Pumpkin Pie

I decided to make pumpkin pie early this year because we aren't hosting Thankgiving dinner. A little fall flavor never hurt anyone, right? I'll confess that I used to hate pumpkin pie. It was only on my baking list at Thanksgiving because my family requested it loudly. But, all that has changed now that I've started making it from a fresh sugar pumpkin from Devon Point Farm. 

I learned from the wonderful folks at Devon Point Farm that I can bake the pumpkin whole! No more hacking it up into chunks and slimy seeds. All I you have to do is poke several holes in the pumpkin and bake it until it's soft. Once it's baked, the pumpkin meat falls away from the skin and the seeds are easy to scoop out. This method minimizes waste and makes the whole process very easy. I got enough cooked pumpkin to bake a 9" deep dish pie and make pumpkin and chorizo soup. 

As for the pie recipe, I adapted the recipe from my Mom's Betty Crocker cookbook. I scaled it up for the deep dish pie plate and I added two extra eggs because the fresh pumpkin seemed a bit watery. I bought sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated milk by accident (I always get the two mixed up when I'm looking at them on the store shelf). I decided to go for it with the sweetened condensed milk substitution. I added cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon as called for in the recipe. The result was a delicious pie with nice pumpkin flavor. I enjoyed eating it while it was still warm with fresh whipped cream. 

Sometimes I'll make a double recipe of the pie filling and bake the extra in small dishes as a custard (no crust). I like this streamlined version of the pie heated up in the microwave, a nice treat on a cold November evening. 

Even with the ease of baking the pumpkin, this pie is a once-a-year event in my kitchen. It is also the last of the fresh fruit pies of the year.

I forgot to get a photo of the whole pie. But here you can see a bit of my favorite pie plate. 

Here's the pumpkin just before it went into the oven. Notice the multiple holes. Without holes the pumpkin will explode in the oven. 

Looking very sad after baking, but loaded with wonderful pumpkin meat. The pan filled up with water as it baked and even more when it was cooking. I'm so glad I put it in a pan! Interestingly, the water did not have any flavor. I thought it might be salty or taste like pumpkin, but it was just plain water. 

Strawberry Ice Cream

Garrett enjoying his strawberry ice cream.

Garrett decided to make strawberry ice cream using our Cuisinart ice cream maker, the kind with the frozen ring that comes out of the freezer to churn the ice cream mixture. He wanted smooth ice cream (no chunks of fruit), and he was looking for serious strawberry flavor. This job called for fresh strawberries and our food mill. I know, it's not strawberry season, but we made due with a package of fresh strawberries from Stop 'n Shop that looked pretty good. Imagine if we thought of this back in June when Buells had pick-you-own strawberries for sale?

Here's the ice cream in one of my new favorite bowls.

Anyway, we chopped the strawberries into big chunks and ran them through our food mill. The result was strawberry pulp without any seeds. All of this strawberry goodness went right into the ice cream mixture, giving it a bright pink color and great fruity flavor. Adding lemon juice in the mixture really brightened the flavor of the ice cream. We churned it in the ice cream maker for about thirty minutes. Unfortunately we filled it a little too full so we had to scrape off the outside and top of the ice ring right into our bowls. At this point the ice cream was a think soft-serve consistency. We transferred it to a tupperware dish and let it cool in the freezer for about two more hours to make it more of a scoop-able ice cream. The strawberry ice cream was so refreshing on a hot August afternoon.

The flavor was wonderful and the color was really appealing.

Boston Cream Donuts

Boston Cream Donuts on the first day of school. A new Geyer tradition?

In a moment of weakness I asked my boys "Would you like me to make homemade donuts on the first day of school?" What middle schooler would possibly say no to that question?!  I was feeling bad for Gabe and Garrett because they had to go back to school nearly two weeks before their older brother.  Yves, the new freshman at Pomfret School, just smiled because he knew that meant donuts for him too, and then another day of summer vacation.

A plate full of delicious donuts.

I instantly regretted my offer.  I have made donuts on special occasions many times. Usually the birthday boy will request donuts for their special day, a tradition that started with my husband and Boston cream donuts. As romantic as homemade donuts sound, it is a very messy and time consuming project. It seems like I use every bowl, spoon, and spatula in the kitchen in the process; and then there's the large pot of vegetable oil to deal with when it's all over. What was I thinking? I offered a trip to We-Lik-It ice cream instead of the morning donuts to honor the last day of summer vacation; no deal. All hearts were set on donuts, and Boston cream was the flavor of choice.

Today was my third attempt at making Boston creme. I used the recipe from the Food Network today. As they say: the third time is a charm.  My approach this time was to do as much as I could the night before. The cream recipe came out very nice with good flavor, much like a vanilla custard. The dough was a sweet yeast dough that had to ferment for an hour before I could roll it out and cut the donuts. I used a three-inch round cutter to make the donuts.  I left the donuts in the refrigerator overnight with the cream. The morning production was very easy, the only thing left to make was the chocolate glaze. My only problem was that the donuts didn't rise enough, even though I got up at 5:00 to take them out of the frig. Next time I'll set the alarm for 4:00, take them out, then go back to sleep for a few hours.

I had to carve out the center to create a space for the filling.

The donuts were delicious, but a little too dense. They didn't puff up enough make a nice big open cavity for the cream. I used a knife to cut out the middle so I could squirt in enough cream to make it a respectable Boston cream. The kids and Brian loved them and enthusiastically ate two each (so did I). I will definitely make them again now that I have figured out the secret to keeping the project manageable.

Another surprise inside cake

I made this surprise inside cake for our advisee Caelan for his 18th birthday. This recipe is called the vintage cake, from Amanda Rettke's book. I was really pleased that the surprise was truly hidden when it was fully frosted.  The bottom layer is a fudge brownie with a chocolate sauce on top. The top two layers are white cake. The whole thing is topped with cream cheese frosting. 

I'm still working through the beginner level cakes. This fun cake was a nice confidence boost. I loved the overall height of the cake. The brownie layer gave the cake just enough height to make it feel more festive. Caelan and the boys really enjoyed it. 

The brownie layer was pretty chewy and the cake was a bit dense, which made for a pretty heavy cake. It was good sliced thin and served with ice cream

Happy Birthday, Caelan!. 

My First Surprise Inside Cake

This is an entry level cake, but I'm really pleased with the effect. It is a variation of the birthday cake surprise from the book Surprise-Inside Cakes by Amanda Rettke.  I was skeptical about the impact of the colored layers when they were cooling. However, I think the effect was very cute and indeed surprising when I served the cake. 

This fun cake book has sparked my imagination and truly inspired me to try something new. Amanda recommends starting with the easy cakes first. For once in my life I decided to start at the beginning with this colored birthday cake. She has so many great ideas in this book. I'm planning my next cake, a brownie and white cake combo. 

Cats in Hats

Pomfret knitters embraced the cat hats.  Here's part of our cat hat collection.

This is a really fun knitting book.

Yes, you are reading this correctly.  Cats in Hats by Sara Thomas is a wonderful new knitting book with patterns for cat hats.  Laurie, the librarian at the Pomfret library, knows exactly what will be a hit for the knitting group.  We spent an entire Tuesday afternoon laughing over the creative and fun hats in the book that are all modeled by adorable cats.  We decided to make a collection of cat hats for the library so patrons can check them out during the summer.  We are hoping to get a collection of photos of Pomfret cats in these stylish head pieces.

I love this picture from the inside cover of the book.

The top hat cat hat.

A collection of hats with twisty embellishments.  A carrot, a cactus, and a red boa.

Many of our hats feature big pom poms.  Who can resist.

It turns out that my cats really hate wearing the hats that I made for them.  Max was my first hat model.  He was very mad at me, but waited out the hat humiliation with dignity.  Adam was less kind.  He got loose and hid from us so thoroughly that we couldn't find him.  When he emerged, the hat was around his middle with many tears, the pom pom was ripped off.  He brought the pom pom out of hiding for me a week later, so I repaired the hat and gave it over to Laurie for the library collection.   By the way, small dogs can wear these adorable hats too.  I bet they might enjoy them more than the cats.

Max in his new hat.

Adam in the hat, just before he took hid from us in protest.

Making Skeins!

Today I used my new nitty notty for the first time!  Brian was a big help adjusting the equipment and holding the big scan of yarn. I was very happy to use my new tool too. 

Cinnamon Rolls for Easter Sunday

Bobby Fisher, our school Chaplain, is my biggest cinnamon roll fan.

It isn't Easter Sunday without cinnamon rolls.  Our school chaplain, Bobby Fisher, leads a beautiful sunrise service on Easter morning here at Pomfret School.  We enjoy the sunrise with friends and family with songs and prayer to celebrate Easter.  After the service we gather for fellowship and (here's where I come in) cinnamon rolls at the Lodge.  Bobby is my biggest cinnamon roll fan.  Every year he pulls me aside the week before Easter and with that look on his face that says, "Can I count on you to make them, for all of us?"  How can I say no?  It's every baker's dream to have such a dedicated fan.  I have to admit that the rolls are very tasty and, when served warm, are a perfect complement to the sunrise service.  I always make two pans on Easter Sunday, one for the fellowship group and one for my family, who don't like to get up early for the sunrise.

I use the recipe from The Tasty Kitchen Pioneer Woman blog.  Cinnamon Roll Recipe  I actually started using her recipe about six years ago, before her Food Network fame or the launch of Tasty Kitchen website.  This recipe is easy to follow and works great.  Over the years I have modified it only slightly by adding more kneading time and more rest time for the dough to make it easier to roll out.  I like to proof the rolls overnight in the refrigerator so that all I have to do is bake them in the morning.  I use a cream cheese frosting from the Cinnabon website that has lemon zest and lemon juice in the mix.  The lemony tang gives the frosting a really nice flavor.   Delicious!

Gabe pointing to his cinnamon roll choice.

Gabe asked me to teach him how to make cinnamon rolls this weekend.  It was a lot of fun to make the same recipe with him, explaining my process to him.  He mixed all the ingredients, kneaded the dough, and helped me gauge the correct moisture of the dough.  When we got it right, I pointed out to him how the dough feels moist but not too sticky.  We rolled the dough in two shifts, letting it rest for 30 minutes each time to get a thinner spread of dough.  I think the end result was very good because we got extra layers in our rolls.  He asked if we could make them really big and juicy, so we rolled the dough out into square instead of a rectangle.  Gabe carefully analyzed each roll and chose the perfect one for him to eat first.  My apprentice gets the first dibs on the rolls!

Confucius Cake

Gabe with his Confucius cake.

Gabe cutting out his cake desin

This week Gabe decided to make a Confucius cake for a class project.  His 6th grade history class is studying ancient China.  About a week ago he opened his text book to the picture of Confucius and said "I want to make a cake that looks like that."  Why not?

First he made made a wax paper cut of the cake pans so he could make a template for the cake shapes.  He used our "go to" cake recipe for yellow butter cake from Birthday Cakes for Kids.  My job was to assist him, but he really made the whole cake himself.  He wrapped the cake in plastic wrap and popped it in the freezer overnight to make the design phase easier.

The next day he took his cakes out of the freezer and just admired them for a few minutes.  I though to myself, "He's starting to sound like me when I make something, scary!"  He cut out the main shapes using his wax paper pattern.  Then he made a huge batch of butter cream frosting using the recipe from the same book.  The colors he chose were dark gray for the beard, white for the face, and orange for the hat.  He made the eyes blue to match the decorations on the hat, even though we all know he had brown eyes.

He did all the decorating.

Gabe really enjoyed making his school project.

Bread Bowls

There's nothing better than fresh bread and beef stew!

There's a fine line between a small bread bowl and a really big roll.  I made these bread bowls to accompany my husbands delicious beef stew.  The bread bowls were a tiny bit too small, but very delicious with the stew.  Garrett was the only one in the family who used it as a bowl for his stew.  The rest of us sliced our bowls and ate them with butter, like an oversized roll.  Either way, it was a wonderful meal on a cold March day.

I used the French bread recipe in my favorite bread book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.  The recipe calls for a pre-ferment step that adds to the flavor of the bread.  It's not nearly as tangy as my sour dough, but still more complex than a single proofing.  The flour is a 50/50 blend of all purpose flour and bread flour.  I'm not sure why the recipe calls for this (I should read the introduction to the recipe again...) but it makes a nice dough that forms into rolls or baguettes pretty well. 

Garrett with is bread bowl ready for stew.

My bread bowls ready to proof for the last time.

They are beautiful right out of the oven!

Valentines Treats

I made these yummy mini-brownies for my students.  I used a box brownie mix, don't judge me.  One tablespoon of batter is the perfect amount for the mini-cupcake size.  The frosting is butter cream and the hearts are cinnamon flavored gummy candy.  A little food coloring and some random sprinkles mixed in made these little valentines a lot of fun.  I gave my kids goofy spiderman cards to go along with the brownies.  

Janet's New Hat

Janet sporting her new hat.

I made this fun hat for my friend Janet.  I promised to make her a hat last winter.  Sometimes you can't put a time frame on knitting projects.  I bought the hat kit from my friend Rhonda.  She sells her kits and yarn at the Wilson Collective Wilson Collective FB Page .  The pattern is called "Family of Stripey Hats" by Churchmouse Yarns & Teas.  

The hat kit had exactly the right amount of yarn for the hat.  I used every inch of the yarn!  It was a very fun project to knit with the soft hand-dyed wool.  The blue yarn was dyed with indigo.  I knit the hat on size 7 double point needles, even though my gauge was a tiny bit off.  I wanted the green to be the main color by Janet's face because she really likes teal.  Rhonda suggested putting the slate colored stripe between the wide bands of blue and green to help make the colors pop.  She was so right about the effect.  For the pom pom I used all the rest of the yarn to make a combination pom pom of all three colors.

German chocolate cake

I decided to make a German Chocolate Cake for my mother-in-laws birthday celebration.  She really enjoys nuts, so this seemed like a nice choice for her.  I used the recipe from The Joy of Cooking for the cake.  I learned from the recipe that the cake is not from Germany, but is actually named after the chocolate company who invented it.  I love making a three layer cake.  Something wonderful happens when there are two layers of frosting inside the cake.  Let's face it, I really like the frosting part of all cakes, and this delicious cake was no exception.  I think she enjoyed the cake and the recognition of her special day, even if it was several days early.

A few candles made the cake very festive.

Super bowl food

Sporting my Pats jersey while making the pizza!

This year we decided to have homemade pizza for the Super Bowl.  Even though this a semi-regular meal in our house,I decided it was blog-worthy on this special occasion.  I make the dough from scratch using high gluten bread flower.  (Sorry to all of you gluten-free folks out there.)  The recipe comes from my favorite bread book called  The Bread Baker's Apprecntice:  Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart.  link to book on amazon  I knead the dough with my Kitchen-aid mixer with the dough hook  for about 5 minutes, then I let it rest on the counter (covered in plastic wrap) for about two hours.  I like to roll it out most of the way with my rolling pin because it makes the crust more even.  I pick it up and stretch it over my fists just enough to make it fit into the pan.  I spray the pan with cooking spray and coat it lightly with corn meal to prevent the pizza from sticking.  (All of these are Peter's instructions in the book, I follow them as written and they work!)

The kids like to have sausage and pepperoni on their pizza.  Brian and I  like the "adult" pizza that has onions and green peppers thinly sliced on our mandolin, and kalamata olives, along with the sausage and pepperoni.  For sauce, we use Brian's homemade pasta sauce that we freeze in small batches for pizza night. We keep the cheese and meats in the freezer too, so we can have homemade pizza without a special trip to the grocery store.  This pizza was a great start to an exciting game!  Go Pats!

The "adult" pizza with onion, green peppers, black olives, sausage, and pepperoni.

I use the rolling pin to roll it out most of the way, then I stretch with my hands to fit the pan.

A gorgeous ball of pizza dough, well rested!

Three pizzas weren't  quite enough food, good thing Josh brought sushi too!

Stuffed Pheasant

I'm not sure what came over me, but this stuffed pheasant project just called my name.  It's another animal in the wonderful Faux Taxidermy Knitting book that I used to make the mole door stop.  (Mole Doorstop Post)  This project was a lot of fun to make because there's really no wrong way to make a stuffed pheasant.  I used combinations of my stash Brown Sheep yarn to get the bulky weight I needed and to get the heathered look for the body and wings.  This bird was knit up on size 13 needles, so it went really fast.  The finishing work took a while.  My only criticism of the Faux Taxidermy Knits book is their finishing directions.  They are not very detailed.  I have a pretty good working knowledge of finishing knitting projects, which came in very handy here because I had to ad-lib much of the final details.  Now that it's done, I don't know what to do with it.  Maybe I'll bring it into work so the mole can have a companion.

Close up of the head.  I used buttons for the eyes.

The tail feathers add a lot to the finished look of the Pheasant

I decided to make the wings two-toned.

Flower Cupcakes

These cupcakes were really fun to make.  They are chocolate flavored mini-cupcakes with butter cream frosting.  Who doesn't love a little flower garden on their winter birthday?  Happy birthday, Baily.

I tried to make the stems look a little more defined with the green candies.  If I had a few more I would have made the lawn a little more thick at the bottom (they have green sprinkles on them).

These little ball candies were from the gingerbread house kits.  I knew they would come in handy.