No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Balls

 

I am not a pumpkin pie person. Truth be told, generally speaking, I’m not all that fond of pie anyway, although I have known to break that rule in recent years. I do, however, like pumpkin in various baked goods, and now in an unbaked good, like these easy and delicious No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Balls. There wasn’t really much to putting them together. There is that rather tedious aspect of having to roll them into balls, but in this case, the effort was well worth it. They freeze beautifully, so you can make these a couple weeks ahead of your Thanksgiving (or other special) dinner, and remove to the refrigerator an hour or two before serving.

 No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Balls

 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 c. pumpkin puree

½ c. powdered sugar

1½ t. pumpkin pie spice

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla

¼ t. kosher salt

1 c. graham cracker crumbs*, plus extra for rolling

1 c. white chocolate chips, melted, divided

 In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

 Add the pumpkin puree, powdered sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Mix until well combined.

Stir in the graham cracker crumbs and mix until the mixture holds together. Melt ½ cup of white chocolate chips in the microwave. Add to mixture and beat to combine.

 Scoop the mixture into tablespoon-sized portions and roll into balls.

 Roll each ball in additional graham cracker crumbs to coat.

Melt remaining white chocolate chips and drizzle on top of the cheesecake balls.

 Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to firm up before serving.

 For extra flavor, sprinkle some cinnamon or graham cracker crumbs on top before the white chocolate sets.

 Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

 *As an alternative use half graham cracker crumbs and gingersnap crumbs.

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4 B’s Creamy Tomato Soup

 

The 4B's restaurant chain was established in 1947 by Bill Hainline and his family (his wife, Buddy, and their children, Bill, Jr. and Barbara) in Missoula, Montana. The name, as one might guess, comes from the first letters of their names. While the chain served traditional American food like soups, salads, sandwiches, they were most known for their famous cream of tomato soup.

Source: Pinterest

 The original recipe from back in the early 70’s when 4B’s gave them to customers was founder Barbara Hainline’s family recipe. In that recipe, it calls for 16 oz. crushed tomatoes and 16 oz. diced canned tomatoes. It also calls for 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup liquid coffee creamer. There are no other spices added to it. Customers added salt and pepper at the table. Personally, I can’t imagine a soup being made with coffee creamer, considering all of the nasty ingredients that are in that. Fortunately, the recipe was altered to become the one that I have pictured here.  The beauty of this soup is, of course, its simplicity. One taste told me why it was so beloved. That said, I had to put my hand in, as I do, so my version is below. I think the fire-roasted tomatoes are an excellent addition, as well as adding salt to the pot while it’s simmering. Pair this with a grilled cheese, and you have the absolute ultimate in comfort food.

 4 B’s Creamy Tomato Soup

 1 14.5-oz. can petite diced tomatoes

1 14.5-oz.can fire-roasted diced tomatoes

9 oz. chicken broth

1 T. butter

2 T. sugar*

¼ t. salt

1 T. Melissa’s shallot, chopped

Pinch baking soda

2 c. heavy cream

 Mix tomatoes, chicken, broth, butter, sugar, onions, and soda together in a medium stockpot. Simmer for one hour. Heat cream in a double boiler. Slowly add cream to hot tomato soup mixture. Serve and enjoy.

 *This soup definitely has a sweet taste; I loved it, you may not. Adjust the sugar accordingly.

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Pumpkin Muffins with Bourbon Raisins

 

It just wouldn’t be fall without my whipping up a batch of pumpkin muffins. Every year I try to use a different recipe, or add a bit of variety to existing recipes, by switching or swapping out an ingredient or two. This year I decided that different ingredient was going to be bourbon. These are phenomenal! If you don’t like bourbon, it doesn’t matter, it is not overt, it just adds to the overall deliciousness, while enhancing the flavor of the pumpkin. The raisins are plump and fabulous here, particularly considering that I used two different kinds. I guarantee that these are going to be a part of my Thanksgiving table. I believe that I can also guarantee they will disappear in a flash.

Pumpkin Muffins with B0urbon Raisins

½ c. raisins

½ c. golden raisins

½ c. bourbon

2 large eggs

1 c. pumpkin purée

1¼ c. sugar

¾ t. ground cloves

¾ t. cinnamon

½ t. salt

 1/3 c. canola oil

1¾ c. flour

1½ t. baking powder

½ t. baking soda 

The night before, soak the raisins in the bourbon, do not drain.

 Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 12-well cupcake pan with paper liners; set aside.

 In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until foamy, stir in the pumpkin, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, and salt.  Add the canola oil and mix well.  In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.  Add the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture with half of the raisin-water mixture.  Mix well, add remaining raisin mixture; stir to mix.  Fill greased muffin pans 2/3 full.  Bake until the top springs back when pressed with fingers, about 25 minutes.

Dust with powdered sugar when they have cooled.

 

This recipe makes 12 to 16 standard size muffins.

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Happy Halloween! My Card for 2024

 

I think that I probably enjoy making and sending Halloween cards more than any other card that I send throughout the year. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy sending Christmas cards as well, but there is something about Halloween that makes creating cards fun. I don’t have to limit myself to the holiday exactly; I can choose anything that I consider suitably spooky to share by way of my card. I have found so many strange, unusual, and downright bizarre things over the course of the past couple of years that I have my Halloween cards planned out for the next decade.These cards went into the mail over the weekend, and I’m pretty pleased with this one. When you first look at the front of it, my guess is that most if not all of you would not have the painter Vincent van Gogh popping your head first thing. But it should, and now it probably will, because this is an early work by van Gogh. I loved doing the research on this, the details of which are contained on the interior of the card.The envelopes are something I enjoy doing as well. Truth be told, it is a rare day that an envelope goes out of this house without some sort of embellishment, even if I’m paying the tax man. I just can’t let a plain envelope go. As a consequence, I have accumulated a lot (an embarrassing amount) of Halloween rubber stamps, largely those produced by Tim Holtz, because his are among the finest, cleverest, easiest Stamps to work with. 

Those that I used on the envelopes include:

Framed Frights

Mr. Bones

Unraveled

Sketch Manor

Mini Blueprints #7

I was disappointed that the post office didn’t come out with a stamp with a Halloween theme this year, so I had to stick to those from years past. I know that with each passing year, it gets more and more expensive to mail things, but that’s not going to stop me. I love doing it, and I do believe the recipients are pleased as well.

Happy Halloween!

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Frost on the Pumpkin Spice Cookies

 

I have always lamented the fact that Christmas cookies are only available at Christmas time. I get it; Christmas cookies are special, that’s the point, but what if I want a Christmas cookie at some other time of the year? What about that? I was thinking about snowball cookies the other day (that just happen to be one of my favorite Christmas cookies), and decided that I wanted them now. But to make them more socially acceptable, I decided to make a pumpkin spice version, making them much more suitable for this time of the year. Because I hate working with anything fiddly, and that includes rolling cookie dough into balls, I lost myself for a moment, thinking I was rolling meatballs, so mine tended to be a bit large. No complaints from me, the bigger, the better, right? You, however, may want to make yours a little smaller.

Frost on the Pumpkin Spice Cookies

 Cookies:

1 c. butter, room temperature

¾ c. powdered sugar, divided

1 t. vanilla extract

2¼ c. flour

½ t. salt

1 T. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

½ t. ginger

½ t. allspice

½ t. cloves

1/8 t. cardamom

¾ c. chopped pecans    

Sugar coating:

1 c. powdered sugar

2 t. pumpkin pie spice

 1 t. cinnamon

 In the work bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

 In a medium bowl whisk together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cardamom.

 Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, beating just until the dough comes together. Fold in nuts. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate overnight to allow the spices to intensify.

 When ready to bake, remove from refrigerator, and allow setting at room temperature for 30 minutes.

 While dough is coming to temperature, whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; set aside.

 Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat; set aside.

 Roll about a tablespoon measure of dough into balls and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool for a few minutes. As soon as you are able to handle them, roll each cookie in the spiced powdered sugar mixture, and place on a rack to cool. When cooled, roll a second time in the spiced powdered sugar and return to the rack.

Store in an airtight container, or freeze.

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Mustard and Bourbon Glazed Salmon

 

I’ve been cooking with bourbon lately, using it recently to plump raisins for oatmeal raisin cookies, then to plump raisins to include in pumpkin muffins, so I decided to give it a try on salmon. This week’s fish dish is a wonderful fillet of Coho salmon glazed with this mustard bourbon sauce and baked. It is flavorful and delicious, company worthy, and nothing could be easier.Mustard and Bourbon Glazed Salmon

 2 T. Maille Old Style mustard*

1 T. dark brown sugar

1 T. bourbon

1/8 t. grated Melissa’s fresh ginger

Salt and pepper

2 Coho salmon fillets

 Preheat oven to 400°F. Put a piece of heavy-duty foil on top of a baking sheet and spray with PAM; set aside.

In a small bowl mix together mustard, brown sugar, bourbon, and ginger. Salt and pepper salmon fillets. Place skin side down on prepared baking sheet, and slather the tops with the mustard/brown sugar/bourbon glaze. Slide onto the top rack of your oven, and roast for 12 to 15 until the fish flakes nicely. Serve immediately.

 Serves 2.

*This is the brand that I use. You can use the brand of your choice, just as long as you select mustard that is heavily laden with mustard seeds.

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Ginger Cemetery Cookies

 

This recipe, from Baking in the American South that I reviewed here, seemed appropriate for the month of October because of the name. But, in truth, there is nothing scary about these cookies at all. The recipe was submitted for inclusion in a 2004 publication, Food to Die For, a fundraising cookbook to aid restoration efforts of the 26-acre Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia. The cemetery, now a landmark, is the resting place for Civil War soldiers from over 14 states. The cookies were served at so many cemetery fundraisers, hence the name.Ginger Cemetery Cookies

 12 T. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 c. granulated sugar, plus ¼ c. for rolling

1 large egg

¼ c. molasses

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 t. baking soda

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 t. ground cloves

½ t. ground ginger

½ t. kosher salt

 Place the butter and the 1 cup sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg and molasses and beat until just combined, 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and set aside.

 Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt in a medium bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, beating on low speed until just combined. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir until smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.

 When you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 325ºF, with a rack in the middle. Put the 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in the sugar. Place 2 to 3 inches apart on 12-by-17-inch ungreased baking sheets and flatten to 1/4-inch thickness with the bottom of a glass.*

Bake, one pan at a time, until firm and crisp, 10 to 14 minutes. Immediately remove from the pan to cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the pan between batches. Let the cookies cool to room temperature, 15 minutes, before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

*I didn’t find that it was at all necessary to add the final step of flattening with a glass. As you can see from my results, they flattened out just fine. Why go to the extra trouble?

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