Pumpkin Tartlets

After making the pumpkin cheesecake bites, I had a lot of leftover pumpkin filling and cream cheese filling. I mixed them together to make pumpkin tartlets. This was our dessert after dinner on Thanksgiving. It has a chocolate short dough crust, a pumpkin cheesecake filling, and a chantilly cream sprinkled with cinnamon.

One problem I encountered was that the short dough was too crumbly to work with. I think it may have been because I substituted 1 Tbsp. cornstarch for flour instead of 2.  I added ice water like you would with pie crust dough. It was still too hard to roll out so I just pressed it into the tartlet pans. The crust did turn out tasty though. It had a chewier layer on top where it met the filling and a crumbly cookie layer on the bottom. 

Pumpkin Tartlets- Makes 4 Tartlets (5 " in diameter)

Chocolate Short Dough 
Inspired by Baking At Home With The Culinary Institute of America

-8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

-1/4 cup sugar

-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 egg yolk

-1 1/3 cups cake flour (if using all purpose, substitute 2 Tbsp. flour with 2 Tbsp. cornstarch)

-3 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl on medium speed of stand mixer using paddle attachment.  Add in egg yolk and mix just until blended. In a small bowl, sift together flour and cocoa powder. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix on low speed just until blended. Mixture should be crumbly. Add a little ice water until it forms a dough. Press together into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 20 minutes until cold. 

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray tartlet pans with non-stick spray. Roll out dough on floured surface two inches larger than the pan. Lift and position dough into pan and trim off the overhang by rolling it with a rolling pin.


Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling

Inspired by Hoopfinity's Happenings

-1 can pumpkin pie mix (15 oz. already sweetened and spiced) or make your own- see pumpkin cheesecake bites recipe

-1/3 cup evaporated milk

-1 egg (room temperature)

- 1 block cream cheese (8 oz.), softened

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 egg whites, room temperature

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

- 1 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, combine pumpkin pie filling, evaporated milk and egg until smooth and creamy. In a large bowl blend cream cheese, sugar, egg whites and vanilla with an electric mixer. Gently fold the pumpkin mixture into the cheesecake mixture.

2. Spoon  pumpkin cheesecake batter onto chocolate short dough. Bake in 375 degree F preheated oven for 30 minutes or until filling and crust are set. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Chantilly Cream

Inspired by Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America

- 1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled

-1/8 cup confectioner's sugar

-1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

- cinnamon (optional)

1. Chill a mixing bowl and beaters.

2. Using an electric mixer or stand mixer with whisk attachment, whisk heavy cream until medium peaks form. Add confectioner's sugar and vanilla and whisk until stiff peaks form.  Scoop the cream into a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe onto cooled pumpkin cheesecake tartlets. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecake Bites

 I've wanted to make pumpkin oreo cheesecake bites for about a month. Slowly I gathered the ingredients, a box of Oreos here, a bag of sugar there, a can of pumpkin leftover from Halloween. The recipe caught my eye because of all the pretty layers. With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I thought it would be the perfect time to make it.

While baking these cheesecake bites, I ended up with a lot of leftover pumpkin layer and cheesecake layer batter. When I typed the recipe out, I halved the original recipe. I found out that unmolding cheesecakes from mini muffin tins are a pain. I will use liners next time. However, making them in the mini cheesecake pans with removable bottoms, they pop out nicely. Watch out it doesn't go flying! The original recipe called for canned pumpkin pie mix. I like to make my own. If you want to buy it premade where the sugar, salt and spices are already in there, that works fine too.

Surprisingly I found that the Oreos are quite time consuming. First you have to scrape out all the fillings and then process the cookies. I only have a mini food processor. That is probably why it took so long since I had to process it in five batches. Perhaps I should ask Santa this year for a regular size food processor like the kind they use on Iron Chef America, Top Chef and Chopped. After processing, I sifted it just to be sure I wasn't leaving any big cookie chunks in there.


Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecake Bites
Inspired by Hoopfinity's Happenings

Makes 24 bites

Oreo Cookie Crust

1 bag Oreo cookies, fillings removed

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (113 g)

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

2 1/2 tsp. instant coffee

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line mini muffin tins with paper liners or spray mini cheesecake tin ( 12 with removable bottoms) with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Process Oreo cookies and instant coffee into a fine powder. Mix in melted butter and chocolate chips.

3. Press the Oreo mixture into mini cheesecake tin or mini muffin pan.

Pumpkin Pie Layer

1 can (15 oz.) pureed pumpkin (100% pumpkin)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 egg, room temperature

1. In a large bowl mix pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices together. Using an electric mixer, beat in evaporated milk and egg until smooth and creamy.

2. Pour filling onto Oreo crust. Tap pan on counter so the filling evens out.

Note: If mixing your own pumpkin pie spice, combine 2 Tbsp. cinnamon, 2 Tbsp. nutmeg, 2 tsp. ground ginger, 1 1/2 tsp. allspice. Then measure the correct amount out.

Cheesecake Layer

1 brick of cream cheese (8 oz.)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 egg whites, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg whites, vanilla and flour together until smooth and creamy.

2. Pour cheesecake mixture over the pumpkin layer in cheesecake tin. Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles.

3. Place cheesecake bites in preheated oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until they are set.

4. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Refrigerate cheesecakes in the pans for at least 2 hours.

5. Unmold cheesecake bites.

Caramel Sauce

Recipe inspired by the book Baked- New Frontiers in Baking

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup glucose

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Stir brown sugar, 1/2 cup water and glucose together in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium high and cook until it boils. Boil for 10 minutes. (If caramel starts to smoke, remove the saucepan from burner and turn the heat down.) Remove from heat. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream. Return pan to low heat and whisk until clumps dissolve. Whisk in vanilla when caramel is smooth. It is then ready to use. If storing, cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container in fridge up to 5 day.

Apple Oatmeal Muffins

 Easy, healthy, hearty muffins are packable and freezable. I like to make my muffins the night before and leave them on the counter for the kids to have for breakfast the next morning. If you want more spice in your muffin, try adding some nutmeg, allspice, cloves or ground ginger.

Apple Oatmeal Muffins

Makes 12

1 1/2 cups oats

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup soy milk

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 egg white

1/2 cup chopped apple

caramel sauce (optional- for recipe see Pumpkin Oreo Cheesecake Bites post)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners or grease and flour muffin pan.

2. Whisk oats, flours, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl.

3. Mix together applesauce, soy milk, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and egg white in a large bowl.

4. Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients just until moistened. Fold in apples.

5. Fill muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven.

6. Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack. Drizzle with caramel sauce. Store in airtight container.

Pear Spice Butterscotch Chip Scuffins

What are scuffins? They are a cross between a scone and a muffin. They are more moist than a scone but still can be cut out using a biscuit cutter and hold their shape. I wanted to keep with the flavors of fall but try something other than pumpkin and apple for a change. I used red anjou pears, spices (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, black pepper), and butterscotch chips.

Pear Spice Butterscotch Chip Scuffins
Inspired by Pastry Affair
Makes about 25 mini scuffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 large ripe anjou pears, peeled and diced
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup heavy cream + a little extra if you want it more moist
1 cup butterscotch chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder, spices, and salt.

3. Cut butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or two knives till it is the texture of coarse sand.

4. Stir in diced pears.

5. In a small bowl, beat together egg, vanilla and heavy cream.

6. Mix wet and dry ingredients together just until combined. The dough should be sticky. If it appears too dry, add in a little more heavy cream. It will be more tender and muffin-like in texture. If you want it firmer and more scone-like don't add any extra cream. Stir in butterscotch chips.

7. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Pat into a circle 1" thick. Use a 2" biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. Place on baking sheet. Press together the remaining dough and cut out more until the dough is gone.

8. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely or serve warm. Store in an airtight container.

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches

I was in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Unfortunately according to the NY Times recipe, the dough must refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours. 24 hours which I didn't have this week as it was already nine o'clock on election night and I was baking while watching the polls and speeches. I came upon recipes for cookies with sprinkles, macarons, chocolate cookies or chocolate chip cookies. I was torn and decided to combine them all into a mini size cookie sandwich.

Mini Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies

  72 mini chocolate chip cookies, cooled
  1 batch of chocolate buttercream frosting
  assorted sprinkles

 To assemble, scoop frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe frosting onto bottom of a cookie. Cover frosting with another cookie to form a sandwich. Roll or sprinkle sides of cookie sandwich with nonpareils or  jimmies. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days or refrigerate if storing longer. 


Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe inspired by Sally's Baking Addiction

Makes 72 mini cookies

    3/4 cup (171 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
    3/4 cup dark brown sugar
    1/4 cup granulated sugar
    1 egg, at room temperature
    2 tsp vanilla extract
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    2 tsp cornstarch
    1 tsp baking soda
    1/2 tsp salt
    1  1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips




Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix together butter and sugars using a stand mixer with paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until well incorporated. Scrape down bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract. In another bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Blend dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Scrape down bowl and mix again. Fold in chocolate chips. Using a melon baller scoop dough and roll into a ball with hands. Place on cookie sheet. 36 can fit one one sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes until cookies seem set. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheet with a spatula and cool on wire rack.



Dark Chocolate Buttercream

  1/2 cup unsalted butter
  1 cup powdered sugar
  3/4 cup dark cocoa powder (sifted)
  2 Tbs milk

Beat ingredients in a stand mixer with paddle attachment until light and fluffy. If it's too thick, add more milk until it is thin enough to be piped yet thick enough to hold it's shape.

Baked Pears

For the harvest potluck, Sage chose pears as his main ingredient. I wanted to make something generally healthy since the kids would probably be eating lots of sweets for Halloween. The boys ate these up.

Baked Pears

1/8 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)
1/8 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
3 Anjou pears, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
1/3 cup apple juice




Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix flour, brown sugar, melted butter, honey, salt, and spices in a small bowl. Peel and cut pears. Use a melon baller to scoop out the core of each pear halve. Fill the holes with brown sugar mixture. Place the pear halves in an 8x8 baking dish. Pour apple juice into the baking dish. Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Spoon apple juice from baking pan onto pears. Serve warm.

Mummy and Ghost Cake Pops

I've been wanting to make these Halloween cake pops for all the kids and teachers at the boys' school for months. Every week I'd be at Michael's Arts and Crafts buying supplies to make them. A new store just opened up on Alberni and Burrard. I used the recipe from Bakerella. The cake was a little dry in my opinion though it was going to mixed with frosting anyway so it didn't matter. You can use a box cake mix and ready made frosting if you wish. It makes things easier. Or you can use your own favorite cake and frosting recipes.

Yellow Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (226 g.)

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs at room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup whole milk at room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

3. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar together for 5 minutes until light and creamy.

4. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add vanilla and mix.

5. Alternate adding the flour and the milk a third at a time to the butter mixture.

6. Spread the batter into the pan with a rubber spatula into the prepared pan.

7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

8. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack.

9. Loosen the edges of the cake and flip it out of the pan. Cut off and discard (or eat) any brown edges and surfaces for a prettier looking cake pop.

10. Cut the cake into 4 even pieces. Take one piece and rub it between your hands until crumbs form. Or you can use a food processor. Repeat with the remaining pieces.

Vanilla Frosting

3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (96 g)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tsp. milk

1. Cream together butter and vanilla in the stand mixer with paddle attachment.

2. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions.

3. Add a little milk if you want your frosting creamy.


Cake Pops (Makes 50) You don't have to make that many at one time. Just freeze the cake.

Cake crumbs from one recipe of cake (1 box if store bought)

Frosting (3/4 of a container if using store bought)

4 bags of candy melts

vegetable shortening or paramount crystals (I have yet to find these and try them out)

Deep small microwaveable bowl

Lollipop Sticks

Styrofoam

Sprinkles, decorations

Small clear bags (if individually wrapping)

Ribbon (if individually wrapping)

1. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix the cake crumbs and frosting in a large bowl with the back of a large spoon. Use a Tbsp. to scoop even cake balls. Roll into balls or desired shapes. I did ovals for the mummy heads and triangles for the ghosts. Place on parchment. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or place in freezer until firm.

2. Place candy melts in microwaveable small bowl. Melt on 50% heat for 30 seconds. Stir and repeat until melted. If the candy seems too thick, add a tsp. of vegetable shortening. Mix in well or it will add little shortening blobs to your candy.

3. Take out a few chilled cake balls at a time. Dip a lollipop stick into the candy and stick it into the middle of the cake ball. Dip the whole thing into the candy, rolling it so it covers the entire surface. If it starts to drip, use your finger or a spoon to clean off the stick. Stick into the styrofoam to cool. If your candy starts to crack, leave an opening at the bottom of the stick that's not covered by candy so the cake ball can expand. It's usually a result of the cake balls being rolled too tightly. If your cake balls fall off the stick, you may want to put them in the freezer after you put the sticks in to let them set.

4. After they are all coated in candy, I used dark purple mini chocolate chip sprinkles for the ghost eyes, black round sprinkles for the ghost mouths and multicolor mini chocolate chip sprinkles for the mummy eyes. Place the remaining melted candy into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe onto cake pops and stick on decorations. Pipe lines to look like mummy bandages.

5. Let candy cool completely. Wrap in plastic bags and tie with ribbons if giving away as gifts. Store in an airtight container.

Deconstructed Reconstructed Mini Pumpkin Hand Pies

 Canned pumpkin pie filling on the left, pumpkin pastry cream on the right.

I was commissioned to make some mini pumpkin pies for a birthday. Previously I had made apple and peach hand pies. The pies were all baked and cooling on the rack. I tried one and thought it tasted like crust despite the filling oozing out when I made them. I can't serve these I thought. I'll make them better. Luckily I had some extra milk, eggs and canned pumpkin pie filling. I whipped up some pumpkin pastry cream, cut open the pies, piped some in, and tasted them. Now they were creamy and slightly pumpkin flavored but lacked some punch. I mixed together some spices from the cupboard- allspice, powdered ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. I mixed them into the pastry cream which was no longer orange but brown. "Oh no!" I thought I had put too much in. August tasted it and deemed it delicious. You will not find these on another site. I think they are a cross between hand pies and cream puffs.

Deconstructed Reconstructed Mini Pumpkin Pies
Makes 12

Pie Crust- Makes 2 Crusts (You can use any pie crust recipe)

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsalted butter, (151.2 g) chilled and cut into pieces
1 large egg yolk ( save the egg white to use for a wash)
ice water

Whisk together flour and salt. Add the butter and use pastry blender, two knives, or a fork to blend into coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk with 3 Tbsp. of ice water. Sprinkle the egg mixture over the flour mixture. Sprinkle more ice water one Tbsp. at a time over the flour mixture until it begins to form a ball. Knead the dough on a floured board. Shape into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Pie Filling- I bought mine from the store in a can. You can make your own by adding plain pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and sugar. If adding milk or cream, only add a little or your filling will be runny.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Pastry Cream

1 cup whole milk
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 Tbsp. nutmeg
1/2 Tbsp. ground ginger

1/2 Tbsp. allspice
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Prepare an ice bath. Steam the milk in a small saucepan.   In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, pumpkin, sugar, flour, spices, and cornstarch until smooth.
Slowly add half of the steaming milk to the pumpkin mixture, whisk constantly.  Add the rest of the milk and stir. Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan.  Heat it for a minute or two stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until the custard reaches 170F on a digital thermometer and is very thick. Remove from the heat and put the saucepan into the ice bath.  Stir in the vanilla extract. Let it cool for 30 minutes in the ice bath. Strain through a sieve. Transfer pastry cream to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap pressing it onto the cream so skin doesn't form. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.

Making the Mini Pies

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Take the chilled pie dough out of the refrigerator. Roll out on floured surface. The thinner you roll it out, the better it will taste. Use circle cutters to cut out 3 inch circles from the dough. Place the circles on the cookie sheet.

3. Spoon some pumpkin pie filling onto each circle. Cover the filling with another pie dough circle. Use the end of a lollipop stick or a fork and press down on edges of the mini pies to seal the dough.

4. Brush lightly with egg wash. Sprinkle with ginger sugar or coarse sugar. Bake in oven for about 30-45 minutes. They are done when you see the crust turning golden brown.

5. Cool on rack for 5 minutes then remove from baking sheet to cool on wire rack.

6. Split open mini pies with a sharp knife. Fill a piping bag with pumpkin spice pastry cream. Pipe cream into mini pies. Replace tops. Refrigerate. Take out of refrigerator 30 minutes before serving to warm to room temperature.