I realize that I’m a month or two late for the PUMPKIN-EVERYTHING craze that annually arrives in September, but I finally gathered the time, the initiative, and the pumpkins to try my hand at making my own pumpkin puree. I’ve always been a big fan of Libby’s, but I’m pretty pleased with both the results and the ease of making this myself. Right after Halloween, it’s easy to find pumpkins for just a couple dollars, so it’s a great time of year to stock up for all your coming holiday desserts, as it freezes wonderfully.

And it’s sooooo easy. I urge you to give it a try for your own pumpkin recipes this year! Here’s how it’s done:

1. Select 1-2 small-ish pumpkins, or as many as you want to make in one batch. You can definitely puree pumpkins of any size, but they flavor and texture will be better from smaller pumpkins. These are often sold as “pie pumpkins” or “sugar pumpkins”.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the stem-end of the pumpkin off, slicing off as little of the orange part as possible. Then, cut each pumpkin in half.

3. Use a metal spoon or a pumpkin scraper to clean out the cavity of each half. And don’t pitch the seeds! They make a delicious snack when they’re roasted.

4. Place the pumpkins cut-side down on the parchment paper. You can also place them cut-side up, but you’ll want to add a tablespoon of water to the cavity of each half.

5. Bake the pumpkins for 45-50 minutes. To ensure they are done, flip one half over and prick the flesh with a fork. It should be soft and easy to prick.

6. Use a metal spoon to scrape the flesh off of the skin of each half. Place the flesh in a food processor or blender. I work with one half of the pumpkin at a time to help the pureeing go quickly.

7. Empty the puree into a separate bowl and continue until all of the pumpkin flesh is pureed.

And that’s all! My sugar pumpkins yielded about 32 ounces of puree per pumpkin, or roughly the equivalent of two cans.

You can use this puree immediately if you have a dish ready to cook. Or, keep it in the fridge for up to five days.

I, however, freeze mine. I like freezing it in eight-ounce baggies. Just use regular zippered sandwich bags and a food scale to add the puree, then press them flat before freezing to maximize your storage space.

Looking for new ways to feature pumpkin at your festivities this year Try these Mini Pumpkin Cream Pies, Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream & Sugared Pecans, or Pumpkin Chiffon Pie for dessert. Or! Kick off the party with Sweet & Savory Pumpkin Dips. Then when you’re done eating them, the dip bowls will make you another great batch of pumpkin puree.

I’ve found, in my eleven years living outside of Colorado, that many people don’t imagine Colorado as a place where much food can grow. People always sound surprised when I tell them that the hardiness zone for growing fruits and vegetables in Denver is approximately the same as that of Columbus, Ohio. And while it may be impossible to grow prolific gardens in the high mountain towns, there are many areas of the state known specifically for their produce.

In fact, many of the most anticipated foods of the summer are identified by the town in which they are grown. I’ve already mentioned Palisade peaches, and that area is also a significant producer of apples, plums, and cherries. Rocky Ford melons are some of the sweetest I’ve ever tasted. Olathe sweet corn is grown so prolifically that it appears in heaping mounds at even the most basic grocery stores, not just at boutique food shops and farmers markets. And, though it’s a town in New Mexico, we always look forward to the arrival each fall of Hatch green chiles.

Green chile is a bit of a sport in the Southwest. Most natives will argue that there is NOTHING that can’t be improved by these versatile foods, whether you like your chiles mild (like me) or screamin’ hot. The smell of roasting chiles tumbling around in giant metal barrels outside every grocery store still elicits strong memories of back-to-school evening errands with my parents and anticipation for the imminent changing leaves. Interestingly, I did not like green chiles at all as a kid. It’s only now, as an adult and returning Colorado resident, that I finally appreciate the obsession.

And so, I’m on a quest to learn how to cook with green chile beyond simply sprinkling it on my eggs, my pizza, my fajitas… though those are all excellent decisions. And this quest starts with something I’m supremely comfortable with: mac and cheese! For a Colorado-autumn twist on my go-to recipe, I paired my green chile with sweet corn, another fall favorite of mine.

I adapted this recipe from my go-to Classic Stovetop Mac & Cheese. It’s quick, not too fussy, and delightfully creamy. For this version, the cheeses are white cheddar and monterey jack as opposed to sharp orange cheddar. I also have become a major fan of orecchiette pasta (it means little ears!) for my mac.

As I said above, I’m a little cautious with my green chile (even a medium can leave my lips tingling if I eat too much) so I used mild, but if you like your spice, feel free to kick it up with a medium chile or two. The mild cheeses keep the chile in check, and the sweet corn compliments it nicely.

Let’s hear it for green chile!

Green Chile & Sweet Corn Mac

Serves 3-4

3-4 roasted green chiles (choose your temp!)
2 ears sweet corn, cut from the cobs
2 T unsalted butter
1/2 small white onion, about 1 cup diced
2 T all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c milk
2 1/2 oz white cheddar cheese, grated
2 1/2 oz monterey jack cheese, grated
8 oz pasta

Remove skins and seeds from green chiles. Chop the chiles and the onion and set aside. Heat a large frying pan over fairly high heat. Also, bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

Once the frying pan is hot, add the corn and toss quickly for 3-4 minutes until the corn is lightly charred. Remove corn from the pan and set aside. If your water is boiling, add the pasta and cook to al denté.

Melt butter in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Once melted, add onions and sauté 4-5 minutes. Add flour and salt to the onions and mix well, allowing the roux to cook for about 3 minutes. Slowly drizzle in the milk, stirring the entire time, and continue stirring until mixture has thickened to a gravy-like consistency. Turn off heat and add cheeses and mix until cheese is smoothly melted.

Drain pasta and return to pot. Stir in cheese mixture, all but 1/2 c of corn, and green chiles. Once pasta is on plates, sprinkle remaining corn on top as a garnish.

It’s lovely, then, to find something to make for dinner that add bright color and spicy, smoky flavor to the room. This soup is just the ticket?

This recipe is adapted from one I learned at a cooking class in North Carolina. The base of the soup is composed of two fall market items that store quite well, so it’s just as easy to make in the winter as in late autumn.

Sweet potatoes and apples: such good friends these can be in dishes both sweet and savory! The sweet potatoes don’t need any special treatment before heading into the oven, and meanwhile, you can prepare your apples and other ingredients.

Once peeled and sliced, the apples are gently spiced with curry and coated with olive oil. They’ll join the potatoes for the last 15 minutes of roasting.

Next, the remaining ingredients come out to play. Here’s where things really get fun: a chipotle en adobo (just one, believe me, it will give PLENTY of spice), a few slices of nice, thick bacon, some garlic, onion, and pepper, and apple cider and chicken stock to give the soup some sweetness and some liquid. All of the above except the cider and stock are sauteed right in the stock pot and would probably be good enough to eat all on their own.

I mean seriously, SO GOOD. The smell is overwhelmingly delightful.

Meanwhile, your potatoes will be finishing up in the oven. One key to this soup really is a nice, long roast for the sweet potatoes. They’ll roast for a full hour, developing their sweetness, and will pop right out of their skins once they’ve cooled down a bit. Plus, we got everything else ready while they cooked, how efficient!

From there, it doesn’t take much to finish; dump the peeled potatoes and the apples in with the aromatics, add the stock and cider, and simmer for about 20 minutes before blending. I’ll put in my usual plug for an immersion blender at this point: who likes trying to transfer boiling hot soup from a giant pot to a tiny food processor to a different pot in multiple batches?

Once blended, dish up what is seriously the most vibrant soup I’ve ever tasted. Each component is equally important: the sweet apple cider nicely cuts the heat from the chipotle, the chipotle gives heat to the potatoes and apples, the potatoes and apples provide a filling and flavorful base, and best of all, the bacon lends its smoky, meaty flavor to the soup in all the right ways.

So if you, like me, are counting the days until the return of green trees, blue skies, and bright yellow flowers sprouting from every crack in the sidewalks, I encourage to stop counting long enough to enjoy this perfectly delightful soup. It really goes best with cold weather, and for many of us, we have several weeks of that left!

Spiced & Smoky Sweet Potato Soup
Adapted from Durham Spirits Company

2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes (3-4 large)
3 small, tart apples
2 T olive oil, divided
1 tsp curry powder
4 slices of bacon, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 chipotle en adobo, chopped
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 c apple cider
4 c chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wash sweet potatoes and place on a baking sheet, leaving about a third of the baking sheet open (you’ll be adding the apples partway through). Roast for one hour. While the potatoes are roasting, peel, core, and slice the apples and place in a small bowl. Add 1 T olive oil and curry powder and mix well. Add the apples to the baking sheet for the last 15 minutes that the potatoes are roasting. Once the roasting is done, remove baking sheet from the oven and set aside until the potatoes are cool enough to handle. Once cool, slice into the skins, peel them off, and discard them.

While the potatoes are cooling, heat 1 T olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Roughly chop bacon and sauté in the pot. Add the onion, salt, and pepper and cook until onions are soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add the chipotle and the garlic and cook for about 5 more minutes. Add apple cider, chicken stock, apples, and the peeled potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Puree the soup using an immersion blender or a regular blender. Soup should be fairly thick. If you prefer a thinner soup, add a bit more chicken stock or apple cider.

Serve immediately. This also makes great leftovers.

There aren’t enough sauces, ingredients, shapes, cheeses, or styles in the world to burn out my love for pasta. If anything, it seems my taste for the stuff has only expanded since I started this blog; my childhood pasta preferences were limited exclusively to spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese, and now I favor short, thick pasta dressed in zesty, flavorful sauces. There’s really nothing like writing a food blog to force me into trying new things. And as much as I want to make some of my favorites over and over again, then I’d have nothing new to tell you about! (However, if you haven’t already tried the Penne alla Vodka, you should really make it your top priority.)

Well, maybe your second priority. Because I’m pretty darn happy with this one, too.

Roasted red peppers are pretty easy to come by at the grocery store. Yes, I know that fresh red bell peppers are EVERYWHERE at this time of year (at least in North Carolina), but for a quick and filling weeknight dinner, I went with these. Plus I already had them in my pantry and it was time to use them up.

The red peppers pair up with garlic and onion to create the base for this sauce. After a quick sauté, I blended them with a bit of chicken stock and an immersion blender. My goal was to keep the sauce fluid, but to keep the texture as well. An immersion blender did just the trick.

The sauce finishes off with a generous swirl of cream, parmesan cheese, and chopped parsley before joining the rigatoni.

I love using rigatoni for this dish. The pepper sauce has a strong flavor, and it needs a hearty pasta to support it. Plus, the textured sauce loves hiding inside the tubes of this short pasta.

The result is a full pound of pasta dressed in a zippy, flavorful sauce. It’s great for a crowd but also works well if you’re really into leftovers, like me! A full week of delicious pasta lunches is my kind of week.

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

16 oz rigatoni (or your other favorite short pasta)
2 T butter
half of a large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
one 12-oz jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1 c chicken stock
1/2 c cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 c freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus additional for serving
3 T chopped fresh parsley

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook to al denté.

Heat butter in a large frying pan. Add onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add chopped peppers and sauté for 2-3 minutes more.

Dump the pepper mixture into a small pot and add the chicken stock. Blend lightly with an immersion blender, just enough that the mixture is fluid but there is still some texture. Return the blended mixture to the frying pan and add the cream, salt, and pepper.

Drain the pasta in a colander and then return it to the pot it was cooked in. Add the parmesan cheese and parsley, then pour the pepper mixture over the pasta. Mix well to coat all the pasta.

Serve sprinkled with additional parmesan cheese.

Oh dear friends.

October is doing that thing again where it goes by too quickly. It’s my favorite month: the peak of autumn on most of this continent, and I may have mentioned once or seven-hundred times that autumn provides me the greatest joy of any season. A plentiful harvest of food to enjoy in the moment and store for the winter, repressed pigments unleashed in the forests in a glorious display of color, a chance to layer every article of orange, green, purple, and brown clothing I own in endless combinations for my daily attire (it is the only season I feel my wardrobe is remotely fashionable).

And of course, autumn recipes. This one in particular is the pinnacle of fall flavor unity: a basic caramel sweetened with maple syrup and punched up with a quart of apple cider boiled down to pure apple goodness. And now is really the best time to make them because it’s the one time of year you can buy fresh-pressed, unpasteurized apple cider.

And while yes, the primary purpose of my annual expedition is a supply of local fruit to get me through the winter, the added perk is access to this incredible cider. Unpasteurized apple cider, contrary to its grocery store counterparts, is thick, opaque, and must be refrigerated. But it’s filled with the most incredible flavor: you can still taste which varieties were used to press the cider. Most apple orchards sell it, but you can also occasionally find it in specialty grocery stores or farmers markets. Get out there and get some!

I also had a bottle of maple syrup that I bought in Wisconsin. It seemed appropriate to add to this autumn candy, right?

The cider and the syrup won’t make a caramel on their own though. Bring in the butter, the cream, the sugar, and the spices!

Once all the ingredients are prepared, the first step is to boil down the apple cider, waaaaaay down. The quart of apple cider you’ll start with takes 30-40 minutes to boil down to about half a cup, which is what we’re aiming for. That 30-40 minutes is a great time to line a square pan with parchment paper and make wrappers for your pretty little candies. Waxed paper works best, and you’ll want squares about four inches across. No need to be fussy, you’ll be wrinkling them up so this is not the time for perfection.

In no time, you’ll have your concentrated apple cider. You may have to remove the pan from the heat to make sure  you have the right amount. Then, it’s time to mix in the butter, cream, sugar, and maple syrup to make your candy.

Now comes the tricky part. After the butter and sugar have dissolved, return the pan to the heat with a candy thermometer. It only takes a few minutes to bring the candy to temperature. Cook it too little and you’ll end up with a caramel sauce, (which would be out-of-control-delicious, mind you) but cook it too much you’ll end up with toffees (also delicious).

Once the caramel reaches 250°, into the mold it goes!

And now the waiting. The caramel will cool for about two hours. I cooled mine on the counter. You can try it in the fridge, but I would let it come back to room temperature before attempting to cut it to help prevent it from cracking.

Once it is cool, it’s time to turn that giant block of caramel into sixty-four tiny blocks. Make sure you wipe your knife with oil between cuts so it doesn’t stick in the caramel.

And soon, after gently wrapping each and every one, you’ll have a mountain of caramels bursting with apple-y, autumn-y flavor. Though candy can be intimidating, I urge you to give these a shot. They’re perfect for fall parties, fall birthday and wedding gifts, or just as a treat on days when you want to savor all the flavor of fall in one little bite. Even though October is escaping quickly, these will help the season last.

Apple Cider Maple Caramels
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

4 c apple cider (use fresh, unpasteurized cider if you can find it)
1/2 c unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized chunks
1 c granulated sugar
1/2 c maple syrup
1/3 c heavy cream
2 tsp flaky sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
canola or vegetable oil (for greasing the knife)

Heat apple cider in a 3- or 4-quart pot over medium-high heat. While the cider boils, prepare your remaining ingredients and have them standing by near the stove. Use two strips of parchment paper to line an 8-inch square pan sitting on a trivet, crossing the parchment so that the bottom and all sides are covered. You can also use this time to cut wrappers out of wax paper, about 64 four-inch squares.

Boil cider for 25-35 minutes until it has reduced to about 1/2 a cup, stirring occasionally. You may have to remove it from the heat as it gets close to get an accurate idea of how much is left. It will form a thick, dark syrup.

Remove the pot from the heat and stir in butter, sugar, maple syrup, and cream. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pot and return to the heat. Stirring occasionally, keep a close eye on the caramel. Once it reaches 248°F, quickly mix in the salt and spices. Cook just a bit longer until the mixture reaches 250°F. Immediately remove the pot from the heat, remove the thermometer and place it in the sink, and pour the hot caramel into the parchment-lined square pan, scraping out as much as you can. Allow the caramel to cool until it is room temperature and firm. This will take about two hours.

Once caramel block has cooled, use the parchment sling to lift the block out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Wipe oil on both sides of a knife and cut into one-inch wide strips, re-oiling the knife after each cut. Turn the strips 90 degrees and make perpendicular cuts, essentially cutting the caramels into one inch squares. Wrap each caramel in a four-inch square of waxed paper.

Caramels will store for up to two weeks in an airtight container on the counter.

Ginger has never really been something I’ve thought about very much. Occasionally, my dad would add some ground ginger to stir fry, or I’d use some in fall desserts. But the farmers near Durham have been showcasing mounds of baby ginger at their tables for the last few weeks, and my curiosity about this knobby little root grew with each table I passed.

And with fortuitous timing, I came across this recipe for ginger apple chutney. Combined with apples & onions, also plentiful at local markets, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to buy a chunk of ginger. The recipe wasn’t written as one for canning, but I suspected the acid content would be high enough for canning and checked with a deft canning blogger to be sure.

This chutney likes a firm, tart apple. I used some of my last, precious pick-your-own Pink Ladies (sniff, sniff) but this would also work nicely with Fuji’s, Jazz, or Honeycrisp apples. Just make sure you peel them well, you won’t want any apple peelings invading your chutney.

Now how, you might ask, does one use ginger apple chutney Thus far, I’ve only used it for one out-of-this-world meal, which I promise to tell you about in my next post you can find right here! But how else I suspect this is delicious served atop a pork chop, or mixed with cream to create a spicy, flavorful sauce bursting with autumn flavor. I am eager to try it mixed with cream cheese as a dip, or even as a dip all on its own. I’ve used one of my half-pints, and I imagine I’ll use the remaining four before I’ve exhausted the ways I want to eat it.

Ginger Apple Chutney
Adapted from Katie at the Kitchen Door

Make 2-3 pints

NOTE: I’ve tested the pH of this chutney, and it is safe as written for waterbath canning. Avoid the urge to add extra onions, as they are low in acid and may alter the pH.

1 medium onion, diced
3 T minced fresh ginger
8 medium crisp apples, peeled & diced into 1/4″ pieces (Pink Lady, Fuji, or other firm apple)
1/2 c lemon juice
1 tsp canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 c apple cider
1 c apple cider vinegar

Dice onion, peel & mince ginger, and peel apples. Dice apples into 1/4″ pieces and place them in a separate bowl, sprinkling a bit of the lemon juice over them after adding each diced apple to prevent them from turning brown.

Heat canola oil in a large pot, at least three quarts in size. Add onion & ginger and sauté for about 5 minutes or until onions begin to soften. Add apples, salt, & pepper and cook an additional 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add apple cider & apple cider vinegar and stir well. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 35 minutes, stirring occasionally. The liquid should reduce by about 3/4 and the mixture should be thick, not liquidy. Adjust seasoning to taste with additional salt & pepper if desired.

If you are not canning the chutney, store in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks.

For Canning
Fill 4-5 sterilized half-pint jars with chutney. Pound the jars on the counter to remove any air bubbles, and ensure that each jar has 1/2″ head space. Place flat lids on the jars and spin on the rings finger-tight. Process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes. Remove jars from canner and allow them to sit overnight to cool.

Remove rings from jars and lift by the edge of the flat lid to ensure a tight seal. Label jars and store in a cool, dark place.

But this is a food blog and food blogs in the United States simply MUST address Thanksgiving. I’m thrilled to say that Sierra (if you don’t know her by now, here’s a little intro) has volunteered to guest post one of her most precious Thanksgiving recipes! Sadly, I didn’t get to eat any of this gorgeous dessert, but I’m anxious to give the recipe a try when I return from the Sunshine State.

I hope you enjoy Sierra’s post, and I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie, by Sierra H.

I know we just met, but I’m going to tell you a secret. This is something that I have hidden deep inside for as long as I can remember, and it weighs on my mind every Thanksgiving season.

I hate classic pumpkin pie.

There, I said it. I’ll eat it, but I’d almost just as rather eat pumpkin-scented lotions and candles. If you’ve been following Kristi’s chronicle of wedding cake baking, then you’ll know that I adore pumpkin, but the hard, dense, often over-sweet classic pumpkin pie just isn’t my thing.

It isn’t pumpkin pie’s fault. The blame belongs squarely on the shoulders of one lady: Grammy LoLo. My father’s mother, Grammy LoLo (you can call her that, too, by the way, everyone does) gave us the tradition of another kind of pumpkin pie: one that is light and airy, pumpkin-filled, and gorgeous light orange with just a teeny bit of pure whipped cream to make it the perfect end to a holiday meal (or a stunning post-Thanksgiving breakfast). In our house, we always just called it The Chiffon, and it had a special place in the Thanksgiving preparatory kitchen, often the day before the real craziness began.

This pie kind of begins backwards, with making and cooking the crust. I’ve fluted my pie edges with fork tines, exactly the way Grammy showed me when I was 9. You can get much fancier if you wish. Don’t poke holes in the bottom of your crust to help it stay flat—the butter and sugar will seep through them and glue your crust to the pan. This was the first time I tried pie weights; it worked quite well, but they aren’t crucial.

The crust comes out after a 10 minute bake, and the sugary, nutty goodness goes in. It bakes for 5 more minutes, and then you have to let it cool totally. At home, all hot things would go out to the back deck under a tea towel (it wasn’t rare to have snow already in Colorado), but here, it must simply wait on the counter.

Meanwhile, you can prepare for the pumpkin part. If you’re making your pumpkin puree from pumpkins, extra points for you! If you are using canned, make sure you have prepared pumpkin, and not pumpkin pie mix. If you try it and it takes like you’re halfway to pie, then you will have to brave the store again. You are in control of adding the sugar and spices, not the canning people.

Fun fact: 3/4 cup of milk is less than the amount of water in a cumulus cloud the size of a bus, but more than the amount of table salt in a large human.

If you have a double boiler, this is the time to bust it out. If you don’t have one, you can use a bowl nicely fit into the top of a saucepan. Make sure it will be deep enough for the ingredients as well as sturdy—you don’t want to tip hot pumpkin all over yourself during stirring. In the top of your double boiler device, combine sugar, gelatin, salt and spices. Once water comes to a gentle boil, stir in beaten egg yolks, pumpkin and milk.

The purpose of the double boiler is to heat the ingredients very slowly and gently. If you are very careful and patient, you can heat the mix directly in a saucepan, just make sure you never stop stirring. In a double boiler, you want to stir several times a minute, but it doesn’t have to be constant.

For fun (and science!) I got out the infrared thermometer to see how hot the pumpkin mix gets at the end of 20 minutes, which was right around 150°F. This is perfect, because the gelatin needs to hit 140°F in order to activate for proper setting. After 20-25 minutes, pull the bowl carefully off of the saucepan and transfer the pumpkin mix to a larger bowl. This will give you room later to fold in the egg whites properly, as well as help the mix cool more quickly.

Meringue is a tricky creature. This was one step I wasn’t allowed to do as a kid, probably because I was an enthusiastic stirrer. Go slow, try to flatten the meringue as little as possible for the fluffiest, airiest, dreamiest pie.

So I’ll say it: Pumpkin Chiffon Pie totally ruined me for all other pumpkin pies. It is a wee bit harder to make than classic pie, but trust me—try it once and you may find yourself bearing the same holiday secret, too.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Grammy LoLo’s Recipe

A Note About Eggs: This recipe relies on meringue, which is uncooked egg whites. For curiosity, I measured the temperature of the egg yolk and pumpkin mixture while it was heating, and was satisfied that they were heated well past 140 degrees for about 5 minutes, which should be sufficient for pasturization. If you or your loved ones cannot risk consuming raw eggs, there are pasteurized egg products that you can buy. Since I have never tried them, I would love some feedback about how they work.

Pie crust: store bought (I like Pillsbury roll-out) or a half batch of this home-made one
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup pecans, chopped

3/4 cup sugar for pie, 1/4 cup sugar for egg whites
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or, mix 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger and 1/4 tsp clove, and use 1 1/2 teaspoon of this mix)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
1 can of prepared pumpkin (or, 16 oz of cooked pumpkin puree from scratch)
3/4 cups milk

Roll out pie crust into a 9-inch pie pan. Flute edges or decorate as desired. Bake for 10 minutes at 450°F, using pie weights in the crust if you want to ensure it won’t bubble.

While the crust bakes, cream together butter, brown sugar and pecans in a small bowl. When the crust comes out of the oven, remove pie weights if used and spread the pecan mixture evenly over the bottom of the crust. Return the crust with the pecan mixture to the oven for 5 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Place a double boiler on the stove. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a heat-safe bowl over a pot that has 1-2 inches of water in it, making sure the bowl is not touching the water below. In the bowl, combine sugar, gelatin, salt and spices.  Stir in beaten egg yolks, pumpkin and milk. Cook over hot water for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator until set, at least one hour.

In a separate bowl, beat cold egg whites until foamy, and then add 1/4 cup sugar very slowly until stiff peaks form.

Once the pumpkin has chilled, remove it from the fridge. Beat the cold pumpkin mixture until it is fluffy, then gently fold the egg white mixture into the pumpkin, just until evenly combined. Mound into the cooled pie crust and chill until ready to serve.

Serve with whipped cream (my favorite recipe is simply whipping cream, a touch of vanilla and a pinch of sugar- trust me, it’s all you need).

I’ve talked rather a lot in the last few months about the wedding in early October for which I traveled across the continent, stood up as a bridesmaid, and baked the groom’s cake & wedding cake. What I haven’t talked quite so much about is the wedding I attended the week after as, quite blissfully, simply a guest.

Just a few short days after I returned from my whirlwind week in Colorado, Brad and I headed north to Washington DC for wedding #2. Though we stayed in the city with a friend who was also on the guest list, the ceremony itself was about an hour outside the city at a quaint little vineyard nestled in the rolling hills of Northern Virginia. It was a beautiful, clear evening, though the chill of autumn had definitely arrived. And while the wedding party raced against the sun to capture all their photos, the rest of us took advantage of the occasional & delicious delivery of appetizers throughout the cocktail hour.

Our favorite Shot glasses full of brilliant orange sweet potato soup. Since we were shamelessly stalking the catering staff for more and subsequently tilting each glass back to drain every last drop, I knew I must try to recreate it at home.

This soup is another super-thick, veggie-packed, warm and filling delight. Its the latest installment of my recent obsession with soups (I’ve made no less than five large batches of soup this fall) and it’s certainly one I’ll make again. It begins, of course, with sweet potatoes, and is supported by a smattering of other vegetables.

We also add in some lovely savory liquids to make this more like soup and less like chopped vegetables. I used vegetable stock for this to make it vegetarian, but you can swap it out for chicken stock if you prefer. And don’t skimp on the maple syrup. It lends a deep, sultry sweetness to this soup that whispers of the classic sweet potatoes & marshmallows.

After the soup is cooked, it’s blender time again! You can, of course, use an immersion blender instead if your kitchen is blessed with such a device. A food processor should also do the trick. You could also probably get there with a potato masher, though you’ll likely work up a sweat along the way. Just get those veggies smooth!

The result is a simple, luscious soup that can either play the role of humble luncheon or schmancy party treat. Who’d have thought?

Sweet Potato Soup
Adapted from Simply Recipes

2 T butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 leek, sliced (white and light green parts only)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 3/4 lbs (28 oz) sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1-2″ pieces
4 c vegetable broth
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
3 T maple syrup
1 c half and half
chives, chopped to garnish

Chop all vegetables before beginning to cook. Heat butter in a large pot (at least 4 quarts) until melted over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes until onions begin to soften. Add leeks & celery and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 3 minutes more. Add sweet potatoes, vegetable broth, cinnamon stick, all the spices, and the maple syrup and stir until combined. Increase heat and bring to a boil. Once the soup begins to boil, simmer uncovered on medium for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender (include a scoop or two of the broth in each batch!) and blend. Once all soup has been blended, transfer back to the pot and place over medium-low heat. Add half and half and stir well. Season to taste with additional salt & pepper if desired.

Serve hot, garnished with chives if you like.

I haven’t baked much since I spent four days in early October creating two massive cakes for Sierra’s wedding. So it might seem rather surprising that the first time I pull out my cake pans after such a project, it’s to reprise the very recipes I used for the largest tier of the wedding cake. I, however, am not surprised, as I have been wanting to share this recipe in a normal, human-sized dessert that you can make for you and your family instead of a full wedding guest list.

Before autumn wanes completely, I urge you to make this cake. This cake is rich, moist, and full of pumpkin flavor. This maple cream is studded with these sugared pecans (easily my favorite discovery of the season) and compliments the spicy cake perfectly. And for layer cake, this is pretty easy! No icing to smooth, no crumbs to worry about, no delicate folding dry ingredients into the batter, no piping. You can totally do this.

And while we’re taking this moment to bake, I would be remiss not to introduce the newest member of my little kitchen family. See that gorgeous red KitchenAid peeking out from behind the ingredients It’s mine! A beautiful gift from my mom, waiting for me when I went to Colorado to bake the wedding cake, it has now made its way across the country to live with me in Durham. I confess, I got a little emotional selling my original KitchenAid (which I’ve been using since the age of 10) to a friend, but I know it has a good home. So here’s a warm welcome to new, red mixer!

Once the pumpkin cake is out of the pans and cooling, the fabulous icing begins. First, the pecans. I’ve made these nuts for almost every social gathering I’ve attended or hosted in the last two months, and I have many batches of them planned for the holiday season, as well. If you’re whipping up this cake, be sure to make the full batch of pecans: you’ll lose quite a few to taste-testing

Finally, the maple cream. This icing is truly beautiful. While it’s not ideal for piping, it’s a dream to spread and thickens up well once it cools. I desperately want to try it sandwiched between sugar cookies. But that’s a test for another day. Today, its fate is the dressing for pumpkin cake.

Then these three recipes, totally delicious on their own, come together to create a pretty little dessert of pure autumn.

PS: Six-inch layers are SO much easier to work with than fourteen-inch layers. This felt like hardly any effort at all.

Pumpkin Cake with Maple Cream & Sugared Pecans

Makes one, 6-inch three-layer cake OR one, 8-inch two-layer cake

For the Pumpkin Cake
Adapted from About.com

1 1/2 c sugar
3/8 c oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground cloves
3/8 tsp ground ginger
3/8 tsp ground nutmeg
3/8 tsp salt
1 1/4 c pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease three 6-inch cake pans with pan coating.

Combine sugar, oil, and eggs in the bowl of a standing mixer or other large bowl and beat well. Sift dry ingredients together into a separate bowl. Mix dry ingredients slowly into the wet mixture, using a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add pumpkin and mix well.

Pour batter into cake pans in even amounts, about 1 1/2 cups of mixture per pan (2 1/4 c if using two 8-inch pans). Wrap a damp, thin strip of tea towel around each cake pan and tie tightly. Bake cakes for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick removes cleanly and cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Allow cakes to rest in their pans for 3-5 minutes, then carefully flip them onto cooling racks. Allow cakes to cool completely, then store in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the cake.

For the Maple Cream
Adapted from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 c maple syrup
6 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3 c powdered sugar, sifted after measuring

Place butter in a small pot over medium heat. Once butter has melted, stir in maple syrup. Allow mixture to boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Remove from heat and pour maple butter into a small dish. Allow to cool to room temperature, placing it in the fridge if you want to speed the process up.

Beat the room temperature cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add sifted powdered sugar to the bowl and beat until well-combined, using a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Pour in the maple butter and beat for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.

For the Sugared Pecans

Prepare one batch of Sugar ‘n’ Spiced Pecans as directed. Allow to cool completely.

Set aside half of the pecans. Place the remaining pecans on a cutting board and roughly chop into pieces no larger than 1/2″ across.

Assembly

Add chopped pecans to the well-beaten maple cream. Stir well until pecans are evenly distributed throughout maple cream.

If cake layers are not level, slice them across the top with a bread knife until they each layer is level. Place one layer of cake on a plate or cake stand, top-side down. Spread a generous layer of icing  (about 1/3 of the icing) over the top surface of the cake, leaving about 1/4″ of space between the icing and the edge of the cake.

Carefully place the next layer of cake onto the iced bottom layer and repeat the icing with the second third of the icing.

Place the final layer of cake on the middle layer and spread remaining icing onto the entire top surface of the cake.

Use the un-chopped pecans to adorn the cake however you see fit. I mounded about half of them on the center of the cake and used the remainder as a border for the bottom layer.

Refrigerate until 30 minutes before ready to serve.

This Halloween is a bit odd for a huge swath of the U.S. A deep cold has arrived much earlier than normal due, in major part, to the massive storm that walloped the Eastern seaboard early this week and continues to wreak havoc as it churns slowly west. Durham was spared much of the power of the storm, but for many cities with transit systems shut down, widespread power outages, hugely destructive flooding, fires, and heavy snows, it is a bit of an understatement to suppose that many a trick-or-treater’s plans have been marred or cancelled all together.

This chili, based on my mom & dad’s recipe, is normally something I strongly associate with winter. I didn’t particularly care for it much as a kid, and yet there was nothing I wanted more after a day outside in the snow. Thick, warm, and hearty, I’ve come to favor it earlier and earlier in the season every year.

This year, for the first time, I was able to use my own home-canned tomato sauce to make chili. After my initial panic over the work it took to produce such goods, I now have firmly committed to making this every year.

Perhaps most importantly, this chili comes together quickly. With nothing more than an onion to chop, it’s a great thing to whip up when you need a filling dinner for a crowd fast. And you can adjust it exactly to your liking. Too hot Leave out the cayenne. Not hot enough Dice up a jalapeño or two and toss those in, as well.You can top it off with cheddar and sour cream, serve it with cornbread or crackers or biscuits, or just eat it plain.

So if you still have power and want to use up some of those canned goods you bought to ride out the worst of Sandy, make a big batch of this and invite your neighbors whose homes are still dark. There’s nothing better than sharing a good, hot meal with the people you care about.

To those of you in the path of the storm, I’m thinking of you and sending all the warm, dry thoughts I can in your direction.

Favorite Chili
Adapted from our family recipe

Update: I now only use one can of pinto beans instead of two. I’ve updated the recipe below to reflect this. However, if you like lots of beans in your chili, I’d add a second can of pintos.

2 tsp canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
30 oz tomato sauce
15 oz can pinto beans, with juices
15 oz can kidney beans, with juices
4 tsp chili powder
4 tsp cumin
3 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes until onions soften. Add ground beef. Season with salt & pepper, adding more to taste if desired, and cook until meat begins to brown and is cooked through. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat slightly so that chili is at an active simmer and cook for 20 minutes covered. Remove the lid and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste and add water if you find the chili is too thick.

Serve warm, garnishing with cheddar cheese and sour cream if desired. It’s super-dreamy with cornbread, too!