Seven Layer Bars with Pumpkin

Those infamous 7 layer bars now made with pumpkin.
Have I lost my mind? No, just really into the pumpkin cooking spirit.
I've been dying to do this for a while now, but weary of how it would turn out because well, now there are 8 layers, so things could get sloppy, not set up, be too sweet, etc...
That buttery graham crust layer was just yearning for a nice layer of pumpkin.
It came out really good.
The pumpkin layer is very gentle in flavor, and adds a nice savory touch.
I went easy on the pumpkin spice flavoring, as I'm not a big fan of it.
I do like extra cinnamon in my pumpkin.
Made this in a 9 or 10 inch cake pan (just for something different).  It should work in a 9x13 pan, might be "just enough" or "slightly short" on ingredients--I don't know I haven't done this in a 9x13 pan yet.


Seriously?  These were insanely good.  The butterscotch with the pumpkin with the buttery graham cracker crust?  Oh heavenly food combo.






buttery graham layer first

pumpkin layer next--don't spread to the edges

pecans next, or use walnuts

chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips

coconut then pour on the sweetened condensed milk

time to bake!




Look at that crust!

Seven Layer Bars with Pumpkin

print recipe

Pumpkin layer:

1 egg

8 ounces of plain pumpkin puree

½ ts pure vanilla extract

a few dashes of cinnamon

a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice

1 ½ - 2 cups crushed graham crackers (depending on how thick you like the crust)

12 tbsp. unsalted butter

¾ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup white chocolate chips

½ cup butterscotch chips

¾ cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted (optional to toast)

1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350° F. 

Heavily spray with nonstick or line a 9 or 10-inch cake pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil.  If using parchment or aluminum make sure to spray that too with nonstick cooking spray. 

Melt the butter over medium heat; add in the graham crumbs, and mix well.

Using your fingers or a spatula spread crumbs into pan, making sure to get all the edges. If you want to prebake this for 10 minutes to help it get crisp then go ahead.  I did not. 

In a small bowl mix the pumpkin puree with the egg; add in the vanilla extract and as much spice as you want. I did about 4 shakes of cinnamon and 2 shakes of pumpkin spice. 

Then place a layer of the pumpkin mixture on top of the graham.  Do not spread the pumpkin mixture to the edges (see photo)—you don’t want it to seep out.

Then add the layer of pecans, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and toasted coconut.  Next pour the condensed milk evenly over the entire dish. 

Bake until the top is golden brown and mixture is set in the middle (no jiggly), about 25-28 minutes. 

Cool on a wire rack for a couple hours.  I then put mine in the fridge to help it firm up to make the slicing much easier. 

Remove the bars from the pan.  Then using a very sharp knife, cut into bars in small pie slices.  If the slicing is sticky, it helps to wet the knife with warm water.

It’s best to store this in the fridge. Keeps about 2 days then it gets soggy. 

pumpkin-cream cheese waffles

Waffles, I love them, and like many of you I love them if they are crispy outside and tender inside.

Confession:  about five years ago I learned (finally) how they get their crispy texture: egg whites.

Yep.  Never would have thought of that one on my own.  Whipped egg whites are FOLDED into the batter (as the last step) to help give it air which in turn gives it that nice light, crispy exterior.

Did you know this?

You must try it next time you make homemade waffles.  It's truly worth the extra step.

With this recipe, I've always wanted to make pumpkin waffles or pancakes with a swirl of cream cheese.

And the bonus of adding the cream cheese: it adds flavor to the waffles and it also crisps up too. (look closely at the photos for the browned cream cheese bits--heavenly).

This waffle iron I got for like $5.00 at Building 19 (a speciality discount warehouse here in new england), and right after I made these waffles it started to smoke.
Time for a real waffle machine soon.  This one lasted for 8 years, not bad, but to be honest I was always so very weary of it since it was so cheap.

Note: I realize these look not so crispy in the photos.
I had done the stupid mistake of not turning on the oven to 250 degrees to keep the waffles warm.
So they sat in there cold and got a little wilted.

pumpkin-cream cheese waffles

basic waffle recipe adapted from smitten kitchen

print recipe

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 1/4 ts baking powder

1 ts baking soda

1/2 ts salt

1/2 - 3/4 pumpkin spice (add as much or as little as you like)

4 large eggs, separated

2 cups buttermilk

1 cup pumpkin puree

6 TB unsalted butter, melted & cooled

5-8 ounces of cream cheese, room temp

chopped pecans, for garnish (optional)

non-stick cooking spray for waffle iron

Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron.

Take a pastry bag or frosting piping utensil and put in about 6 ounces of cream cheese.  You can also use a small ziplock bag or whatever method works best for you.  We will be piping the cream cheese onto the pumpkin batter once we put it on the waffle iron. Set aside. 

Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and pumpkin spice. 

Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until combined.

In a mixing bowl using a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until you get soft peaks.  Next gently fold them into the waffle batter--no overmixing.  Lumps and still visible egg whites are good.

Brush or spray waffle iron lightly with cooking spray, then using a ladle pour on the batter, spreading it out a bit,.  Working quickly,  next take your assembled cream cheese, pipe on some cream cheese in circles, dots or whatever you wish on top of the batter (see photo above). Do this quickly, then close cover and cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.  

Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Finish making the rest of the waffles, while storing them in preheated oven.

When ready to serve, sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top of waffles--adds a nice flavor and crunch. 

Should make about 12-16 waffles.

salty apple shortbread

My grandfather who used to take me fishing when I was young, always brought the strangest snacks along for our adventure.
And if memory serves me correct, the snack package always included: head cheese (which I always thought was made out of actual human heads, no matter how many times he said it wasn't), a dry salami of some sort (which was quite tasty), bread and butter pickles that my grandmother made (another tasty treat), mayonnaise (which never looked good in the hot sun, but my grandfather had a stomach made of iron), and for dessert it was always a shot (or two) of Black Velvet.
Sometimes my grandfather would be daring and eat a fruit: an apple with salt on top.  
He wasn't much a a fruit and vegetable eater; nor was he a water drinker; always claiming "water will rust your pipes".
Of course not the best example of a healthy eater, but he did love life--god bless him.
When I first saw him eat an apple this way, my brain said "gross", but being the foodie that I am, I was very eager to give it a go.
And you know, it was pretty darn good-- Sweet, tart juicy apple with a pinch of salt--really good.
Hence my creation for a salty shortbread.  I love shortbread and always add extra salt to it if I'm using a good creamy European butter.
Deep down I knew apples and shortbread would be a great combo...and it was.  I mean apples and pie crust are a winner, so why not.  This one is a keeper.  Got it right on the first try too.
If you plan on making this, please read the cook notes.
Also, the winner of the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes giveaway goes to: #43 Jillian!  Congrats & please email me.


Fairly easy recipe to do. Only hard part is patting out the dough into the pan.



>

salty apple shortbread

print recipe

Cook notes: I wanted flat, thin-like bars to help represent a shortbread-like appearance, so I used a 9x13

baking pan.   If you don’t want thin bars and want thicker then use a smaller pan and make sure to cook them a bit longer.  This is a dry dough, so you might think you will need more liquid, but you don’t.  I highly suggest using parchment paper lined in your baking pan to help lift them out when done baking. I used non stick spray and they were a bit difficult to remove.  Please do not overmix this dough.  Make sure you chop your apples small: ½ to ¼ inch is good.

I sprinkled sea salt on top before baking, this is optional of course, but adds wonderful flavor.

Apple shortbread:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

2 ¼ cups flour

½ ts baking powder

¼ ts salt

1 ts vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups chopped (small) apples (choose a kind that is sweet, firm tart)

fresh lemon juice for the apples

sea salt for the top

Glaze:

2 TB  half & half (or whole milk)

2 TB butter

3/4 cup powdered sugar (I sift mine to avoid lumps)

1/4 ts cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 F with the rack at the middle level. 

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

Line a 9x13 inch pan with baking parchment and grease lightly. 

Cream the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. 

Blend in the flour mixture, until just combined, no overmixing. Add in the chopped apples and mix again. This mixture is very crumbly.  Dump mixture into pan and use your fingers to press the dough evenly into the pan.  Sprinkle a bit of sea salt on the top of the dough.

Bake 6 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake 7-10 minutes more or until the edges are golden brown. 

Let cool completely before applying glaze.  You’ll know when it’s done when the center is almost firm and edges are golden brown.

For the glaze, put all the ingredients in a small saucepan on medium heat. 

Whisk until smooth and barely bubbly.  Drizzle the glaze over the bars. You can drizzle or coat the entire top.

Cool until the pan is just warm to the touch and cut into bars with a sharp knife. 

Makes about 20 bars, depending on how big/small you cut them. 

pumpkin fritters with cinnamon glaze

As I write this post I'm listening to the TV rant on and on about the impending hurricane Sandy.
Is it a hurricane or is it a tropical storm?  Some say it's a hybrid of the two.
The weatherpeople add in too much hype mixed in with some facts.
They bring up the perfect storm of 1991 desperately trying to compare Sandy to the perfect storm.
Not going to happen--two different animals indeed.
They finally switch over to an interview with an old captain from the perfect storm of 1991who gladly shares out advice.  Captain Ray Leonard skipper of the 32-foot vessel Satori that rode out the perfect storm.  Some of you may remember him and his crew were part of the movie The Perfect Storm.
On Oct. 30, 1991, Leonard and two crew members were several days into their voyage when they were caught in the union of the three weather systems that made up the perfect storm. The vessel Satori was about 60 miles south of Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts.
One of the crew issued a mayday, and were plucked from the Atlantic Ocean by a Coast Guard helicopter. The book portrays Leonard as "sullen and silent."; he didn't participate in the book or the movie, has always insisted that the boat, which later washed ashore intact, was never in any real danger.
The advice Captain Leonard gives is:
"Don't be rash, I would be sure that I had a vehicle that was pretty substantial. I would be sure I had a decent supply of fuel and water -- and Graham crackers."
Why Graham crackers?
"Well, I LIKE Graham crackers. But you COULD have Oreos.  A storm like the one coming -- and like the perfect storm, whatever that was -- people tend to think that, `Someone will come help me. Someone will come take care of me.  In other words, they don't look to be self-sufficient.  But evacuating also carries its hazards.  There's great danger on highways and everywhere else..... landlubbers should get out while they can do so calmly.  Because if this does hit, you're going to lose all those little things you've spent the last 20 years feeling good about.  Living on a boat is one thing during a disaster. But living in a house in a city is a different thing completely."

Sound advice. Love the graham cracker advice as well.
It's important to point out that this retired captain doles out this advice today from his home in Florida;.
as we sit here on the east coast waiting it out....
As of today, here on cape cod, we still aren't sure what to expect with this storm; they say minimal rain and high winds.  I don't worry so much about the rain or loss of power--you get used to that over the years.
For me, it's the high winds that scare the crap out of me.  Winds can do a LOT of damage. Take away houses kind of damage.
We've had a lot of trees removed from our property just for this reason.
But there still are a few left that are fairly close to the house.
I try not to watch too much TV during these times as the hype gets the best of me,  instead I prefer to create new recipes......like pumpkin fritters.





It's really easy to throw together. The only hard part (if you want to call it that) is the deep frying.
You only need about 3-5 inches of canola oil in a deep pot; heat over medium-high heat.


See you don't need a lot of oil to fry in.  Just watch the temperature of the oil. Not too hot.  Do a test fritter first to see if it fries right away (perfect temp) or sinks (oil too cold) or smokes up (oil too hot).


For the glaze, use cinnamon spice like I did or use pumpkin pie spices.

pumpkin fritters with cinnamon glaze

print recipe

fritters

2 cups flour

½ cup white sugar

2 ts baking powder

¾  ts salt

½ - 1 ts pumpkin pie spice

2 large eggs

3/4 cup whole milk

3 TB melted butter, cooled

7.5 ounces of pumpkin puree, plain (+ 2 TB) (so half a 15 ounce normal can plus 2 TB)

glaze

2 – 4 TB whole milk

2 TB butter

¾ cup powdered sugar

a small pinch of salt

¼ - ½ ts cinnamon (or whatever spice you prefer)

Cooking notes: I am not a big fan of pumpkin pie spice—it’s just too strong for me.  So I added a small amount of it to the batter.  You might want to add in more.  Do a taste-test of the batter before frying to see if you like it. 

For scooping out the dough into the fryer I used a medium ice cream scoop.  Or you could use small size too.

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs with milk and pumpkin puree then add in cooled melted butter; mix well.

Fold in the dry with the wet ingredients; only mix till just combined. Lumps are exactly what we want here. If you overmix you will have tough chewy fritters—that’s a no no.

Heat about 3-4 inches of canola oil over medium to medium-low heat.

When it gets hot, drop a little drop of batter into the oil. If it sizzles immediately and rises to the top, the oil is ready; if it burns quickly, turn down the heat.

Drop oversized tablespoons of batter (using an ice cream scoop, medium size, helps a lot, if you don’t have an ice cream scoop you can use two spoons to roll out the scoops of batter) into the hot oil. Only do about 3 -4 fritters at a time.

They cook fast about 1-1 ½ minute per side or if you want extra crispy about 2 minutes per side—if that? Make sure to flip them.

Remove and drain on a paper towels or brown paper bags. Let these cool a bit before the glaze.

For the glaze:

Put all the ingredients in a small saucepan on medium heat.  Whisk until smooth and barely bubbly.  This is a thick glaze; so if you want it thinner, just add a bit more milk.  Using a rack with cookie sheet underneath (or parchment paper), place fritters on top and drizzle the glaze over the tops of the fritters.  You could dunk the fritters in the glaze, but for me, that just makes the fritters a bit soggy.  Let them rest on wire rack a bit.

Should make about 12-15 fritters? (all depending on size)

Interview with Artisan Bread in Five authors + Giveaway!

I am extremely pleased to have the dynamic duo behind best selling cookbooks: artisan bread in five minutes a day, healthy bread in five minutes a day and artisan pizza & flatbread in five minutes a day.  Clearly this bread-genius duo has it down pat when it comes to artisan breads.  Artisan breads made lighting fast I might add.

Praise for artisan bread in 5:

“Soon the bread will be making itself…..the crust, full-flavored loaf that results may be the worlds easiest yeast bread.” – New York Times

“I love it when someone challenges conventional wisdom…and wins!  Zoe and Jeff will have you baking bread in less time than it takes to make toast…” – Stephen Durfee, CIA & James Beard Award winner.

No more working all day with yeasty breads, five minutes a day is all you need to have the same exact high-quality artisan bread you see in bakeries, bread shops, high-end grocery…this can finally all be done at home—even for all those home cooks who are, shall we say, yeast-challenged?

Bio on Jeff Hertzberg, M.D. -  has been a physician, university professor, information technology consultant, and ardent amateur baker.  He developed a love of great bread while growing up in NYC in the 60’s & 70’s.  He refined his love of baking with travels through France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Britain and Morocco.  He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and two daughters.

Bio on Zoe Francois – she is a pastry chef and baker. Trained at the Culinary Institute of America.  In addition to teaching baking and pastry in the Twin Cities and consulting to restaurants, Zoe creates artful desserts and custom wedding cakes.  She also has the famous baking blog: zoebakes.com.  She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and two sons. 

Zoe and Jeff have a bread blog too!  http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/ 

Given both your backgrounds, how did you two meet? 

Jeff:  Yes, our backgrounds are different, but we both spent some time at home with kids when they were little—we met because our toddlers were in a music class together.

Zoe:  Kids are the best for bringing people together, we have them to thank for this endeavor.

How did you come up with the whole “bread in 5” concept?

Jeff:  Necessity was the mother of invention.  I was a busy medical resident who loved bread, and my wife taught me the traditional method so I could make my beloved rye bread in my spare time.  Since I had zero spare time, I had to economize on lengthy steps, and ultimately, what really saved time was making a large batch of dough and using it over a week or more.  Otherwise there’s too much prep, mixing, and cleaning bowls.  It takes wet dough to do that (but not too wet), and getting it just right was the hard work of these books.    

I love that part of Zoe’s background involves creating ice cream cakes at Ben & Jerry’s.  Is this where you found your love of baking?

Zoe:  When I was going to college in Burlington, Vermont I wanted to work at Ben & Jerry’s, because they gave their employees free pints of ice cream after every shift. I also discovered cake decorating at that job.

Jeff, did you set out to be an MD?  Were all your travels in and around Europe what made you really what to delve deeper into baking?  Or did you have your eyes set on bread making?

Jeff:  Sure did, I went straight from college to med school, and I expected to practice adult medicine and do research, maybe in a part-time academic practice.  But after a few years in practice, I got interested in computers in health care, trained in a research fellowship, and started a consulting practice in health care computing.  That freed up my time for family, hobbies, and delving into other interests.  Like bread-baking. 

Photo by Mark Luinenburg

sticky pecan rolls, pg. 187

Have you two thought about opening a bread shop? I’m certain it would do very well.

Jeff:  Well, it might, but the concern is that we might throw the baking pans at each other!  Seriously, I’m not sure I was destined to work that hard.  Providing great food to customers is hard, hard work with long hours, and I have so much respect for people who do it.  I’m just not sure it’s right for me. 

Zoe:  I’m not graceful enough early in the morning to open a bakery, and what Jeff said about the flying pans is probably true!  ;)

Jeff- when creating recipes, did your medical training ever come in handy?

Jeff:  It turns out that recipe-testing is a lot like the scientific method.  You have a best guess about what will work, you do some experiments, and if they don’t produce what you expected, you refine your guess—and change the ingredients list! 

When shopping around for agents for your first book--A part of me wants to say it must have been easy with such a great “bread in 5 minutes” concept, but then I think it could have also have been hard selling such a concept to an agent?  Which one was it?

Jeff:  Our agent, Jane Dystel, was sold on the concept immediately, along with our editor at Thomas Dunne Books, the late Ruth Cavin.  Without Jane and Ruth—no book series for us.  They were sure that if the method actually worked, people would flock to it.  And for some reason, they believed us, without ever having made the bread themselves.  The proof came from our readers, who propelled the book by word of mouth (we have about 500,000 copies in print for all three titles). 

Zoe: Lynne Rosetto Kasper (NPR’s The Splendid Table) generously introduced us to her agent, Jane Dystel. It is difficult to get a book idea in front of an agent these days, so we feel incredibly lucky.

Was there “bread making” research involved?  Where does one go or look for that?

Jeff:  Of course!  We both love travel, and whatever we eat and love when we’re traveling with our families, we try to recreate with our stored dough.  Between us, we’ve spent time in France, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Britain, and Greece—all countries with great traditional bread cultures.  Samples from those places are all over our books.  And of  course, there’s more mundane research, eating all the good bread we can find in our local bakeries, and reading everything on the subject that we can get our hands on.

Zoe:  The “research” is why I’m in this business. It is now officially my job to eat bread everywhere I go.  What a glorious line of work. Developing a recipe to recreate a particular loaf of bread I’ve fallen in love with is where the challenge comes in.

Zoe: your food blog at zoebakes.com, is stunning and creative; where do you find time to create recipes there?  Which ones are your favorite to create?

Zoe: Wow, thank you! Zoebakes.com is my playground for sweets, and where I go to relax. I have an insatiable sweet tooth, so baking desserts just seems to find its way into my daily routine. I like to recreate desserts I might find in a restaurant, but in a way people can easily do at home. Which means lots of step-by-step photos.

Any recipes you had a hard time with?  Which recipes were the easiest to create?  Any recipes that didn’t make the cut?

Zoe: The gluten-free breads in our books were the most challenging to develop. They use a list of ingredients I was not used to and techniques that are quite different from traditional breads.  Not only did the recipes have to taste great, but they had to be fast and easy to use. I am thrilled to say we did just that.

Favorite creation in the books?

Jeff:  Provencal Roasted Red Pepper Fougasse, a folded flatbread that’s visually stunning and unbelievably savory.  Don’t forget the salt!

Zoe: One of my favorite recipes in the book is the “Bostock,” and for some reason I don’t think many people have tried it.  It is almond cream rolled up in brioche and baked with an almond crunch topping. Simply divine.

I love that when I do these interviews with food authors I get to find out that most of their recipes were/are created by simply what they were craving!

Can this be true of you two as well when creating Artisan Pizza in 5 Minutes and Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes?

Jeff:  That is exactly it for me.  I moved to Minneapolis in 1987 and couldn’t find New York deli-style rye bread that I’d grown up with.  So I had to learn to make it myself. 

Zoe: That’s why we continue to create more recipes; the cravings and inspiration just never go away.

Who are/were your taste-testers?

Jeff:  Friends, family, and each other.

Zoe: My mom was my first tester. I knew if she could do it, anyone could. She was not much of a baker until she started making our bread. Now she bakes almost daily.

Photo by Mark Luinenburg

european peasant bread, pg. 46

What other foods do you two enjoy?

Jeff:  I love Vietnamese, French, Italian, and Mexican.  Underneath it all, the blend of influences that has made American food so interesting right now. 

Zoe: I intend to spend my life figuring out this question. I love to eat.

Favorite places to travel just for the food?

Jeff:  France, hands down.

Zoe: Turkey or Italy or France or NYC or San Francisco or Nicollet Ave in Minneapolis.  There is good food to be had in nearly every town.

If you were stranded on a desert island and had the choice of one (or two) comfort foods—what would they be?

Jeff:  Rye bread with sweet butter

Zoe: Ice cream and fresh baguettes (Assuming coffee will already be on the island).

Favorite chefs? And did both of you get to meet any of your favorite chefs while on book tours? 

Jeff:  James Beard, because of Beardon Bread.  Like Julia Child in Mastering the Art…, James was saying that great homemade food doesn’t need to be hard for amateurs to achieve.  He fitted his bread recipes so they’d sit on two facing sheets, which influenced us greatly.  James never experimented with stored dough, but I like to think he’d have been open to it. 

Zoe: Oh, I have been influenced by so many pastry chefs and have had the enormous good fortune to meet several of them: Dorie Greenspan, Abby Dodge, Sherry Yard, Nancy Silverton, Michelle Gayer, Stephen Durfee and many, many more. Their work and generosity has inspired my career.

In your downtime what do you like to do?

Jeff:  Travel, eat, cook, run, and bike.  Bike commuting’s my new thing.

Zoe: Down time??? I don’t understand the question. ;)

Any advice to your fans who wish to someday get published?  

It takes more than hard work and a good idea.  You need a bit of luck.  We had a unique idea, but if we hadn’t had some luck—getting the New York Times, the Today Show, and Associated Press to cover us—the book would never have gotten wide exposure.  But if you have a unique cooking idea, and you’re willing to do the networking to get the idea out there, you have a shot.  And self-publishing may make it easier to break into this business—don’t discount that.

Dare I ask—is there a fourth book in the works?  And will it be bread-related?  There is!  But alas, the publisher will kill us if we talk about it so early in its development…

Thank you both for the interview.

For the giveaway:
one lucky person will win one copy of each of their books (3 books total)
please leave a comment telling us what kind of homemade bread you'd like to make or have made.
one comment per person please. 
no anonymous comments please; have a valid name & email in signature line!
we'll do the drawing on Friday November 2, 2012.