Pumpkin-Apple Butter

It was a pretty good year for sugar pumpkins in my neck of the woods, so I got 3. They've been hanging around the house for a while, and although I know that these beauties do hold well in a cool spot, I wanted to work on getting some of them processed and frozen, so yesterday I grabbed two of them and set to work.

How adorable, right? They have no idea what's in store for them.

Using your largest, sharpest knife, I used an 8 in. chef's knife, just cut them in half:

And then scrape out all the seeds and the fibers - save the seeds for roasting, though!

See? They should be fairly clean. I used a toothed scraper, which is why you see marks. A large spoon works well, too.

Now, set them cut-side up in a large roasting pan, add about an inch of water to the bottom of the pan and roast them in a preheated, 400°F oven for 45 minutes.

Scrape out chunks of the flesh once it's cooled a bit and not too hot to handle, and you're ready to puree it. I find that it purees better when it is warm than when it has cooled off, so I  try to puree it all as soon as I can handle it without giving myself 3rd-degree burns, then I use it or pack it away in 2-cup portions in freezer bags and freeze or refrigerate it.

Ready to go!

I packed away 4 cups of the puree in the freezer, set aside another 2 cups in the fridge for this week, and used 2 cups for this delectable pumpkin-apple butter, which makes a nice spread on buttered toast. I am also thinking of possibly making baked stuffed French toast and mixing some of this with softened cream cheese as the filling.

Just a thought.

This is also incredible eaten right off a spoon.

Pumpkin-Apple Butter

Makes approximately 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup apple cider, enough to almost cover the raisins. I used 1/2 cup, but had the remaining 1/4 cup ready to dilute the butter if needed.
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 whole cloves
• 2 allspice berries

Directions:

1. Soak 1/2 cup golden raisins in 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup cider for an hour.
   
2. Blend together 2 cups fresh pumpkin with the raisins and cider and 1/2 cup applesauce in a food processor until nicely pureed.
   
3. Place the puree in a sauce pan and add 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and your favorite pie spices - I crushed up 3 cloves and 2 allspice berries, shaved in about 1/4 t of nutmeg, 1/2 t ground ginger and 2 t cinnamon - and heat over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn't stick and burn.
   
4. Serve :)

Notes:

• This has the consistency of a thick applesauce; if you like your apple butter thicker, I'd say cook it down for another hour, but take care to stir it so that it doesn't burn on the bottom.

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Apple and Goat Geese Galette with Honey-Vanilla Sauce

I was traipsing though the grocery store yesterday, uncertain if I was going to make a mini Black Forest cherry cake or some sort of apple thing for my dessert. I have always liked the flavors of apple and goat cheese together, and when I went to check out the goat cheese selection, I saw that in addition to the usual herbed and peppered varieties, they had this:

Honey vanilla goat cheese.

Oh my GOD. Thank you, Woolwich Dairy, Inc. for bringing us this wonderful flavor!

When I saw the honey vanilla goat cheese, I knew that I had to pair that with a Granny Smith apple. I had read several apple galette recipes that included a layer of frangipane beneath the apple slices, and I thought that this honey vanilla goat cheese would be a wonderful substitution, so I decided on an apple galette. I immediately grabbed the goat cheese and headed off to the freezer section for a box of puff pastry - no time to make my own today - and hurried back to my tiny kitchen.

Top it with a simple vanilla sauce spiked with honey, and you've got this:

Apple & Goat Cheese Galette with Honey-Vanilla Sauce

Makes four 4 in. galettes

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet of puff pastry
• Honey-vanilla goat cheese
• 1 Granny Smith apple, cored, peeled and sliced into paper-thin slices
• 1 T butter, melted
• 1 T honey

For the Honey-vanilla sauce:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 T honey

Make the honey-vanilla sauce:

1. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add them to the cream in the top of a double boiler and heat until warm, not boiling. Let simmer for 15 minutes, then remove the bean pod.
2. Whisk together the egg yolk and 2 T of honey. Add a small amount of the warm cream to the egg, whisking fully. Slowly add the warmed egg mixture to the cream in the double boiler, whisking well.
3. Cook the mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to bubble a bit around the edges.
4. Remove from heat and refrigerate.

Prepare the galette:

1. Preheat the oven to 375.
2. Thaw the sheet of puff pastry for about 45 minutes. 
3. Cut out four 4 in. rounds from the pastry by using a bowl as a guide. Lay a slightly smaller bowl on top of the rounds and press down to leave an indentation in the pastry. This will be the lip of the galette.
4. Spread goat cheese on the pastry and top with overlapping slices of apple.
5. Mix together the honey and melted butter and brush on top of the apple slices and the edges of the pastry.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
7. Drizzle the honey-vanilla sauce on top and eat warm

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Maple Brown Sugar Apple Crisps

I love fall. The cooler, blustery weather, the colors of the changing trees, the late-season vegetables and fruits, it's difficult to think of something that I don't like about this season. I don't mind the shorter days and long, dark nights, as they contribute to a delicious sense of coziness as I sit on my couch wrapped in flannel while something tasty and fragrant with the special smells of autumn cooks in the kitchen.

We're well into fall now, and I thought I'd celebrate this autumnal mood with apples. I took a trip to my favorite local orchard, Navarino Orchard, and picked up 1/2 a bushel of my favorite baking apple, Northern Spies, and two sugar pumpkins. On the drive home, my mind was filled with all the different dishes I'd be making: pumpkin gingerbread is one likely suspect, and my Pie for Breakfast Apple Pie is another.

I had a hankering for that lovely maple brown sugar combination with the tart apples, so I made these individual apple crisps.

Maple- Brown Sugar Apple Crisps

Ingredients:

• 2 apples - I used 2 Northern Spies.
  
• 4 maple sugar candies, pulverized to a fine powder (about 2 T maple sugar)
  
• 2 T brown sugar


• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 T butter, melted
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


2. Put the pulverized maple sugar candy and the brown sugar into a bowl. Mix well.


3. Peel and slice the apples into very thin slices. Add to the sugar mixture in the bowl and toss well with a fork, making sure the pieces are all coated.


4. Put the mixture into greased ramekins. This made enough for three.


5. In a food processor, pulse the walnuts until coarsely ground.


6. Add the oats and pulse again until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.


7. Dump this mixture into the same bowl that held the apple mixture. The bowl should still have some of the maple / brown sugar mixture in it. Stir well.
   


8. Add about 1/4 cup of brown sugar (I usually add it in tablespoon increments and taste as I go) and mix well.
   


9. Add the melted butter, and work with your hands or a pasty cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.


10. Divide between the three ramekins, packing down the crumb topping firmly.


11. Bake in a 375 oven for 25 minutes or until it's bubbling nicely around the edges.


12. Take out and let cool on a rack for a bit and then serve warm topped with vanilla ice cream. You can serve it in the ramekin or scoop it out into a larger bowl.
    

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