My PB + J

Maple Walnut Fudge

Do you have that one holiday treat that brings back memories from your childhood? I know I sure do. For me it was always my Grandma’s chocolaty fudge and her peanut butter burst cookies. I can still hear her thumbing through the large round silver tins, the candy wrappers nudging one another as she found that perfect piece to give us in the “cookie room”. Well, she didn’t have an actual cookie room it was her spare room which was lined in tins because she always said that room was the perfect temp to store such items. I miss that room, I miss her baked goods. So, at the holidays my sister and I always bake our favs from our dear Grandma Barr, I always do at least the Norwegian shortbread and tea cakes. Never do they taste the same but we try. 
Back to the fudge. I have only tried making true handmade fudge once or twice, I am successful at quick fudge but “real” fudge has always been a challenge. I always find great looking recipes but using a candy therm can be challenging. Last night I decided to give this recipe a go, but of course I ended up talking to my sister from 205 degrees until 235 and I was worried when I did the water test. In the end this was way easy and truly is the best fudge ever. I was shooting for a true shore fudge for the hubby to savor since he hasn’t been back home in years and he approves!     

MAPLE WALNUT FUDGE
recipe directly from the last wonton
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon sea or Kosher salt
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 1/2 cups chopped Callebaut or other good quality white chocolate
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped and toasted
2 teaspoons vanilla
Add the two sugars, cream, butter, salt and maple syrup to large-ish pot over medium heat.  Stir while bringing to a boil.  Lower the heat and continue to stir slowly while the mixture cooks. After about 7 minutes, test by pouring a small amount into cold water.  You want it to form a soft ball.  Or use candy thermometer to 235F – 238F – soft ball stage.  When it reaches the soft ball stage remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes. 
After 10-15 minutes add the white chocolate and vanilla and stir until chocolate melts.  You will notice the fudge start to thicken immediately.  Stir another couple of minutes until the fudge starts to lose it’s shine.  Quickly add the walnuts and pour into a buttered double loaf pan or dish.  Let cool at room temperature.  Chill. 
Best served chilled.  Now you have the best fudge recipe in the world.

Butternut Squash & Apple Bisque

Butternut squash bisque is one of my favorite soups. I have made it once before but it didn’t hold up to my expectations. As a foodie I try to recreate recipes of food I eat out in restaurants, this inspiration comes from Boudin Bakery. I have searched for a recipe that comes close to their velvety soup and I think I found it! This warm bowl of hearty bisque was paired with tart dried cranberries, crispy brown buttered sage, cinnamon candied pecans and a cool swirl of sour cream. If you love this winter squash as much as I do I urge you to give it a try! Pair it with some yummy savory scones or buttery biscuits for that perfect cold weather meal. 
ingredients:
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil 
  • 1 large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
  • 1/4 cup diced white onion
  • 3/4 cup cubed apple pieces
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup apple juice 
  • 1/4 teaspoon curry powder 
  • salt to taste
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup 
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream or half and half 

toppings:
  • cinnamon candied pecans 
  • browned butter sage 
  • dried cranberries 
  • sour cream 

directions:
In a dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil until it is shimmering. Add the butternut squash and saute over low heat for about 20 minutes. Keep stirring and if it starts to brown turn the heat even lower. 
Add the onions and apples to the pan with the squash. Saute for about 10 minutes. 
Cover the mixture with the broth and juice. Simmer for about thirty minutes until the mixture is very tender. 
Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and puree until you have reached a velvety texture. Return to pan and add in the cream, maple syrup, salt and curry. 
Serve immediately. Garnish with any of the toppings I suggested or enjoy it all on it’s own. 

mini pumpkin whoopie pies with browned butter buttercream {recipe}

Yesterday my little family ‘o mine headed to our friends, Janelle and Nelson’s house for a little game day fun. Janelle had all the food covered and despite her and Tessa telling me not to bake anything I still decided to whip up a new recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies. If you haven’t noticed by now, I don’t listen very well. I am so in love with these mini cake sandwiches and even more so that there were about a dozen left that I am going to freeze to see how they handle. I have been doing a lot of this lately, I guess I am just trying to prepare myself for a possible mayhem that might develop once having a second child and who knows I might want to make dinner and bake once we’re home. I do highly doubt this so this is why I am stocking my freezer up! These “cookies” are sweet but let me tell you they went fast! Even the toddlers went back for a second round! 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies: Recipe adapted from joy of baking

makes roughly 30 cookies 

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar (I used dark to give a more robust flavor)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 – 15 ounce can pumpkin puree


To make the whoopie pies:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (I used my silpat to ensure no sticking would occur) 

In a bowl combine: flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt, baking powder and baking soda. 

In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and pumpkin puree. Beat in the flour mixture just until incorporated, do not over mix!

Fill a 16 ounce pastry bag with mixture, cut a big enough hole to where the batter with come out with ease. On your lined baking sheet pipe a silver dollar sized amount of batter going upward. I went around three times which looked like mini bee hives. With the back of a spoon, dip into water and smooth out the tops of the cookie. This will ensure that you receive the flattened look. Make sure to not put a lot of water on the cookie because once they’re baked they will come out with soggy tops. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes just until the tops spring back. 


Remove cookies from baking sheet and place on a paper towel or a surface that the moist cookies will not stick to. 

Take your cooled cookies and frost every other cookie with buttercream to the edges. Place tops on gently. 
Enjoy! 
For the Browned Butter Buttercream: (my recipe) 
4 cups powdered sugar
2 1/2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk 

In a small saucepan take the 1/2 stick of butter and melt over medium to low heat until it becomes frothy and brown. You will need to watch this carefully after the five minute mark to ensure the butter doesn’t burn. You want to see the residual at the bottom of the pan with small brown flakes that are a deep brown in color. Remove from heat and cool. I began this step prior to beginning the cookie process.  

In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment cream the two sticks of butter until fluffy. Slowly incorporate the browned butter and vanilla mixing until well combined. Next, slowly add in the powdered sugar in one cup increments. Once all the sugar is combined whip the frosting on medium speed for about five minutes. The color will go from a yellow/brown to white with brown specks. Slowly add in the milk and beat again for another minute or so. 

Fill a 16 ounce pastry bag and cut a small hole from the bottom. Pipe the cookies from the outside in, make sure not to go completely to the edge otherwise the frosting will ooze out from the cookie. 


Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes

Pineapple Upside-down cake is my all-time favorite cake. I made it back in the day for my hubby when we were dating while my parents still had their house in Murrieta, from that moment on I think that is when he knew he could marry me. I recipe I had always made was my great-Grandma’s and my Mom (if she would ever comment to correct me) would probably tell you that it goes back further than that. That recipe (which I do not have to share, because it’s at my parents) is made in a cask iron skillet, you warm the sugar/butter mixture in the skillet getting it all hot and bubbly and then you add in the batter which instantly gives it a crunchy caramel crust, which is why I love this given cake. Baking this cake as cupcakes gets a little trickier and it’s harder to achieve the caramel crust because it’s the cask iron that really achieves that end product. I have made these cupcakes once before here using store-bought cake mix and they were okay. Honestly, the best part about this cake is the sugary topping and caramelized pineapple, well, in my opinion. So, if your stretched for time you can totally use a cake mix but simply mixing some flour and baking powder is almost easier and cheaper. For today’s version, I made them for girl’s game night at my girlfriend Janelle’s house. While I wish I would have used more topping in each well it would have made a bigger mess in my oven so I am glad I stuck to one teaspoon. So with that said, here is the recipe I used today and I promise one day I will share the recipe that won over my husbands heart and tummy.

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes.
Makes 24

Topping:
3/4 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar (I actually used light)
2 tbsp dark rum (optional, I did not use it because I couldn’t reach that high into my pantry)
1 20 oz can canned pineapple tidbits in pineapple juice (drain and reserve juice for batter)
12 Maraschino cherries, halved.

Cake Batter:
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup butter, at room temperature
3 cups all purpose flour
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ cup pineapple juice
4 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cupcake tins with cooking spray. In a small saucepan, melt and stir together butter and brown sugar. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes or until it thickens slightly. Add in rum. Stir thoroughly to combine. Pour about two teaspoons of this topping into the bottom of each cupcake well (start with one teaspoons to make sure you have enough for all the wells). Place four pineapple tidbits on top and then a cherry half in the middle.

Measure and then mix together dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add the flour alternately with the pineapple juice. Don’t over mix, spoon about 1/4 cup of batter over each pineapple slice and bake for 20 minutes. Cool 20 minutes in pan then invert over a baking rack. (Because my cupcake tin is a 24-cup I inverted on my counter with foil and wax paper lining).

If you want to get extra fancy you could whip up some fresh whipped cream and place a dollop on each one.

Enjoy.

Roasted Pepper, Sausage & Summer Gnocchi

Gnocchi is one of our favorite pastas so when we scout out an Italian restaurant we tend to look for these delicate potato dumplings on the menu. When you go to an Italian restaurant you will usually see gnocchi served in a heavy white, pesto or a blush sauce. My favorite all time is a gorgonzola cream with sun dried tomatoes but I will take these little babies any way they come. A while ago as I was perusing one of my fav foodie blogs, Cheeky Kitchen, I came across a recipe for roasted pepper, sausage and summer squash gnocchi. I pinned it right away and had it on my weekly menu for some time before I finally looked for mini peppers. Earlier this week we were at Costco and I went into the produce area and they actually carry them, I know they always have but I forgot so I knew right away I would be making this as the following evenings meal. I picked up some dried gnocchi and got it all ready, except I didn’t have any squash and since I am not a fan of Italian sausage I used a Hillshire Farm Smoked Turkey Kielbasa and man oh! man was it tasty. Unlike all the dishes with the heavy sauces this one was a light, barely there sauce packed with a ton of flavor and perfect for a hot Summer’s evening. Yum! I wish hubby wouldn’t have taken the leftovers to work because my mouth is seriously watering for another helping! I don’t have a picture because we were in a hurry to eat dinner to get out the door to return something but visit the original post to see how scrumptious is looks.

What I changed to the recipe in pink.

2 cups mini summer squash – Omitted 
2 cups mini sweet peppers
1 large shallot, peeled and sliced – Omitted 
salt to taste
2 (17 ounce) packages gnocchi – 1 package 
1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound Italian turkey sausage, cooked – Hillshire Farms Smoked Turkey Kielbasa 
1/4 tablespoons white vinegar – 2 Tablespoons White Balsamic Vinegar 
1/4 tablespoons pure maple syrup – 1 Tablespoon 
1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning 
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup parmesan or feta cheese – I used Feta 

directions:

Clean peppers and squash. Snip the top of each pepper and squash off. Slice the squash in half. Place all veggies on a baking sheet. Sprinkle shallot slices over the veggies. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the veggies. Place in an oven preheated to 500 degrees. Allow veggies to roast for 20-25 minutes, stirring them every 5-10 minutes.
Cook gnocchi according to package directions. Spoon 1/4 of the pasta water from the pot before draining the gnocchi. In a large bowl, combine the pasta water, sausage, vinegar, maple syrup, seasonings, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Add the cooked gnocchi, then toss in the cooked veggies. After I cooked the sausage I added the peppers, vinegar and maple syrup and let it caramelize a little. I then added in the seasonings, water and pasta. 
Sprinkle Parmesan or feta on top (Parmesan will give your dish a nice, classic taste. Feta offers an earthy touch of Mediterranean flavor to the meal).
Eat and enjoy!