Thanksgiving Macaron Centerpiece: Pumpkin Spice Macarons

Hey all! How are your thanksgiving preparations going? did you plan your menus, finish the grocery shopping and shine the silver already or are you more of a last minute type (like me?) I have been seeing posts and tweets about turkey thawing, and pie-crust rolling and I can't help getting caught up in the excitement. I always miss my large family during holiday season and wish there were more of us on the West Coast. But I can't complain too much since I was blessed to see my awesome cousins recently and had my mom-in-law visiting us until last week. So this year Thanksgiving looks to be a small affair with my little family and plans to meet a couple of friends after which we three are heading off for a short trip. It didn't seem natural to not do any cooking or baking though, so here is a thanks giving center piece idea: Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Macarons! 

Making these and piling them into glass jars or stacking them on cake stands along with little pumpkins, squash, pine cones and autumn leaves seemed like a good idea to add some festive cheer to your table. They would make great hostess gifts too I'm thinking :)

I haven't made macarons in a while and recently a couple of friends were discussing them and I felt that familiar itch to bake them all over again. Looks like my macobsession is back eeeeeks! These pint sized treats are perfect to nibble on while waiting for the caramel cardamom pumpkin pie or swirly pumpkin-ginger  cheesecake to be served. Another interesting fall macaron idea is this Ginger Spice Macaron

Oh and I discovered that you don't need cream to make ganache. Ok so I forgot to buy cream. But the important thing  is- you don't need it! Make ganache with chocolate and ...milk! You can thank me now and Nigella who apparently knew too. 

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cumin roasted cauliflower soup- hearty & healthy

“Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24) BXVI: The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity #Lent #Pope2You  - From the Pope's daily twitter updates during Lent

Sometimes an idea will come and settle in my head. Then it's like everything around me conspires to make me put that idea into action. That idea for some time now was earth shattering. Life changing. Actually it was just...cumin roasted cauliflower soup.

See, I discovered the joy of roasted veggies only after moving here with a large, lovely oven at my disposal. As a kid I wouldn't eat cauliflower unless it was crispy fried like in Gobi Manchurian a delectable but greasy Indo- Chinese dish. Since then I have grown to appreciate my veggies, but even more so after I discovered roasting them. Baked sweet potato "fries", broiled sweet bell peppers, smoky roasted eggplant and best of all, cumin roasted cauliflower bliss.
So while I have been routinely roasting my cauliflower sprinkled with a little cumin, pepper and salt and enjoying delicious cauliflower chips for some time now, one day I just had the idea to make them into soup.

Since that day I kept hearing cauliflower everywhere- the women at the table next to ours at a restaurant kept raving about the cauliflower soup they were having and which I then wished I had ordered. Then some good friends blogged about it or mentioned making it and by then I was longing/craving cauliflower soup and just had to make it!

There are lots of cauliflower soups out there. A friend recently made one that was light, refreshing and delicious and I'm looking forward to her recipe and hope to try it soon too.
This one is hearty, thick and robustly flavorful and very filling. Soup never makes me feel full. But this one does. And its healthy and yummy to boot.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent for us Christians. It is a period of penance, abstinence and sacrifice, remembering the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ, Who we believe died painfully on the Cross to atone for all our sins. This period of around 40 days leads up to Easter which celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and reminds us that we too must strive not for the fleeting pleasures of this life but of eternal life in Heaven.

During Lent we are called to pause and reflect on our own lives and turn away from sin. We are to do charitable acts and to observe fasts as a simple exercise of "showing our passions who is boss" and knowing that we can control our desires if we want. Even if our desires in themselves may not be sinful, indulging every one of them could be dangerous, making us more likely to give in to sin so we practice a little self restraint during this time.

Some people give up meat and alcohol or something else they really like during this time. There was a little girl who gave up the colour pink, her absolute favorite :) People find really creative ways to make their Lenten sacrifices like this girl I read about who is giving up fashion for a cause. In support of those giving up meat for Lent I plan to post several more healthy vegetarian dinner ideas in the coming month like this soup.

For me eating only veggies is quite a treat and not really a sacrifice so I will have to find something unpleasant but good for me to do. Any ideas? maybe giving up sweets or undertaking a major kitchen and paperwork re-organisation effort. Or I might have to take up some form of exercise especially after the two year old  bumped his head against my tummy today and then kept saying "bouncy-bouncy!"

You don't have to be Christian to participate in Lent. A little self restraint once in a while is good for everyone. But I must admit -this soup with some flaky onion biscuits for dinner? Not very sacrificial at all!

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Hope everyone in this part of the world enjoyed a good thanksgiving meal! I have an awesomely sweet friend and fellow new mom to thank for hosting it this year, inspite of being a busy working mom of an active little toddler. I always enjoy meeting them and my little monkey has a good time checking out baby T's toys and trying to lick him!

I thought I'd take a side dish along, and after many hours of deliberation and back and forth-ing between this, and this, I finally decided it would be pie. Pumpkin pie. But after having made Libby's  pumpkin pie and a lovely Cardamom Caramel pumpkin pie already, I wanted to make something different. So then it was back to my favourite food blogs and sites and thumbing through cook books, until I began to see ginger molasses pies, pecan pumpkin pies, buttermilk pies... everywhere. And then  it happened. I saw this stunner on Gourmet magazine and fell in love. Look at her! Swirly pumpkin and cream cheese goodness, spiked with crystallized ginger. Just tasting the batter itself I knew this one is a true winner.

Pumpkin ginger cheesecake pie with easy gingersnap cookie crust

Recipe Source: Lillian Chou for Gourmet Magazine from here

Serves 8. Active time about 20 mins, From start to finish including resting and cooling : 8 hours so best if made the day before your big fat thanksgiving bash.

Ingredients:

For the gingersnap crumb crust from here

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus a little more ( about a tsp) for greasing
• 1 1/2 cups cookie crumbs (10 graham crackers or 24 small gingersnaps; about 6 oz)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• Special Equipment

  :

   
  a 9- to 9 1/2-inch pie plate (4-cup capacity)

Method:

• To make cookie crumbs, break up crackers or cookies into small pieces ( I thulped crushed mine, still in the package, with a rolling pin) , then pulse in a food processor until finely ground.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly butter pie plate
• Stir together all ingredients in a bowl and press evenly on bottom and the side of pie plate. Bake until crisp, 12 to 15 minutes, then cool on a rack to room temperature, about 45 minutes

For the Pumpkin Ginger Cheesecake filling:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup chopped crystallized ginger ( the original recipe stated 1/4 cup which would make it very strong)
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg ( The original recipe says 1/2 tsp freshly grated nuteg-but I think that's too much) 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pumpkin (If using fresh pumpkin, cut it in half and bake at 300 F for about 30 mins and scoop out the flesh after discarding seeds. If using a 15-oz can-you'll use almost all of it)

Method:

• Make the gingersnap pie crust and let it cool.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Pulse sugar and ginger in a food processor until ginger is finely chopped, then add cream cheese and pulse until smooth. Add eggs, milk, flour, nutmeg, and salt and pulse until just combined. ( i don't have a food processor, but my immersion/stick blender worked just fine) 
• Keep 2/3 cup cream cheese mixture separately - we'll use this later. Whisk together remaining 1 1/3 cups cream cheese mixture and pumpkin in a large bowl until combined.
• Pour pumpkin mixture into gingersnap crumb crust. Now slowly stir the cream cheese mixture kept separately  and drizzle decoratively over top of pumpkin mixture, and swirl little circles with back of a spoon for that marble like effect. Gorgeous!
• Put pie on a baking sheet and bake until center is just set, 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours, then chill, loosely covered with foil, at least 4 hours. Very gently blot any moisture from surface ( If required) with paper towels before serving.
•  This cheesecake can be chilled up to 3 days (although the crust will soften slightly)
  
  

Verdict: The cheesecake pie looked really good and everyone commented on the swirlyness, but unfortunately  T and I thought the spices were way too overpowering (The others were too nice to say!) Maybe because I made it the night before and it sat in the fridge overnight and matured, but the next time I make this, I will reduce the ginger and nutmeg by half (as already noted in the recipe above) 

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Caramel Cardamom Pumpkin Pie

I have been waiting all year for fall to arrive so that I would have an excuse to make pumpkin pie. Well I cheated and made the famous Libbey's recipe in April but now seems like the perfect time- there's a nip in the air and pumpkins on every doorstep and I also located 2 tins of pumpkin at my local grocers ( Seriously what's with the tinned pumpkin shortage?).
This year I searched through many recipes and finally settled on Gourmet magazine's which is laced with caramel. I also had a nagging suspicion that caramom was the missing pumpkin spice mix ingredient and boy was I right!
Many bloggers say that canned pumpkin tastes as good as using the real thing, but I'm planning to test that and  found a cute, small cooking pumpkin  that I plan to turn into another pie soon. In the meanwhile I had all these dreams of going Anne Gedes with the jellybean posing cutely with it. Unfortunately my 10 month old preferred to treat it as a football or slap at it and roll it away so I couldn't get one picture with both the pumpkin and my little pumpkin in the same frame :(
Fortunately the pie behaved very well and turned out great!

Caramel Cardamom Pumpkin Pie
Recipe source: Maggie Rugiero for Gourmet Magazine Nov 2006 from here
Active time: 45 including baking and cooling: 6 hours

Ingredients

For Pastry crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water to which some ice cubes have been added

For Pie Filling:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 cups heavy cream
1 (15-oz) can pumpkin (not pie filling; a scant 2 cups)
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
4 cardamoms either powdered or smashed to release the oils
Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Special equipment: a pastry or bench scraper or a large fork ; a 10-inch fluted metal quiche pan (2 inches deep) with a removable bottom; pie weights/ coins or raw rice

Method:
Make dough for pie crust:
Blend together flour, butter, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 4 tablespoons ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in processor) until incorporated.
Squeeze a small handful of dough: If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated, then test again. (Do not overwork dough or pastry will be tough.)
Turn mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather all of dough together with scraper and press into a ball, then flatten into a 5-inch disk. Chill dough, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 14-inch round, then fit into quiche pan and trim excess dough flush with rim of pan. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

Bake shell:
Lightly prick bottom of shell all over with a fork, then line with foil and fill with pie weights. Put quiche pan on a baking sheet and bake pie shell until side is set and edge is pale golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Carefully remove weights and foil and bake shell until bottom is golden, about 10 minutes more. Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 30 minutes.

Make filling while shell cools:
Bring sugar and water to a boil in a 3- to 3 1/2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
Add the cardamom.
Boil syrup on high heat, washing down side of pan occasionally with a pastry brush dipped in cold water and gently swirling pan (do not stir), until mixture is a deep golden caramel, about 10 minutes but be careful it doesn't burn too much.
Reduce heat to moderate and carefully add 1 cup cream (mixture will bubble vigorously), stirring until caramel is dissolved. Stir in remaining cup cream and bring just to a simmer.
Whisk together pumpkin purée, spices, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk in hot cream mixture, then add eggs, whisking until combined well. Pour filling into cooled crust and bake until puffed 1 1/2 inches from edge and center is just set, 55 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack, about 2 hours. (Don't worry if it looks a little runny. The pie will continue to set as it cools.)

Notes:
Dough can be chilled up to 1 day or frozen, wrapped well in foil, 1 month.
Pie shell can be baked 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
Pie is best eaten the same day but can be baked 1 day ahead and cooled completely, then chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Am sending over a warm piece of pie to the passionate about baking Deeba who is hosting this month's Monthly Mingle started by Meeta with the theme baking with fruit.

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