Starbucks Pumpkin Loaf, part 1

My two-year-old granddaughter Sophie loves the pumpkin loaf they sell at Starbucks. She yells her order from her car seat whenever they hit the drive thru at Starbucks (which is pretty often considering they are a Seattle family).

It's a funny thing about this recipe, whereas most of the Starbucks recipes are all over the Internet, this one is not. Many people are looking for it. Top Secret Recipes supposedly duplicated it, but is closed mouth about it because it is included in a book coming out later this month. I can purchase it on their website, but thought I would try this recipe first, which some claimed was close.

And those claiming that - would be wrong. It is not it. Not that it isn't an excellent pumpkin bread, it is. Not that I think Starbucks is the premier pumpkin bread either, I don't, but Sophie does.

The Starbucks loaf is square - not exactly sure how they do that, but this loaf has baking soda in it which makes it rise and gives it a domed top. I did add chopped pepitas to the top which exactly duplicated the their crunchy top. The Starbucks tastes sweeter and is darker in color. Also this recipe calls for three 7x3 inch pans. It's an odd size and I could only get close with disposable 8x4 inch pans.

I decided to spring for the 99 cents to buy the Top Secret Recipes version. I made it one evening and brought it to work the next day. I was sure I had nailed it because it looked exactly like it - same color and not domed.

It was pouring down rain in the morning so it was afternoon before I ventured out to Starbucks to pick up some of their pumpkin loaf for comparison. Sorry Top Secret Recipes, you can see from the unbiased votes below, it's not the same. They liked it, and it was gone in a flash, but the hunt goes on.

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

This recipe for baked pumpkin donuts comes from Cheekykitchen.com, who seems like a pumpkin-loving girl after my own heart. And she is absolutely right when she says you won't miss the grease of regular donuts one bit. The buttermilk glaze is perfect on these donuts warm from the oven.

I only made half the recipe, which was plenty for the three of us.

Pumpkin Hummus

I looked at a lot of hummus recipes before choosing this one from Slash Food. Strange as it may seem, it was the only one that contained chick peas, which I thought is essential for hummus. I also liked the cumin, garlic, and cayenne for spices as opposed to the routine cinnamon/nutmeg found in some others. This recipe contains just one tablespoon of the calorie heavy tahini, which only adds to its healthy aspects. This might just be my favorite recipe so far. I thought nothing could beat that buckle, but I really like this stuff.

It's easy to make and makes a perfect snack or impressive hors d'ouerve. I sprinkled parsley and a little paprika on it. Notice the cute little plate, a gift my mom brought back from Portugal. It doesn't have a bird on it, but I like it anyway.

Spiced Mini Pumpkins

Got a houseful of mini pumpkins? Have a lapse of judgement at the farmers market? (Mine was selling a basket of 50 mini pumpkins for eight bucks on the day before Halloween.) This recipe was easy using my new kitchen gadget: the hack saw. It worked perfectly for cutting these little pumpkins and I can't wait to try it on the big guys.

The recipe recommends filling these with pudding or custard or scoops of ice cream. I have mine stored in the frig and plan on rewarming them to serve with pumpkin ice cream later in the week.

The guys ate them stuffed with pumpkin trifle; I had mine with ice cream. They were good with both. Just this morning (well, last night in Seattle), my daughter Robin, her husband Roger and their friends Heather and BJ sent me a picture of small baked pumpkins filled with applesauce. The possibilities are endless.

The Best Pumpkin Pie, part 2

In our continued search for the best pie to serve this Thanksgiving, I tested three different recipes from respected sources. For consistency and fairness, I used Libby's canned pumpkin and the same crust for each one. Two of the three recipes call for cooking the crust a little to avoid a soggy bottom crust - I did this for all three. Only one of the recipes provides a recipe for the crust.

Pie 1 came from the label on a can of Libby's pumpkin. It has few ingredients, but makes a great predictable pie. It is well spiced with a combination of cinnamon, ginger and cloves, and is recognizable, as one taster said, "This is the pumpkin pie I've been eating all my life." And he's right, it is. The only thing I changed was to cook the crust for 10 minutes with foil and pie weights and then remove this and cook another 5 to 10 minutes at 400 degrees F., and this is an adjustment I would recommend. I think we are so used to a soggy bottom crust on pumpkin pie, we don't even notice it. Even the pie on the label of Libby's has what appears to be a soggy bottom crust. But make one with a flaky crust and you can really tell the difference.

Pie 2 is America's Test Kitchen pumpkin and sweet potato pie. It uses heavy cream and whole milk in place of the typical evaporated milk and a combination of maple syrup, sugar and candied yams for sweetness. It uses slight amounts of cinnamon and nutmeg, but 2 tsps of grated fresh ginger for the spices. It also uses 3 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks. Lots of calories here, but we don't care - we're going for taste. The filling for this pie has 12 ingredients and cooks for 15 to 22 minutes on the stove top while the sous chef (The Hub) stirred constantly. It started as mild grumbling, but by the time the 22 minutes were over, he was so over this pie declaring he didn't care what it tasted like, it was too much work and went off to ice his shoulder.

Pie 3 is a pumpkin pie from Paula Deen and the Food Network. Paula uses cream cheese, half and half and butter for dairy. She cuts way back on the spices using only 1/2 tsp cinnamon and an optional 1/4 tsp ginger; she also adds some vanilla. I use pumpkin every single day so it wasn't a problem for me, but Paula calls for 2 cups of canned pumpkin, and a regular 15 oz can contains 1 3/4 cups. In order to follow the recipe exactly you have to open two cans of pumpkin and only use 1/4 cup from can two; I think the average cook would find this annoying.

How the testing worked: Four groups of four people each were given a plate with a small slice of each pie marked 1,2 and 3 and asked to rank them in order of taste. There was a group Sunday night, morning and afternoon on Monday and Tuesday morning. Talking was discouraged until the voting was done. The groups were kept deliberately small. The guy in the back of the picture with the TV, did not get pie.

On Sunday night: Libby 5 points, ATK 11 points, Paula 8 points
On Monday am: Libby 8 points, ATK 11 points, Paula 5 points
On Monday pm: Libby 9 points,  ATK 7 points, Paula 8 points
On Tuesday am: Libby 12 points, ATK 4 points, Paula 8 points

For totals of Libby 34 points, America's Test Kitchen 33 points, Paula 29 points

An interesting point is that the Sunday night and Tuesday morning results were almost exactly the opposite for the Libby pie and the ATK pie and I think the spices were responsible. By Monday pm, tasters were commenting on the ATK pie, asking if that was lemon or orange peel or what exactly was the overpowering taste. So if you choose to make the ATK pie, you should probably serve it within 24 hours. While the Libby pie seem to get better with age and would benefit from being made in advance and stored in the frig. The Paula Deen pie has a cheesecake lean with its cream cheese. Tasters didn't vary over time with their ratings consistently giving it a two or three.

Pumpkin Fudge

This pumpkin fudge recipe from the book The Perfect Pumpkin was a big hit with the taste testing crew at Discovery Creative. I and a couple of others voted "not my favorite." The good votes filled up the page and someone got a continuation sheet. I personally would have liked to see more pumpkin and therefore more pumpkin taste in it.

Pumpkin Fudge
   From The Perfect Pumpkin

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 5oz can evaporated milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
12 ounces butterscotch bits
7 ounces marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the first 5 ingredients. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook to the soft-ball stage (234 degrees F, 115 degrees C), about 25 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butterscotch bits. Add the remaining ingredients. Blend well and spread evenly in a buttered 9 x 13-inch pan. Cool and cut into squares. Wrap tightly and store in the frig.

I used pecans and toasted the nuts before adding them. I have another recipe for pumpkin fudge and will try it later in the year.

Notice the cute little bird on this plate, a gift from my daughter.

Pumpkin Chowder

Both The Hub and I loved this pumpkin chowder from Country Living magazine. I wasn't expecting to like it, and The Hub is always suspicious of anything without meat. I wondered what made this a chowder as opposed to just a soup. There is a multitude of definitions for chowder most of them centered around the ingredients and none of the required ingredients are present in this recipe, but we liked it anyway.

I used the rest of the white pumpkin and orange bell peppers. The only other change I made was to accidentally drop the black pepper container in the pot adding way more pepper than the 1/4 tsp called for. To compensate I picked as much as I could out and left out the crushed red pepper.  Andrew commented the next day that the chowder had a little kick to it. Hmmm wonder how that happened.