Thursday 13: 13 things I love about fall

1. Putting on my jammies and robe early in the evening and somehow feeling like that's just fine. Do that in the summer and it seems very slackerish...

2. Hot drinks for the purpose of warming me up (not just waking me up!), inside and outside (hands around the mug).

3. Brisk temperatures. Not cold during the day yet, but brisk. I adore brisk.

4. Autumn light. It's leaner, thinner, the shadows longer. Awesome light.

5. Birthdays: mine and the boy's. Double awesome.

6. Less yard work. Triple awesome. I am very much over the yard by the first of October, true story.

7. Holiday anticipation.

8. More energy. It's like clockwork, the way my energy picks up in the fall and winter. I love being able to count on that.

9. Baking! And not worrying about the oven warming up the kitchen too much; in fact, looking forward to that fact.

10. Pumpkin in just about everything (that one is extra-specially put into the list for Jen, who does not understand the "pumpkin in just about everything" phenomenon. I'll take your share, dear one.)

11. All those shows that somehow don't have episodes in the summer (I find the whole "season" thing doesn't work for me in TV land, ha)--The Good Wife, Homeland, Castle, etc.--are back. That fits in with the jammies-early mentality I mentioned previously...

12. Craftiness gene gets switched back on. Related to the more energy and the less yard work... get out the yarn! Crochet hooks! Fall decorating!

13. Layers in clothes: cardigans, scarves, tights, boots, sweaters and coats! Some of my very favorite items.

I could go on for a bit longer, but I will hold myself to just 13 for now...

What is your favorite thing about fall? Give me more ammunition for my autumn love!

Thanks WWJen for this photo on FB yesterday--lovely!

For more Thursday 13s, go here.

Pumpkin donut muffins

ome find the pumpkin/fall combo confusing. Why only make pumpkin items at certain times of year, when canned pumpkin, at least, is available year round? Well, dear pumpkin skeptics, do you feel the same way about eggnog? Or Christmas cookies and candies? I thought not. There's just something so lovely and autumnal about pumpkin, and I always look forward to adding it to various baked goods (and my coffee too!).

I found these little goodies over at Ezra Pound Cake, a really comprehensive food blog with many yummy items. The muffins whipped up quite easily, and were delicious freshly out of the oven. I also took her note to heart and froze a dozen or so, and have enjoyed pulling them out of the freezer on weekends and enjoying them with our leisurely omelette breakfasts.

However, my one caveat about the recipe: it makes a lot more than it states. I doubled it (as I was taking to share with friends), and filled two dozen muffin papers AND a loaf pan. So, do with that what you will... enjoy more donut muffins!

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins
Adapted from Everyday Food (November 2010)
Makes 12 muffins (see my note above...)

3 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin purée
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs

Glaze:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (use 1 to 2 tablespoons if just coating the tops)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 12 standard muffin cups (I sprayed muffin paper liners. That's how I roll). In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and buttermilk. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl as needed.

With the mixer on low, add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions pumpkin mixture, and beat to combine. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each muffin cup. Bake for 30 minutes.

Let muffins cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack.

Working with one at a time, remove muffins from pan, brush all over with melted unsalted butter, then toss to coat in sugar mixture (as you can see from my picture, I pretty much just dipped the tops...). Let muffins cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container, up to 1 day.

FREEZING: The naked muffins can be frozen for up to 3 months. Reheat in a 350 degree oven, then coat in butter and sugar.

If you click over to her recipe, you'll see that my muffins look a lot orange-pumpkinier. I have no idea what's up with that. But they are a lovely fall muffin option. I think you will enjoy them!

Pumpkin muffins

oke up with a persistent craving for something freshly baked for breakfast and knew that I had some leftover pumpkin in the fridge... naturally, I reached for my handy epicurious app on the iPad and pretty much picked the first one that popped up. Luckily, it was a yummy option--but I find that it's hard to go wrong with the epicurious folks...

Pumpkin muffins
Makes 12

1/3 cup golden raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoon raw green (hulled) pumpkin seeds (pepitas), divided

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter muffin pan if not nonstick.

Soak raisins in hot water 5 minutes, then drain.

Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar, pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined, then stir in raisins and 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds.

Divide batter among muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining seeds. Bake until a wooden pick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly on a rack.

I made some adjustments: no raisins for me, no thanks. And I also omitted the pumpkin seeds and substituted whole wheat flour for the all-purpose. While I enjoyed my muffin (with coffee, of course) quite a bit, they lacked a little bit of a pumpkin "punch"--a little milder in flavor than I was hoping for. Some fiddling around with the amount of pumpkin in the future may possibly help... I'll keep you posted.

Warm from the oven, these made a delicious addition to our omelette and potatoes breakfast! And undoubtedly contributed to the must-nap-after-breakfast feeling I had to fight... well, maybe fight is too strong of a word. The nap and I chatted for a bit and I gave in pretty quickly...

Pumpkin spice cake the eeeaaasy way

So I wanted an alternative to pumpkin or pecan pie this Thanksgiving. Really, only for myself. I'm picky like that--everyone else at our table would be just fine with the pies. But I've never been into pumpkin pie, and pecan pie is so rich I can only do a sliver of a slice maybe every other year or so... (Side note: I feel like my sweet tooth has seriously diminished the past year or so. Is this a sign of old age? I mean, I can still polish off a bag of carmel corn or a box of Junior Mints with popcorn at the movies every once in awhile, but when faced with a number of dessert options, I don't get nearly as excited as, say, I did in my 20s. So what's up with that? I'd say it would be a good thing for my jeans, but alas my fat tooth and my salty tooth have not diminished at all, so things are what they always are...)

OK, back to regularly scheduled programming... dessert. Usually by the time I'm done with my fixation on the Perfect Bite, and have sufficiently carved a dent in the Thanksgiving feast, dessert is something I think about an hour or two later... but still, when I get there, I want something I really want. So what was it going to be? I got quite a few suggestions from various peanut galleries, but when push came to shove, I still wanted a bit of a pumpkin fix, and seeing as how this Thanksgiving happened out of a less-outfitted kitchen than home, I wanted something I could throw together pretty easily. Yeah, that's my excuse for fiddling with a cake mix, right? Well, truth be told I'm not really a cake snob that way anyway. I get the concept of homemade cakes and all, but really? Betty figured out how to make a cake years ago, and I don't mind using her expertise to guide me along the way, not one bit.

So here's how it fell out: These little babies smelled so good, right out of the oven in the morning. They were of immediate interest to the whole household, and other than one little sliver of pumpkin and pecan pies that Pa had during the evening round of Mexican train dominoes, they were the dessert of choice for our turkey-coma crowd. The little acorn ones were especially popable.


Pumpkin spice cake
1 package spice cake
1 can pumpkin (28 oz.)
1/2 cup oil
1 package vanilla instant pudding
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients at medium speed for 5 minutes. Pour into greased and floured pan (recipe calls for bundt pan, but I used one of Williams-Sonoma's mini pumpkin pans, and one of the acorn cakelet pans as well). Bake 45 minutes (check after 35 minutes): this instruction is for the bundt pan--my mini pans took 15 minutes, tops. Let cool 10 minutes in pan. Cool completely. Frost as you will!

OK, not the best frosting job I've done, but quite yummy. Very. I will haul out this cake recipe again soon.

Election day/late birthday soup lunch

My good friend Megan had me over for lunch today... a much delayed get-together that one or the other of us had been postponing (sick, overbooked, sick, guests in town, sick) for a few weeks... and it was the perfect day for soup. We had big big rain in the morning with lots of wind and gustiness (and snow on the mountains, too soon!) and it all cleared out this afternoon for a sunny-ish sunset.

But the highlight of my day was having lunch with Megan and Grace, her almost-4 year old. When I thanked Grace upon leaving for sharing her mom with me, she looked at me and most earnestly said, "I don't want to share my mom with you," like I had just uttered absolute nonsense. Very sweet.

It was too early to really pay too much attention to what was going on with the election, so we had a chance to catch up on kids and work and husbands and such. A real treat. And far too rare these days.

And the soup, oh the soup. She's made this before, for our now fairly-defunct book group. I loved it then, and I loved it today. A perfect fall soup. I begged the recipe, and warned her it was getting world-wide-web posting.





Gingered Pumpkin-Pear Soup

½ cup chopped sweet onion
2 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 T. butter
3 pears, peeled, cored and sliced
1 15-oz. can pumpkin
1 ½ cups vegetable broth
1 cup milk
¼ cup light sour cream
½ tsp. finely shredded lime peel
1 T. lime juice
Lime peel, optional

In a large saucepan cook onion and ginger in butter until onion is tender. Stir in pears; cook one minute more. Stir in pumpkin and vegetable broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, about five minutes more or until pears are tender. Cool slightly. In a blender or food processor, cover and blend or process half of the pumpkin mixture at a time until smooth, about one minute. Return mixture to saucepan; stir in milk. Heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, ½ tsp. lime peel and lime juice. Top each serving of soup with a drizzle of the sour cream mixture. Garnish with lime peel. Makes 6 side-dish servings.

Enjoy! And at the very least, let the country unite over soup.