Tuesday, October 30, 2007

A Mixed Bag...

So, as a baker I should technically say "when life gives you pumpkins, make pumpkin pie", but since our pumpkins were a) not pie pumpkins and b) already occupied with being jack o' lanterns, I'm going to adapt that: When life give you pumpkins, make roasted pumpkin seeds and go from there!

Three sets of goodies are coming your way today, maybe as a sort of bribery for being mostly absent these days? Yeah, the ol' body is still wreaking havoc, but apparently I'm too stubborn for my own good and I cooked a bunch of stuff anyway! So, roasted sweet and salty pumpkin seeds, a seed and nut butter, and everyone's favourite - COOKIES (!) are on today's menu, hopefully you find them a nice home on yours one day!

This is the most recent way I've made roasted pumpkin seeds, with salt and honey, beginning by borrowing a technique I learned off of Elise from Simply Recipes today, and finishing with my own flair. They taste like kettle corn, and formed the basis for the other two recipes! I'm going to be making these again for Andrew, since the stepfather ravaged the supply from my pumpkin's innards last night.

Kettle Seeds
1/4 cup sea salt
Seeds from one pumpkin, "de-gooed"
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp coarse salt

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
  2. Fill a large pot with water, add the sea salt and bring to a boil.
  3. Add the pumpkin seeds and boil, stirring occasionally, 12 minutes.
  4. While seeds are boiling, spread olive oil on a cookie sheet.
  5. Drain the seeds and pour onto the oiled sheet, tossing to evenly coat.
  6. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with salt, stir again to evenly coat.
  7. Bake 10 minutes on the top rack of the oven.
  8. Stir seeds, re-position the rack to the middle of the oven and return the seeds for a further 10 minutes.
  9. Immediately pour onto a separate baking sheet or piece of foil to cool.

I whipped this up as the basis for the cookies that followed, basically just to see what would happen to my tiny food processor. This makes a very firm butter after it's been in the fridge, so you will want to stir it before use.

Mixed Bag Butter
½ cup roasted pumpkin seeds, shells on
½ cup roasted, salted cashews
4 tbsp neutral oil
½ tbsp Nutella (or hazelnut butter for a dairy free, vegan variation)
½ tbsp peanut butter

  1. In a food processor, grind the pumpkin seeds and cashews until powdery.
  2. Add the oil and process until clumpy, then blend in the Nutella and peanut butter until a paste forms.
  3. Store in the fridge and use within 2 weeks.

And finally, these - the crowning glory of the day's events. Chocolate batter, chocolate chips, the mixed butter and a shot of coffee make these some serious goodies. The batter is very sticky so you may want to wet your hands before dropping the batter. Don't forget to grease the sheets!!

"Mixed Bag" Double Chocolate Cookies
Makes approximately 36
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup sugar
½ cup cocoa
¼ cup margarine, softened
2/3 cup mixed nut and seed butters (I used my “mixed bag” butter)
1 egg replacer, prepared
1/3 cup water or coffee
1 teaspoon of vanilla
½ cup chocolate chips

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment and grease well.
  2. Mix together the flours, baking powder and salt.
  3. Blend in the sugars and cocoa.
  4. Add margarine, nut butter, egg replacer, water and vanilla. Mix well.
  5. Fold in chocolate chips.
  6. Drop about 2 inches apart on sheets
  7. Bake for 11 minutes.
  8. Cool 5 minutes on pans, then remove to wire racks to cool completely

1 comment :

  1. Great looking cookies Sarah! By the way you are the lucky first prize winner of my Show Us Your Sarnie's Event! Send me your particulars and I shall have the lovely box of Katherine Kidston Soaps winging it's way to you soon! Thanks so much for participating!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for the feedback!