Caramel Apples
Recipe by Dragon

Happy Halloween Everyone! I've had fun with the #GreatHallowTweet Halloween BlogHop this week. Thank you Renee, from Flamingo Musings, for coming up with such a fun theme. Don't forget to visit my fellow ghouls and goblins to see what evil treats they've come up with.

To celebrate this most unholy day, I have made Caramel Apples for you. Enjoy!

Makes: 4

Ingredients:
20 Werther’s Original Chewy Caramels, unwrapped
20 Werther's Original Hard Candy, unwrapped
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 granny smith apples, washed, dried
4 popsicle sticks

Assorted garnishes (candies, nuts, crushed cookies) (optional)

Directions:

1.Insert the popsicle sticks into the stem end of each apple.

2.Combine candies, milk and vanilla in glass bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals until the caramel is melted. Stir with a wooden spoon after each 30 second interval.

3.Dip apples into melted caramel until evenly coated. Allow excess caramel to drip off. Scrape bottoms of apples, dip the apples in the garnishes for decoration. (optional). You may have microwave the caramel again after a couple of apples.

4. Refrigerate at 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Let it sit a room temperature for 10 minutes before serving. Store leftover apples in refrigerator.

Spiced Pumpkin Stew with Couscous

Spiced Pumpkin Stew with Couscous
Recipe by Dragon

And the #GreatHallowTweet continues with, you guessed it, more pumpkin! This is a wonderful vegetarian fall dinner and it's even better the next day. Enjoy.

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 cups fresh pumpkin, peeled, seeded, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Salt and pepper to taste

Couscous:
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup couscous

Directions:
1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add the onions and cook for about 5 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic, tomatoes, cinnamon stick, paprika,coriander, cumin and red pepper flakes. Cook for another 5 minutes.

2. Add the pumpkin and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer and cook partially covered until the pumpkin is tender, about 20 minutes. Add the cranberries and cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick.

3. Stir in the baby spinach. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. For the couscous: In a glass bowl, combine the boiling water and couscous. Cover the bowl tightly with some plastic wrap. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the water is absorbed by the couscous. Fluff the couscous with a fork before serving.

5. Serve the stew over the couscous and top with the sliced almonds.

Macarons

Macarons

It's Daring Bakers time again and this month we have Macarons! I've always admired these little darlings and now I've made some myself. I'm so hooked that I can't wait to experiment with different flavour combinations.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

According to Ami.....

"In the United States, the term macaroon generally refers to a cookie made primarily of coconut. But European macaroons are based on either ground almonds or almond paste, combined with sugar and egg whites. The texture can run from chewy, crunchy or a combination of the two. Frequently, two macaroons are sandwiched together with ganache, buttercream or jam, which can cause the cookies to become more chewy. The flavor possibilities and combinations are nigh endless, allowing infinitely customizable permutations."

I chose to make chocolate macarons with a creamy bittersweet chocolate ganache center. I also added a bit more almond to the batter to make them stiffer. This way I was able to use a star tip to create the spiderweb-like pattern on the cookie. I did this to celebrate this week's #GreatHallowTweet event leading up to Halloween. (see the post below for more details)

To birds with one stone.....yeah, I'm clever like that. :)

Macarons
Recipe by Claudia Fleming

Makes about 24 cookies

Ingredients:
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)
2 Tablespoons of dutch cocoa powder (my addition)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar, almond flour and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

#GreatHallowTweet Halloween BlogHop

#GreatHallowTweet Halloween BlogHop

Welcome to the #GreatHallowTweet Halloween BlogHop. This was the brain child of the fabulous Renee at Flamingo Musings. During this week leading up to Halloween a devilish group of bloggers are causing mayheim and carnage all over the interwebs. My kind of people. ;)

Be sure to visit my fellow ghouls and goblins and see what Halloween treats they have cooking.
(The list is the under Great Hallow column on the left panel.)


Pumpkin Pie
Recipe by Stephanie Jaworski of Joyofbaking.com

When I think of Halloween, I think of pumpkins. But would you believe that I have never made a pumpkin pie. Really, I hardly believed it myself. :) So when I had my family's thanksgiving dinner this year, I set out to make my first one.

But what pumpkin pie recipe to choose? There are so many out there. For the solution, I went to my Twitter friends and asked them for their favourite recipe. They didn't fail me. One friend sent me to Joyofbaking.com for Stephanie Jaworski's pie recipe. It looked amazing and it called for maple syrup whipped cream! I was sold.

It was an easy recipe to make and the end result was absolute perfection. My brother declared it the best pumpkin pie he ever had. High praise indeed. :)

Ingredients:
Pate Brisee (Short Crust Pastry)

1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon (14 grams) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch (2.54 cm) pieces
1/8 to 1/4 cup (30 - 60 ml) ice water

Pumpkin Filling

3 large eggs
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree or 1 - 15 ounce can (425 grams) pure pumpkin
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Maple Whipped Cream

1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Pate Brisee: In a food processor, place the flour, salt, and sugar and process until combined. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal (about 15 seconds). Pour 1/8 cup (30 ml) water in a slow, steady stream, through the feed tube until the dough just holds together when pinched. If necessary, add more water. Do not process more than 30 seconds.

Turn the dough onto your work surface and gather into a ball. Flatten into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to one hour before using. This will chill the butter and relax the gluten in the flour.

After the dough has chilled sufficiently, place on a lightly floured surface, and roll into a 13 inch (33 cm) circle. (To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards).) Fold the dough in half and gently transfer to a 9 inch (23 cm) pie pan. Brush off any excess flour and tuck the overhanging pastry under itself. Use a fork to make a decorative border. Alternatively, you can trim the pastry to the edge of the pie pan. With the remaining pastry make decorative cut-outs (leaves, pumpkins, etc.) and with a little water, attach them around the lip of the pie pan. Refrigerate the pastry, covered with plastic wrap, for about 30 minutes before pouring in the filling.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in bottom third of the oven.

Make the Pumpkin Filling: In a large bowl lightly whisk the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell and place on a large baking pan to catch any spills. Bake the pie for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the filling is set and the crust has browned (the center will still look wet). (A knife inserted about 1 inch (2.54 cm) from side of pan will come out almost clean.)

Place the baked pie on a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature with maple whipped cream. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Make the Maple Whipped Cream:

Place the heavy whipping cream and maple syrup in bowl of your electric mixer. With the whisk attachment, whip the cream until soft peaks form.