Pumpkin Muffins

This is my grandmother's recipe and one of my favorite things about this time of year.  They're best eaten fresh out of the oven (or warm) with a little bit of butter.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 can solid-pack pumpkin
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
3 cups raisins
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups chopped black walnuts

Rinse and drain the raisins into a small bowl, adding the walnuts and a handful of flour. Toss to coat.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the pumpkin, oil and sugar until well blended.  In another bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder. Add the flour mixture and the raisin mixture to the egg mixture until combined. DO NOT OVER-MIX!

Spray muffin pans and fill each cup 3/4 full. (Don't use paper liners as they will stick to these particular muffins and you'll end up with a lot of wasted yumminess!) Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

Ginger Streusel Pumpkin Pie

While I can't take credit for how awesome this recipe is, I can pass it on to you because it is delicious. (Originally by Sonia Parvu of Sherrill, New York)

Ingredients:
1 pre-baked 9-inch pie shell (shortbread)
3 eggs
1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves

STREUSEL:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup finely chopped candied or crystallized ginger

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, cream, sugars, cinnamon, salt, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. Pour into the pastry shell. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine flour and brown sugar; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in walnuts and ginger. Gently sprinkle over filling. (I found that this worked better when done BEFORE I baked the pie initially, but it's up to you as it can be done either way.)

Bake 15-25 more minutes or until a cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate leftovers.

(Batch note: I doubled this recipe and had enough for 3 pies. It is a gloriously filling dessert, especially served with whipped cream, so smaller pieces are recommended!)

Hedda's Fried Okra

Don't be fooled - this isn't your momma's fried okra - it doesn't have a thick batter covering and is thusly much easier to cook and healthier, too.

Ingredients
3 cups fresh sliced okra
1/2 -2/3 cup cornmeal
garlic salt, to taste
cracked pepper, to taste
olive oil

Rinse the okra and pat with a paper towel to remove the excess water (the okra will be slightly sticky and damp). Toss in bowl with cornmeal, garlic salt and cracked pepper. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a non-stick skillet - the olive oil should only barely cover the bottom of the pan. When the oil is hot, pour in the okra. It's important to make sure that you only cover the bottom of the pan one slice thick. If the okra is stacked, it will not cook properly and will be gooey. Let the okra cook for about 7 minutes and then flip it over with a spatula. It will need to cook for about 15 -20 minutes depending on your stove and how often you flip it. A good indicator is that the oil has cooked away and the light breading on the okra will be darkening. Place okra on a paper towel to absorb excess oil and then serve!

Star Spangled Cupcakes

Although I have tried many a delicious recipe for Red Velvet Cake, this article at Smitten Kitchen has one of the best that I've found. Anyone who knows me has no doubt that Red Velvet Cake is my favorite thing ever and even though I don't have a family recipe for it, I'm hoping one day to develop my own.

Basically, this post is to share some cupcakes that I've made for a going-away coffee/tea meet-up with my family this evening. They're red velvet cupcakes with a sinful cream cheese frosting that I have star-spangled for the occasion. One of the things I'm looking forward to in returning to the USA is working with my mom to re-discover some of our own family recipes and perhaps even pen them into something sell-worthy.

For now, here is the pretty!

Hedda's Cornbread

My husband isn't a huge fan of cornbread on its own, so I tend to only make this when I'm making my Grandma's dressing at Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to moving back to the South so I can eat more cornbread! Again, sorry that there's not a photo...

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cornmeal (or polenta)
1/3 cup sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups milk (you can use whatever kind you like, skim, whole, soy...)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Combine all ingredients and pour into two 8-inch cake pans or one medium cast-iron skillet if you want to cook it like a real Southerner. Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven) until brown on top. Serve hot with butter/margarine. (Or, if you're like my Papaw, you can crumble it into a glass of buttermilk - but I wouldn't advise it.)

Snickerdoodles (vegan, dairy free)

I don't know what happened to the photos of these, but oh well. They're my most popular cookie - the one that people seem to love and request the most, so here you go.

Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp soy milk mixed with 2 tbsp corn starch
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp corn starch

Cream sugar and margarine. Add vanilla and soy milk mixture into the sugar and margarine and blend with electric mixer. Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add by thirds into the wet mixture.

Rolling Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
4 tbsp cinnamon

(The above quantities for the spice mix are just a general preference. I like to add a bit more cinnamon and less cocoa. Try it out and see what you like!)

Roll the cookie dough into balls (I use about a tablespoon of dough for each cookie) and then roll the balls in the sugar-spice mixture. Place on a greased cookie sheet and flatten each cookie to approx. 1-2 cm. before baking. Bake for only 8 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. The cookie should be soft to the touch, this will make for a softer, cake-like cookie. If you like a crunchy cookie, bake for an extra 5-7 mins.

After baking the cookies for 8 minutes, let them rest on the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. This will make sure the outside is slightly crispy but the inside is chewy!

Black & White Cake (v)

I found a recipe for this cake on one of the many food blogs that I frequent and I'll be damned if I can actually find the original recipe so I can bow down and praise the person I should be crediting for this cake. Still, I took it and made it vegan and the lovely S & D were around last night and both enjoyed it quite a lot. It's sinful, it's decadent, and I think I gained a kilo just baking the thing. Seriously though, if you have the time, you should try it. It's gorgeous.

Cake Ingredients:

3 oz (or about 80g) couverture semisweet dark chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch)
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
3 tsp Egg Replacer (whisked in 6 tbsp water)
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups soy milk (mix in 3-4 tbsp white vinegar until it's the consistency of buttermilk)
3/4 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 180°C. and grease 10-inch round cake pans. (9 inch cake pans will overflow - use 3 pans if you have to, I certainly did!)

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl mix egg-replacer, oil, soy milk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture, beating with the mixer until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined. (I made sure there weren't any sizeable lumps!)

Divide batter between pans and bake until a tester inserted in center comes out clean. (The original recipe said to bake an hour - I baked these about 35 minutes and they were done - all depends on your oven, I suppose.)

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Place in freezer on rack if you want to frost it quickly.

Frosting: You can use whatever favourite frosting you like - I used my old easy standard:

1 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
3 tbsp soy milk

Blend until fluffy and decorate as you will. I gave mine a bit of a Hallowe'en theme!