Indian Pumpkin Candy

During a recent candy raid at the local British-Indian Market, I picked up this box of tempting candy:

Dry Petha Premium Delights - Delicious Pumpkin Sweets

They claim to be traditional Indian sweets, and they look similar to something I remember as a kid, so I couldn't resist them.

They look like soft little pillows with a sparkly sugar crust.

I took a big bite, and it tasted like OH GOD, VOMIT! IT TASTES LIKE VOMIT! I WANT THIS OUT OF MY MOUTH NOW!

And then I jumped around the kitchen squealing before wiping my tongue with a paper towel and running my tongue under the kitchen tap.

It's safe to say that these are traditional, and also possibly a required taste like Marmite.

They don't taste anything like pumpkin. The insides are oily and flaky and the taste is indescribable. Don't go on my account - if this is what people like in India, I am very happy for them. I will stick to my chickpea curries and samosas.

I'm not sure what passes for pumpkin in India; I'm guessing pumpkin means something different. I've had Thai pumpkin curries that contained some kind of squash, but definitely not what Americans consider pumpkin.

Ingredients: Ash Gourd and "Nature Identical Flavouring Substances"

But I won't let this dampen my adventurous spirit. Whenever something bizarre has pumpkin in it, I will buy it.

Pumpkin apple pork chops

Everyone I know hates pork chops; most people were scarred as children by dried-out pork chops topped with cold apple sauce. These pork chops have converted one person, so I hope these will help with the pork hater in your house.

You might be able to tell from this picture that I didn't brown my chops enough. The texture was not quite right this time, but they were still tasty.

Pumpkin Apple Pork Chops

Ingredients

2 pork loin chops

1 onion, chopped

1 apple (I used Gala), chopped

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground dried mustard

hefty sprinkle of cinnamon

tiny dash of cloves cloves

1/4 c stock

1/4 c apple cider

Oil and butter

Salt and pepper

A heavy, lidded pan

Method

-Dry your pork chops between sheets of paper towel, season with salt and pepper.

-Over medium-high heat, brown the pork chops in oil; about 5 minutes each side. Do not cook through. Remove the pork, cover, and set aside.

-On medium heat, sautee the onion in melted butter, salt lightly. Cook until softened and translucent

-Add apple. Cook until fragrant.

-Add the pumpkin and spices; stir until hot.

-Add the juice and stock; stir until hot.

-Add the pork back into the pan. Top each piece of meat with the apple pumpkin topping.

-Put the lid on the pan, simmer until the pork chops are cooked through.

-When the pork is the correct temperature, remove, cover and rest the pork chops again (for about 5 minutes)

-If necessary, reduce the amount of liquid in your pan over medium heat. If the apple pumpkin mixture looks thick enough, just put the lid on until your chops are rested and ready to serve. Keep tasting the mixture until it's right - add salt, pepper to your desired amounts.

The recommended temperature for pork chops is 160. If you aren't afraid of trichinosis (read about modern pork and parasitic infections. There's little reason to fear pork), cook the pork to an internal temperature of 145 degrees. It will taste better and be very moist, and delicious.

My pork chops were served with a sweet potato and potato mixture, whipped with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and served with a side of green beans.

Link Horde

Zombies are generally grotesque and ugly, but this animated video Zombigotchi! makes zombies seem adorable.

Sears has a way to make XXX-mas shopping more palatable - the Zombie gift guide. Unless you've been living in an abandoned mall, you've probably already seen this. Check out the videos for extra fun and a peek at my pal Jenny (outerwear).

Discovery Channel has a new show called Oddities. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but if all their customers are like this guy, I'm hooked. He's like real-life Dracula. Except not a vampire. Thanks to Merricat Blackwood for the tip.

Alone, in a darkened room...The Count.

Can you find all the monsters in this vintage Muppets illustration? Scooter and Janice need your help!

For those unable to let go of Halloween, there's an ongoing horror art exhibit Horrorwood at the WWA Gallery in Culver City. The show runs until December 4th.

This weekend in Santa Ana, the Bowers Museum is closing their Weird and Wonderful exhibit. The collection boasts shrunken heads, Egyptian Mummy masks, and the last of OC's Grizzly bear population.

Speaking of taxidermy, this Dr. Seuss taxidermy is just awesome.

The San Diego Museum of Man in Balboa Park has an exhibit called Strange Bones: Curiosities of the Human Skeleton. And as long as you're in the area, check out Ion Theater's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Both are small, a little creepy, and very good.

Finally, for a little dose of cute, check out Misery Bear in Dawn of the Ted.

Pumpkin Popsicles

This is an idea I've been working on for quite a while - there have been a few other styles of pumpkin popsicles, and they were just awful. First, I thought it would be good to have a popsicle with a coconut milk base. That was a horrendous idea. I tried a few other flavors (note: condensed milk does not freeze), but I finally settled on an apple cider base. I've never been a fan of hot apple cider, but I love cold apple cider. I think these work, and I like the soft, applesauce-like texture that the pumpkin adds.

Overly dramatic picture of a popsicle. It makes me laugh.

Pumpkin Popsicles

Ingredients

1/2 c pumpkin puree

2 c apple cider (I used Bolthouse Farms Gala Apple Cider)

1 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon molasses

3/4 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

scant 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

pinch of ground cloves

Method

Whisk it all together, pour into molds, and freeze until solid.

As I said before, the pumpkin makes the apple juice have a softer, applesauce-like texture. The popsicles aren't overtly pumpkiny, but they definitely taste like frozen autumn. I'll probably make them again, and re-vamp the recipe a little, but this is a good start, and a far cry from the coconut milk popsicles that I made a few weeks ago.

Barmbrack bread with pumpkin

I recently learned about a traditional Irish bread called Barmbrack that is used as a fortune-telling game on Halloween.

From Wikipedia:

The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of fortune-telling game. In the barmbrack were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence) and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, "to beat one's wife with", would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be wed within the year. Other articles added to the brack include a medallion, usually of the Virgin Mary to symbolise going into the priesthood or to the Nuns, although this tradition is not widely continued in the present day. Commercially produced barmbracks for the Halloween market still include a toy ring.

How could I resist a superstitious Halloween bread? Of course, I left out the wife-beating stick. Yikes.

Barm Brack

Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 cup brewed black tea (see method)

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 3/4 cup jumbo raisin mix - golden, Thompson, Red Flame

1/2 cup chocolate-covered raisins

1 1/4 cups self-rising flour (sifted before measuring)

2 medium eggs, beaten

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon ground Saigon cinnamon

2 stars anise

1 cinnamon stick

zest of 1 lemon

Method

-Several hours before baking, measure out the raisins (leave the chocolate raisins out for now), add the anise stars, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, two black tea bags, and add boiling water to cover. Set aside until you are ready to bake.

-Drain the raisins, remove and discard the anise and cinnamon stick. Measure 1 cup of liquid from the drained tea

-In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, soaked raisins, cinnamon, and eggs, beat until just smooth

-add the pumpkin and chocolate-covered raisins

-pour into a small greased pan (I used a 9" meatloaf pan and Bakers Friend)

-bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

-leave in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out to a wire rack

I think it's incredibly easy and delicious, and I was surprised that all my alterations worked (normally, I'd end up with a mess of glop - yay glop). The juicy raisins and rich texture make it perfect for a hearty breakfast - after slathering it up with a lot of butter of course. Yum. I am definitely going to make this bread again, and I think I'll work on making it more pumpkin-y. While it's very good, there's not even a hint of pumpkin. The chocolate-coated raisins really work for me. I love getting surprise chocolate in almost anything. The texture is less like bread and more like a very heavy muffin.

My Barmbrack included a plastic ring (shown in the picture above), a Japanese coin, an ornate button, and a plain button. I told my taste testers that the items meant whatever they wanted - there's no better fortune than that.

This was my first time working with self-raising flour, but I'm guessing that it's an amenable addition to baking. The comments on the All Recipes site indicated that the batter might come out runny. Mine did look a little runny, so I added a extra flour (from 1-1/4 c to 1-3/4 c) and it looked better. The bread is especially dense, but I don't know if it's supposed to be dense, or if it's the additional flour. Like I said, I'll be making this again, to work on making it the pumpkiny raisin bread that I had envisioned.

Pumpkin cupcakes with maple-cream cheese frosting

My second and final birthday baking effort in October produced these little babies.



I love them more than I can say. The crumb is delicate, and the peppery hit at the end makes it more spice cake than cupcake. They aren't super sweet, so the icing is a nice touch, but next time I would probably just dust them with powdered sugar and devour them warm.

Even the batter was pretty - so light and fluffy.

Adapted from David Leite, found via Smitten Kitchen

Makes about 20 cupcakes

Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons molasses

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 cups sifted cake flour (I sifted before measuring)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground Saigon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

scant 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup pumpkin (I used fresh - the last of my garden pumpkins)

1/2 cup Trader Joe's Organic Whole Grain Drink, original

1 Tablespoon vanilla (add to "milk")

1 Tablespoon lemon juice (add to "milk")

Frosting

12 ounces cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup maple syrup

hefty splash of "Maple Concentrate"

enough powdered sugar to get the right consistency - at least 2 1/2 cups

Method

-beat the sugars, molasses, and the butter together until fluffy

-sift and measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a bowl

-add the eggs 1 at a time until fully incorporated

-alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, starting and ending with the flour mixture

-add pumpkin until smooth

-fill the liners

-bake in pre-heated oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake

I used a few cupcake baking tins lined with Halloween wrappers and sprayed with Bakers Friend. To get the right amount of batter into each cavity, I used a #20/3T disher like this. (love that thing, and it's leftie-friendly)

For the frosting, mix the wet ingredients, then add the powdered sugar until it is the right consistency. I would cut the frosting recipe in half next time, and I would not use maple syrup at all. I don't like to use things like creepy generic bottles of MAPLE FLAVOR, but as some people in the Smitten Kitchen comments suggested, real maple syrup did not add enough flavor. There was no maple hint after adding 1/4 of syrup, and that stuff is expensive. The bottled Maple Flavor tasted fine and added exactly what I wanted.

To make these cupcakes birthday-appropriate, I piled on a little too much frosting. I'd recommend a light swirl of frosting on top.