Pumpkin and Lentil Soup

This soup is getting into the spirit of halloween with pumpkins. I bet you just got finished carving your halloween pumpkin with a huge scary face, and now have pumpkin guts all over the floor. So the question now is, what to do with them? Luckily for you guys, I have here a perfect recipe to get rid of those gross looking guts and turn them into something delicious. I was looking on the web for a good pumpkin soup, or something pumpkin because, as you are probably counting down the days to halloween, there's only a week left! I found this great pumpkin soup recipe and thought, y'know, I bet thet everyone else is looking for halloween pumpkin fall foods, so I should share this with them. If you want to see some of the other soup recipes that they have, go to the goodfood website.
The ingredients that you will want for this recipe are:

1 tablespoon of olive oil, plus 1 teaspoon
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
about 800 grams of chopped pumpkin flesh, plus the seeds
100 grams of split red lentils
1/2 small packet of thyme, leaves picked and extra to serve
pinch of salt and sugar
50 grams of crème fraîche, plus extra to serve

The first thing you will want to do is to heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan. Fry the onions until softened and starting to turn golden. Stir in the garlic, pumpkin flesh, lentils, and thyme, then pour in the hot stock. Season this, cover, and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes until the lentils and vegetables are tender.

While waiting for it to simmer, wash the pumpkin seeds and remove any flesh still stuck to them and dry them with a paper towel. Heat the 1 teaspoon of oil in a non-stick pan and fry the pumpkin seeds until they start to jump and pop. Stir the seeds frequently, but put a lid on the pan when you are not stirring them so that they don't jump out of the pan. Once the seeds look nutty and toasted, add a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar, and stir well.

"Whizz" or blend the cooked pumpkin mixture in a food processor until it is smooth, and then add the crème fraîche and "whizz" or blend again. Taste it for seasoning.

Serve the soup with a spoonful of the crème fraîche, a few of the thyme leaves, and the toasted seeds on top.

Enjoy!

Image Curtesy of bbcgoodfoods

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes

So I was watching cupcakes wars on TV last night, did you know that they have cupcake wars on Netflix? It just made my day because now I can go back and re-watch some of the first episodes and seasons. Anyway, back to the cupcakes. I was watching cupcake wars (on Netflix) and was thinking to myself, "I should make some cupcakes, they probably won't look as good as those and it will probably look stupid me decorating a bunch of cupcakes and putting things like pulled sugar and chocolate on top as decorations, so maybe I shouldn't make cupcakes because they won't look as good." But then I said to myself that I was being stupid and I should just make cupcakes and make them taste good because that is the only part that matters. I started looking through my shelf of cookbooks and pulled out Jamie Oliver: Happy Days with the Naked Chef. I started riffling through it  I found this recipe for sticky toffee cupcakes with a chocolate topping.

This recipe will make about 12 servings
The ingredients are:

30 grams (1 oz) sultanas
30 grams (1 oz) dried apricots
30 grams (1 oz) dates
1 teaspoon baking powder
140 grams (5 oz) self-raising flour
30 grams (1 oz) muscovado sugar
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 large egg
30 grams (1 oz) melted butter
140 milliliter (5 fluid oz) hot water

To make the chocolate topping, you will need:

40 grams (1 1/2 oz) butter
40 grams (1 1/2 oz) caster sugar
40 grams (1 1/2 oz) plain chocolate
70 milliliter (2 1/2 fluid oz) double cream

The first step as always, is to preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Then, mix the sultanas, apricots, dates, baking powder, and just enough flower to stop the fruits from sticking to the blades, in a food processor (If you don't have food processor then just chop it up very finely).

Next, put the mixture you just made into a bowl with the muscovado sugar, the golden syrup, the egg, and the melted butter. Stir together.

Once stirred, add the hot water and remaining flower and mix well with a whisk.

Divide this mixture between 12 cupcake liners and put them in the oven for about 15 minutes.

While the cupcakes are cooking, melt the chocolate topping ingredients in a pan and bubble for a bit until the color darkens slightly. Take the mixture off the heat and let it cool until it thickens. Put a blob of the chocolate mixture on top of each cupcake.

Image curtesy of Jamie Oliver 

Pumpkin Bread

Since it is fall season, and everyone is going crazy over Pumpkin Spice Lattes, I figured, why not give you a good snack to go with that PSL? I personally love the baking book that I am using right now, it is called The Grand Central Baking Book. You cannot actually see their recipes, for that you would have to buy the book (that is not such a bad idea, if you love baking as much as me, then I would recommend that because it has amazing recipes for treats that they bake for their shop.) I used to live in New York and would never pass through Grand Central without checking out their latest creations!

The recipe that they use is:

3 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice (see bottom for instructions)
1/3 cup of vegetable oil or canola oil
1 2/3 cups of granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups of packed brown sugar
2 cups of pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/3 cup of water
1/3 cup of buttermilk

The first step to make your cake/pumpkin bread/whatever it is you're making is always to turn on the oven. For this recipe, you will want to turn it on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and to lightly grease and flour two 9 by 5 inch pans.
The next step is to combine all of the dry ingredients, so you would want to measure out the flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. You want to put all of this into a bowl and whisk it to combine. (whisking has been shown to mix and aerate the flour just as much as double sieving)
Next, combine the oil, sugar and pumpkin puree in your mixer bowl. (Ideally, you will want to use a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment, but if you don't have one of those, an electric hand held mixer would probably be fine as well). Mix the oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and pumpkin puree on a medium/low speed until it is well blended. This will take about 2 minutes.
The next step is to crack the eggs into a liquid measuring cup. Whisk them together and then slowly pour the eggs into the mixture, with the mixer on low speed. Only add the next bit of egg once the last has been completely mixed in.
The final step is to add the remaining wet and dry ingredients. You will want to alternate between wet (water and buttermilk) and dry, so start by pouring 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the mixture and combining them on low speed. Then you want to add the water, mix well, and add half of the remaining dry ingredients. Once they are incorporated, add in all of the buttermilk. Add the last of the dry ingredients and mix just until they are combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and pour the batter equally into the two pans.
You will want to bake for 60 to 75 minutes, while rotating the pans every 20 minutes. When they are finished they should be dark golden brown with cracked tops and if you stick a skewer or fork into it, it should come out clean.

Image Curtesy Of Dana Treat

To make the Pumpkin Pie Spice, you will need:

1/4 cup of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of ground ginger
1 tablespoon of ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon of ground cloves
1 tablespoon of ground allspice

To make the pumpkin pie spice, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and stir them with a fork until they are well combined. You can store it if you want for up to 3 months in a cool, dry place, however I find there are always plenty of ways to use these wonderful spices and mine never seems to last more than a few weeks!