Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

'Tis the season for all things pumpkin. I've just bought my third can of delicious orange pumpkiny mush... I can't stop. It's the fall weather - it screams "Make orange-coloured, spiced things!". But I wanted to do something a little different, so I decided to try cheesecake. Also, it was my first time making cheesecake! I only got a springform pan last year, and making an entire cheesecake always seemed quite intimidating. I decided to go the easy route and make mini cheesecakes - super simple. After a dinner of Pumpkin-Peanut Curry Pasta, we needed more pumpkin! I followed this recipe from a lovely food blog called Pinch My Salt.

Luckily I had some graham cracker crumbs left over from another recipe for the crust. I mixed 1 cup crumbs, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 Tbsp melted margarine, 1 Tbsp maple syrup, and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice. I added extra oil to the bowl as it seemed a little dry. I also learned a neat trick after googling how to soften up brown sugar that had hardened - place the sugar in a bowl with a damp paper towel, and microwave, covered, for 20 seconds. It really worked - and saved my butt. Thank God for the internet sometimes. Once it's all mixed, push into the bottom of a 12-cup muffin tray and push down with the back of a spoon.

Thankfully cream cheese softens quite quickly so you don't have to remember to take it out of the fridge the night before. In a large bowl, beat 1 rectangular package of (light) cream cheese, 1/2 cup pumpkin, 1 egg, 1 egg white, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 Tbsp maple syrup and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice with a wooden spoon, and then a whisk to break up the chunks of cheese. Pour batter into muffin cups, and bake @375 for about 20 minutes. The recipe originally said 14, but they seemed quite raw still by that point. Cool, then keep in fridge until ready to serve.

They became quite soft after being left out so make sure to keep them in the fridge. We originally ate them unadorned, but the next day I put some Greek yogurt on top in place of the recipe's whipped cream topping, which was a nice compromise. These were a great dessert for a weeknight. The cheese was rich and sweet with a hint of spice. My cat even licked most of the cheese off the top of one while they were cooling - so I can officially say everyone in the house liked them!

Citrus Olive Oil Cake

I've been intrigued by the idea of using olive oil in baking - it always seemed a little decadent, to use (expensive) olive oil in a cake or cookie. Surely you wouldn't be able to tell it was in there? Surely the fruitiness of the oil couldn't come across in a baked good? I decided to find out, with this Citrus Olive Oil Cake recipe from Rachael Ray magazine (June, 2013). My test audience: a couple of friends over for game night. We learned how to play Puerto Rico after a heavy dinner of sausage and potato salad.

Sine this was a citrus cake, the first step was zesting one lemon and one orange. The recipe said 1 tsp of each, but more can't hurt, right? Then I whisked the dry ingredients: 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda and a pinch of salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk 1/2 cup buttermilk (I used the ol' vinegar in regular milk trick), 2 Tbsp each orange juice and lemon juice, and 1 tsp vanilla.

In a large bowl, use an electric beater to mix 3 eggs and 1 1/2 cups sugar (that's a lot!) for about five minutes on high. Then on medium speed, drizzle in 2/3 cup of the good stuff - olive oil. It gave the batter a lovely yellow hue. Mix in the fruit zests. On low speed, add half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk mixture, then the other half of the flour mixture. Scrape into a greased 9" springform pan - so excited for an excuse to use mine, I never do! Bake @350 for 1 hr 10 minutes.

Once it cooled I topped the cake with vanilla sugar (I had an old packet in the cupboard that I had bought in Europe, of all places...) and placed it in my new glass cake stand from Ikea, complete with decorative sheet on the bottom. Looks good, doesn't it! This cake was lovely, it rose quite a bit so it was dome-shaped, and it was a nice yellow colour. It was like a sweet pound cake, with a noticeable citrus flavour to it. But the real question - did we taste the olive oil? I think it came through. It seemed to have an extra richness to it, especially the aroma. I would definitely make it again - it would be a great coffee cake. It stayed moist for a good 2-3 days. Just gotta keep buying olive oil on sale!

Apricot-Glazed Almond Cupcakes

We had a games night (CATAN) with some friends a few weeks ago, and though it was more beer-themed than anything (our hosts had recently come back from Vermont, and who knew, it's big on the craft beer scene) we had some good food to coat our stomachs - pizza made by the hosts, guac with mango and pomegranate seeds from the other guests (amazing!) and cheese from us. And me being me, I brought cupcakes. I've already mentioned the amazing Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, my main go-to for cupcakes, vegan or not. This Apricot-Glazed Almond Cupcake recipe is on p. 89, and I just so happened to have apricot jam in the fridge and was already thinking of almond cupcakes - fate! FYI I used dairy, not soy products.

The batter itself is pretty simple. In a large bowl, mix 1/3 cup oil, 3/4 cup sugar (I usually use a bit less), 1/4 cup (soy) yogurt, 2/3 cup (soy/almond) milk, 1 tsp vanilla, and 2 tsp almond extract. Then sift in 1 cup + 2 Tbsp flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and a pinch of salt. Mix, then stir in 1/3 c almond meal (I love things with almond meal). Because of the yogurt the batter was thicker than some in the book, and I hoped it would be thick enough for the next step. After filling the muffin cups 2/3 full, place 1/2 tsp apricot preserves (is this jam? I just used jam) on top of each cupcake.

Some of you may remember my somewhat failed attempt at putting jam in the middle of cupcakes (hint: it didn't work) but I hoped, since the jam here was on the very top of a thicker batter, it wouldn't fall to the bottom. Bake for 24-26 minutes @350. You also get to make a fruit glaze for these ones, instead of icing. In a small pot, place 1/2 cup apricot preserves with 1 Tbsp water over medium-low heat. Bring to boil, stirring often, and boil for 1 minute. Then turn the heat off and stir for another 30 seconds. To be honest it didn't really make much of a difference, other than warming the jam so it was spreadable - was it supposed to thicken? Either way, after the cakes had cooled I brushed the glaze over them and then garnished with sliced almonds.

So these were quite nice. The cake was thick and dense, and the apricot glaze was sticky but sweet and gave it a nice fruity kick. Definitely something a little different but for me, who makes cupcakes too much to make full buttercream icing each time, it's a nice recipe to keep for next time. I'd toast the almonds, since I was too lazy this time, and maybe try different fruit jams. I bet blueberry would be delicious.

Chocolate Holiday Cupcakes: Two Ways

December was a busy baking month for me, making desserts for parties and goodies to give as Christmas presents. For two parties, I made my usual cupcakes, but attempted to make them a bit more seasonal. I usually use the classic Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, a great little book with lots of fancy ideas. I mostly just use the basic vanilla and cupcake recipes, though, not usually vegan either, and spruce them up a little.

The basic chocolate recipe is quite easy. It involves souring 1 cup milk by adding a tsp of vinegar and letting it sit for a few minutes, then mixing in the other wet ingredients (1/3 c oil, 1 tsp vanilla) and the sugar (which I usually reduce to 1/2 cup from 3/4 cup). Whisk the dry ingredients (1 cup flour, 1/3 cup cocoa, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt) and then mix them all together in a delicious chocolatey batter. And since there are no eggs - you can definitely lick the spoon. Bake for around 20 minutes @350 and voila!

For the first party of the season, a Chanukah party, I was inspired by a tea from Tealish (a great Toronto tea store), whose seasonal 'Dreidels and Donuts' tea involved flavours of chocolate and jelly donut. So I decided to put cherry jam in the middle of each cupcake. I also added some almond extract to the batter with the vanilla. Instead of an icing, I made a glaze, like a donut would have, from icing sugar and milk.

While they looked quite nice, there was a fatal flaw in this plan. Unlike muffins, whose thicker batter can support jam in the middle, cupcake batter is very thin, and the jam just made its way down to the bottom of the liner was it baked. While they still tasted good, they were hard to eat since the bottom of each one was full of gooey jam! Ideally you could flip it upside down onto a plate, but oh well. Lesson learned.

For a Christmas party, I decided to make candy cane cupcakes. I added 1 tsp mint extract to the batter. I topped them with a simple butter-icing sugar icing, and then topped the icing with crushed candy canes. While the Dollarama candy canes were quite disappointing (why were they soft, and not hard, and sorta grey in the middle?) I think the cupcakes turned out well. Can't go wrong with chocolate and mint!