Nutella Pumpkin Cake - A great snack for....

...after school and your kids are driving you bonkers.
...late at night when your stomach starts yelling at you that the chicken you had for dinner just didn't cut it.
...first thing in the morning when you're too lazy to even make a bowl of cereal.
...any darned time you want something really, really good.

Cream butter, sugar, brown sugar. Add an egg and vanilla.

Add some pumpkin.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.

Mix in the flour mixture until just combined.

Spread batter evenly into the pan.

Drop tablespoons of Nutella all over the cake batter. Eat a few spoonfuls for yourself...go on, no one is looking!

Swirl, baby, Swirl!

Mmmm...snacky.

Nutella Pumpkin Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin
1 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 9x13inch baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.


In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Add the pumpkin. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.  

Reduce speed to low, and mix in the flour mixture until just combined.  Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Drop tablespoons of Nutella all over the pumpkin cake batter. Swirl in the Nutella with a knife.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely. 

Chipotle Beef Sliders

If you know me, you know I am not a big fan of hamburger or ground beef. It's a taste and a texture thing for me, I guess. I am really, really picky about my burgers, too, when made with ground beef.  If a burger is made with ground turkey, chicken, pork, lamb, salmon, shrimp...whatever else, I am not as picky. But when it's beef, there is almost no pleasing me...

Most restaurant-type burgers are waaaaay too thick. I don't like that much beef in one bite, even if the flavor is something I like. So I never, ever order a burger when eating out. I strongly dislike 98% of the fast food chain burgers out there (don't get me started on a McDonalds rant...) but I love how thin the meat patties are! In case you were wondering, the only fast food burger I will willingly eat (and sometimes actually crave!) is a Double Steakburger from Steak-n-Shake. With cheese. And lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup, mustard and pickle. No mayo better touch that puppy.

Now, I can hear you saying, "Well, just make thin patties at home!" and I can tell you that I have done just that and still just not fond of hamburgers with ground beef. It's a mental block I have in my brain and I can't get past it....

....unless they're mini burgers and they're made like this:

Chipotle Beef Sliders

makes 10 sliders

1 package of Hawaiian Sweet Rolls

1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
8 tsp minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, divided
1-1/2 pounds ground beef
10 slices pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup mayo

Place 2 rolls in food processor and pulse until crumbly. Transfer crumbs to a large bowl and add the salt, pepper and 6 teaspoons of the peppers with sauce.  Crumble the beef into the bowl and combine. Shap into 10 patties.

Combine mayo and remaining (or more if you like spicy!) chipotle and set aside.

Grill or pan fry burgers over medium heat 3-5 minutes per side, depending upon how you like them done. Add cheese slice to each and grill/cook until melted (about another minute).

Spilt the remaining rolls. Toast them if you'd like, on the grill or in the oven.  Spread some chipotle mayo mixture on the bottom half of the rolls.  Place patties on top of sauce. Cap off that slider with the top half of the roll.

I added tomato to mine just because I like it...

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

Florida really doesn't get what you would call a winter. No snow, of course, which is a major bummer if you like that sort of thing (which I do). In the rare occasions where the thermometer dips below 50 around here, my Mom loves to make her Crockpot Vegetable Soup. I love it. I will try to remember to post the next time she makes it.

I am not big on a lot of soups, but I do have some favorites. I do tend to steer away from soups with noodles in them, but with me, that's just a texture thing.

The Chinese Beef Noodle soup was a big hit.  Even you aren't a 'soup' kind of person, this is an easy and comfort food alternative. And you may even rethink your interest in soup...

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

serves 4-6

1-1/2 pounds of beef stir fry or fajita strips
28 ounces of low sodium beef broth
2 cups water
2 red bell peppers, cut into thin strips
1 small can of whole water chestnuts, drained
1 bunch scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp fresh minced ginger
1 tsp chili paste with garlic
6 ounces dried Chinese noodles
Dark sesame oil for drizzling

In dutch oven, heat 2 tsp oil over medium high heat. Quickly sear the beef until just browned. Add beef broth, water, peppers, water chestnuts, scallions, soy sauce, pepper, ginger, and chili paste. Stir to combine. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to a high simmer and cook one hour.

Turn off the burner. Stir in the dried noodles (break if needed). Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir to combine everything and separate noodles.  Ladle into bowls and drizzle each bowl with some dark sesame oil. 

You could also make this in a slow cooker - just dump as you would above into your slow cooker after browning the beef and set on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Chocolate Clouds and Muddy Buddys

I'm still contemplating what goodies to make for the holidays.  We have our two or three "Have-To-Makes" but I like to try a few newer ones that the girls want to try or that just sound good.  I have to spread them out on a week-by-week basis as money does not flow like sands through the hourglass...

Years ago (like 15 or more) Pepperidge Farms used to make a simple treat called Chocolate Clouds. Simply chocolate wrapped in puff pastry. They were so good! Sadly, as it is with just about anything we like around here, they stopped producing them.  So we sometimes just made them ourselves with a sheet of puff pastry (yay - they still make that!), a divided Hershey bar and some sprinkled sugar.

You can simply fold the pastry squares into triangles or even get creative with the encasement of the chocolate if you have the patience for dealing with pastry. I, however, am lazy with the pastry end and just want to get to the chocolate eating part. There is just something about the combination of chocolate and puff pastry that enthralls me...

So I decided to try something a little different. Instead of just a Hershey bar, we used Nutella and mini marshmallows inside the puff pastry.  I liked it, but I might try either more marshmallows or maybe marshmallow fluff next time around because I couldn't really taste the marshmallow at all. The Nutella instead of a Hershey bar was different and good!

A quickie egg wash and 25 minutes in a 350 oven and you get this:

We've also tried this with Hershey Kisses, Andes Candies, Hershey bars with a caramel drizzle... The possibilities are truly endless! These days, every holiday comes with a new Hershey Kiss flavor or candy bar. You could even take the "fun-sized" candy bars like a Milky Way and wrap them in puff pastry! Hmm..I may just have to try that one!

Chocolate Marshmallow Clouds

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed and cut into nine squares
Nutella spread
Mini Marshmallows
Egg wash (1 egg white plus 1 tablespoon water whisked together)
Granulated sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350. Place a teaspoon or so of Nutella in the center of each pastry square. Leave about a 1/4 inch border around the edges. Top with 3 or 4 mini marshmallows and fold over into a triangle. Crimp the edges with the business end of a fork.  Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes and let cool for 5 minutes before devouring.  You can also dust cooled pastry with powdered sugar for an even bigger sugar buzz.

For extra brownie spousal points, I made one of Papa Bear's favorite chocolate snacks:  Muddy Buddys. A friend of Crazy Artist made these for her for Christmas one year and she shared them with Papa Bear and he has been a Muddy Buddy fan ever since!

These are super duper easy (like rice krispie treats easy) and are a favorite with the kids.

Muddy Buddys

9 cups of Chex cereal - any kind or a mixture of any available flavors/varieties
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips and peanut butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into a large (2-gallon) sized ziplock bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread onto waxed paper to cool.

The recipe on Chex boxes has an additional ingredient - 1/4 cup of butter - which I do not add.  The first time I made this, I accidentally forgot to add the butter to the chocolate and peanut butter during the microwaving. To me, it tasted just fine and no different that the batch made with the butter.  Feel free to add or omit the butter when you make your many, many batches...

Eat A Dutch Baby (with bonus: Slightly frighten people when you say it out loud!)

Publish Post

Or just do what I like to do - tell people that you're going to 'Make a Dutch Baby with my kids'...if they don't know exactly what a Dutch Baby is, you'll have Child Services from your particular state knocking down your door within hours!! Invite them in to taste your new Dutch Baby...

Ok, no...I've never really done that. But in my twisted mind, that would be freakin' hilarious.

I probably need help, huh?

A Dutch Baby is really just a pancake. A super huge, custard-like and thick bad-boy pancake. The texture is completely different than your run-o-the-mill pancake, and it is extremely tasty and easy to make.

You can make it (as instructed) in a 10 inch cast iron skillet, or you can make it in a 9x13 oven proof baking dish. The difference? Round vs. Square. If you have a well used and well seasoned cast iron skillet, there will be subtle taste differences as well. Sadly, my cast iron skillet that I have had for well over a year has been used maybe four times.  I really, really need to work on that. My cast iron dutch oven has been used way more and is my favorite go-to pot to use for almost everything, so why can't I seem to do that with the darned skillet?

My version of a Dutch Baby is a slightly altered version of Alton Brown's recipe. I like my Dutch Babies sweeter. You could also play around with flavors here...add some orange juice concentrate or whatever flavor you prefer (maybe 1/4 cup?) to the batter. Add pre-cooked meat crumbles, like bacon or sausage. There are endless possibilities! Papa Bear tops his with a smidge of brown sugar (instead of powdered) and a drizzle of syrup with interesting results!

Let the butter melt in the skillet in the oven while it's preheating.

Pour the magic mixture in the skillet.

It's a Dutch Baby! Congratulations! Pass the cigars!

Remove to cutting board and slice that baby up! Pizza cutters were made for stuff like this...

Top with whatever you prefer and dig in! I wonder if my American kids taste this good? Hmmm...

 
Dutch Baby

6 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
7 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1cup milk, room temperature*
4 eggs, room temperature*
Powdered sugar, syrup, fruit for serving

*The 'room temperature' thing is important. Trust me on this - I am not known for my baking ability and have impatiently skipped this all-important step and paid the price. Your patience will be rewarded...

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place 4 tablespoons of the melted butter into a 10-inch cast iron skillet and place in the oven. Set the remaining melted butter aside to cool slightly. Wait 10 minutes before assembling the other ingredients.

Place the flour, vanilla, sugar, salt, milk, eggs and remaining melted butter into the blender and process for 30 seconds. Carefully pour the batter into the preheated skillet. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the edges are puffed and brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, drizzle with your favorite syrup or serve with your favorite fruit.