Something cute for Halloween

With Halloween just around the corner I wanted to tell you about this new muffin mold I was sent.  This is the latest  Silikomart  Halloween silicone mold.

 


Silikomart was established in 2002 as a product of the experience and belief of its founder Dario Martellato. Silikomart offers a wide range of refined and innovative products, with a functionality, practicality and beauty which meet the needs of all those who love to cook. The company has continuously strived to offer its customers a superior product. For this reason, the whole production process is “MADE IN ITALY” and uses the highest quality commercial silicone (made from 100-percent platinum liquid silicone), which complies with FDA and CE food standards. Silikomart silicone products are completely non-toxic, odorless and tasteless and the liquid silicone injection process allows for incredibly detailed forms for baking pans and molds. This combination of quality, safety and performance, along with their unique designs, makes Silikomart the leading specialist of culinary silicone use amongst professional pastry chefs. Silikomart silicone products are ultra flexible, they don’t release smoke or odors when baking and they are resistant to cracks and aging. They can be used directly from the freezer to the oven, from-75-Degree F to +450-Degree F and they are dishwasher and microwave safe. The glossy surface ensures an easy release for all types of use. Each Silikomart pan features the safe ring which is designed to give greater stability to silicone molds. All silicone products are guaranteed for up to 3,000 uses.

This Halloween mold also has a sturdy plastic rim attachment which makes lifting the filled mold easier and helps it to stand up sturdily during baking.



I used my favourite vanilla cupcake recipe to bake some cupcakes.  As you can see the shapes showed up quite nicely.   I was going to ice them with coloured drizzle icing, but couldn't find my food colouring stuff!   I know it's here somewhere, but it escapes me at the moment.  I didn't want to let another day go by however without telling you about this cute mold as Halloween is fast approaching!  It is available at Amazon.UK for £12.75 and Amazon.com for  $36.57 with free shipping.  It is also available at Kitchen Monger for £18.95.

I am quite new to baking with silicone and I have to say I quite like it.  There's no greasing or flouring involved and everything pops out like a dream.  Plus they wash in the dishwasher wonderfully!

I think the pumpkin ones, with the front and back of the pumpkins, would look just darling put together with some icing in the middle and then glazed! 

Old Fashioned Pull-Aparts (Dinner rolls)

I have always despaired of being able to make really good bread and rolls from scratch.  I did manage to do a really easy loaf not to long ago, that was very rustic and that didn't require much in the way of effort and it was really good . . . but my heart has always longed to be able to make really good bread and rolls.  My ex husband was the bread baker in our family, and he made beautiful bread.  I am sure it was down to his power and strength when it came to kneading.   His bread always turned out beautifully light and fluffy.  I have despaired of being able to do that for years . . . trying and trying, but only ever with very few exceptions, turning out much more than yeasted door stops.



Recently I won a recipe contest on Gourmandize UK and Ireland and this was my prize!  I was so excited when there was a knock on our door last evening and there was the delivery man with my new Kenwood Stand Mixer!  I have always wanted a stand mixer . . . my whole cooking life, and that is a very long time.  My mother had a stand mixer and it was a dream of mine to one day have one too.  You can imagine how excited I was to win this.  It may not be a candy apple red kitchen aid, but I don't care.  This is real and it's mine, all mine!



It came with  a blender attachement, a juicer, a food processor, a paddle hook, a whisk and yipee!!  A dough hook, which I was THE most excited about of all.  I would now be able to knead bread easily and hopefully with success!  No surpise that the very first thing I decided to do  with it was to make some fluffy yeasted rolls!



The machine did it's job beautifully!  Could it be possible that I might actually have a yeast roll success story here????  Well, they say a picture tells a thousand words and I am happy to say that success in this house today smelled like buttery freshly baked yeasted rolls that rose beautifully and came out of the oven looking like the winners that they truly were!

 

Soft and fluffy, with a golden brown crust and a lovely light crumb.  I don't know what I am more excited about today . . . my prize or the success I had with these lovely rolls!  (adapted from a recipe on the King Arthurs Flour page)   I am so impressed with my results!



Don't they look absolutely perfect to you???  They do to me and what's more, they ARE perfect.  I will make these again and again and I have my new  little silver Kenwood Stand Mixer to thank for it, oh . . . and the Gourmandize people too!  ☺

*Old Fashioned Pull-Aparts*
Makes 16 buns  

Printable Recipe 

Soft and fluffy inside with a golden crust.  In short, the perfect dinner roll.

3 1/2 cups strong bread flour (490g)

2 tsp active dried yeast

3 TBS dry milk powder

2 TBS sugar

1 1/2tsp salt

4 TBS softened butter

2/3 cup of lukewarm water (156ml)

1/2 cup lukewarm milk (18ml)

melted butter to brush on top

Stir together all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Drop in the butter and the water and milk.  Stir together until you have a soft dough.    Knead, using your hands or a stand mixer, or a bread machine set on the dough cycle, until you have a soft, smooth dough.   Place into an oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for at least an hour, until double in bulk.  Punch the dough down gently and then transfer to a lightly floured work surface.

Divide the dough by cutting in half and then dividing again and again until you have 16 equally sized pieces.  Shape each into a round smooth ball.

Lightly butter a 9 by 15 inch pan,or two round 8 or 9 inch cake tins.   Arrange the balls in the long tin, or place 8 into each of the smaller round tins.  Cover again and set in a warm place to rise for at least another hour, until they are crowded against each other and quite puffed.  Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. 

Uncover the buns and bake for 22 to 24 minutes, until golden brown on top and the edges of the centre bun spring back when lightly touched.  Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter.  Serve warm.



I have never ever been able to resist a freshly baked bun spread with cold butter.   Can you??   These were just like what my mama used to make.  Call me one very happy camper!

Buttermilk Chicken

I can still remember the first time I tasted Buttermilk. It was way back in the mid 1970's.  I think I bought some to make a cake with or something.  Buttermilk in Canada, comes in one litre containers, so it wasn't long before I was scrambling to find something else I could make with it.  Back in those days it was a lot harder. There was no internet to seek advice from!    You had to rely on word of mouth, friends and family.



Over here in the UK, you only get Buttermilk in small 284ml containers, each holding about 1 1/2 cups, which is good in a way, as  you are only opening about as much as you need at any given time, but it is a pain in another way as you end up having to buy more containers and store them when you want to make something as delicious as this chicken here today.




This is an old favourite of ours from those early days.   The chicken always turns out amazingly tender.  A good soaking in buttermilk is the secret to that.   Sometimes I add herbs to the flour mixture, sometimes I don't.  I am in particularly fond of thyme, or symmer savoury in this.  But it's awfully good with no herbs as well.



It does use condensed cream soup.  But I am not a snob that way, or pedantic about it's use.  I'm not pretentious either.  If something tastes good, it tastes good and I am not afraid to tell you that it uses cream soup.  So there!



It has it's uses and this is one of them and I'm not afraid to put my hand up and say, yes . . . on occasion I do use "cream of" soups.  Oh sure, I could take extra time and make a bechamel sauce, etc. . . . or homemade mushroom soup to use in this, but I don't.



I'm also rather lazy at times.  And this is one of those times.  It tastes good.  It's easy to make.  It's a real family pleaser.  You can't get much better than that.  I did share this on the blog way back in 2009, but some things are just so good they bear repeating on occasion.



*Buttermilk Chicken*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

I'm not sure how it works, but the buttermilk in this recipe helps to create chicken that is moist and very tender.  This is delicious!

2 ounces butter (1/4 cup)
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 heaped TBS of plain flour
2 284ml containers of buttermilk (about 3 cups)
1 (285g) tin of Batchelors condensed cream of mushroom soup (Campbells)
chopped fresh flat leaf parsley to garnish

Pre-heat the oven to 205*C/425*F.  Melt the butter in a 13 by 9 inch shallow baking dish.  Set aside.

Sprinkle the chicken breasts on both sides with the salt, pepper and garlic powder.  Place the flour in a shallow bowl and one container of the buttermilk in another shallow bowl.

Dip the breasts, one at a time, first into the buttermilk and then into the flour, shaking off any excess, but coating it well.  Lay good side down in the melted butter in the baking dish.  Repeat until all four have been coated. 

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and flip over.  Return to the oven and bake for 10 minutes longer.

While the chicken is baking whisk together the other container of buttermilk and the undiluted mushroom soup.

Remove the chicken from the oven and pour the soup mixture over top.  Return to the oven and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until nicely browned.  Remove the chicken pieces to four warmed plates.  Stir the soup mixture in the pan and then spoon equally over top of the chicken pieces.  Serve immediately with some parsley sprinkled over each.



Can I whine a bit here???? (Yes this is the same photo from above)  I wanted to accentuate the small size of this "chicken breast" here.   I hate it when grocery shops try to dupe you into thinking you are buying a package of lets say CHICKEN BREAST for instance and one of the chick breasts is actually NOT a whole chicken breast but a chunk of chicken breast that they have managed to maneuver into the middle of the other breasts to make it look like you are getting four chicken breasts.  You aren't though.  You are getting three and a half if you are lucky and I have even been tricked into buying a package which has one and two halves in it.  Bad grocery stores.  They don't weigh what the package says either.  Once you take off all the packaging and that little piece of squishy paper underneat the meat that absorbs all that liquid and who knows what water they have pumpked into it, you usually are missing quite a substantial amount.  I am so tired of being lied to . . . aren't you?  I'll get off my soap box now.

Roasted Root Vegetable Pizza

Since I was ill in September I haven't been able to look at a pizza.  Pizza was always one of my favourite things . . . it makes me sad that it isn't any longer.   I can't get enthused for Chicken Parm either.  I had made Chicken Parm Enchiladas that day and well, you know.   I haven't even been able to look at the photographs since!   It may be a while before you get to see those!



I don't know if it is the combination of the sauce and the cheese and meat or what, but it's been a no go for about a month now . . . until today.  Today I decided to create a delicious roasted root vegetable pizza, with a whole wheat crust!



All I can say is wowsa!  You get a nice thick crust, not unlike a foccacia . . . and then all of those sweetly caramlized root vegetables nestled amongst not one, not two, but THREE cheeses!

 

Just look at all of that delicious scrumminess . . . butternut squash, parsnips, carrots, red onions . . . roasted until sticky sweet with some salt, pepper and olive oil . . . nestled on top of that crisp and nutty flavoured crust . . . beneath a blanket of cheese.



A sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves lends an herby touch, which altogether made for a very tasty pizza if I don't say so myself!  I do hope you will give it a try!  I don't think anyone will be disappointed!  Even the Toddster loved this and he's not a pizza fan at all!

*Roasted Root Veggie Pizza*

Serves 4

Printable Recipe 

A deliciously different pizza with a thick wholewheat crust, topped by sweetly caramelized roasted root veggies and cheese.  Fabulous!

For the crust:

280g of plain flour

70g of whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 TBS rapid rise or bread machine yeast

225ml of hot water (1 cup)

2 TBS olive oil

For the toppings:

1 small butternut squash

1 medium parsnip

1 medium carrot

2 small red onions

fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

120g of grated emmenthal cheese (1 cup)

120g grated strong cheddar cheese (1 cup)

65g of grated mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)

45g of finely grated Parmesan cheese (1/4 cup)

1 1/2 TBS fresh thyme leaves

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Have ready a large baking tray.

Peel the butternut squash.  Cut in half and remove the seeds.  Slice the bulbous end into wedges and cut the remainder into 1/2 inch cubes.  Peel the parsnip and cut into wedges.  Peel the carrot and cut into wedges.  Peel the onions and cut each one ito six wedges.  Place them onto the baking tray.  Toss with a bit of olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.   Roast in the oven until cooked through and beginning to caramelize, 20 to 25 minutes.



While you are roasting the vegetables make the crust.   Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl  Add the hot water and olive oil.  Stir togerher well, then tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for five minutes.  Turn the bowl over top and allow to stand for 10 minutes.   At the end of that time, pop your pizza stone if you are using one into the oven.   

I roll the dough out onto a piece of baking parchment to a large circle the circumfrance of my pizza stone.  Prick it all over with a fork.  (If you don't have a pizza stone you can use a preheated large baking sheet.)  Slip the piece of parchment wih the rolled out dough onto the heated pizza stone, baking tray.  Mix together all the cheeses.  Sprinkle half onto the crust.  Top with the roasted vegetables and cover with the remaining cheese.  Sprinkle with the thyme.   Bake in the heated oven until the crust is well risen, browned, crisp on the bottom and the cheese has melted nicely.   Cut into wedges to serve.

Pumpkin Escalloped Potatoes

I promised to show you something delicious to do with the leftover pumpkin from the fritters yesterday and it here it!  Pumpkin Escalloped Potatoes!  These may be the tastiest escalloped potatoes you will ever eat!   Seriously!



Layers of thinly sliced sweet potatoes and white potatoes, baked in a lucious cream and pumpkin sauce . . . a sauce that is so easy to make even a child could do it.   You simply heat the cream and pumpkin together with a bit of garlic and some seasoning.



You just pour the sauce between the layers as you are creating them.  I like to alternate the potato slices for looks.   You also sprinkle a mix of cheeses between the layers . . .

 

It's so very simple and so very delicious.  People will think you have slaved all day, but it takes merely minutes to put it together.   I like recipes like that.  Very little effort, but mega results!  It's win/win all round!  It would make an excellent side dish for the holidays!

*Pumpkin Escalloped Potatoes*

Serves 8

Printable Recipe  

A deliciously different potato dish.   Goes well with any types of roasted or grilled meats.

375ml of double cream (1 1/2 cups)

90g of pumpkin puree (1/2 cup)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 cloves of garlic peeled and bashed

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds floury potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch thick slices

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8 inch thick slices

2 ounces grated Emmenthal cheese

2 ounces grated strong cheddar cheese

3 ounces finely grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5.  Butter a 2 litre gratin dish.   Set aside.

Mix all the cheeses together.  Set aside. 

Whisk the cream, pumpkin puree, garlic, nutmeg and some seasoning together in a saucepan.   Heat gently to warm.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes to infuse.   Remove and discard the garlic.

Begin to layer the potatoes in the prepared dish, overlapping slightly and alternating the two different kinds, and using about 1/3 of the potatoes.   Season lightly with salt and pepper.  Drizzle with 1/3 of the cream mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese.  Repeat the layers ending with the sauce and reserving the last third of the cheese for later on. 

Bake the potatoes, uncovered, in the heated oven for about 50 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining third of the cheese over top and bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, until the vegetables are tender and the cheese is golden brown and bubbly.   Serve hot.

SPICED PUMPKIN FRITTERS with a Vanilla Caramel Sauce

   

 I got really lucky this year.  Aldi (which is one of the cheaper grocery stores) had tinned pumpkin on special a month or so back.  I was so excited.  It can sometimes be a really difficult ingredient to find on the cheap over here in the UK.  Normally you pay over the odds for it, if you can find it.  (I have had success in Waitrose and Sainsbury's and of course there is Skyco as well.)  

So anyways, they had it in Aldi for a really reasonable price and I loaded up on it!  I think I bought 24 tins, much to Todd's embarassment and chagrin!  But then, I am a North American and I love pumpkin!  I think I am converting him to the idea as well.  

Especially when I make him such deliciousness as these fabulous Pumpkin Fritters.  They are delightful little light spicy puffs of pumpkin!  And that sauce . . . oh baby.  It is fabulous!

Of course if you can't find the tinned pumpkin puree, you can make your own.  There is a great recipe for a roasted one here.  And of course there is another good version on the BBC food site.    

 Simple to make, just stir all the ingredients together and drop them into hot fat, cooking them until they are puffed and golden brown.  Just make sure you fat isn't too hot as you don't want the outsides to cook too fast, or your insides will be raw, and you don't want that!  

The sauce is gorgeous.   Rich and caramel flavoured with just the hint of vanilla.  So delicious together.  And you can refrigerate any leftover sauce for on ice cream or pancakes even.   Scrummo!!  

Oh, and don't worry about the leftover pumpkin.  I am going to tell you something delicious to do with that tomorrow!  ☺

   

*Spiced Pumpkin Fritters with a Vanilla Caramel Sauce*

Makes about 20 fritters

Printable Recipe  

Little puffs of pumpkin moreishness.  Need I say more?

For the fritters:

140g of plain flour (1 cup)

180g of pumpkin puree (1 cup)

2 tsp baking powder

2 TBS golden caster sugar

2 tsp mixed spice (see recipe in side bar)

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1 large free range egg, beaten

65ml of milk (1/4 cup)

pinch of fine sea salt

hot sunflower oil for frying

icing sugar for dusting

For the Sauce:

150g of soft brown muscovado sugar (3/4 cup packed)

225ml of double cream (1 cup)

3 TBS butter

125ml of golden syrup (1/2 cup)

1 tsp vanilla paste
pinch sea salt

To make the fritters, whisk together the dry ingredients until thoroughly combined.  Whisk together the egg and milk.  Add to the dry ingredients and whisk together until you have a thick smooth batter.
 

Begin the sauce so that it can cook while you make the fritters.  Combine all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Bring to the boil, whisking constantly, then reduce to low and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thick and glossy. 

Heat 1 inch of oil in a medium deep skillet until hot.  A cube of bread should brown in 30 seconds.  Using two teaspoons, scoop balls of the batter and carefully drop them into the hot fat.   Fry until they are golden brown all over, turning them as needed.  Remove with a slotted spoon to drain on paper kitchen toweling.  Keep warm.  Repeat until all the batter has been used.

To serve place the warm fritters on a plate and dust with icing sugar.  Pass the warm syrup for pouring over top.

Cinnamon Roll Scones

 

I was going to show you my Pumpkin Fritters today with their Vanilla Caramel Sauce, but I'm afraid you are going to have to wait until tomorrow to see those, coz I have something which is just a tiny bit more scrummy to share with you today!  (Although, the pumpkin fritters are exceptionally scrummy as well!)



I am mad for cinnamon, which you have probably guessed by now.  I just adore it.   I love the way it smells.  I love the way it tastes, both in sweet and savory goodies.  I love crafting with it (cinnamon ornaments on the Christmas tree at Christmas are the best!).  I just plain can't get enough of cinnamon.



My mom used to make these Quick Cinnamon Rolls when we were kids as a treat.  We loved them.  I used to make them for my own children as well.   That was one way to put a smile on their faces big time!  Then there is my infamous Cinnamon Swirl Tea Bread.   People can't get enough of that when I bake it.  It's an old recipe that I got from a very dear friend way back when and it's a keeper!  



Don't even get me started on the finer qualities of my Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Cake.  Just a peek at the photographs are enough to set one to drooling big time, I kid you not!  



My Cinnamon Butter Buns are to die for.  Likewise my Cinnamon Roll Pancakes.  Then there are my Cinnamon Roll Croissants, and my Cinnamon Roll Pluckit Bread . . . Cinnamon Roll Toast . . . etc.  the list goes on and on . . . You get the picture I am sure.  I am Cinnamon mad!  



If there is one thing I like as much as Cinnamon and am crazy for . . . it is scones!  I love, Love, LOVE scones!  And I don't care how you say it!!  I'll eat them no matter how you pronounce the word!  A scone is a beautiful thing . . . 



But when you combine the two loves . . . Cinnamon . . . and Scones, well . . . you've just died and gone to heaven.  There is no other way to put it.

Bake them.  Today.   You will be glad that you did.   And now back to your regular programming.  

*Cinnamon Roll Scones*
Makes six

Printable Recipe

If you like cinnamon rolls, you will love these.  I like to think they are a bit healthy in that they use whole wheat flour.  Please don't burst my bubble.  ☺

100g of plain flour (3/4 cup)

110g of whole wheat flour (3/4 cup)

2 TBS golden caster sugar (or maple sugar if you have it)

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 TBS cold unsalted butter

2 large free range egg yolk

60ml of buttermilk plus 2 TBS (1/4 cup, plus 2 TBS)

softened butter for spreading

1 TBS of powdered cinnamon

2 TBS golden caster sugar

for the frosting:

35g of icing sugar, sifted (1/4 cup)

1/2 tsp vanilla paste

1/4 tsp cinnamon extract

1 to 2 TBS milk  

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Line a baking tray with baking paper.  Set aside. 

Whisk the flours, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt together in a bowl.  Drop in the butter and then rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the butter is in little pea sized bits.  Whisk together the egg yolk and buttermilk.  Stir into the dry ingredients until the dough pulls together.  Tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a couple of times, then pat the dough out into a 10 by 6 inch rectangle.  Spread lightly with softened butter.   Mix together the cinnamon and the sugar.   

Sprinkle about 2/3 of this mixture over top of the butter, pressing it lightly to help it adhere.  Roll up from the long side as if you were rolling up for a cinnamon roll.  Press the roll into a rectangle which is 10 inches long by 3 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches tall.  Cut in thirds and then cut each third in half diagonally into a triangle.  Transfer to the baking sheet.  Lightly butter the top of each triangle and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar. 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time.   The scone should be well risen and crisp on the outsides, and be lightly browned.   Remove from the oven.

Whisk together the icing ingredients until you have a thick yet drizzable icing.   Drizzle this decoratively over the scones.  Store any leftovers in an airtight container.