Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Bread

I finally created a pumpkin bread recipe that I'm happy with. Unlike my previous attempts, which were usually too crumbly, this loaf is dense, moist and soft. Thanks to the molasses, it tastes like a cross between a lightly sweet quick bread, gingerbread, and Eastern European black bread.

It's refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and egg-free, making it vegan and baby friendly. (Mira is currently intolerant to dairy and allergic to eggs (and also nuts), like many babies.) The molasses also provides a little iron (especially if you use unsulphured blackstrap molasses), which is a nutrient that babies and vegans need to make sure they get enough of.

I used to think quickbreads weren't that healthy, but they make a good snack for babies, since this has vegetable, grains, and a good dose of healthy fat from the coconut oil all baked together in an easy to serve package. I like to slice my quickbreads and freeze them so I can pop a slice in the toaster as needed, and this holds up to that just fine. Enjoy!

Vegan Pumpkin Molasses Bread
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 flax egg - (combine 1 tbsp ground flax seed and 3 tbsp water and let sit for at least 5 minutes, or even overnight)

2 1/4 cups flour (I used King Arthur white whole wheat flour, but you could also try whole wheat pastry flour, or a combination of all purpose and whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp ground flax seed
1 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 tsp ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. Combine wet ingredients. (To avoid coconut oil clumping in the batter, either allow the other wet ingredients to come to room temperature before combining, or use a beater or mixer of some sort.) Dump dry ingredients on top and stir to combine. Bake for about 50 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean.

Oat Nut Lactation Bars

Before the baby, I baked a ton of oat nut lactation bars and was so glad I did. They've since become a regular snack in my kitchen. They are low in sugar with just enough sweetness while providing a satisfying punch of protein and energy, which is important for new moms. I especially loved eating them when I was up in the middle of the night and hungry. I'd heard about being ravenous from breastfeeding and needing to eat at night. I scoffed at this, confused by the idea of being so hungry you'd leave the comforts of bed for the kitchen. What I didn't realize is that I would be up and about at all hours of the night anyway, because I needed to pump and feed my baby supplemental milk after most nursing sessions during the first month.

I adapted the recipe from the Muesli Snacking Cookies on the Kitchn. The muesli in the name is misleading, because the recipe was written by someone in the UK where muesli must be found more readily. Really, you just need rolled oats and whatever other healthy and fun add-ins you want. I chose to include all kinds of seeds and nuts, as well as coconut flakes and sometimes chocolate chips to give it a sweet pow. I also added brewer's yeast, which along with oatmeal, is traditionally thought to help boost milk supply. There is not actually scientific evidence to prove this claim for either ingredient, but they are nevertheless nutritious. And as a new mother who dealt with low supply in the beginning, I wanted to do everything I could to increase my supply. However, you don't need to be a nursing mother to enjoy these bars!

You could make these as cookies, but I find it easier and faster to spread the batter in a pan and slice it into bars afterward. This makes 24-48 bars depending on how large you make them. It sounds like a lot -- but believe me, you will be glad you made a big batch. I store them in the freezer so they will last a couple weeks. I like to eat mine straight out of the freezer, but they also taste wonderful toasted and warm. 

Side note into new mom paranoia: I replaced the honey in the original recipe with maple syrup, which works just as well. I did make my first batch with honey, but then started wondering whether that was okay since you aren't supposed to feed infants honey because it's a potential source of infant botulism. Yes, it's fine for moms to eat honey, but what about the fact that I'm always sticking my hands in or near my baby's mouth while she's nursing? And that I often wanted to eat a bar right before pumping milk? I looked into it, and all I could find is a recommendation that "thorough hand washing practices should be strictly adhered to, especially in households where honey is regularly consumed by family members." So I decided I'd rather just make them with maple syrup and not have to worry about religiously cleaning up crumbs and my hands afterward. I guess I won't be baking with honey for the next year...



Oat Nut Lactation Bars

1 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup maple syrup
3 eggs
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups oats

Optional add-ins:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or other nuts
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup whole flax seeds
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 cup brewers yeast

Stir the peanut butter, maple syrup and eggs until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, as well as the ground flax and brewers yeast if using. Then stir in the oats and other add-ins - you might find it easiest to use your hands.


Form into cookies or spread about an inch thick on a greased pan - usually takes up about three-quarters of my 12 inch x 17 inch sheet pan.Bake at 350 for 15 min. Let cool on the pan and then slice into bars.

Healthy Breakfast Fruit Bread

My latest breakfast phase is a riff off the Blue Sky Bakery muffin. I got hooked on their muffins when I lived in Williamsburg and could get them at Variety on my way to the subway. I now live closer to the source, since the bakery is on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. (Sidenote: I wish there was a list of all bakeries in NYC that serve their muffins. It's hard to find a good muffin, rather than the pervasive airy nothingness at most cafes.) Anyway, their bakery not on my way to work, and since I'm not a morning person and am always running late, there isn't time to go out of my way for breakfast. Amazingly, Smitten Kitchen found and shared the recipe.

They are great as muffins, but then I got the idea to bake it as bread. It is a lot easier to dump batter into one loaf pan than it is to spoon it into many muffin tins. Furthermore, I store the bread sliced and frozen, so I can bring one slice to work daily to toast for breakfast. This is a game changer when it comes to baked goods. No more overeating to finish a loaf while it sits out all week either drying out or getting overly moist. And the toasting ensures that it always satisfies that Blue Sky Bakery craving alongside my morning coffee - a hearty bread with a crisp exterior and steamy fruit. So far I've made it with blueberries, diced plums, and cranberries, and I've also sometimes added diced walnuts.

Some other changes: I don't usually have bran, but I do always have oats, so I grind oats into a rough flour in my food processor. I love the toothsome texture and flavor added by the oat flour. To increase the nutritional value: Honey in place of refined sugar; coconut oil instead of a more commonplace oil; and the addition of flax seeds. However, coconut oil and honey cannot be blended by hand, since both tend to clump when combined with cold milk, so I do have to get out my hand mixer, even though I generally prefer to mix batter with a fork or spoon to avoid extra cleaning.

The key is to bake it at a high temperature like 425. I don't know the science of it for sure, but I think this caramelizes the sugars in the bread and coaxes more flavor out of its low sugar content. When I baked it at 350, it tasted meh to me.

Breakfast Fruit Bread
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
1 1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 cups ground oats
1 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup diced fruit or berries

Preheat oven to 425 F. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Grind oats into a rough cornmeal-consistency flour in a food processor. Using a hand mixer, combine coconut oil, honey, milk and egg. Dump in oats, flower, baking powder, baking soda, flx and salt. Use the mixer to blend into a smooth batter. Stir in fruit with a spoon. Spread into loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes, until edges are browned. To freeze: Let cool, slice into 10-12 pieces and store in a ziploc bag in freezer.

Holiday Cookies

I went a little crazy and made almost 200 cookies last weekend. I was worried about not having enough, so I multiplied most of my recipes by 1.5 and didn't realize I would end up with quite so many! I like to give them out to coworkers and bring to holiday parties. We were certainly busy with holiday celebrations this December. This year's gatherings included a sign that we are getting older -- a party with multiple babies and congratulations to some newly pregnant friends! 

Pumpkin snicker doodles are one of my trademark cookies that I make most holidays, since I usually have homemade pumpkin puree in the freezer, and they are a unique treat. Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are another good standby, though not necessarily very seasonal. 

Almond biscotti are a favorite of my parents, so I tucked a batch for them under the Christmas tree. Some years I make chocolate gingerbread cookies with cocoa powder, but I opted instead to jazz up a standard spicy gingerbread recipe with walnuts since my brother-in-law does not like chocolate. I actually adapted Simply Recipes'  gingerbread biscotti recipe into cookies, so they are not overly sweet and are also great alongside a morning coffee or tea. 

New to me this year were the coconut macaroons. I have been afraid to make macaroons since failing at them several years ago. I'm not sure what wrong previously, since they were easy to make and tasted delicious. In fact, Evan and I voted the macaroons as our favorite cookie in this holiday batch, so I'm going to make more for our New Year's Eve party. 

Note: One trick I like to employ after making dough is to form it into logs and stick it into the freezer. That way it can easily be sliced and baked into uniform cookies. Usually 30 minutes is enough. You can also store dough logs up to a few months in sealed plastic bags, which also gives you the option to slice off a few at a time and bake them in your toaster oven for portion control.

Gingerbread walnut cookies

(adapted from Simply Recipes - minus the fresh ginger, with walnuts instead of almonds. Bake for 10-15 minutes like a regular cookie instead of baking twice like biscotti. Makes approximately 30 cookies.)

Coconut macaroons
(via The Kitchn)

Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies
(recipe here on Color Me Green)

Pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies
(recipe here on Color Me Green)

Almond biscotti
(recipe here on Color Me Green)

No Bake Gluten Free Coconut Snowballs

image from the Kichn

I made these coconut snowballs for a party last weekend, and they were a big hit. They are really nothing more than coconut, coconut oil and maple syrup, but they taste delicious like chilled macaroons. They are no bake, gluten free and also free of refined sugar, yet they are a sweet treat you can enjoy even on a restricted diet.

I used a recipe from the Kitchn but realized just now that I accidentally used tablespoons of coconut oil instead of teaspoons as the recipe intended. Well, it worked anyway - they are just not quite as healthy with that extra fat in there. I doubled the Kitchn's recipe, which I heartily recommend doing since they will go quickly. I cut back on the maple syrup, though, and they still tasted plenty sweet. I used regular milk since I didn't feel like having a half an open can of coconut milk laying around afterward, but if you want to make them dairy free, then go ahead and use the coconut milk. Finally, keep in mind that though they don't require baking time, you should plan for the time spent time rolling out each snowball and chilling in the fridge.

Coconut Snowballs 
Adapted from the Kitchn

3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
4 tbsp coconut oil
4 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Place 2 cups of shredded coconut in a food processor and process until finely ground. Place coconut oil in a small saucepan and heat over low until coconut oil is melted. Remove from heat. Add to the saucepan 2 cups of finely ground coconut, 1 cup of shredded coconut, maple syrup, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Stir together until combined. Shape into 1-inch balls and coat with remaining shredded coconut. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving week was a whirlwind this year, since we went to three different locations in one week, Evan met my extended family for the first time, there were lots of wedding planning conversations, and we celebrated multiple birthdays.

I help with the Thanksgiving cooking most years. This year, I spent about five straight hours cooking on Wednesday, which meant I got to sleep in and relax on Thursday. You may notice a lot of browning on the vegetables below. Every year, I have problems with my mom's oven, which browns foods extremely quickly and is quick to set off their sensitive smoke alarm. It's strange that I've used many different ovens in many different apartments in New York City and have never had the same kinds of issues. Her oven really doesn't like roasting vegetables.

My mom made her Shoprite turkey, cranberry sauce, garlicky mashed potatoes and a pumpkin pie. She deviated from the pepperidge farm stuffing to a cornbread stuffing that I liked.  

Here's what I made:

Kale salad with lemon, almond and parmesan
I shredded two bunches of kale and massaged it in olive oil and the juice of one lemon. Then I tossed it together with: half of a red onion, thinly sliced; a few cloves of garlic, thinly sliced and sauteed in olive oil until crispy; half a cup of almonds, finely chopped and toasted in a dry pan until lightly browned; a sprinkling of salt and pepper and crushed red pepper; and a cup of grated parmesan.

Most of my family had never had kale salad before, and they loved it. The lemon and parmesan give it flavor, while the finely chopped nuts added a light crunch to the texture, similar to the way that breadcrumbs would. The great thing about kale salad is that it can be prepared a day or two in advance without wilting like regular salads. In fact, it's better to give it more time for the vinaigrette to tenderize the kale. The amount above was enough as a side for twelve people, with leftovers.

Roasted brussels sprouts
My grandfather requested the brussels sprouts after enjoying them in 2011. It seems most adults over the age of 35 have only ever had brussels sprouts steamed and are pleasantly surprised by roasted sprouts. Since I was making a lot of sprouts, I decided to separate all the loose leaves and bake them on their own tray. That way I was able to take out the leaves as soon as they were done. I love snacking on the crispy leaves - we put them out in a bowl with the appetizers. Most of the time, through, I just roast the leaves alongside the sprouts.

To roast brussels sprouts: 
Preheat the oven to 400. Rinse the sprouts. Chop off the tough ends and then slice each sprout in half (if they are small, don't bother cutting in half). Grease a pan with olive oil, and throw in the sprouts. Shake salt and pepper liberally over top. Stir the sprouts around on the pan until they are evenly coated in the oil, salt, and pepper. Arrange the sprouts on the pan evenly spaced. Cook for 20 minutes until the side facing down is browned. Remove and flip them over. Cook another 10-15 minutes.

Whole wheat dinner rolls
I've made no-knead rolls in past years, but I wanted to go for a softer texture this year by incorporating milk and sweetness. I went with a recipe from The Kitchn for "soft and tender dinner rolls", substituting whole wheat flour for a third of the flour. I multiplied the amounts by 1.5 (including the yeast) to get 18 rolls instead of 12. I like to bake my rolls in muffin tins. I brushed the tops with butter just before baking, but I don't think that touch was noticeable enough to be worth the effort. I thought they were fine, but not amazing - a little softer, but not that flavorful. I made them on Wednesday and quickly reheated them on Thursday just before dinner.

Sage leaf sweet potatoes
This was inspired by Smitten Kitchen's parsley leaf potatoes - same idea but with a different type of potato and herb. I cut ten sweet potatoes in half. I melted three tablespoons of butter in a small pot and stirred in a tablespoon of honey. I coated the bottom of two pans with the melted butter/honey. I lay each potato half cut side down over a sprig of sage. I roasted them at 400 F for 20 minutes and then flipped them over for another 10. Unfortunately, they got burned on their second trip in the oven the next day to reheat them before dinner - so if you're going to need to reheat, don't cook them too long originally. The sweetness was not noticeable enough, so I'd recommend doubling the honey. I think this was a much less labor intensive way of getting flavor into a simple roasted sweet potato dish than hasselback sweet potatoes.

Medley of roasted butternut squash, parsnips, carrots and beets
I roasted the vegetables separately according to like cooking times and combined them afterward. I roasted the parsnips and carrots together, and the squash in a different pan. I originally roasted the beets peeled and chopped in their own pan, but their dark color prevented me from noticing they were burning until it was too late. I had to redo the beets, and opted to go my usual route of roasting them whole in a foil pouch, peeling and chopping them afterward. I do think that method better locks in the moisture and flavor.

Cranberry Torte
For dessert, I made this cranberry torte from Lottie + Doof. Instead of almond extract, which I didn't have, I added the zest and juice of one lemon. Lemon plays off the cranberries well. I recommend adding extra cranberries and mixing half of them into the batter, to get more fruit in each bite. This dessert comes together very quickly and is easy to make - which is helpful when you don't have a lot of time or are busy making too many foods.

Apple Pear Pie with Gingerbread Crust

The day after I got engaged, I felt like baking some celebration pie. To celebrate love, to celebrate my friend's 30th birthday that night, and to celebrate getting back into baking after leaving the low glycemic diet. Personally, I'm not big on pies, but many people in my life are, so I'm trying to see what the big deal is.



What I really want to make is a pie with a cookie dough crust. Have you ever heard of that? I've scoured the internet and only seen it done once. I didn't want to get too experimental with a pie I needed to bring to a party, so I made a relatively regular pie crust with gingerbread flavors.

The gingerbread was more subtle than I was going for, however. You could try doubling the molasses and sugar in the dough. The apples and pears definitely work nicely together, but the fresh ginger is what really jazzed it up. This pie still didn't convert me, but the pie lovers enjoyed it. I will make a cookie dough pie this winter, mark my words.



Also, making pie is a lot of work. I guess that's another reason I make it so infrequently. It took something like three hours start to finish. Reading through a recipe seems deceptively simple, but every step has to be done carefully, taking dough in and out of the fridge throughout, and just the acts of chopping the butter and the fruit are time consuming. I follow Smitten Kitchen's principles for preparing and rolling out pie dough, which are rather involved but have always guided me to success.



One step I have improved upon is that I start by dicing my butter really small - even smaller than the half inch cubes that Deb recommends - more like 1/8 inch cubes. Even though the pieces start to stick together when you cut them that small, it still makes it easier to incorporate the butter into the dough later using only a fork and hands, without a food processor or pastry cutter.

Meanwhile, it's now been about two weeks since we got engaged. We got right on the planning train, but have stalled out since we can't seem to decide on the date. Have the wedding in June and have the rest of the summer free to enjoy normal summery things, but have a really busy late spring leading up to the wedding? Or have it in late July, when my favorite flowers are out and we can plan at a relaxed pace and have time for bachelor/ette weekends away beforehand, but the summer will winding down when we get back from honeymooning? There are other pros and cons to each. How does one decide? Flipping a coin?





Apple Pear Pie with Gingerbread Crust
Gingerbread Crust 2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 sticks cold unsalted butter, cubed
2 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp water

Dice butter into tiny 1/8" pieces and set aside in the fridge. Whisk together flour, salt, spices, baking soda and sugar. Combine 2 tbsp molasses and 2 tbsp water in a liquid measuring cup or small bowl and stir to dissolve molasses in water. Prepare additional water by filling a liquid measuring cup with another half cup of water and drop in an ice cube. Using a pastry cutter, fork, or just your hands, work in the butter until it's consistently the size of tiny peas throughout. Now drizzle in the molasses-water, and stir until it starts to come together as a dough. Drizzle in more water as needed and knead with your hands. Divide the dough into two balls and put it aside in the fridge.

Apple Pear Filling 3 apples
3 pears
juice and zest from one small lemon
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cups brown sugar
3 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg, beaten lightly with 1 tbsp water for egg wash
1 tbsp white granulated sugar

Peel and chop apples and pears into 1/4" slices. Toss with other filling ingredients. Preheat oven to 500 F. Grease a pie dish. Follow Smitten Kitchen's principles for rolling out pie dough. Prepare the pie by laying the bottom dough layer in the pie dish, top with the filling, and then top with the upper pie dough layer. Slice some vents in crust. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 475 for 15 min with foil on. Remove foil, reduce to 425 and bake for another 30 min.

Slow Cooked Honey Nut Granola

I go through different workday breakfast phases. After college, there was a time of morning acai and banana smoothies. Then a street cart bagel phase, till that got too unhealthy. There were two separate periods were my usual breakfast was a slice of plain homemade toast. There was a summer of eating muesli and a winter of making oatmeal quickly in the microwave with walnuts and honey. There have also been many days where it's just a cup of coffee or chai tea. Lately, my breakfast of choice has been granola. 

The great thing about making granola is that you can adapt it however you like. My favorite ingredients are below, but I've made many variations depending on the sweeteners I've had on hand. I once even made a successful batch of granola using leftover simple syrup. To keep it healthy, I try to use the minimum amount of oil and sweetener necessary. 

You can make granola in the oven, but I also learned this year that it can be made in a crock pot and wanted to share how easy it is. Leave the granola to cook while you go about your lazy weekend afternoon, checking to stir it now and then. Be careful not to get so caught up in your day that you forget about it altogether, though, or it will burn on the edges (it's happened to me more than once). 

A batch this size usually lasts me about two weeks worth of weekday breakfasts. It also makes about four gift-size portions. This holiday season, I shared my granola by preparing jars for my coworkers. It was much less work than baking up a storm of cookies and it stores better.

Slow Cooked Honey Nut Granola

4 cups rolled oats

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup almonds (or other nuts)

2/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/3 cup flax seeds

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1/3 canola or olive oil

1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup or sugar or some combination)

1/2 cup dried currants or raisins (optional - add after cooking)

In the slow cooker, combine the dry ingredients. Add the honey and oil and stir until the granola mixture is thoroughly coated. Cook on high for 2 1/2 hours, with the lid slightly propped open with a chopstick or other utensil. Stir well every 30 minutes so that it cooks evenly. Turn off the heat once the oats are golden. Be careful to not let the granola on the edges starts browning. Add the currants and  transfer to a glass or ceramic container to store.

How to Make a (Vanilla Blueberry) Ice Cream Cake

First, find a good reason to make one. I knew for months that I wanted to make an ice cream cake for Evan's birthday party. He tried to steer me away, saying it would be too messy, too hard to serve, etc. Indeed, I usually avoid making cakes for parties, preferring to bake simpler handheld apportioned desserts like cupcakes. But I felt a special occasion such as a double 30th birthday party (he shared his party with his best friend who was born only 10 days away) merited an extra special baking adventure, especially for someone who loves ice cream as much as Evan.

Second, decide on your preferred style of ice cream cake. It turns out it's hard to find basic instructions for ice cream cake. There are lots of variations out there, often involving elaborate cookie studded ice cream or unusual flavors. Some aren't real cake, just cookies crumbled into a layer topped with ice cream. I scoff at those. Some are made of ice cream spread between two whole layers of cake. But Evan doesn't like regular cake that much, so I didn't want to make the cake primary and the ice cream secondary. Some versions involve a layer of ice cream molded in a cake pan to perfectly match a layer of cake in size. However, those recipes call for a lot of ice cream (two quarts), which would consume too much money and time to make. Many suggest whipped cream as frosting. But I don't like whipped cream.



Decide on a cake of your own design: In my case, it was a Vanilla Ice Cream Cake with Blueberry Filling: half a layer of vanilla cake, topped with blueberry filling, then a layer of vanilla ice cream, then half a layer of vanilla cake, and then frosted with vanilla ice cream. After it's all spent time in the freezer together, the slightly-ice-cream-soaked-half-cake-layers are just the right size to provide a chilled sturdiness, while the pure vanilla ice cream shines and the blueberries jazz it up.

Two or three days ahead, bake the cake. I used Smitten Kitchen's Best Birthday Yellow Layer Cake. Like Evan, I think regular cake is kind of boring, but Deb did not let me down and this cake was surprisingly tasty, so I kept sneaking bites of the bits that stuck to the pan. I have just one cake pan that is a rectangle around 7x11 inches, so I diminished her recipe by a quarter and left out the buttermilk and salt because no one misses that. Cream 1 1/2 sticks of butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar, whisk in 3 eggs, 1 cup milk and 2 tsp vanilla. Dump in 3 cups flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1 1/4 tsp baking soda and beat to combine until smooth. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. I had trouble getting the cake out of the pan even after it had cooled for an hour, so I employed a trick of placing a wet washcloth around the bottom of the pan for a few minutes before trying again, and it actually worked. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap and store it in the freezer.



Sometime between making the cake and the ice cream, make the blueberry filling. It is essentially a blueberry jam, and you want to make sure you leave enough time for it to chill before assembling the cake. In a saucepan, combine 1 pint of blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, 2 tbsp cornstarch and the juice of half a lemon. Let the mixture simmer on low for about a half hour, until the juice has evaporated off and it's thick enough to spread. Let it cool completely.



One day ahead, make the ice cream and assemble the cake. Homemade ice cream is soft enough to spread easily after it first comes out of the ice cream machine, so you want to have everything ready to assemble as soon as it is done churning. I followed the trusty recipe for basic vanilla ice cream that is found in the little pamphlet that accompanied my ice cream machine. Whisk 3/4 cup sugar and one cup milk until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Whisk in 2 cups cream and 2 tsp vanilla. Turn on your ice cream machine, pour it in, and let it churn for 15 minutes.



While it churns, begin to assemble the cake. Remove the cake from the freezer and carefully carefully slice it in half. You probably want to use a long serrated knife. Spread the blueberry preserves over the bottom layer and stick it back in the freezer to let the blueberry layer firm up a bit.



When the ice cream is done churning, spread about half of it on top of the blueberry filling. Lay the second layer of cake on top and then spread the remaining half of the ice cream across the top. Leave the sides for last and do it quickly. As I learned, ice cream does not work that well as "frosting" since it melts and drips rather than adhering to the sides. Nevertheless, do your best and ignore the mess. You can cleanly scrape away the melted puddle around the cake after it has spent its time in the freezer.

Store the ice cream cake in the freezer until just before serving. Luckily, it fit quite well inside of my cupcake carrier, which fit just barely into my freezer. Otherwise I probably would have tried to wrangle plastic wrap around it.



When it comes to time to serve, make sure all accompanying items are at hand, since time is of the essence when it comes to serving ice cream cake. We ushered everyone outside to wait with champagne and sparklers, while I scrambled last minute to find a lighter for the candles. Then I was glad to have a real candlelit cake to present for the happy birthday chorus moment. This was followed by shouting "quick come and eat the cake before it melts!" while the other birthday boy was presented with his present, a bow-adorned bicycle. We got about 20 small squares out of this ice cream cake, which turned out to be enough, because as anyone who's been to a wedding knows, not everyone wants cake at a party.

Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream

The season of strawberries and rhubarbs has come and gone, but I've only now had time to take these photos off the camera. Evan made this ice cream, not me, but he was so enamored with it that he wanted me to share. For fruit ice cream, he likes to take the time consuming method of cooking fruits down into a jam that can be added to the ice cream machine after you've put in the plain ice cream base. Bookmark this one for next June.

Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
1 3/4 cup rhubarb, chopped
1 cup strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Stew ingredients for twenty minutes. Puree. Return to the pot and simmer until it reduces to a jam consistency. Test to see if it's ready by using the frozen plate test (put a spoonful on a frozen plate, wait a few minutes, then touch it and see if it wrinkles).

1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

Meanwhile, whisk these ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Pour mixture into ice cream machine to churn. After the ice cream machine has been going for ten minutes, slowly add the strawberry rhubarb jam. Let it churn for about another five minutes. Store in the freezer overnight until the ice cream firms up.

Beet Cocoa Cupcakes

I helped my boyfriend throw a party last month and was rearing to bake some interesting cupcakes, as I hadn't made any since my birthday party in December. I decided to try my recipe for chocolate zucchini cupcakes with pureed roasted beets in place of zucchini -- since it's wintertime and beets are available seasonally but zucchini is not. I also used only 3/4 cup of cocoa powder instead of a full cup because that was all I had on hand. It turns out that missing quarter cup of cocoa powder made a big difference. Instead of having a rich chocolate flavor, they were mildly cocoa tinged, more like these beet oreo cupcakes or these cocoa applesauce muffins. The moral of the story is that beets can be great with chocolate (as with my walnut beet brownies), but make sure there is enough chocolate power to match the earthy sweetness of beets. Also, it's cool to see beets make the batter turn so pretty and jewel-toned. And finally, I topped the cupcakes with coconut frosting, but found that the coconut and beet competed for attention in a distracting way rather than tasting complementary.

Make Ahead Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

I was determined to have pumpkin cinnamon rolls on New Years morning, so I followed Pink of Perfection's overnight approach and spent a relaxed afternoon on New Years eve preparing the dough, with the addition of roasted pumpkin puree, frozen from the fall. The pan of rolls went into the fridge to wait patiently, while we dressed up and drank champagne and danced and watched fireworks. Come morning, all that remained was to take the pan out, let it warm up a bit and put it in the oven. And it worked! Which makes this an excellent brunch party dish because it can be made ahead. Of course, I forgot that I usually crave savory over sweet on the morning after a night of drinking and dancing, but luckily there was also bacon and eggs to go around and friends to enjoy the rolls.

For some reason, I missed the cinnamon filling step in the recipe and spread glaze inside the rolls instead. When I realized this, I compensated by sprinkling powdered sugar after they came out of the oven. They may not have been as cinnamon-y and gooey as possible, but it still works as good option, say if you want to be cutting down on the butter anyway. They plumped up into pillowy sweet rolls with a hint of pumpkin spice and zingy fresh ginger. Some liked the ginger, but I didn't, so I leave that up to you.

Also, I cut the original recipe in half, and experimented with slicing different sized rolls. I am confident you can still get 12 rolls out of the halved recipe since we had more than enough for three people. I can't ever imagine needing to make the full recipe unless you're having a giant brunch party.

Make Ahead Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
(Adapted from Pink of Perfection. I apologize for basically repeating her same steps here, but I wanted to have a record of my slight adjustments.)

dough
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/3 cup white sugar
2 1/14 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs

filling
2/3 cups brown sugar
1 1/4 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp butter
1 knob of fresh ginger, peeled and diced

glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp maple syrup

Warm the milk until it just bubbles. Remove from heat, stir in butter until melted, and let cool. Once it's lukewarm, add the yeast, sugar, pumpkin and eggs. In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and spices. Stir in the liquid mixture. Add more flour a little at a time if necessary until it comes together as a dough. Knead for about five minutes. Let it rise for however long it takes you to combine the filling ingredients.

Roll out dough into a 9×12ish inch rectangle (mine was more like 10x15). Spread filling (or alternately, the glaze) over the dough. Roll up dough from the long end. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place cut side up in a pan - I used a 10ish inch round greased cast iron pan, or you could use a baking pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, remove pan from fridge and let sit for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Meanwhile, whisk together glaze ingredients. After rolls are done, pour glaze over top. Alternately, if you already spread the glaze inside, sprinkle powdered sugar on top. If you do not serve them all immediately, they are best toasted.