Fall Flavor

My sister-in-law was asking for some easy dessert recipes.
I wasn't sure what she wanted flavor-wise, however.
In my searches of my tried and true recipes I came across a gem of a recipe that I have tried and really like.

It's a pumpkin roll. Just in time for the various harvest celebrations that many of us may be celebrating.

I found it easy enough, but let's label this one intermediate.

If you're feeling crazy you could definitely decorate this with some chocolate leaves or pipe on some swirlies with any extra filling. Or! Maybe candied pumpkin seeds.


Pumpkin Roll

1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup Canned Pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (optional)
Directions
FOR CAKE:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

FOR FILLING:
BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake; remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.


It really holds up to cutting, and is really rather impressive looking for being so easy.

I still don't know what recipes to give to my SIL, though.

-s.

Cooooooooookies.

Online cookie decorating. Just in time for Halloween.

Buttermilk Biscuits

You know what a strange word to look at is? Biscuits. What an unusual word to stare at for a long time.

Anyway.

I have buttermilk left over from the German Chocolate Cake I made for my husbands birthday.
What shall I do with my leftover buttermilk?
I would make fried chicken, but the chicken has been allocated to other projects this week.

That leaves me with biscuits.
I love biscuits in all their various shapes, sizes and forms.
But the best is always the first and that's southern buttermilk biscuits.
Swimming in cream gravy.
Dripping with butter and honey.
Steamy, hot and soft.

Yes, yes, yes.

And here's my recipe.

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter (I like mine fresh out of the freezer)
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup buttermilk, chilled

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Crumb the fat into the flour mixture until you're left with little pebbles. Pour in your buttermilk, stirring until the dough just comes together.
Turn the sticky dough onto a floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold it over a few times, creating those tempting layers we all love. Roll, or hand mash the dough to an inch thick round. Using your 2-inch cookie/biscuit cutter or a glass of equal size, cut out as many biscuits on the first go that you can. I like to place my biscuits on the sheet so that they are just touching, but if you like harder sides leave them an inch apart. Mash the scraps back together, working it as little as possible and cut another round. The biscuits will get a little more tough each time you have to use the overworked scraps, so try to cut as many as possible each time.
Lightly press your thumb down in the center of each biscuit.
Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

(With my airbake pans [which I use religiously] I can get away with 10 minutes.)

I haven't mastered sausage gravy yet, perhaps someone out there has a recipe they might like to offer up?

Who I am.

I'm a mom.
I bake.

I like easy recipes when I'm busy and tired, I like hard recipes when I'm not as busy and not as tired.
I love shortcuts and tricks more, though.

I love butter laden, sugar crusted, buttermilk drenched, herbed, rubbed, marinated, salty, deep fried, golden flakey, delicately fluffy, intricate, rustic, loaded with berries, simple, divine, luscious, sticky, honey covered, whole-milk sodden, thick iced, sweet glazed, frozen, baked but most importantly unhealthy recipes best.

If I find something healthy and I like it, well... We'll see. But don't get your hopes up.

I'll share everything I know and everything I'm learning.

Let's get cooking.

-s.


Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.

When the pies was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the king?