Tis the season to be jolly! Let this hot cidery drink warm the cockles of your heart! (While you play Mage Knight… obvi)
2 cups apple juice
2 cups orange juice
2 cups cranberry juice
cinnamon sticks
whole cloves
1 large orange
1/4 cup honey
a 2-3 inch hunk of ginger (peeled and cut into rings)
Take all ingredients and put into a good sized pot – this batch is for a smaller party, but can easily be doubled or tripled. Cook on low heat for about an hour on low, then serve (straining out spices, etc). It also makes your house smell AWESOME like a G.D. scented candle!
BONUS LEVEL! SPIKE IT WITH SPICED RUM OR OTHER SPIRITS! Garnish with frozen or candied cranberries or ginger (look for that recipe coming soon) and a cinnamon stick!
This is an amalgam of recipes that I threw together when I was feeling experimental and it was a real hit! Get ready to lose your mind for this decadent pumpkiny treat!
Components: Pie Crust, Pumpkin Pie Filling, Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting, Salted Caramel
I start with a basic PIE CRUST. My favorite is the Land o’Lakes crust. It’s buttery and flakey and find it easier to work with than shortening crust. You can double this recipe to make 2 tins of pies (24 muffin sized). You’ll definitely have enough pie filling for 2 batches (even if you only use 3/4 of a can as noted below).
2 cups flour
2/3 cups of butter
1/4 tsp salt
4-6 tbsp of ice cold water (I usually use more. I honestly don’t know who these wizards are that use so little water, but don’t go crazy with the water either because it’ll make your crust turn to rock in the oven.)
Mix salt and flour. Add butter and chop it into small pieces. Add water and work it together, but try not to overwork it because you can’t pay overtime. Once the dough is cohesive, pop it in the fridge and mix up your pumpkin pie filling. It takes a little math, but if you don’t want to purchase 2 cans of pumpkin pie filling you can just use 3/4 of the recipe and use the remainder for the pumpkin buttercream. Mix your pumpkin pie filling with needed ingredients as stated on the can.
Once you have your pie filling ready, roll out small balls of pie dough to fit the cupcake, muffin or mini pie tin. To keep the pies from getting stuck I put a little bit of Pam cooking spray and a bit of flour. Press the dough into the tin. These don’t have to be beautifully rolled out since you can easily press them in. Fill the mini pies halfway full (try not to pour on the side crust or they’ll get dark spots which don’t affect taste, but look prettier) and put them in the oven at the recommended temp on the can. These pies will take less time depending on size, so I recommend halfing the recommended time and then checking them every few minutes. The crust should be golden brown and the knife should come out clean when put in the center.
While that bakes – it’s time for SALTED CARAMEL! This is WAY too easy.
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup heavy cream
3-4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp sea salt (bonus level if it’s fancy gray or pink salts)
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan dissolve one cup of sugar on low-med heat. Once it’s all dissolved, turn up the heat to high. DO NOT STIR. Seriously, bad things happen. Just let it bubble until it’s a pretty amber color, but don’t let it go too brown. Remove from heat and prepare to add in the cream. WARNING: THIS IS GONNA BUBBLE UP LIKE OLD ARGUMENTS AT A FAMILY REUNION. Carefully mix in the cream, butter and finally sea salt. Let it cool. BAM! SERIOUSLY AWESOME SALTY CARAMEL, mofos!
These sprinkles got voted off the island.
Once the pies are cooled or close to it, whip up the PUMPKIN VANILLA BUTTERCREAM!
1 cup butter (soft, room temp)
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla (bonus level if you have bourbon vanilla)
2 tbsp pureed pumpkin (or pumpkin pie filling before adding other ingredients)
hint of cinnamon and/or nutmeg to taste
Beat together wet ingredients until smooth then slowly add the powdered sugar until smooth. Add spices to taste. Bam!
Some assembly required! Cover the mini pies with a healthy layer (about 1″ high) with pumpkin buttercream. Then drizzle with salted caramel! My caramel drizzle was conservative my first time making them. My friends ended up dipping their pies in the remaining caramel… so the more caramel the merrier!
Good luck surviving a life where you know these exist – because once you’ve tasted them you will never want to know a moment without them.
I don’t need to put away my comics to make soup! 50 points* to whoever can tell what the trade next to that soup is… ANYWAY, It’s chilly and squash is in season like whoa. Make freezing your butt off almost seem worth it with this super creamy, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy soup! Or just get rid of all that butternut squash leftover in the fridge from Thanksgiving!
Soup Ingredients:
1 large butternut squash roasted with
2-4 tsp softened butter
2-4 tsp brown sugar
3 cups veggie broth
3 leeks sliced just the bulb
1 medium onion diced
1 carrot chopped fine
2 stalks of celery diced fine
1 garlic clove
Salt & Pepper to taste
Olive oil
¼ cup cream (optional)
cinnamon and cayenne (optional)
Pepita Garnish Ingredients:
Raw Pepitas
Brown Sugar
Cayenne Pepper
Olive or Coconut Oil
Salt
Take a large butternut squash, cut long ways and remove seeds. Place on a cookie sheet and smear with butter and sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar and a little salt and pepper. Cook at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until soft. You can easily do this the night before or use leftover squash! This is also a great time to prep the pepitas.
Coat the pepitas with just a little olive or coconut oil – not too oily, just lightly evenly covered. Shake pepitas in a bag with brown sugar and then dust with cayenne and salt. Bake until pepitas look more white than green and slick. Only takes a few minutes. Best to take them out and shake them every few minutes until done.
In a large pan with a little olive oil, cook the onion, celery and leek until translucent, then add in carrot, finely chopped garlic, and veggie broth. Let everything cook until bubbly and veggies are all soft. Remove the butternut squash flesh (do not include husk) and add it in small cubes to the soup. Let this cool enough to transfer to blender. Add the soup to the blender and mix until smooth. Pour back into the soup pot and warm. At this time add 1/4 cup of cream for a richer taste, but if dairy isn’t your thing, it’s totally not necessary. Add salt, and pepper to taste. A little cayenne is great if you love spicy and a little cinnamon is great if you love sweet.
Serve your soup with spicy pepitas on top – then love your life!
Thanks for checking out my blog! With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, I am trying tons of recipes and I couldn’t resist kicking off this blog as a place to share them!
When I am not sharing my recipes and food thoughts with you, my real job is as host and writer of Marvel’s The Watcher, a weekly web series about all the geek news you can handle. At night I am a comedian depatching vigilante justice across NYC. And in between, I am blogging about food! Mmmmm fooood.
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