Pumpkin Almond Cake with Almond Butter Frosting

BAKED Sunday Morning

I made this cake for one of my desserts to take to our Thanksgiving dinner at my sister-in-law's. It was a risky move because usually I take recipes that I have made before, but I thought this would be a nice change from the usual pies and it would give me quite a few taste testers. 

This cake did not disappoint. It has all the flavors of a pumpkin pie wrapped up in a cake. I loved the crumb on this cake from the almond flour and I really loved the frosting. The only change I made with this recipe was the substitution of regular milk for the almond milk in the frosting and with the flavor of almond butter I don't think the almond milk was missed. It was also the first time that I have used vanilla bean paste and I really liked the taste and the look of the vanilla beans in the frosting. This cake was a hit and it will be one that I will make often.

Check out BAKED Sunday Mornings to see what the rest of the bakers think about this cake. You can also find the recipe over there.

Best-Ever Brownies

Tuesday with Dorie

Frankly, I wasn't sure I was going to make these when I saw them on the schedule. I was somewhat skeptical when I saw that Contributing Baker, Rick Katz, had called his recipe "Best-Ever Brownies." I already have a couple of recipes that are vying for this title, but was curious enough to see how his measured up.

Each brownie recipe seems to have their own unique technique and this one was adding half of the whipped sugar and eggs to the batter and then whipping the remainder sugar/egg mixture until it doubled in volume before folding into the chocolate mixture. It took awhile to incorporate the egg mixture into the chocolate and I was afraid of over mixing before I even added the dry ingredients. It seemed like I just kept folding and folding, but finally it all came together. I lined a 9-inch square metal pan with parchment paper. I checked the brownies after 23 minutes and they were pretty gooey, but when I checked again at 28 minutes they were ready.

The verdict? I really like these. At first John didn't think they were sweet enough and weren't as good as the other brownies I make, but then by the second one he decided that he liked them. I loved the crisp top and the fudgy, with just a hint of cake-like, center. I don't know if I would give them the honor of 'best-ever,' but they are right up there with my two favorite brownie recipes: Matt and Renato's The Baked Brownie and Alice Medrich's The New Classic Brownies. But, you be the judge and make them for yourself. You can find the recipe over at Monica's, A Beautiful Mess. And don't forget to check out what the rest of the bakers thought over at Tuesdays with Dorie.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Top-Secret Chocolate Mousse

French Friday with Dorie

It's amazing that a little bit of chocolate, some eggs, a pinch of salt, and a small amount of sugar can make such a special, decadent dessert. No wonder the French women wanted to keep the secret all to themselves. You just have to laugh when Dorie tells you in the intro to this recipe that it ended up coming from the back of a Nestle's Dessert Bar and, indeed, I was surprised at how quick and easy this mousse was to make.

I used Trader Joe's 72% Belgian Dark Chocolate and followed the recipe as written. The recipe states that it will make four servings, but mine made two dessert-size servings. I kept my mousse in the refrigerator for a few hours. Before serving, I shaved some Valrhona white chocolate for the tops. This is truly a wonderful dessert and one that will impress guests. We savored every bite by eating a quarter of the mousse at a time. Visit French Fridays with Dorie to see what the rest of the group thought. You can find the recipe here.

Buttermilk Crumb Muffins

Tuesday with Dorie

Luckily, these muffins were really quick to make because I somehow thought these weren't coming up on the schedule until next Tuesday. I whipped up half a batch after I came home from work this afternoon. This recipe is from Contributing Baker, Marion Cunningham and is hosted by Alisa at easier than pie. You can also find the recipe on Alisa's blog.

I was baking these at the same time that I was cooking dinner and watching the Election early returns, so even though I had the timer on and checked them at 25 minutes, they were a little bit over baked. A tad over baked didn't hurt them though because the outsides were a little crispy, which I like, and the crumb topping was soft and crumbly while the insides were not-too-sweet, just-right.

Check out the what the rest of the group thought about their muffins over at Tuesdays with Dorie. 

Buttermilk Pie with a Hint of Maple Syrup

BAKED Sunday Morning

I have torn buttermilk pie recipes out of magazines and also downloaded some that I have seen on various blogs, but it wasn't until I saw the recipe from BAKED was coming up on the schedule that inspired me to finally make one. And the fact that it had some maple syrup just made it even more interesting. I had a round of BAKED pie dough in the freezer that was almost a year old, so I thought this was as good a time as any to thaw it and roll it out.

It's an easy and quick pie to put together and best of all you just whisk all the ingredients together by hand. I tried to put a little decorative touch around the edges with some maple leaves cut from the dough, but I wasn't quite successful. It is a fun pie to watch baking because it puffed up like a blowfish and then fell and so I watched my little maple leaves rise and fall until they almost disappeared.

We enjoyed this pie and loved the maple syrup in it. The crispy top and the smooth custard was so very tasty. We thought it tasted best slightly warm. And I am happy to report that the BAKED frozen pie dough baked up just as nicely as it does when it is freshly made.

Visit BAKED Sunday Mornings where you can see what the other bakers thought about this pie and where you can also find the recipe.

Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potatoes and Prunes

French Friday with Dorie

This week's recipe is a perfect autumn dish. Onions are slowly cooked for half an hour in some olive oil until they turn a lovely caramel color. Add some chicken broth, a few crushed saffron threads, cinnamon, a pinch of cayenne, a star anise point, bay leaf and honey for a flavorful broth. To make it a little easier to eat the chicken, I used boneless, skinless  instead of bone-in chicken thighs. I browned them while the onions were cooking. The finishing touch was the prunes and sweet potatoes. 

This smelled so good while it was cooking and the most difficult part about making this dish was leaving it alone for 45 minutes. I am one of those cooks who loves to lift the lid of the pot and stir things up a bit, so I really had to walk away from the stove because Dorie gave strict instructions that it needed to cook undisturbed.

And boy was it worth leaving alone. The broth is out-of-this-world delicious and we really loved the combination of sweet potatoes with the stewed prunes. It is a lovely one-pot meal, but I served it with some white rice to soak up some of that wonderful broth. This recipe is a keeper and one that I will be making often this fall and winter. You can see more versions of this recipe over at French Fridays with Dorie.