Cinni-Minis

 I am trying to cook from my pantry for the next few weeks, designing my menu around what I already have on hand rather than shopping from a list of things I don't have. My pantry of canned goods and canisters of things may not resemble a fallout shelter just yet, but it has gotten unwieldy, so it is time to be creative and resourceful as I hack my way through the jungle that is by kitchen pantry (really just my kitchen cabinets).

I was going through the cheese drawer in my fridge the other day and found a ball of leftover puff pastry scraps. Wracking my brain, I thought that this ball of scraps could be re-purposed easily into mini cinnamon rolls. They made a fast, easy and delicious sweet snack, and there's no reason to wait until you have puff pastry scraps. I would gladly make these again using a full sheet of puff pastry.

Cinni-Minis

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry scraps
• melted butter
• turbinado sugar
• 3 T walnuts, chopped
• 1 t cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix together the sugar, chopped walnuts and cinnamon.
3. Press together the puff pastry scraps, folding them over onto themselves in a large ball.
4. Place the ball on a piece of parchment paper and with a rolling pin, roll it to a thickness of 1/8 in.
5. Brush melted butter over the surface and sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar and nut mixture over the top.
6. Roll the pastry up like a jelly roll and brush it with more melted butter.
7. Slice into 1/2 in. slices.
8. Place the slices on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and bake for 12 minutes or until nicely golden brown.

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Pumpkin Pancake Puffs

I had some leftover pumpkin puree from when I made the gingerbread. It was not enough for a pie or another batch of gingerbread, and I didn't want to throw it out, so I thought it was time for another one of my "just throw some shit together and see what happens" types of recipes. In addition to the pumpkin puree, I had several items loitering around the kitchen I wanted to use up. Best of all, since I used packaged pancake mix, I get bonus Sandra Lee points as well.

These were pretty good. They're not really a muffin, which is denser, so I hesitate to call them pumpkin muffins. They were gone within 15 minutes of being pulled out of the oven, so I'll work out the kinks of the recipe for next time.

If I were totally depraved, I would deep-fry the batter as a sort of knock-off of Denny's Pancake Puppies, but I am not depraved. Also, I don't have a deep fryer. So, there ya go.

Pumpkin Pancake Puffs

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups pancake mix ( I often have New Hope Mills)
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Greek yogurt, sour cream or buttermilk
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 t cinnamon
• cinnamon sugar
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
   
2. In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar and cinnamon.
   
3. Add the yogurt and stir well.
   
4. Add the beaten eggs, mixing well to combine.
   
5. Add the pancake mix and stir well until it is all combined.
   
6. Grease mini muffin tins and drop in the batter.
   
7. Bake for 20 minutes until the tops are lightly golden and a cake tester come out clean.
   
8. Dust with cinnamon sugar and eat warm.

Notes:

• These stuck to the muffin tins like hell. I don't know if I should butter and flour them next time or use muffin liners.
  
• These were very tangy- possibly because I used Greek yogurt. I might add a bit more brown sugar to the pumpkin puree next time, or use cream instead of the yogurt, though I actually liked the tanginess.
• I also might add bit more baking soda for more lift.
  

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Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Last weekend, in preparation for Hallowe'en, my girls and I carved pumpkins basically all day long on Saturday. We each picked out a fairly elaborate pattern to carve out, and my ambitious plans to bake pumpkin bread, a pumpkin pie, a loaf of multigrain bread and roast the seeds came to naught.

We got the pumpkins done, but were all pretty sick of anything pumpkin-related, especially by the time I had finished picking out the seeds from the gigantic bowl of pumpkin guts. I washed them and let them sit in a colander, oh, all week until today when I finally said, "Hmm, I really ought to roast those suckers."

I did, and despite the 5-day wait, they were just as delicious as they always have been.

I will be making a pie at some point this weekend. ;-)

Spiced Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:

• pumpkin seeds, unshelled
  
• olive oil
• salt
• Old Bay
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400.


2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.


3. Put the pumpkin seeds in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil.


4. Add salt liberally and toss with some Old Bay.


5. Spread out into an even layer on the baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.


6. Take them out and stir them around, flipping them over, then put them back in for another 5 minutes.
   


7. Check to see how they're doing, you don't want them burned, but if they're not roasted enough, they won't have the right amount of crunch to them.


8. When they're done, put them in a bowl and snack away.
   

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