Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Who wants to write about nihilism when the sun is shining, the sky is cloudless, and it's a Saturday! Pick me, pick me! Just kidding. But you know what, if that sounds like a perfect weekend activity to you, that's cool I guess. I'm not a very good nihilist. Too many meanings in the world, and not just ones I created. Nietzsche would shake his head at me. I don't mind. 

Say hello to my little friend.

This day could only get more glorious if I had one of those giant outdoor ovens. Y'know, like this. If you have a ton of money just sitting around, feel free to finance my extravagant dreams, haha. Anyway. If I had an outdoor oven,  I would make a loaf of bread right here in this patch of grass and eat it when it was still way too hot. I'd burn my mouth and it would be so worth it. 

Instead, I'll just have to eat one of these pumpkin muffins I made last night. They're a pretty good consolation prize, y'know, when you can't have bread fresh out of a brick oven. No, they're excellent just as they are! I like them because they use a whole can of pumpkin (so many recipes use an awkward amount and I end up wasting the rest!). Also, they have a crumbly top. I'll eat anything if you put crumb topping on it. 

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins 
adapted ever so slightly from Gimme Some Oven

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
 
Cinnamon Streusel Topping
2 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp. cinnamon 

To Make The Cinnamon Streusel Topping:

Use a fork or your fingers to mix together all of the ingredients until they are evenly combined and crumbly. 

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 16-18 baking cups with liners, or mist with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger) until blended.

In a different large bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients (pumpkin, butter, eggs, vanilla) until well combined. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.

Fill the baking cups with the batter until they are each 2/3 full. Top with a tablespoon or so of the crumbled streusel topping. Then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Chocolate Pumpkin Breads

Well hey there. October passed in a flash, which is somewhat frightening, due to the fact that I am now merely weeks away from my 21st birthday (the age at which my mother will consider me a "real" adult, haha). Also, before I know it, I'll be in Ireland for four months. Of course that's exciting, but there are still so many unknowns right now, and it'll be sad to leave everything familiar. You knew I was going to Ireland, right? I feel like I've mentioned it offhandedly. Here's a picture which totally doesn't capture its behemoth-like proportions. 

Still, this is a booming metropolis compared to my school. 

So anyway, I'm embracing the pumpkin while I still have time. Although I have a sad pumpkin I planned to carve for Halloween sitting in the corner of my room. I hate that I didn't have time to carve it when I promised myself that I would. It's bothering me more than it probably should be. Well...Thanksgiving pumpkin?

These, despite having pumpkin in them, hardly tasted like pumpkin at all to me. Maybe it was more for...moisture? They're pretty homely. The supposed to be appetizing sugar crust looks sort of like...mold. I swear it's not. And someone stole the muffin pan so I had to make them more cinnamon rollish than was intended. And the chocolate chips look A LOT like raisins. Suspiciously so. I assure you they're not. Raisins will never make an appearance on this blog. I promise. Now that I've done such a great job selling these to you...haha, I dunno. Go enjoy your extra hour. 

Chocolate Pumpkin Breads 

by Hungry Girl por Vida 

1/3 cup warm milk
1/3 cup plain pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 Tablespoons unsalted, softened butter
Filling:
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
8 ounces (1 cup) chocolate chips, or chopped bar
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 Tablespoon cream
sugar for sprinkling

In measuring cup, combine milk with yeast and a pinch of sugar. Allow to proof 5 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin and the egg. In a large bowl, combine flour, remaining sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add the yeast-pumpkin mixture and mix on low to combine (if you have a stand mixer. Otherwise, spoon/hands are cool). Add the butter 2 Tablespoons at a time, mixing until the butter is incorporated before adding the rest. Scrape dough from the paddle, add the dough hook attachment  and knead on medium speed for 10 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky and stringy. Place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

While the dough rises, make the filling. In the bowl of a food processor, process all ingredients until all of the butter is distributed and you have an uneven, gravely mixture. Or just chop at it violently with butter knives, which is what I did. Set aside.
Liberally butter a 12-cup muffin tin. Or not. A square or rectangle or round pan is cool too. Set aside.
Once dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and gently deflate. Allow to rest 5 more minutes, before rolling the dough out into a large rectangle, the short end measuring about 12 inches–the long edge can be about 18-22 inches. Sprinkle the chocolate filling evenly over the rectangle, it will be bumpy, and begin rolling from the short end all the way up into a 12-13 inch log and pinch to seal. Gently saw off about 1-inch spirals, placing each into a prepared tin. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise another hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350*F.
Whisk together the egg and cream, brush gently over the tops of the proofed buns and sprinkle liberally with sugar. Bake in the center of the oven for 15-25 minutes. Mine took closer to 25 minutes to bake. Remove from oven and cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Bars

Makes me sad: waking up before the sun rises
Makes me happy: taking a nap after class
Makes me nervous: economics tests
Makes me pleasantly surprised: getting points back on economics tests
Makes me upset: internet trolls
Makes me satisfied: being able to ignore internet trolls by taking a walk in the crispy fall air
Makes me scared: the moth that likes to bang on my window at night (don't judge)
Makes me laugh: haunted house employees (I also feel bad, like I'm ruining their jobs by laughing at them)

Does European butter make things tastier? Beats me. 

See? For every annoying, obnoxious thing that happens, there's probably an equal and opposite awesome thing out there. You just have to be open to finding it. I'm trying really hard to do that. It's working surprisingly well to keep the angst and stress levels down.

And if all else fails...you can always fall back on baking. Bonus points for something you've had your eye on for a long time. Triple your word score if you expect to burn/undercook it and it turns out perfectly. Seriously, I'm a little upset I waited so long to make these. Maybe it's because they seemed labor intensive (they aren't). Maybe because I was afraid of all the butter (silly me, butter is ALWAYS your friend). Layer of thick, soft cookie + layer of pumpkin pie-ish + cinnamon sugar + white chocolate. Guaranteed to make you speechless. 

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Bars
from Dozen Flours 

Snickerdoodle Layer
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Pumpkin Pie Layer
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 oz white chocolate, chopped
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch pan and lay a piece of parchment paper across the pan, so that it extends the pan slightly. The parchment paper is an optional step, but it will make it easier to get the bars out later

To make snickerdoodle layer:
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be thick and cookiebatter-ish.)

In a mixer bowl (you can use the same one you used to make the snickerdoodle batter) with a paddle attachment, mix together all ingredients until well combined. This layer will be less thick and more pourable. Pour over the snickerdoodle layer, smoothing out the top.

Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

Bake for 33-40 minutes (maybe more depending on your oven) or until a toothpick inserted into the *center* of the pan comes out clean. Let the bars cool completely (about an hour). They will deflate a bit and remain a bit pie-like on the top layer.
After the bars are completely cool, place the chopped white chocolate into a bowl or zip-lock bag and melt on low power. When it's completely melted, add the pumpkin pie spice and mix (or knead if using a zip lock bag). Use a spoon or cut a small corner off the bag and drizzle the melted chocolate over the top of the bars and let it cool and harden.

Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and cut into bars. Store in a covered container.

Secret Recipe Club - Pumpkin Whoopie Pies + Mascarpone Filling

Ah, the final Secret Recipe Club of the summer. Next time around, I'll be back in a new and exciting dorm kitchen. Who knows what the future may hold? I'm okay with going back to school. I enjoy my time here, and I enjoy my time there. My mom commented that as I've gotten older, I've grown less restless. It's easy for me to be content with where I am. But not complacent. Let's not get those two confused. But on to the food, shall we? 

 

My assignment for this month was actually my SRC group's leader, Suzanne! Oh man, I hope she likes what I make! Will I get kicked out if she doesn't? Haha, I don't think so, she seems pretty cool. So I'm safe for now! Anyway, I know pumpkin is usually considered a fall flavor, but I do what I want! Cause I'm a rebel. 

This one looked messy, so I ate it instead of bringing it to work, haha.

Who came up with the name Whoopie Pie? Saying it makes me feel silly. So I usually just sort of mumble it and hope people get the gist. But man oh man are they awesome. If you've never had one, it's like a soft, cakey cookie with whatever the heck you want sandwiched in the middle. Like a macaron's less fancy cousin? Maybe. Okay also, and I highly, highly recommend doing this, I made my own mascarpone for the filling. It's so wonderful, and easy, and way cheaper than buying it in the store. I'll include a tutorial after the recipe.

 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies + Mascarpone Filling

from Thru the Bugs on My Windshield

1 1/2 c Pumpkin Pie Filling or Puree

2 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp ground Ginger

1 whole egg

1/2 cup Grapeseed Oil

1 cup packed Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 cups all-purpose flour

Ingredients for the filling:

8 oz Mascarpone Cheese

1/4 cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

Mix the pumpkin, syrup, vanilla, ginger, egg, oil, and brown sugar in a big bowl and whisk until everything is smooth and incorporated.

Add the salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour and mix together.

Heat oven to 350ºF and line cookie sheets with parchment paper (or grease the pans lightly).  Spoon on batter in 2″ (mine were more like 2.5) rounds.

Place in the oven and bake for about 14 minutes.  When they turn a bit brown and crack a little, they’re done! Let them cool completely before filling.

To make the filling...mix everything together. Haha. Using a knife or pastry bag, swirl on some filling to a cookie.  Top with another cookie. If the filling seems a little gooey, place pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to stiffen the filling.

Homemade Mascarpone

from The Pastry Affair 

2 cups heavy cream, pasteurized (but not ultra-pasteurized)
1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed

In a large saucepan, heat heavy cream over medium high heat until a candy thermometer reads 190 degrees F (88 degrees C). The cream should be at a simmer. Be careful not to scorch the bottom! Stir in the lemon juice and continue to heat at 190 degrees F (88 degrees C) for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. The cream should thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Place a strainer lined with 4 layers of cheesecloth (or a few layers of coffee filters) over an empty bowl. Add the cream, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator. Allow the cream to strain out for 8-12 hours, preferably overnight. Discard the whey; I only ended up with a couple tablespoons. When finished straining, transfer the cheese to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

Use fresh mascarpone cheese within the week.

 

Glazed Pumpkin Cookies

Why is it that this year is so much busier than last? I guess that sophomore year is kind of...a preparing year? As a freshman, you're still trying to figure out how to live by yourself, write a college paper, choose a major, etc. But as a sophomore, I have all that stuff figured out (mostly anyway) and my time is spent investigating summer internships and study abroad options, tutoring in the writing center, managing dues and grants and expenses as a club treasurer...and I still have to study and have friends (this list is not in order of importance, by the way, haha. I love you friends!).

Ahhh, a can opener. No more can stabbing for me!

How do I have time to bake? To be honest, I'm not really sure. I suppose you make time for the things that are important to you. But whenever I have an hour or so to sit down and make something, I feel this guilty twinge in the back of my head. Are you forgetting to do some homework? Is there studying you could be getting ahead on?

Sometimes you just have to ignore that voice in your head. If you don't make time for yourself to do what you love, you'll go crazy, or burn out. Don't spread yourself too thin. And speaking of spreading something thin...these cookies have icing! Which you...have to spread...okay, never mind. Seriously, if you're into a fluffy cookie that almost has a cake like texture, you should totally make these. And they go fast, so you don't have to take too much time out of your super busy schedules to make them. Eat them outside with a cup of chai. Enjoy the pretty leaves before they're gone. Here's to slowing down :)

 Glazed Pumpkin Cookies

from All Recipes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
4. To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Pumpkin Curry Cupcakes + Chocolate Ganache Frosting

I take so many little things for granted. This is kind of a recurring theme in my life if you haven't noticed. I mean, a cabinet full of ingredients and utensils sure beats lugging a crate of stuff down seven flights of stairs, realizing you forgot something crucial, and having to go ALL THE WAY BACK UP. And I will never stop singing songs of praise to air conditioning. Man, an oven makes a room really hot! Somehow, this is news to me. 

Don't open cans like this.

So my cupcakes were a little uglier than usual, big deal, right? So I had to stab my can of pumpkin open with a knife instead of a nice, safe can opener (I wouldn't recommend doing that.) When I finally finished the cupcakes (and trust me, it took forever. At one point I was joined in the kitchen by a guy cooking a weeks worth of chicken) they tasted like success. Or sweat maybe. Just kidding! 

This is chocolate. Chocolate does not taste like sweat.

They tasted like pumpkin curry cake with chocolate ganache, nommmm. Don't knock the curry til you try it, it adds a great warmth to the flavor. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some leftover frosting that's just begging to be eaten ^_^

Pumpkin Curry Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

from Vanilla Garlic 

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of curry powder
pinch of cayanne
1/2 cup of packed borwn sugar
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cool
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
15 ounces pumpkin puree

1) Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

2) Whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

3) Whisk together the sugars, butter, and eggs. The add the dry ingredients and whisk them in. Whish in pumpkin puree. Taste and adjust spices.

4) Put into cupcakes papers about halfway. Bake until they spring back to touch and a cake tester comes out clean. About 18-22 minutes. Rotate pan after 15 minutes if your oven is sketchy for even baking. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.



Chocolate Ganache

What You'll Need...
14 ounces of chocolate (use your discretion and taste as to what kind)
1 1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of whole milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla

What You'll Do...
1) Chop chocolates and transfer into a heat proof bowl.

2) Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate.

3) Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.

4) Add butter to the chocolate (make sure its soft and at room temp) and stir until combined.

5) Whisk together sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla in another bowl until combined.

6) Pour the sugar mixture onto the chocolate mixture, then stir until combined and smooth.

7) Let sit at room temperature until thickened. (I popped it in the freezer with a towel over it since it was late. Don't worry if it looks too runny.)

8) Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes.

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

Brrrr...it's chilly. Feels much more like fall than summer. It's tea and a movie weather. 

Look at the spoon...refraction!

So I guess I can justify making something pumpkin-y because of the tricky weather?  Canned pumpkin, mind you, I wouldn't go out of my way to look for a very out of season pumpkin at this time of year. In my other kitchen ventures, I'm definitely into using in season produce. Berries, avocados, peppers, tomatoes, basil...peaches...you will soon learn of my peach love. Take advantage of all the beautiful colorful fruits and veggies available at this time of year! 

I wanted to show off my new measuring spoons.

Ahem...anyway...back to pumpkin...which doesn't sound nearly as exciting as it did before I started blathering about summer things. But weather totally affects cooking, right? And right now, here, it's cold and rainy. So pumpkin bread it is. Side note, don't take it out 20 minutes before the timer goes off because your brother wants you to take him to McDonalds and you don't want to make him wait and get all irritated. It won't cook all the way. Also, don't let your mother slice it up, throw it into the oven and try and save it by turning it into biscotti. She may leave the house and forget about it, leaving you to find a scorched mess in the (luckily not burned down) kitchen. 

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

adapted from Joy the Baker 

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (you can use some wheat, I didn't have any)

2 cups brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree, or just under two cups

1 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup water

1 cup chopped walnuts (or not, if you don't feel like it)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven.  Grease and flour two loaf pans and set aside

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.  

In a medium bowl, carefully whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup and water.  

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to fold all of the ingredients together.  Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, finding any stray flour bits to mix in.  Fold in most of the chopped walnuts, reserving some to sprinkle on top of the batter once in the pan. 

Divide the dough between the two greased pans and sprinkle with a few walnut pieces.  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven.  Let rest in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.  

Daifuku Love and The Journey Back

I practically clapped my hands when I saw it. That innocuous little bag on the bottom shelf at the grocery store, labeled glutinous rice flour. I snatched a bag and contemplated grabbing a second. You don't know how long and hard I search for this stuff. I check every new grocery store I step into. At this point, you're probably shaking your head and thinking, 'Rebecca, chill. It's flour. And weird flour at that.' Bear with me here.

My daifuku making work space. This is messy business, so prepare to get your hands dirty.

I've developed a thing for Japanese desserts fairly recently. And glutinous rice flour, also know as Mochiko, is the primary ingredient in many Japanese desserts, first and foremost, mochi. Mochi is just a glutinous rice cake made by pounding rice into a paste and molding it into a shape. It looks something like this. I have a few blocks of this type of mochi and will be playing with it at a later date. The other type of mochi is soft, and made with mochiko and water on a stove or in a microwave. 


I thought long and hard about what I wanted to make. I've made some fairly disgusting things with mochiko in the past, and I wanted to redeem myself. Finally, I settled on daifuku, little packages of sweet mochi traditionally filled with red bean paste (anko) or strawberries. But because I have a thing for pumpkin, and I found an awesome recipe, my filling was pumpkin. 

Cooking up the filling. It tastes like pumpkin pie. 

Let me tell you, this process is labor intensive. And sticky. Very sticky. To me, it was worth it. I'm glad my boyfriend was there to help me or it would have taken even longer. It is incredibly, incredibly important to keep everything well dusted with potato starch, or corn starch or something. 

Sticky sticky. 

If you've never tried mochi...well, I can't guarantee you'll like it. I love it, but I'll be the first to say the texture is weird. It's soft and a little bit chewy...you'll have to try for yourself. I think it's worth the time if you can get ahold of the ingredients. 

The final product! Aren't they cute?

So. I was all ready to bring these back to school to share with my friends. When suddenly, an hour away from school, we got rear ended on the highway! Yeah! My car is totaled. A police officer brought us away from the accident, but he couldn't fit everything in his car. I tried to retrieve one of the containers of daifuku, but they had gotten all smashed upon impact. My parents are bringing the rest of my stuff from the car to me on Friday. If my daifuku are salvageable, I'll report back on what my friends thought of the result. 

Pumpkin Daifuku from The Anime Blog 

FILLING:

• 1 15 oz can plain pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons honey (optional)
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup white sugar, more or less to taste
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

MOCHI:

• 1 1/2 cup mochi flour (mochiko is available at Asian markets as a box with a blue star)
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup castor sugar (sold as baker’s sugar)
• 1 box of katakuriko (potato starch) for dusting hands and utensils
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• Food coloring (optional)
• Some beforehand tips:

1. Dust your hands and utensils often with the katakuriko. You DO NOT want the mochi sticking to anything. This stuff is super sticky so avoid getting it on your clothes or in your hair.

2. Create a daifuku-making space before hand by setting out a large cutting board, a large spatula, a round cookie cutter (I just use a drinking glass), a butter knife, and a bowl filled with a decent amount of katakuriko for dusting. Dust the cutting board, the butter knife and the spatula generously with the katakuriko.3. Clear out your kitchen sink. Since you’ll be cooking your mochi in a large pot, you’ll need room to fill that bad boy with hot, soapy water when you’re done to prevent the mochi from hardening up in it.

4. Don’t pour unused mochi down the sink. It’ll harden up and give you much grief. Instead, clear out any remaining mochi with a handful of paper towels and pitch it in the garbage can when it’s cool.

5. Use common sense; wait for the mochi to cool enough to handle before you start to work with it.

For the FILLING:1. Blend all the filling ingredients together well in a medium size sauce pan. Set the heat to medium low and constantly stir the pumpkin mixture for 10 minutes or until the mixture becomes sticky and resembles caramel. Do not overheat the mixture or stop stirring since you might burn it, i.e. make it taste like nasty burnt pumpkin sugar.

2. Line a small cookie sheet with wax paper and drop the pumpkin by rounded teaspoons onto the covered cookie sheet. After the pumpkin has cooled somewhat, roll the drops into balls and pop the cookie sheet into the freezer for about 20 minutes or till the balls are fairly firm.

For the MOCHI:. After the filling has been in the freezer for 20 minutes start making the mochi. If you’re using food coloring, combine it with the water at this point, keeping in mind that less is more. If you’re using vanilla extract toss that in the water with the food coloring and stir it really well. Then blend the mochiko, sugar, and water together in a large pot. I used a wire whisk to make sure there weren’t any lumps in the mixture.

2. Heat the mixture on medium low heat, stirring the entire time. Once again; keep stirring and keep the heat low. After a few minutes the mochi will start to pull away from the sides of the pot. Turn off the heat and pour the mochi (I’ve always had to help the mochi out of the pot with the spatula) onto the well floured cutting board.

3. Spread the hot mochi out with the floured spatula. Try to make it an even thickness.4. Let the mochi cool until you feel it’s comfortable enough to handle. Take the pumpkin balls outta the freezer at this time. Cut a circle from the mochi sheet using the round, floured cookie cutter (upside down drinking glass). If you’re having difficulty prying the circle up from the cutting board, slip the floured butter knife under it and wiggle it free.

5. Flour your hands really well and place the circle in your palm. Take a frozen pumpkin ball and place it in the middle of the mochi circle. Fold the edges of the mochi over the ball until you’ve sealed it in. Pat the mochi gently until it forms a round cake.

6. Dust the cake lightly with katakuriko and place it on a plate. Repeat steps four and five until the filling is gone, remembering to flour your hands and utensils often. If you have leftover mochi, you can just eat it or fill it with whatever you want. Thick jam, nutella, marzipan, I dunno. You can store the daifuku in the fridge for up to a week. 

Delicious Pumpkin-ness

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Or just a really nice Thursday if you're not American. It feels great to be home, and I've been going on a baking spree. First, I helped my sister and her man make an apple pie.

Isn't she lovely? 

Then...I needed some pumpkin. But no one in my family likes pumpkin pie except my mom. 

Sorry Mom. I'll make you a pie someday. 

So instead I made these awesome pumpkin-y muffin thingies. Mm. So delicious and moist. Does anyone else think moist is a gross word? Anyway. These cakes are filled with spices...and sugar...and brown butter...sigh. 

I dunno why the burner looks so awesome.

Brown butter is really flavorful, it adds a lot to baked goods. If you've never worked with brown butter, fear not, it's easy. Just melt some butter, stir, and keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn. It almost has a nutty taste. Annnnd....these were supposed to be cupcakes. With brown butter icing. But they tasted really good without them. In fact, I just ate one. While typing.

Yes, they're ugly. But they make up for it with taste and charming personality. 

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin tins with paper
liners. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and continue
to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown, Skim
foam from top, and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the
cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs,
and brown-butter mixture. Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just
combined.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.
Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in
centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks
to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Makes about 15 cupcakes.