The Best Mini Pumpkin Muffins for Fall

Being from the Midwest, I think I have a soft spot for Fall in my heart.  

When the seasons change, the cool breeze whips through my hair with just enough of a chill to make me feel alive and breathe a little deeper, but not enough to force me to rush back to the warmth of the indoors.  I want to be cozy, but I also don't want to miss a minute of nature's last hurrah.  The scattering of gorgeous leaves on the ground is a treat for the eyes, and is almost always accompanied by the scratching and scurrying sounds of dried leaves blowing across the ground. The combination of rustic, muted colors together with crimson and yellow leaves is always spectacular, and the first arrival of bright orange pumpkins is a cause for celebration.        

So if you are like me, when Fall comes, you want to get outside and soak up the fleeting clean, cool air with hikes, late afternoon picnics, and hayrides.  But at the same time, the urge to warm up indoors beckons.  And naturally, the best way to warm up inside is to bake.  

Lately, my urge to bake has been insatiable - I have definitely baked more in the last three weeks than I have in the last three months combined, and I think that is directly related to the arrival of Fall and the warm comforting flavors it brings with it.  But let me tell you who has totally out-baked me: my sister.  I told you before that she has fallen in love with baking, and that affair just continues to blossom as she has been baking up fantastic sweet treats almost every other day.  And now it is sort of ironic because the tables have turned - she is recommending baking recipes to me instead of the other way around!  

Sugar and Spice Apple Chips

In celebration of fall, I am so excited to tell you about these easy and crispy Sugar and Spice Apple Chips.  But it gets even better, since I am sharing the recipe as a guest post over on Meandering Eats today!  I am sure you remember Marie of Meandering Eats - she is my dear friend who shared a post here on The Cilantropist not long ago, and my partner in crime for getting the best eats and food experiences here in San Diego.  

Today I am sharing a recipe on her site so that you can make your own apple chips with the abundance of apples this fall.  Apple chips are a fantastic and healthy snack for both adults and little ones - I am sure kids will be amazed to see how some extra heat, a dash of sugar and spice, and a little time can turn this... 

Into this...! 

You can flavor these chips with anything you like, but I chose sugar, cinnamon, and chinese five spice.  Perfect warm flavors for a cozy snack on a cool fall day. Oh, and be sure to share - you can bag these up and give them away to friends and family as homemade gifts!  

Stop by Meandering Eats to get this easy recipe, and enjoy your week!

You might also like: Smoked Gouda, Apple, and Bacon Melt

One year ago: A Presidio picnic, with Italian Pressed Sandwiches

Plum Crumble Bars

Growing up, my grandma and grandpa lived about five blocks away from our house, and they had the best backyard.  They had a big above-ground pool with a great deck, a little sandbox with an awning, a lovely fenced in garden, and both flowering and fruit trees.  The yard wasn't big, but it was wonderful.     

Italian plums.

One of the trees they had the most beautiful pink flowers in the spring, another tree had a trunk and branches that were perfect for climbing, but one of my favorite trees was the plum tree.  It had delicate, thin branches with lush leaves, and the drops of ripening fruit were so temping.  By the time they were ready to pick, the deep purple maroon color belied the green flesh underneath at just a few spots, and the blue waxy sheen was enticing.  When they were barely ripe and tender we could pick them and eat them, but they were more tart than sweet - after a little longer, they were 'over-ripe' but definitely at their sweetest.  My grandma used to slice them up and bake them on a yeast dough as a treat for us, and it was something I looked forward to every year.       

Pale flesh of sliced red plums. 

I have tried to replicate her recipe a few times, with varied success, so in the fall I usually just send up baking plums into simple crumbles or cakes, or I use them for cooking in savory dishes.  Although Italian plums are definitely my favorite (I think it is a combination of taste and size mixed in with a little nostagia), I really love all plums including red and black ones.    

Red plums, sliced for baking into bars. 

This fall, I was tempted to do something else with with my plums - make crumble bars.  I was inspired by a peach shortbread recipe that I tried from Smitten Kitchen last summer, and though I did like it, the bars didn't have nearly enough fruit for my taste.  Not to mention, her recipe called for browning the butter, and although we can all hail queen Browned Butter, it didn't really do it for me in this recipe and just seemed like a fussy extra step.  Then this year I saw a recipe for peach crumb bars with hazelnut streusel by my friend Dara from Cookin Canuck. The amount of fruit in her bars was definitely up to my standards, but she peeled the peaches before baking (and has a great tutorial on how to do it) and I really didn't want to do that much work this time.  Plus, I love the way the skin of the fruit stains the crumble bars a deep pink color so I wanted to leave them on.

Individual No-bake Chocolate Cakes for a Celebration

Hi guys!!!  Wow, did I miss you, did you miss me too?  

It was a long time away and a lot of hard work, but now I am back, and better than ever, because now I am a PhD!  After 6 years, 225 pages of a dissertation, and too many days to count when I thought I had lost my mind, I am FINALLY finished.  There are not words to describe how relieved and happy I feel, but just check out this big smile on my face!

It felt great to show my family and friends my more professional side, and to demonstrate to the scientific community what I have accomplished.  I could literally feel my heart swelling with pride as it dawned on me just how big of an achievement this is.  I actually think I surprised myself with how much I know, and how far I have come.  It's funny, when you work on something for so long, and hold onto it so tight, sometimes you miss the big picture.  And the big picture here is that not only am I amazed to have been blessed with the talents and determination to earn a PhD, but I am also immensely lucky to have have family, friends, and co-workers that have supported me, encouraged me, and always believed in me.  They are my heart, and without them, none of this would have been possible. 


The entire day of my defense was more than I could have hoped for - my boss said my talk was excellent (which is high praise), and I felt like it was hands down the best presentation I have ever given.  My family and almost all my friends were there, and after everything was done, we popped open bottles of champagne to celebrate.        

Can you tell how excited I was to be done?  

My lab did a fantastic job of organizing food and drinks for everyone to enjoy, and my good friend Marie came with a special surprise - a lab-themed cake from Jenny Wenny Cakes!

Yes, I am a complete nerd because I totally loved this.

We relaxed, drank wine, ate lots of food, and generally were happy.  Of course, the best part for me (aside from the huge weight lifted off my shoulders) was to be able to celebrate the day with my Mom, Dad, and my sister.

After everything was done, my family and I spent the rest of the weekend lounging at the pool, going to the beach, and eating amazing food.  Because what is a celebration weekend without a little sunshine and good eats? 

At the end of the weekend, my sister and packed up the car and headed up to Sequoia National Park for a few days of camping.  After writing 225 pages for my dissertation, all I could think about was unplugging and getting away from the computer, and some time in the fresh air of the mountains was just what I needed.  The weather was perfect, we saw tons of wildlife, and definitely had an adventure driving into Mineral King.  (Has anyone else been there?  Soooo beautiful, but seriously - that road?!  Holy shit.)  I have tons of photos and can't wait to tell you more about our vacation, but that is for another post and another day.

For now, I can't leave you with out a recipe, and I felt like I needed to celebrate my PhD here on The Cilantropist with a little dessert.  

So of course, I turned to chocolate.  Pure and unadulterated, these Individual No-bake Chocolate Cakes are the epitome of effortless indulgence.  Basically just a combination of chocolate and heavy cream, you can make these in under 10 minutes and they are sinfully good.

Swedish Cinnamon Butterhorns (Kanelbullar)

Doesn't this look like the perfect weekend breakfast?  Warm cinnamon and sugar rolls, straight out of the oven, a little bit of sweet fruit, and a warm cup of coffee... All enjoyed while relaxing in your pajamas with the morning paper or your favorite magazine.  Yes, that is my idea of a perfect weekend breakfast.  Of course, I would like these butterhorns any day for breakfast, but I find the weekends allow for the time needed to savor a simple European sweet bread such as this. 

Swedish Cinnamon Butterhorns, or Kanelbullar, are the Scandinavian equivalent of the American cinnamon roll.  Translated, Kanelbullar literally means cinnamon (kanel) bun (bullar or bulle), and it is an appropriate name since these are delicately spiced with cinnamon and less sweet than their American cousins.  These breads can be shaped in a spiral like a traditional cinnamon roll, or in a crescent like the ones I have here.  While almost all American cinnamon rolls are topped with a sticky sweet glaze, Kanelbullar can stand on its own or it can be dressed up with a little powdered sugar or a traditional glaze.

I first made these rolls almost four years ago now, when I decided that I would impress my Norwegian boyfriend with my baking prowess.  (Not that I had a lot of baking prowess four years ago, I think I was blinded by love.)  He was returning home from a summer trip to Norway, and I wanted to surprise him with something I knew he would appreciate so I headed to the library and checked out The Great Scandinavian Baking Book.  I figured if an authentic recipe was to be had, I would find it there.  

Of course, when I paged through the cookbook, the problem ended up being that I found too many great recipes and had trouble choosing!  I finally landed on these Kanelbullar which seemed easy to make and didn't have any bells or whistles to trip me up.  I got it right on the first try, and when my boyfriend arrived from the airport he promptly ate four of them.  I suppose that means they got the seal of approval.

Pumpkin Bread, and Rum Raisin Pumpkin Bread Pudding

***Voting is officially open for this EIGHTH round of Project Food Blog (can you believe it!).  I would love love love your votes, and I appreciate all the support you give me!  If you like this post swing on over to Foodbuzz and vote for me! Thanks friends!*** 

For the first time ever, I will be spending Thanksgiving away from my family.  Oh sure, there was that Thanksgiving in college where my sister and I were both in London and we ate the most expensive turkey dinner ever at the only 'American' restaurant we could find (and trust me, that Hard Rock Cafe dinner was not worth 40 pounds).  I suppose that wasn't really the sort of Thanksgiving meal we were accustomed to, but at least we were together.  Other than that one year, I have always travelled home for Thanksgiving, whether that meant a 3-hour drive or a 2,250 mile flight; the holidays are special to me, and if you have been around here awhile, you know that my family means everything. 


This year, when I realized I wouldn't be able to spare the time away from work to head home for Thanksgiving, I would be lying if I told you I wasn't sad.  The closer the holiday gets, the more I am yearning for white flakes of snow, long conversations catching up with family, and a warm hug.  But though I regret that I will not be at home, I have no intention of wallowing in self-pity.  I will be spending the big day with a wonderful friend and her family, and I will get to play with children and eat to my heart's content.  Also, I might have decided I needed to soothe my sadness with baking.  And sugar.  And fall flavors.  That's a cure-all right?

 

So here's the crazy thing, I also have advanced in Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog to Round 8 (happy dance, happy dance!) where we were tasked with creating a baked good with pumpkin.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect, and with my longing for home and family and the holidays around the corner, my mind was brimming with ideas.  I was certain I wanted to bake with real pumpkin, and my initial thoughts drifted toward a beautiful spiced layer cake.  Yet...it just didn't quite fit my mood and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get myself invested in the idea.  And then suddenly I realized why I didn't want to make a cake: It just didn't feel like home.    


Once I came to this realization, I knew exactly what I wanted: bread. Lots of it.  I wanted to get my hands into it and knead the bread just like my grandma does.  There is something about putting physical work into make a golden loaf of bread that is so satisfying.  And almost as certainly as I knew I wanted bread, I also knew I craved warm, gooey, decadent bread pudding to comfort me.  I saw no reason to deny myself from this carb-laden pleasure, and no holiday is better for indulgence than Thanksgiving.  I worried that it wouldn't be pretty or exciting enough for you, but I decided to make it anyway.  (Gotta do what feels right, agreed?) 

My Mom's Cranberry Relish

Last month, I had planned to make my pocket pies with cranberry pear filling and I wanted to use fresh cranberries.  Imagine my dismay when I realized that I was one whole month too early for the arrival of these beautiful red beauties at my local grocery store.  I put on my best pouty face, grabbed some dried cranberries, and made damn good pocket pies anyway.  (And might I add, these pies would be the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving dinner table!) 


But now, Thanksgiving is finally upon us and the season for fresh cranberries is officially here.  For me, seeing these cranberries means it is really the holidays.  They smile at me with their bright crimson faces and give me the red light to fully immerse myself in Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations.  So prepare yourselves.  I might get a little crazy.

This is the best nutmeg grater ever.  It is the same one that my grandma uses, and she got me mine from Amish country in Ohio; this nutmeg grater from Norpro looks exactly the same (and is less than $5), and also has the small compartment on top for storing the nutmeg like mine does.  LOVE it.   

Seeing cranberries also makes me think of my mom.  No, she isn't small, red, and round, but she makes me happy too.  Mostly I think of my mom because I grew up eating her cranberry relish every year at Thanksgiving and I loved it.  Excuse me, saying I 'loved' it makes it sound past tense - I love it, as in I swoon over it each time I make it.  When I still lived at home, we would fight over it and eat it on/with everything, or just by itself.  It is cranberry greatness.

And really, the recipe couldn't be more simple.  In my book, the perfect way to worship cranberries is to marry them with a heady mix of spices and just the right amount of sugar; not too much sweetness as to disguise the cranberry, but just enough to dull the sharp tart taste.  One of my other favorite components of this recipe are the big golden raisins and the crunch of the chopped pecans.  I like my applesauce chunky, and my cranberry relish even chunkier; it lets me know there are real ingredients in there and it is not over-processed.  If you like your relish smooth, I would normally just tell you to go ahead and throw in a blender or food processor, but frankly, that is blasphemy in my eyes so we will just pretend I didn't even mention it. 

Instead, I will just leave you with this lovely, crimson, traditional Thanksgiving recipe, and tell you that I hope you love it as much as I do.  And you can thank my mom for the recipe, I make sure to thank her each year when I make it myself.     

My Mom's Cranberry Relish

3/4 cup apple juice
1/2-3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
3 cups fresh cranberries (12 oz.)
1/2-3/4 cup light or golden raisins
1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans






Combine the first four ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.  Add the cranberries, raisins and cloves, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat.  Cook until the cranberries pop, then add pecans and stir to mix.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly before serving.  Keep refrigerated in an airtight container for 1 week.