ARF / 5-A-Day: Real Hallowe'en Candy!

With the candyfest known as Hallowe'en just past, I was thinking about how much fun I have handing out all the sugary junk to the kids in our area, seeing how cute they are dressed up as witches, fairies, superheroes, clowns, and the occasional baby dressed up as a pumpkin. Every year I talk to Andrew and make him promise that for our baby's first Hallowe'en (when we have kids, that is, which now is eons away) we can do the same thing.

Personally, my Hallowe'ens were always marked by my poor, gracious mother sewing my sister's and my costumes on our antique Singer sewing machine (no lie, this thing used to belong to my great-great-grandma). Whatever we desired to be, she would take us to Fabricland and we could pick out the patterns and the fabrics, then spend easily two weeks in the basement sewing away, with mahvelous results. She wasn't limited to costumes, either. Over the years, she's made 14 play costumes for our MLCP productions, 2 flower girl dresses, 2 capes, and 16 years' worth of detailed Hallowe'en garb. Thanks Mom, I wish that sewing gene had passed along to me, since the dang machine stalls every time I try to use it!

This is a more grown-up version of a Hallowe'en candy, still sweet but with a distinct taste from the pumpkin. The maple sugar adds a nice touch and crunchy sparkle to the bright-orange, antioxidant rich pieces of pumpkin. Current research indicates that a diet rich in foods containing beta-carotene may reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and offers protect against heart disease. Beta-carotene offers protection against other diseases as well as some degenerative aspects of aging. For a complete nutritional breakdown you can take a look here, but even if you don't it's easy to tell that these gems of Fall are packed with goodness. Heck, even the maple in these candies has antioxidants and nutrients! Whatever your reason for trying this recipe (and I do hope you will, they are tasty!), they are a great addition to your personal candy bowl and an excellent addition to the ARF / 5-A-Day roundup over at Sweetnicks! Hope Nicholas has a great Hallowe'en too!

True Halloween Candy
Serves 8
1 quart pie pumpkin meat; fresh (cut into 1- inch pieces)

2 ½ cups water

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup maple sugar

1. Place the cubed pumpkin in a saucepan and cover it with water, about 2 to 2-1/2 cups.
2. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, uncovered, until the pumpkin is just tender.
3. Remove the pumpkin with a slotted spoon. There should be about 1-1/2 cups of liquid remaining.
4. Add the brown or maple sugar and dissolve over low heat.
5. Place the pumpkin pieces back in the pan and bring slowly back to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Let the pumpkin pieces stand in the syrup overnight.
7. The next day, bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
8. Remove the pumpkin pieces from the syrup and spread them out on a wire rack so the pieces are not touching one another.
9. Let them stand in a 140F oven for 3 to 4 hours to dry.
10. Roll each piece in the maple sugar, and store them in a dry, cool place.
11. Do not stack or crowd the candy together.

A Kinda Thai Pumpkin Pie... Getting Paid to Invent!

An interesting request came in from one of my bakery clients (who happens to be from Malaysia, not Thailand, but "Malaysian Pumpkin Pie" just didn't have the same ring) a few days ago.

She asked me if I could please make her a pumpkin pie, but add in two very unusual ingredients – creamed coconut and peanut butter. Very interesting, I thought, I had never heard of anything like that! Not being one to turn down an interesting kitchen experiment though, I began formulating ideas in my head.

I had never heard of creamed coconut before either, so I took a wander over to the website of the brand she had given me and then delved a little deeper through good ol' Google. This is what I found out:

Creamed coconut is a solid white block made from pure coconut and is widely used in Thai, Indian and Caribbean cooking. It adds a distinctive coconut flavour and rich, creamy texture to dishes, chopped into chunks it can be stirred directly
into sauces to thicken them. It can also be reconstituted with hot water before
use, following packet or recipe instructions. Creamed coconut can be reconstituted and used in recipes instead of coconut milk. Creamed coconut can also be grated and used in place of desiccated coconut. (Waitrose)

Armed with that knowledge, a package of creamed coconut, a jar of peanut butter and the beginnings of a recipe, I proceeded to cook. This is the result! It smells delicious, like toasted coconut and peanut butter cookies all rolled into one.

Kinda Thai Pumpkin Pie
Serves 12
1/3 cup unsweetened soy milk (not low-fat)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ tablespoon cornstarch
½ tbsp pumpkin pie spice
Half of a 6oz package creamed coconut (not coconut cream or milk!)
½ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup smooth peanut butter
Pastry for a single-crust 9” pie, unbaked

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. In a small saucepan, whisk together soy milk, water, sugar, cornstarch and pumpkin pie spice until well blended.
3. Heat, whisking occasionally, until steaming.
4. Stir in the creamed coconut and remove from heat, stirring to thicken. Set aside to cool slightly.
5. Combine pumpkin puree and peanut butter in a large bowl.
6. Pour warm coconut mixture into bowl and whisk until smooth and thick.
7. Pour into pie shell, smoothing top.
8. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350F.
9. Bake for additional 25 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
10. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.
11. Refrigerate minimum 1 hour before serving.

For those of you paying attention to that sort of thing, 1/10th of this recipe clocks in at about 245.0 Calories, 15.7 g Fat, 3.4 mg Cholesterol, 22.6 g Carbs and 2.3 g Fibre. I never said pie was good for ya!

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween last night! Teaghan and I got creative with our carvings this year, inciting a mass pumpkin-carnage scene. We mixed the pumpkin innards with red food colour, corn syrup and olive oil and then proceeded to fling it about like an episode of CSI gone wrong. Too much fun!

Blog or Bust #3: Not-So-Ghoulish Ghoulash!

Hi everyone, and Happy Halloween! What a great excuse for free candy and wearing costumes! I, of course, am in full garb (even though I won't be trick-or-treating) because, well, it's fun!


October 31st is the last day of the Celtic calendar. It was originally a pagan holiday, honoring the dead. Holloween was referred to as All Hallows Eve and dates back to over 2000 years ago. The ancient Celts thought that spirits and ghosts roamed the countryside on Halloween night, so they began wearing masks and costumes to avoid being recognized as human. If you want to know some more trivia, hop over here!


Well, in the food related world, Blog or Bust is back for a third go-around, this time with Fall Dishes as the theme. Now for most of us, Fall means cold, and cold means time for comfort food! Of course, nobody wants to deal with guilt after being comforted, right?


Hence, my different kind of goulash recipe was born. I cut the amount of oil and red meat in half, and boosted the vegetable content with red peppers, onions, butternut squash, tomato paste and pumpkin puree. I also threw in some great beer, and a half head of garlic for kicks.


The result of the toying? A succulent meal for serving over noodles, brown rice or mashed potatoes that has 241 calories, 7g of fat, 3g of fibre and 130% of the daily recommended Vitamin A intake per serving! When you consider the original recipe had 145 more calories, double the fat, 1g less fibre and only 29% of the RDA of Vitamin A, I would say this is a great bargain!

A Different Kind of Goulash

Serves 6

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 lb cubed beef shank or flank steak
1/2 cup Vidalia onions, diced

1 cup red peppers, chopped

1 1/2 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons tomato paste

3 tablespoons pumpkin puree
2 cups Pilsner Urquell beer
2 tbsp cornstarch

5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon oregano

1. In large pot, heat oil.
2. Brown beef cubes slightly, then add onions and cook until golden brown. Stir in peppers and butternut squash.
3. Add caraway seeds and toast.
4. Stir in tomato paste, paprika, black pepper, and beer.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until beef is tender.
6. Add cornstarch, and cook to thicken.
7. Stir in salt, garlic & oregano, simmer for 5 to 10 more minutes.

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

Happy Chocolate Day!

Yup, it's true! Today is Chocolate Day! This is awesome news for women everywhere, as well as the rest of you chocoholics out there (but come on, we know where the true love lies...).

No personal recipe today, as the ol' body of mine is NOT cooperating as I would have hoped (sigh...) but if you'd like to join in on the Chocolate Day bonanza the Well Fed Network has a bunch of articles, as does Slashfood. Not to mention the majority of wonderful foodies out there have some wonderful recipes of their own! If you'd like to take a look at my offerings, they're here.