat, just to melt the butter and sugar down to form a sauce.

Now layer the squash rounds in the sauce. Fill in the skillet as much as you can. ( any left over can be for  cooked for lunch)

The already baked delicata squash (minus the seed and skin.. save the seeds to roast, skin you eat right away) goes into a bowl with the brown sugar and oil. Mix it all together until combined. 

Note.. My squash was still warm when I mixed it with the sugar and oil. which really helped the sugar resolve and for the mixture to be smooth. If you squash is cold, warm it up a bit..

Whisk together all the dry and dump in the squash mixture and mix.

And slowly pour in the water/ vinegar mixture and mix until just incorporated.

Now slowly pour batter over the delicata in the skillet.

And into the oven it goes!

After 45-50 minutes, the cake should be browned and beautiful and a tester should come out clean when stuck in the middle. Remove the cake and place on cooling rack for about 8-10 minutes to cool. Don't get to excited and do it to soon or else the caramelization on the bottom will still be too liquid and completely soak into cake. Giving it a few minutes will let it cool enough to set up and stick to the top….so just wait!

And for the best and scary part…flip the skillet onto a plate or cutting board and be amazed. oh, but right before you do, run a spatula or knife around the edge to make sure the cake is loose.

It really should have no problem coming out of the skillet, but if any of the squash sticks (one piece of mine did) just scrap it out and place it back on the cake… no one will notice)

Now time for a slice… or maybe two!

And for reals, go get yourself lots of squash, even if it's just to make cakes with!

Have a fantastic weekend!

-C

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Delicata Upside-down Cake 

Makes a 12 inch skillet cake (can be made in a can pan)

For the cake

• 1 3/4 cup white whole wheat pastry flour (can use white pastry, wheat pastry, or all purpose)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup warm delicata squash puree*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup mild flavored oil (canola or veggie)
• 1 cup water 
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vineagr
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 

For the upside down part

• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons earth balance]
• 1 small uncooked delicata squash 

*Note.. To make delicata puree, simply stick the whole squash into the oven and roast until fork tender. Remove and let cool enough to handle. Cut in half, scoop to the seeds and scoop the flesh into a bowl….thats it. Oh, save seeds to roast and eat the skin as a snack (skin is my favorite part and the seeds are almost better then pumpkin!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Grab yourself a 10-12 inch clean cast iron skillet (maybe don't cook garlic in it before you make this cake). Stick the earth balance and the brown sugar in it and place on low heat until the butter and sugar melt together and form a sauce. Remove pan from heat. Take the raw delicata squash and slice it into 1/2 inch rounds. Remove the seeds(save for roasting) and place the rounds into the bottom of the skillet, fitting in as many as you can, without overlapping. Set aside and make cake batter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and powder and the cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, combine the cooked warm squashwith the oil and the brown sugar. (if you squash puree is cold, warm it up. It mixes better warm) Mix until completely combined. Dump wet into dry and whack together then slowly pour in water/ vinegar mixture and whack until everything is full incorporated. 

Pour cake batter over the stuff in the skillet and place into the oven. Bake for 45-50 minutes , until a nice golden brown and tester in middle comes out clean. Remove and place on a cooling rack or ontop of the oven to cool for 8-10 minutes. Once  cooled, take a plate, cooling rack, or cutting board that is a least a little bigger therm the skillet, place it ontop pif the killet, and flip. The cake should drop right out…. if anything sticks in the skillet, trust scrap it off and stick it back on the cake.

Now the cake is ready to eat.. so grab a knife, cut a slice and do it.

Butternut Apple and Onion Galette

Fall is all up in here!. The air is so nice and crisp and the leaves are changing to the prettiest colors. I gots my pumpkins, an abundance of apples and squashes (our table is forverver overflowing with some type of squash) and am wearing all of my favorite sweaters. 

I am a happy lady here!

And this happy lady just wants to sit on her butt and knit.

But first, dinner. And my thought are. "What to do that doesn't include doing much of anything (especially dishes) and maybe even has the oven on for a little extra warmth?" See here, I am a thinker. I knew I  had a single pie dough in the freezer (you should always have a pie dough in the freezer), a table full of the loveliest produce. So this happened. And the mr ate it, and he was all like "Whoa".  And I was like,"yeah dude, I know."

A Ssuper fall galette.. and I still had time for my knitting and my butt. 

Like Whoa!

The stuff. A single crust pie dough, a butternut squash, an onion, and a honey crisp apple.(there are 2 shown, but I only needed on1)  Also going to need a tiny bit if olive oil and a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375.

Roll your chilled dough out  on a lightly floured surface and place onto a large baking sheet. Stick it in the fridge to rest for a few minutes.

Grab your pretty things

And slice them up into 1/4 inch-ish thick srounds.

Time to compile… A layer of overlapping squash. (Make sure to leave inch-ish boarder)  Then a layer of the apples, and lastly the onion, which I think looks so pretty as ringlets, but you could keep in rounds if you wanted. 

Fold the sides and pinching dough to keep it secure. Drizzle the top, and the crust, with a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkle with a picnh of salt.

Now into the oven it goes!

And  after about 45 minutes when the dust is perfectly golden and the stuff inside is nice and tender. Remove (turn off the oven) and let cool

And there you have it.. A ode to fall in flavors and colors..

Have a great day… Eat lots of fall food!

-C

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Butternut Apple and Onion Galette

• 1 single pie dough (recipe here)
• 1 small butternut squash
• 1 medium sweet onion
• 1 large honey crisp apple
• olive oil
• salt

Preheat oven to 375.

Roll out chilled pie dough  on a lightly floured surface to about a 12-14 inch round (ish) and place on a large baking sheet and stick in the fridge.

Grab the squash and cut the neck off the bottom. Save the bottom for later (maybe soup?) and slice up the neck into 1/4 inch thick rounds.  Now take the onion and apple and slice those into 1/4 inch thick rounds too. (the seeds and the stem will just fall our.. but if they don't, just poke them out with a knife)

Grab the dough from fridge and start to layer. First a layer of squash, leaving around an 1.5 inch boarder. You want the pieces to overlap,but don't double layer. Next the apples go on top of the squash, again overlapping. Finally the onion. I liked the look of the individual ringlets… but you can do thick rounds if you want. Fold over the sides of the dough, pinching it in wherever it needs to be pinch until all the stuff is snug. Drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil  and rub a little oil on the outside crust as well. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and stick into oven.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until crust is a nice light golden brown and the stuff inside is tender.

Remove, let cool for a few minutes and eat your heart out.

Pear Almond Oat Crumble Bars

This treat is a long time coming, like almost a years time…Let me explain. 

One of the littles had requested a dessert of some type of almond pear situation for his birthday…..last year. Of course I said yes, no problem, for your birthday, you got it. But I never got it. I actually completely forgot. Then a few months later, I remebemered, felt like a big D-bag and told  myself I still had to make something for the guy… and I forgot again. Next time I remembered, I had just bought a bunch of pears and that was it. Make the kid something you bitch (is what I told myself) but heres the thing, I figured he forgot too and those pears were mighty tasty.(I know I am horrible) 

So just last week I was at the store, meandering through the produce, and noticed that local pears were on sale. This was it. I knew it had to be done. I bought a large quantity (enough to bake with and eat) and got to making that little his birthday treat request. I went with bars.. nothing to sweet, nothing to crazy, lot and lots of almond and pear flavors. Perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack, and made even better by the fact that they were made for him, and it isn't even his birthday.

So I made them, and brought them to his house, waited for him to get off the bus from school, and handed him his long awaited pear almond treat. He was so happy, it made me feel like shit.(I so should have made him something a year ago)  But oh well,  he got them right? And this way is much more a surprise then if I had actually made them when I said that I would. An unexpected, not your birthday, birthday treat!

Right here guys…Still the Best Aunt EVER!

The stuff. Alond flour, oat flour, baking soda ,salt, earth balance and a little honey. We also need some rolled oaths almond butter and almonds. And of course we need pears, with a little corn starch and a smidge of cinnamon.

Nice ripe pears get thinly sliced, seeds and stems removed.

Tossed into a bowl with the starch and cinnamon and set aside. 

The oat and almond flour gets mixed together with the salt and the baking soda, then mix together with the earth balance and honey until it turns into a dough.( I used my hands to mix it together…it worked better then a fork)

Break off about a 1/4 of the dough and stick back in bowl. Take the rest and evenly press into the bottom of a 9x9 baking pan.

Take the remaing dough and mix in the almonds, oats, and almond butter to form the crumble.

Dump the pears on the crust, making sure the are level and pretty evenly layered.

And crumble the crumble on top.

Give it a little press to compact the crumble and into the oven it goes!

When all browned and crispy and nice, remove from oven and let cool. Cut into squares and go for it.

Look at that, so much goodness.Go ME! 

Happy Wednesday people!

-C

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Pear Almond Oat Crumble Squares

For the crust and crumble

• 1 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1 1/2 cup almond  flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup earth balance (can use butter)
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/4 cup almonds

For the pear filling

• 4-5 ripe pears
• 2 tablespoons corn or arrowroot starch
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl, mix together the almond and oat flour, baking soda, and salt. Add in the earth balance and honey and mix together until a dough forms (I find using my hands to work swell). Roll dough into a blob and tear about 1/4 of the dough away and set back into bowl. Press the remaining dough into he bottom of a 9X9 inch baking pan. With the remaining dough, mix the rolled oats, the almond butter and the chopped almonds and set aside again.

Now slice up your pears  into 1/4 inch thick slices (remove seeds and stems) and toss into a bowl with the cinnamon and starch. Take pears and layer ontop of the crust, trying to keep the pears evenly distributed. And dump and distribute the crumble topping all over the pears. Gie the whole thing a few pats to compress the crumble a bit.

Stick into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, or until the crumble topping is all nice and brown and crispy. 

Remove from the oven, let cool and cut into squares. 

Great as breakfast lunch snack or dinner. Eat with you hands and lick crumbs off plate.