Mini Pumpkin Bundt Cakes

Recipe: Moist Pumpkin Bundt Cake--Mini Style!

Source: Taste of Home

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Moist-Pumpkin-Bundt-Cake

Time: Approximately 1 hour, so long as you don't make your own pumpkin puree first.

Ease: 3

Taste: 7

Leftover Value: 10

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

By now, you know of my pumpkin puree mission and also of my pumpkin puree failure.  In a flash, here's what it looks like:

Failure photo removed for your safety.

Whew, thank goodness that's over with.  

Before the pumpkin puree failure of two days ago, I made pumpkin puree with these bad boys in mind:

And of course, there is a reason behind them as well.  I decided to make all my Thanksgiving desserts this year mini.  So I thought, 'What on earth is cuter than mini bundt cakes?"

The answer?

Nothing.  Except maybe mini cheese cakes.  Or mini trifles.  Or mini cinnamon rolls.

But more on that later.

This was the first recipe I found when looking for pumpkin bundt cake recipes.  Then I convinced myself that there had to be a better one out there somewhere.  After a very unfortunate amount of wasted time searching, I decided my first instincts had been best.

If you make this bundt cake in a regular bundt cake pan, it will take about an hour to bake.  However, in the mini bundt pan, it takes about 15 minutes per batch.

And please, whatever you do, don't forget to grease the pan on the last batch.  It isn't a pretty situation to deal with.

What I especially loved about these cakes is that they are just as good the next day as they were fresh.  In fact, I'm planning to make them again today, and then freeze them and see how they fare on Thanksgiving.

Yes, I know, I probably do not need to freeze them for the six days until Thanksgiving but I have serious leftover issues.

Please don't judge me.

The only negative, and the reason I gave them a 7 for taste, is that I felt there was something missing.  The missing elements is what I'm titling, 'The Streusel Effect'.  A streusel typically involves some kind of delightfully crumbly, buttery topping.  However, they also tend to have a cinnamon, sugar, and butter mixture hidden somewhere.

Next time I make these pumpkin bundts, my plan is to make the cinnamon-sugar-butter mixture and toss it in the middle of the batter.

I'm beside myself with excitement to see how it turns out.  

How to Make Pumpkin Puree

Until this summer when I made my Better Than Pumpkin Pie I had never made pumpkin pie before. Therefore, I also had never bought canned pumpkin and used it to make pumpkin pie.  I also never had a mental debate over whether to use canned pumpkin or real pumpkin.

After I made Better Than Pumpkin Pie, I became determined to make my own pumpkin puree to use for real pumpkin pie.

Then I decided that I liked Better Than Pumpkin Pie so much, that there was no need to search out a different pumpkin pie recipe.  Pureeing a pumpkin was still in my future though, only I now planned to use it in a pumpkin bundt cake.

This leads me to today's How To.  Sorry for all the detours.  I wish I could promise that it won't happen again.

You'll want to get yourself a few adorable sugar pumpkins.  Buy them a few weeks before you plan to make your pumpkin puree so that they can decorate your house and make you smile.

One 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree = about one and three quarters cups of puree.  Two sugar pumpkins yielded exactly that for me.

Cut the pumpkins in half.  This is the hardest part.  I wanted to cry and call hubby home from work to do it for me.  If you can make it past this point, you'll be fine.

I should say, if I can make it past this point, you'll be fine.

After cutting the pumpkins in half, scoop all their guts out and place in a small bowl.

Lightly oil a baking sheet and put the pumpkin halves face down.  You'll notice that I cut off the stem of my pumpkin.  This is not necessary.  I just like to make life difficult.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

While the pumpkin corpses are baking, grab your bowl of pumpkin guts.  Separate the seeds from the gushy innards and discard all traces of orange.  You must get every single speck of orange off or else utter calamity will befall you.

Just kidding.  But I had you worried, didn't I?  

My two sugar pumpkins yielded half a cup of pumpkin seeds.

I decided to make olive oil and sea salt pumpkin seeds.  

Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the seeds and toss lightly.

Add about one teaspoon of sea salt.  Toss lightly.

Put the pumpkin seeds to the side as your pumpkins finish up baking.

For the love of everything pure, holy, and good, let the pumpkin halves cool for five to ten minutes.  I say this because my fingers are still burning due to my impatience.

After the pumpkin halves have cooled, use a spoon to scoop the pumpkin meat off the skin.  If the pumpkin baked long enough, this should be extremely easy.

If you are anything like me you'll look at your pumpkin skin and say, "Gee, I wish I could do something more with this,"

 

And then you'll realize that trash is trash.  So, you'll put those pumpkin skins in the trash.

Puree the pumpkin meat in a blender or food processor.

When it is smooth and looks like baby food, it's ready.

Either use it immediately in pumpkin pie, pumpkin bundt cake, or anything that calls for canned pumpkin or refrigerate or freeze until you're ready to use it.

When all the excitement of pureeing the pumpkin has died down, spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and spread the pumpkin seeds out.

Bake at 350 until they start to brown or pop off of the pan like popcorn, whichever comes first.  Mine only took about seven minutes.

Toss them in a bowl and feel unashamed as you snack on the entire thing alone.  After all that work pureeing the pumpkins, you've earned this little treat.

 

Bananas for Bread

Recipe: Sour Cream Banana Bread

Source: The Old Farmer's Almanac: Everyday Recipes

Time: Approx. 1 hr 15 min (includes baking time)

Ease: 3

Taste: 7

Leftover Value: 9

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer:  Keep it in the Strainer!

I hate bananas.  However, I say this with great woe.

I wish I liked bananas.  Of all fruit, they seem to be the heartiest and the most durable to being carried around in a purse.  But yet, I cannot eat them.  It is usually when I am extremely starving and I find them sitting on my kitchen table that I choose to give them another try.  To which I am always greatly disappointed.  Something about the aftertaste of a banana makes me wish I'd never met such a creature.

I am fortunate though.  I can bear the taste of banana bread.  So long as it is accompanied by chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.

When the recipe for "Sour Cream Banana Bread" oddly did not involve chocolate at all, I substituted the 1/2 cup of chopped pecans for chocolate chips.  My initial intention was to double the called for chocolate.  However, if you know anything about the average bag of chocolate chips you know that it is approximately two cups worth.

And I just couldn't let that one cup sit alone in the bag without it's counterpart.

The bread turned out as decent as can be, all things considered.  The top of the loaf sort of sunk in as it cooled, but I've made peace with the fact that it might have been the chocolates' fault.

The taste was still delightful, much better than if it had been made with only pecans.
 

Better Butter

This is very important.  

Land O'Lakes now sells their butter in half sticks.

Wait, let me restate that.

Land O'Lakes now sells their butter in half sticks!!

From the looks of it, the fact that this news excites me either means that it doesn't take much to excite me, or I now cook so much that this news holds meaning for me.

Truth be told, it's a little bit of both.

As I went to whip up some gourmet mac and cheese, I discovered the half stick miracle.

The idea that I didn't have to cut a stick of butter in half for my mac and cheese suddenly made Land O'Lakes my favorite butter makers ever.

I'm pretty excited to see where else these tiny butter sticks will come in handy.

I'm also a little excited to try Land O'Lakes cinnamon sugar spread and their butter with olive oil and sea salt.  We'll see if I get lucky the next time I'm in the butter aisle...

Pancakes and Sour Cream?

Recipe: Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Time: 30 minutes total (includes cooking time)
Ease: 2
Taste: 5
Leftover Value: No leftovers
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain

It was not until I reached adulthood that I discovered the delight that is sour cream.  Growing up, the only thing I knew about sour cream was that it was an essential ingredient in my mom's chicken paprika.  We never used it for anything else.  However, once I realized it actually had other uses, suddenly quesadillas, nachos, and potato skins all made sense.

Still to this day I cannot understand what it is about sour cream that makes these things suddenly more wonderful than they are on their own.  I would never crave just sour cream (and I truly hope there is not a soul out there who does) but the thought of it spread on my potato skin or mixed with salsa on a meaty cheesy bite of nacho makes my mouth start to salivate.

I have recently learned though that sour cream is not the answer to improving all foods.

Because of my gained attraction to sour cream, the recipe for "sour cream pancakes" stood out.  And since on Monday I was stuck home waiting for Hurricane Sandy to hit, I decided to give them a try.

The fact that sour cream made up about half of the combined ingredients should have been a warning sign.  To be honest, it was but I had already started making the pancakes when I realized just how much sour cream was in them:

On one end of the scale we have: 1 cup of sour cream

On the other: Approximately 9 tablespoons of other ingredients and 2 eggs

The recipe yielded nine pancakes and they were very thin.  The taste was much lighter than your average Bisquick pancake.  The problem was, even though they were clearly cooked through they still had a very wet (not moist, wet) taste about them.

If that's what floats your boat, give them a try.  But for me, I'll stick with my sour cream free box of pancakes until something better comes around.