Pumpkin Passion

I have been baking up a storm lately. Some recipes I took one bite of and promptly put in the trash while others will now become wonderful seasonal standards. Here’s a quick run down:

Pumpkin Spice No-Bake Cheesecake from Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes
I have enjoyed several recipes from Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipe blog and was looking forward to making the pumpkin cheesecake. This recipe seemed perfect: pumpkin and guilt-free dessert. I’d tried making a similar recipe before minus the pumpkin and was not impressed. Still, my hopes were high. However, the cream cheese was just too strong and tangy. We didn’t finish our slice. Maybe next time we’ll add more pumpkin and lighten up the density with some fat-free whipped cream

Pumpkin & Corn Fritters by Emeril Lagasse
I haven’t eaten many fritters before or I might have know better than to have made this recipe. Essentially these are like a savory pumpkin bread with corn added and then fried. A more realistic name would have been fried pumpkin corn bread. They did have some good flavor but they were just too much. It needed some kind of sour cream chipotle sauce…actually any sauce would have been an improvement. I ate a few of these but most of them went in the trash. Savory fried bread balls are not my thing. However, these Golden Ricotta Pumpkin Fritters sound like a delicious improvement and so do these pumpkin banana fritters.

Pumpkin Waffles by the Pumpkin Waffles Blog
We have also been pumpkin waffle making fools lately and I really do mean fools. The first batch of these pumpkin waffles that I got from a recipe at the aptly named Pumpkin Waffle Blog turned out CRAZY BAD. They were runny and thin and I couldn’t get them to cook without burning in the middle. I had no doubt that I’d done something wrong. Trying out a new recipe early on a Saturday morning without taking the time to drink a cup of coffee beforehand is a bad idea. I gave them another try a couple of weeks later and they were completely delicious. They have the Pumpkin Passion Seal of Approval. Yummmm!

Pumpkin Bread by the Polka Dot Cottage
Hands down, my favorite pumpkin recipe we tried over this past Pumpkin Eatin’ Season was the Pumpkin Bread recipe over at Polka Dot Cottage. I swear that I would not be eligible for a spot on the Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America”–btw, I HEART Rachel Coleman. I can be a pretty decent cook when I try but I almost messed this recipe up too. I didn’t read that this was a recipe for two loaves, instead of the one gigantic loaf I tried to make. Luckily I realized my mistake shortly after putting it in the oven. I quickly took out the full loaf pan and took out enough batter to make 12 gigantic Costco muffins in addition to the one loaf. Even with this mistake the bread and muffins came out wonderfully. We’ve made this recipe several times and have frozen and thawed the second loaf without being able to tell that it wasn’t freshly baked. It’s moist and delicious. I highly recommend trying this recipe all year long. In fact, I think I’ll make some more this weekend!

Have you ever been to Rutabegorz? It’s a delicious vegetarian friendly restaurant with a funny name. Unfortunately there are only 3 locations and they are all located in Orange County, CA: Fullerton, Orange, and Tustin. Their food is generally healthy but substantial and their menu is extensive. Their salad are amazing and are served in a substantially sized mixing bowl—they’re huge—and their salad dressings are unique and taste homemade.

I’ve been going here for almost 20 years and the food has remained excellent. There are so many great moments I’ve had at Rutabegorz. I met Nomy Lamm at the Fullerton location. She asked my friend and I over to her table and we ended up having dinner with her. It was a memorable night. Mostly, this is my favorite restaurant because it’s where my wife and I had our first date. I suggested we meet there (just in case she was a serial killer) and she was impressed because it was one of her favorite restaurants too. Ahhh…

We went to Rutabegorz again last month and they were in full pumpkin motion. They had pumpkin hummus (only $1), pumpkin soup, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin beer (only $2). We tried all of it but the beer. The pumpkin hummus was quickly gobbled up but the soup was not a favorite. It was too tasteless and there were canned mushrooms it, blah! The pumpkin cookie tasted like half of a whoopie without the frosting center. Their pumpkin items weren’t their best items but I still love the place.

In addition to my love of pumpkin, all things cute, anything with sugar, eggnog, and etsy, I also have a minor obsession with cupcakes. They perfectly combine my love of all things cute and anything with sugar and sometimes they are even pumpkin flavored. The trifecta, however, has never been successfully accomplished. I guess pumpkin cupcakes are so simple that they’re complicated.

I’ve ranted several times before about my pet peeve when it comes to pumpkin cupcakes: people treat pumpkin cupcakes like carrot cupcakes. Carrot cupcakes typically have a stronger combination of flavors; in addition to carrots, there are walnuts, raisins and cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese has a naturally sour taste that stands up well to a carrot cupcake. Cupcake shops also tend to top pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting but the flavor of the frosting over powers the delicately flavored pumpkin cake. My search for the perfect pumpkin cupcake had therefore been futile.

This year I’ve had a more successful run with pumpkin cupcake. I’ve enjoyed two cupcakes this year and both are on the same block. Soon all of Los Angeles will have two cupcake shops on every block, which is 3 less than the number of Starbucks currently on every block.

The first pumpkin cupcake I had this year was at Crumbs in Larchmont, CA. Their pumpkin cupcake was different but in a good way. The walnuts on top and the drizzle of chocolate were a nice touch. The frosting may have had some cream cheese but it was very light–if there was any at all. Maybe it was the orange color of the frosting but I kept also tasting some orange flavoring. The pumpkin cupcake was strongly flavored and moist–definitely enjoyable.

Today we went to the Village Pizzeria in Larmont (their pizza is amazing) and we walked past a new coffee shop called the Larchmont Bungalow. We could see their pastry case from the street and it appeared to be filled with yummy looking cupcakes and other sweets.

We decided to stop by on our way back to the car and take a closer look. The cafe is beautiful. There’s a counter full of orchids and a relaxing outside patio. The back half of the café is also a sit down restaurant that serves primarily brunch items and also sandwiches and salad. We saw red velvet pancakes on their menu. What did I just say?!?! YES! RED VELVET PANCAKES.

The desserts are divine looking. We got two red velvet cupcakes, a chocolate ganache, and I ordered the pumpkin cupcake. I also got a cup of coffee that was strong yet devoid of any bitterness–an absolute must try for coffee snobs.

When I came back to the office I meant to wait until at least 3:00 p.m. but that was wishful thinking and so out of the brown bag it went and into my tummy.

I have to say, the pumpkin shaped disk on top threw me a little. I wasn’t sure if it was paper, that foamy stuff used for kids’ crafts, or if it were actually edible. Sprinkles has similar looking dots on top of their cupcakes and they are simply horrible. They’re so bad that you’d think you’re eating a Tiddlywink, blah! Their hand-drawn pumpkin thing was surprisingly tasty. Not too sweet and not hard. I’d describe is as sweet and foamy but it looks a little cheesy–kind of like a grade school Thanksgiving Day art project.

The frosting is a simple buttercream dusted with cinnamon–excellent choice–and the cake is nicely spiced and plenty tasty. I think this is my favorite pumpkin cupcake that I’ve had so far. Also, it’s the LARGEST cupcake I’ve had. This sucker is huge.

A special THANK YOU! goes out to Terrye who purchased both cupcakes for me. You’re sweet!

Question of the Day: Am I the only one who doesn’t like cream cheese frosting on pumpkin cupcakes? Just curious.

Crumbs Rating: 4 out of 5
Larchmont Bungalow Rating: 5 out of 5

The Crumbs pumpkin cupcake photo is courtesy of roboppy. Thank you!

UGH! I’m trying to make a Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle by Paula Deen for Thanksgiving tomorrow but I just hit a major disaster.

I’ve made the recipe twice before and it always got rave reviews. This time I decided to use Trader Joe’s “Deep Dark Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix” and it was bad…really, really bad. There is soo much ginger in this mix that it burns the back of your throat for a considerable amount of time after you swallow it. It’s just too much! Blah! I even got someone else to try it and they agreed it was really, really bad. I love their “Pumpkin Bread and Muffin Mix” but this is wrong!

Now, I must go out and brave the supermarket to try and find the Betty Crocker version.

Happy Thanksgiving and best wishes on your holiday baking!!!

Disneyland has gone pumpkin crazy! There are pumpkins nearly everywhere you look from the entrance gates, down Mainstreet, all the way to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. There are simply too many items to mention. Some highlight are the giant Mickey Mouse head at the beginning of Mainstreet (pictured above) and the pumpkins carved with Disney characters surrounding the Walt Disney statue at the center of the park.

They even had a pumpkin Mickey Mouse Hat. Of course, I had to get one with my name stitched on the back. I don’t think I’ve had one of those since I was about 6 years old.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted House is the #1 reason to go to Disneyland this season. It’s simply awesome.

While you’re feasting your eyes on all the pumpkin decorations you can also treat your tummy. There’s a pumpkin latte and a pumpkin cupcake at Blue Ribbon Bakery on Mainstreet. The latte was descent but cold and the cupcake was good but the frosting was similar to what you get with grocery store cupcakes. At California Adventure in the Wine Country Trattoria there was a tiramusu with a pumpkin mousse in a take-home ceramic Mickey Mouse mug. It was simply delicious but didn’t taste much like pumpkin. It tasted much more like banana. I wanted to eat 4 of them for a complete set of mugs to take back home. I probably could have eatten them all because the portion is teeny tiny–there’s a disposable plastic cup inside the ceramic cup. The whole thing is little more than the size of a shot glass but it was yummy and super cute.

Since I could never adequately describe all the many pumpkin items, here’s a little montage:

Name: Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Muffin & Bread Mix
Purchased At: Trader Joe’s
Price: ???
Availability: Year Round

I hope everyone has a Laurel in their office. She’s the person who you bring in something scrounged up from your own cupboard shelves for the office potluck because you want access to her dish and no one else’s. Sometimes, she’ll forget that there even is a potluck and just walk to the grocery store and come back to create the most wonderful salad with items you never would’ve put together yourself. In other words, she’s an awesomely amazing cook.

Today was the end of a big project that several staff members have been working on and to celebrate the completion, she made a full lunch for everyone: salad, pasta, bread, and pumpkin cake. The cake was absolutely delicious (along with everything else, of course). When she told me the cake was from a Trader Joe’s boxed Pumpkin Bread & Muffin mixed I was seriously surprised. This is someone who could take bologna and make it taste gourmet but she swears she just follows the recipe on the box and adds some pecans. The frosting was whipped cream cheese and pumpkin butter. The pumpkin butter really cut the tang of the cream cheese. So yummy!

While I haven’t always enjoyed the pumpkin treats I’ve found at Trader Joe’s, this mix has a great mix of spices and is something you should try if you want a quick but delicious pumpkin cake.

There’s only one thing wrong with Pumpkin Eatin’ Season…it coincides with election season. UGH! Work is unbelievably busy as we try to save California’s Family PACT program and stop Proposition 4 from passing in November. Consequently, I’ve been using my lunch breaks to try and rescue family planning services instead of crafting blogs… Pumpkins must wait for some things. If everyone would just take a moment and look at the “No on 4” and the “No on 8” websites I would really appreciate your effort and I’d feel less guilty about not working on a flyer for “No on 4″ phonebanking!

Even with this crazy schedule I simply had to share my latest find. During a very hectic morning I took a brief mental break and stumbled across Cupcakes A Go-Go’s website where I found their pumpkin pie cupcake pictured above. They are so freaking adorable. Unfortunately they’re not pumpkin flavored, which is SO nuts! Oh well, Sarasota Florida is too far to get one anyway. I guess I’ll just have to make my own.

I’ve already ruined my personal goal of posting a blog entry every Monday for all of the 2008 Pumpkin Eatin’ Season. My excuse is as follow: Last week was the craziest work week ever in my entire working life. I could have used a case of pumpkin wine and have still not forgotten my troubles. It feels a little like the sky is falling and my only hope is that on November 5th we’ll see some actual change.

To forget my troubles, I’ve recently had some excellent pumpkin filled weekends . . . . . but for this post I’m forgoing the excellent. Oftentimes, I’m quick to post about the really awful pumpkin finds or the really awesome pumpkin finds. The mediocre ones get pushed to the side and forgotten. Not this time! This is my mediocre pumpkin post.

First off….

Name: Jack’s Pumpkin Whoopie
Purchased At: West Coast Whoopies in Calimesa, CA
Price: $2.50
Availability: Year Round

From the first moment I was told about Whoopies I’ve wanted to try them. The one thing I possibly love almost as much as pumpkins are cupcakes and since Whoopies are a variation on the cupcake I was totally excited to hear about them. A Whoopie is like a crème-filled cookie but it’s more like if you took the tops off two cupcakes and used them for the cookies but put the frosting in the middle, which sounds great. The only thing wrong with cupcakes are the wrappers and this eliminates that step.

We set out to get ourselves a Whoopie and when we pulled up to the shop I noticed the sign outside read PUMPKIN Whoopies. Yea! We got one pumpkin and one chocolate with peanut butter frosting. I took a bite of the chocolate one right outside of the shop but was unimpressed. They seemed dry and ordinary. The pumpkin Whoopies are frozen so we decided to take them home and have them later in the day.

I was hoping that my patience would be rewarded but it wasn’t. They aren’t horrible but they’re nothing special. They made the classic mistake of using a vanilla cream cheese frosting, which I have bemoaned frequently on this blog, and the cake was dry and uneventful.

Yawn, we probably won’t be going back but it did spawn the idea that if I’m going to ask the bakers of the world to STOP using cream cheese frosting then I have to come up with an alternative. Keep watching because I’m going to try out a variety of frosting recipes until I come up with the perfect one for pumpkin cupcakes.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Name: Phenomenal Pumpkin Spice Cookie
Purchased At: Nearly Every Independent Coffee Shop in Southern California
Price: $3.00ish
Availability: Year Round

I buy the “Phenomenal Pumpkin Spice” (their use of the term “phenomenal,” not mine) cookies made buy the Alternative Baking Company too often. I see them year round and I’m always thinking that I really should blog about them but they’re just too boring to say much about. The taste is decently pumpkinish but the cookie ends up feeling like a ball of lead in my stomach. It’s probably because it’s vegan but the texture is Dense with a capital “D.” Another mark against it is that one cookie has 440 calories and it is sooo not worth it.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Name: Mini Pumpkin Pie
Purchased At: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Price: $2.25
Availability: Seasonal

The mini pumpkin pie at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf looked cute in the pastry case but was a yawner. It’s mostly crust and the dollop of whipped cream is rubbery and artificial.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Name: Pumpkin Latte
Purchased At: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Price: $3.75
Availability: Seasonal

It tasted better than the Starbucks’ version but not by much.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Name: Pumpkin Loaf
Purchased At: Starbucks
Price: Forgotten
Availability: Seasonal

There is nothing new at Starbucks in the way of pumpkin treats. It’s all the same old stuff that they’ve had for the past few years. Maybe they think they can trick us into thinking the pumpkin loaf is new because this year because they put crushed pumpkin seeds on top instead of the cream cheese frosting with the tiny candied ginger pieces like every other year but it’s soo not new. I prefer it the old way.

Blah, Blah, Blah . . . it’s fine but boring.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Wow! I’m kind of caught up now. I’ve also made some great pumpkin finds and I’ll post them soon. Hopefully you are still awake after all this boredom.

Name: Pumpkin Empanada
Purchased At: La Fuente
Price: $.60
Availability: Not Sure

I recently moved from my city of the last ten years, Long Beach, CA, to the Inland Empire. If you’re not familiar with these two places let me paint you a picture: Long Beach is a large urban beach town that is strongly liberal and has an ultra adorable gay ghetto; The Inland Empire is practically the desert, is hotter than freaking hot all the time, has probably never been called “ultra adorable,” is majorly conservative, and we’ve already had a “Yes on 8″ flyer put on our door.

As a result, I was feeling a little homesick and wondering if I would ever adjust to this strange place when I asked Shannon if there was a place to get Mexican pastries. She took me to La Fuente, a bakery/food-to-go in San Bernardino that, in addition to selling pastries, has tamales (that are supposedly really good) menudo, rellenos, and tortillas.

I’d been waiting for a few days to get my pastry because the first time we went there was a big sign on the door saying “Back on September 1st.” Well, I was back on September 1st early in the morning to find cases of yummy looking stuff. I had a difficult time not getting one of every thing.

On the back side of one of the case were the empanadas and on the bottom shelf was a pumpkin empanada! Here it was, the first day of Pumpkin Eatin’ Season, and I’d found my first product and it was in my new hometown. I was so excited.

I can’t help but compare this empanada with the last pumpkin empanada I had at Starbucks. This one was simpler with no cinnamon sugar baked on top and the crust was moist rather than flakey. However, the biggest difference was in the filling. The pumpkin filling was simple yet delicious. If there was any cinnamon or nutmeg in the filling it was minimal and there was not artificial aftertaste like the one at Starbucks, which doesn’t look like it will be back this year.

It was pointed out to me that this was their first day back from vacation so everything was probably made that morning. The pastries were certainly fresh and delicious!

Rating: 4 out of 5

On New Year’s Day a big group of my friends went out for brunch in San Pedro at the Omelette and Waffle Shop. There were about ten of us and since certain friends, who shall remain nameless, are frequently late we didn’t come together until late in the afternoon. We are all healthy eaters, particularly the skinniest ones, and we were starving. To keep us from drinking straight shots of syrup, we ordered 3 different types of waffles as appetizers.

The Omelette and Waffle Shop is best known for their billion different types of omelettes. There are over 100 on the menu and then there are the daily specials. One person at our table had an enchilada omelette and another had one stuffed with crab. I’m a broccoli, ham, and avocado type of gal.

The waffle options are limited in comparison to the omelettes but only in comparison. They must have about 15 different choices. We had a coconut pineapple waffle and some other type of waffle, which wasn’t interesting enough to remember, and a PUMPKIN waffle.

Name: Pumpkin Waffle
Purchased At: Omelette and Waffle Shop in San Pedro, CA
Price: $5.99 approx
Availability: Year Round

I’ve had their pumpkin waffle before and really enjoyed it. Most of their other waffles take a traditional waffle and just mix up the toppings. The pumpkin waffle has all the pumpkin goodness mixed directly into the batter. It’s topped with cinnamon, powdered sugar, butter and whipped cream. The waffle is thin and crispy but isn’t quite big enough to fill you up but perfect to share as an appetizer.

There’s not much to say about it except that it’s a good pumpkin waffle. I like it and I would order it again but it’s only extraordinary in its simplicity.

The first solid food in my mouth and belly in 2008 was a PUMPKIN waffle. I’m so proud. I couldn’t have planned it better.

Word of Warning: The pumpkin waffle isn’t on their regular menu but I’ve always seen it on their specials menu listed on the wall.

Rating: 4 out of 5