Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

This is a delicious pie, another Martha Stewart recipe. Good for pumpkin and chocolate lovers, but not too “pumpkiny” for people who don’t really care much for pumpkin. If you don’t tell those people, they probably won’t even know there is pumpkin in it.
As with most Martha recipes, I simplified the steps a little. Melting chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in the microwave works just fine. No need for a heatproof bowl over simmering water.
This is supposed to be a triple chocolate pie, but I ran out of time to do the final step of drizzling the milk chocolate. I was taking it somewhere, so I couldn't cut it up and get a photo of it sliced like I would have preferred

* FOR THE GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST
* 2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (about 16 crackers)
* 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
* 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 61 percent cacao), finely chopped
* FOR THE FILLING
* 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (preferably 55 percent cacao), chopped
* 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
* 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
* 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
* 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
* 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* Ground cloves
* 1 ounce milk chocolate, melted

Directions

1. Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugars, salt, and cinnamon in bowl. Firmly press mixture into bottom and up sides of a deep, 9 1/2-inch pie dish. Bake until firm, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Remove from oven, and sprinkle bittersweet chocolate over bottom of crust. Return to oven to melt chocolate, about 1 minute. Spread chocolate in a thin layer on bottom and up sides. Let cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
3. Make the filling: In a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt semisweet chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat.
4. Mix pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, eggs, cornstarch, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and a pinch of cloves in a medium bowl. Whisk 1/3 pumpkin mixture into chocolate mixture. Whisk in remaining pumpkin mixture until completely incorporated.
5. Transfer pie dish to a rimmed baking sheet, and pour pumpkin mixture into crust. Bake until center is set but still a bit wobbly, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool in pie dish on a wire rack. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 8 hours (preferably overnight). Before serving, drizzle melted milk chocolate on top. Serve immediately.

Goodbye and hello

In early November, on a warm sunny day, we said goodbye to an old friend.



Dallas was my first horse, and he’d been with us for 12 years. He was a race horse when he was young. We know nothing about his racing history as his registration papers were long lost. Like all race horses, he had a lip tattoo, but it had become illegible.
After his racing career he was taken to a horse auction, and probably would have ended up going to slaughter had he not been rescued. He was then retrained as a riding horse. He taught me a lot about horses and being a horse owner.
He was 24, which is fairly young for some horses, but old for a thoroughbred who has been raced. I am very glad that we were able to make his later years pleasant and easy.

As sad as losing Dallas was, we were happy to welcome a new addition to the family.



Twilight is a 4 year old palomino quarter horse. Only 14.2 hands, which is small for a horse. Almost large pony size. But perfect for kids, and not too small for an average sized adult to ride. He is very sweet and gentle, and amazingly calm for a 4 year old horse. He will be my 9 year old daughter’s 4H project this summer.

Back to blogging....

I have not been a good blogger at all! Months since my last post. Fall has come and gone here in northeast Ohio. Beautiful September, rainy October, but it stayed pretty warm for a long time.



Lots of late blooming things in the garden this year due to the mild summer. Raspberries are usually long gone by fall, we had raspberries in late September.





We grew a pear in a bottle, just for fun



Honeybee on fall asters. I love these wildflowers. We plan to add a beehive to the farm this spring. The honeybees are in trouble, and they need all the help they can get

Apple-Honey Challah Bread

I've been going through my Martha Stewart magazines (not to get rid of them, for that would be blasphemy, just to move them to a different place) and I found this recipe. I knew that I was going to be home all day doing housework, and I had all of the ingredients, so it seemed a good day to try it.
I do find some of Martha's recipes to be arranged strangely, and a bit hard to follow, as well as overly complicated at times. I didn't butter my plastic wrap, and I was too lazy to go downstairs to get a cake pan, so I just baked it on a pizza stone. Worked fine.
A more appropriate name might be "House Arrest Bread", because it is very time consuming due to all of the risings. IIt was a big hit with the family, something I will definitely make again. On another gloomy day where I don't plan to leave the house.

Ingredients

Makes one 9-inch round loaf

* 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter or nondairy margarine, plus more for bowl, pan, and plastic
* 3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour, plus more for surface
* 3/4 cup warm water (100 degrees)
* 2/3 cup honey
* 2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
* 2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from one 1/4-ounce envelope)
* 2 teaspoons coarse salt
* 1 1/2 tart green apples, preferably Granny Smith, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1 3/4 cups)

Directions

1. Butter a large bowl, and melt 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat; let cool. Combine 2 tablespoons melted butter, the flour, water, 1/3 cup honey, the eggs and yolks, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Mix until dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes.
2. Transfer dough to buttered bowl, and brush with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Cover with plastic. Let rise in a warm place until dough almost doubles in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Pat into an 8 1/2-by-14-inch rectangle. Top with apples; knead to incorporate. Return to bowl. Brush with remaining tablespoon melted butter; cover. Let rise again in a warm place until dough almost doubles in volume, about 1 hour more.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, with rack in lowest position. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan. Roll dough into a rope (about 24 inches) on a floured surface. Coil into a circle, and transfer to pan. Butter plastic wrap, and cover dough. Let rise again until dough almost doubles in volume, about 45 minutes more.
5. Heat remaining 4 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup honey in a saucepan over medium-low heat until butter melts. Brush dough with half the honey-butter. Bake until golden brown and firm, about 35 minutes.
6. Brush challah with the remaining honey-butter. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Turn out loaf from pan, and let cool.

From Martha Stewart Living, September 2009

Blueberry Chai Quick Bread

2 green tea bags
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg (lightly beaten)
2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 350, Spray a 5”x9” loaf pan with baking spray. Steep the tea bags in the boiling water for at least 10 minutes, until the tea is very strong. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl. In a small bowl. combine the sugar, applesauce, sour cream, and egg. Add brewed tea.
Gradually add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring just enough to combine. Fold in the berries with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake approx 30 minutes of until pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Blueberry Lemonade Glazed Cupcakes

Blueberry season is here. I used fresh blueberries for these cupcakes, but frozen work just as well.

Blueberry Lemonade Glazed Cupcakes

1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
4 tbsp frozen lemonade concentrate
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Lemonade Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 cups confectioners sugar
4 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp frozen lemonade concentrate


Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper liners.
In bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg, beat. Add vanilla, sour cream, milk and lemonade concentrate. Beat to combine.
In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture a little at a time. Beat just until combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Pour batter into cupcake liners. Bake approx 25 minutes, or until pick inserted in cake comes out clean.
Frosting - In bowl of electric mixer, combine all ingredients (sugar can be added gradually). Beat at medium speed until thoroughly combined and creamy.
Glaze cupcakes when cool.. Garnish each cupcake with a fresh blueberries if desired

The Garden is blooming

Almost summer, our flower beds are starting to bloom. Rhododendrons are at their peak. The peonies are almost ready, looks like they are going to be really nice this year.


We replanted some new roses after losing 4 last winter, due to my negligence. The vegetable garden is in, now if we can just keep up on the weeds! We don't use any weed killers, so that makes it a lot harder. Some of those weeds seem to able to grow 2 feet in a day.