Lady & The Pit

I haven't been to a new restaurant in a couple of months so the reviews have been a bit skimpy lately.  I have, however, been hearing wonderful things about Lady & The Pit in Port Isabel and FINALLY I stopped in to give it a try on Friday night.

I am a bit of a BBQ snob as I've mentioned before.  My first job in high school was forced labor working in the pit side of the family Meat Market in Austin.  I wasn't given a choice and I hated smelling like wood smoke at the end of every Saturday....but it gave me a life long appreciation of good smoked meats and yummy sides.

Lady & The Pit lived up to the local accolades - with flying colors I must say!  I only had my cell phone and for that I apologize.  These plates the teen and I had were "picture perfect" and deserved a high quality camera to capture the yumminess.  You'll just have to take my word for it...and my cell phone pictures will give you an idea.

The Pork Rib Plate

I had a pork rib plate with sides of potato salad and some of the best baked beans ever.  The rib meat was succulent and falling off the bone tender...smoked to perfection.  Ooh la la!  I was happy.  BIG, meaty ribs folks.  Delish with a capital D!  When I took the first bite of potato salad I thought "this tastes almost as good as my mom's"....and the baked beans...well, they were worthy of a meal unto themselves.  They taste like "cowboy beans" with the sweet, smoky, meaty flavors I love.  May possibly be the best baked beans I've ever had.  Can you tell I was a happy customer?  Yep, I was.

The teen was not enamored of the previous inhabitants of this space so he was hesitant to try the new business - he didn't like the previous joint's sausage (he's a connoisseur).  HOWEVER, his first words after he tried his first bite were "Mom, this is good sausage!"  and he proceeded to pile up sausage on slices of white bread and ate it with gusto.  His pile of sliced sausage was so big he couldn't even finish it all with the two sandwiches he made.  He said the mac and cheese was quite good too...but he didn't like the beans.  What the heck is the matter with him?  I could have told him he wouldn't...he doesn't like baked beans in general and was expecting the more typical BBQ joint pinto beans.  Lucky me - I got to bring his uneaten serving home.  He could only eat half of his mac and cheese...so I brought that home too!  Saturday lunch will be these wonderful leftovers along with the two ribs I couldn't put down.  I filled my belly with an entire bowl of beans and most of the potato salad and two huge ribs... these are generous plates I tell you!



The Sausage Plate

Also, if you've read my previous BBQ reviews - you know I have to have good sauce.  YES, this is good, thick delicious sauce.  Two thumbs up!

I can't wait to take my husband in - he will enjoy the variety of sides and the generous portions of meat.  The man likes his protein!  I must say thank you to Jackie Wilson - her Facebook photos of the ribs are what drew me in...that and the 100% positive word-of-mouth from all of the locals who have eaten there.  They were 100% keeerect!

I'm so happy to have a really excellent BBQ place in Port Isabel.  Welcome, welcome, welcome Lady & the Pit - you are a fine addition to the offerings on this side of the causeway.  Hooray!!!

SPI FLIP FLOP FOODIE RATING:

(on a scale of 1 to 5)

5 – OMG – that was an outstanding meal!  I can’t wait to go back J

Three-Kinda-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday afternoon my son walks into the kitchen and notices a pound of butter out and softening, some vanilla bean paste out, and a few eggs laying on the counter coming to room temperature.  His eyes lit up and he said "what are you making Mom?".  When I said "cookies" - he smiled and asked what kind.  I knew that smile would dim when I said I was decorating cookies...so I decided, instead, on the spot, to make some cookies that the men of the household would pounce on.  They tend to hold off from pouncing on the decorated sugar cookies.  Neither are overly fond of royal icing at this point.

I slid over to my stash of chips and found a bag of chocolate chunks, a 3/4 bag of milk chocolate morsels, and a bag with about 1/3 of it filled with white chocolate morsels.  I grabbed them all and decided to just make a "dump in what I have" cookie!

I've said before, and I'll say again, I like the base mixture of a Toll House Cookie - really, it's hard to beat!  So, you'll notice the basics of this cookie are just that...with a few tweaks that really, IMHO, make it special.

Here it is:

THREE-KINDA-CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Adapted from Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour (I am a King Arthur flour fan)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (brings a wonderful warmth to the cookie)
1 teaspoon baking powder (Toll House recipe uses baking soda - but I went from memory and didn't check and already had the baking powder out for my sugar cookies...it seemed to work okay!)
3/4 tsp. fine sea salt (I don't use kosher salt in these cookies)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (I use salted butter - usually do, because that's what I grew up with)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp vanilla bean paste (needed a stand-up-to-the-chocolate flavor)
2 large eggs - room temperature
12 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks - Nestle Toll House brand
8 ounces Milk Chocolate Morsels - Nestle Toll House brand
4 to 6 ounces White Chocolate Morsels - Ghirardelli brand (I didn't measure and would have been happier with 8 ounces - to equal the Milk Chocolate volume)

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.  I prefer the mats.

Whisk dry ingredients in large measuring cup and set aside.

In bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and both sugars until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, while beating, and then add the vanilla bean paste and the vanilla extract.

With mixer on low, add the whisked dry ingredients about 1/3 at a time, mixing between each addition. Stop mixer to add chips and chunks.

Add the chunks and, on low, mix just until barely combined.  Stop and add the other two morsels and pulse a couple of times to mix gently.  Remove the beater, scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl and gently mix a couple of times with a sturdy spoon.

This batch made 2 dozen that I baked...and I froze twenty balls of cookie dough for later use.  I used a medium size cookie scoop to get that number of cookies.

Bake 12 at a time on the baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes for a chewy cookie.  For the frozen ones, I will generally bake at 350 for 11 to 13 minutes from a frozen state.  I don't thaw or put in fridge first.  They turn out beautifully straight from the freezer.

Frozen bag of cookie dough balls are great to keep in the freezer.
I allow to freeze on a smaller cookie sheet in the freezer,
then remove them to a freezer zipper bag.
Remove as much air as possible before freezing.
Double bagging won't go amiss! 

The men in the house were very pleased and I notice there are less than a dozen left...that's a good thing!

Dark, Milk, White...a great combination of chocolate with
the underlying cinnamon and vanilla flavors.
Made a really tasty cookie!

The Cookie Decorating Experiment

My second attempt at painting a cookie

This week has been "experiment" week.  I have learned many lessons!  Good lessons and "eek" BAD lessons!

I tried using Karen's Cookies Meringue Powder Buttercream this week...I had printed her recipe - but it's been over a year since I watched the video...and I missed some key things this time around...now duly noted on my printed copy. 

1.  Need to measure loose powdered sugar, not packed (I was in a hurry and dug it right out of the bag).  Which follows rapidly with, don't make anything at midnight right before going to bed - the reason "I was in a hurry"!
2.  Those living in more humid areas were advised to use extra meringue powder.  I did not.  Two days of being under the fan and I still have a softness under the crust. (not me, silly, the COOKIES).
3.  Either #2 is in play, or you cannot use food color markers without breaking through Meringue Powder Buttercream. 
4.  Air brushing is different on MPB than on RI...I guess the buttercream aspect makes it slick and much harder to use a stencil.  I wrecked a couple of cookies trying to work that out.  I'll stick to Royal Icing for stenciling and air brushing in my immediate future!  Here's a photo of a couple of the fails (my friends tell me they want to see the fails too - so I am begrudgingly showing the ones that have not been eaten yet - the hubs gets the fails). 

Mr. Flip Flop said (as he was biting into the sister failure of this cookie)
that it looks like a tile - kind of an old tile...he thought I did it on purpose.
In reality, I used an adhesive back stencil (which never has damaged
a RI cookie) and it ripped the crust right off the cookie after
I airbrushed it.  Yikes.

I used a lot of "stuff " to cover up the defects
in this cookie.  The pearl sheen pink air brush color
on a vinyl stencil seemed gummy...and then I touched it...
after I mushed the not totally crusted white base.  This
cookie didn't have a chance.  So, I over-decorated it with
some dots and royal icing ribbon roses I had on hand.
It ended up being "okay" - but a wee bit too busy!

5.  MPB works beautifully for flowers - I have not had much luck with getting my royal icing to an appropriate consistency to hold up well, yet not cramp my hand while piping it.  The blue cookie flower was RI and the orange one below was MPB - you can really see the difference in how they stood up - same tip was used (#102 or #103 Wilton - can't recall which one I ended up with)

Royal Icing flower accented with a RI transfer I made last month

The Meringue Powder Buttercream really held
the shape better although it did not do so well with
the border piping...I used a PME 1.5 tip so I know
it was the icing that was the issue.

I wanted to make some Zinnia's to honor my late sister and they turned out pretty good.  They do, however, have a LOT of icing on them.  Who knows how long it will take for these to dry!!!  I also did some mini leaf cookies topped with royal icing that I had left over in the fridge.  I managed to use up the last of all I had saved via several of these cookies.

MPB Zinnia and RI leaves!

I also experimented with the airbrush (as noted above) and used the technique learned from Montreal Confections wherein one places a piece of lace over the cookie and then airbrushes over it.  I tried it on mini butterfly cookies - they turned out cute!  Was able to do 4 cookies at a time under one piece of lace.  The lace was light enough not to disturb the crust and it cleaned up beautifully after the experiment too.  I went ahead and embellished afterwards - not my best piping, but again, working late at night is not my best time for keeping an even hand.  Note to self...when spraying straight downwards, don't tip the air gun to the point food color runs out onto your cookies - not pretty.  Lots of blue splatter on one cookie...which was eaten before anyone saw the evidence.

Lace Airbrush Butterfly Minis

The larger butterflies were all airbrushed with pink sheen air brush by AmeriColor.  It took a long time to dry.  My completion of the butterflies was at a point where I just wanted to use up some of the colored icing I had on hand.  I actually like the pink,gray, and white theme I ended up with...maybe not so much the blue one - it was a bit "busy"...but...week of experiments, right?

I made some Sea Gulls with fairly basic feathering...couldn't seem to get the perspective right though.  I've seen different Sea Gull cookie cutters - I may have to get one so I'm not making this so hard on myself.

Last, but not least, I took the scary, heart-pounding leap and decorated two cookies by hand painting them.  I am so NOT an artist.  The first one is a better bird, with a kindergardenish sun in the background...the second one the bird's beak is way too big and his legs are too fat...and I messed up by painting yellow into blue...which magically became green (duh)!  I love looking at the blue herons wading in the shallow bay outside my window.  This was my homage to herons.  I need to take an art class - I need help with perspective and simple "how to draw things".  It does not come naturally to me at all!

Well - that's this week's enterprise.  I'll be seeing family this week-end so I hope they are willing to eat the experiments!

All cookies used this week were Apple Butter Sugar Cookies (recipe linked here).  It is a wonderful spicy cookie and is tender to the tooth.  I do bake the large ones a little longer so they don't break - better to be a little hard than too soft when decorating.  My icing was flavored with pure vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp cinnamon extract.  The combo goes beautifully with this cookie.

Thanks for sticking with me, I finally feel like I'm getting back into the swing of baking and decorating after several months of not being able to gather the energy... and that is a VERY good thing!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!



Shared With:

Dulce de Leche Banana Pie - Take Two!

A couple of summers ago I made a big recipe of Dulce de Leche Banana Cream Pie for a group of friends visiting the coast.  My husband was working out of town and could not join us and I just realized he had never had this pie.  As I searched my brain for a make-ahead dessert for our dinner, it popped into my mind because Cinco de Mayo (which is tomorrow) is always celebrated in our area.  This celebration of Mexican heritage always includes lots of yummy food so I was leaning towards finding something that might fit into such a celebration.  We live only 30 or so miles from the Mexico/Texas border...so we Caucasians are definitely in the minority here, but I try to embrace the culture of the area where I live because they have all embraced our family so very warmly.

I saw Marcela Valladolid make this on Food Network  back in 2011 and adjusted her recipe to suit our family.  This one is more like hers - the one I linked above was enlarged for a crowd!  I'll be serving it for dinner tonight after we get back from the beach - I have a roast in the slow cooker and this pie in the fridge... add some green beans, brown rice, and yeast rolls and our dinner will be a fast fix when we get back!

So, here's the smaller pie version of this delicious dish!

Dulce de Leche Banana Cream Pie Take Two
Adapted from Marcela Valladolid's recipe

Ingredients:

Crust:
Two 3.5 ounce packages of Maria crackers (I used a local store brand)
1 stick salted butter, melted (8 Tbsp)

Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) butter, room temperature
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
One 13 ounce can Nestle La Lechera Dulce de Leche
3 medium bananas, sliced

Method:

First prepare the crust so it can chill.  Place the Maria crackers in the bowl of a food processor and process until well ground - I had to break a few cookies by hand to finish the process.  I tried to use the small bowl and blade of my KitchenAid food processor, but it wasn't a big enough blade to chop them all up... so I had to change bowls and blades (irritating).

Add the melted butter and pulse until well combined - scrape any butter that gets thrown on the side.  Pour the buttery crumb mixture into a glass pie dish, pressing the crust evenly across the bottom and up the sides with a flat bottomed metal measuring cup - it makes this a very easy process!  I held my fingers at the top of the pie dish so it didn't push up over the edge.  Be cautious not to over-pack the crust or it will be a challenge to cut through it when it is time to serve. 

Refrigerate for 20 minutes to solidify the butter.

Next prepare the cream filling.  I used my stand mixer.  Beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy with minimal lumps.  Add the powdered sugar and cinnamon, whipping at low speed, until combined.  Scrape the bowl with a spatula and hand mix any lumps you still see.  Add the cream to the butter/cream cheese mixture and put on your whisk and whip to soft peaks.  It's a thick concoction so don't expect a texture of whipped cream.

Open your can of Dulce de Leche and get a small offset spatula ready then get your crust out of the fridge to assemble the pie.  Begin by spreading the dulce de leche on top of the chilled crust.  I worked straight from the can and was careful to not "lift" the crust - it works very well with a cold crust and an offset spatula.

Once the dulce de leche is completely covering the bottom of your pie crust (and you have about 1/4 cup still left in the can for decorating the top), peel and slice your bananas, arranging them in an overlapping manner around the pie.  If you really love bananas, add a couple of more and make a double layer.  I kind of wish I had done another layer - I love the bananas in this pie.  

Next spread the whipped cream topping evenly over the banana layer being careful, again, not to pull the bananas up.  Another offset spatula, or even a rubber spatula, works perfectly for this.  

Place the remaining dulce de leche in a sandwich or piping bag and microwave it for just a few seconds until soft enough to squeeze.  Snip a bit off the sandwich bag and drizzle over the top of the pie.  If you don't think it is "drizzly" enough, you can warm the dulce de leche in a small pan on the stove top.  I was in a hurry and didn't get mine soft enough for the thin drizzle I desired.

Refrigerate and chill until set.  Remove from refrigerator 30-45 minutes before cutting - if the butter in the crust is slightly softened it will help the slices release from the pie plate.

This is a deliciously different banana cream pie - I hope you enjoy.  Thank you to Marcela Valladolid for such a wonderful recipe.  Her original version includes peanuts and you may find it on the Food Network website.

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

Shared With:

Coastal Theme Tea Cakes

I really enjoy baking with Nordic Ware pans - I'm getting quite a little collection going!  You may have seen my rose cakelets, my mini bundts, my Christmas tea cakes, etc.

My newest acquisition is their Sea Shell Tea Cake pan.  It has been on my Amazon Wish List for over 18 months...and I finally just DID IT.

The outside of the pan shows what your
finished product should look like

The inside shows you what tiny little bits of batter
will fit in the tea cake pan...1 Tbsp each.

 I have had issues in the past with overfilling these tiny little sections and I was thinking hard about what would not rise too much and would be moist and dense enough for one bite to be "just about enough".  I decided I would test the pan with a box of Milk Chocolate Brownie Mix I had bought a few weeks ago.    As you can see below, they turned out pretty good!  A few of them have "edges" but all were easy to see, nicely outlined, sea life tea cakes!  I had enough batter to make another pan, using my mini tea cake pan I used in the Christmas endeavors of 2011.  What was nice about using the dark batter was the ability to see more clear outlines.  I didn't take pictures of those using the other pan  because I was in a big hurry.  However, I sent all of these and some of the tea cakes from the other pan over to Joni at Paragraphs on Padre Blvd for treats at the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival readings.  I heard a little feedback that they were enjoyed so, even though I used a box mix, it was the "just right" density to work in these little sea shell shaped treatlets!

If anyone has a suggestion for a homemade recipe I can use for tea cakes, please send me a link... I'd love to find that "just right" recipe for using these adorable little pans!!!

The final unadorned tea cakes - very tasty and quite cute!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

Cookie Memories

My regular readers may have noticed I have been very "off" lately.  I have experienced some losses that nearly wiped me out and baking and blogging on a regular basis have been more than I could handle.  I just worked on putting one foot in front of the other to make it through the last 7 months or so.  As Dory the fish so eloquently said it, I just had to "just keep swimming, just keep swimming".

For the past 3 days I have been baking cookies and decorating them for a Memorial Service for my big sister.  She loved the beach.  Everyone is encouraged to wear coastal attire to the service.  I have my new tropical shirt, my best flip flops, my dolphin necklace, and my mermaid earrings.  I'm almost ready.

In her honor I made cookies for after the service fellowship.  The entire endeavor was a cathartic walk down Memory Lane.  I began with sand dollar cookies - which brought back memories of our regular childhood camping trips to Mustang Island and Port Aransas.  We'd search for shells for hours and, in those days, the sand dollars were the primo find.  Now-a-days we rarely find more than the occasional broken sand dollar.  It's a sad commentary on the state of our oceans!

Sand Dollar cookies with a pearl sheen

I also made "my version" of conch shells.  Big sister loved The Keys.  She had one last chance to try to make it to her beloved Keys in December when I called her back home because our Mom died. She never was well enough again to make the journey...so, conch shell cookies are my offering.  I'm sure she is smiling.



My version of conch shell cookies - a little dry brushed pink
lustre dust gives the edge a little shimmer

She loved bright colors - yellows and oranges and aqua - the colors of the tropics.  So, my version of scallop shells with orange and yellow feathering.

Scallop Shell cookies with orange and yellow feathering.
After drying, embellished with some dots and lines.  I liked this set.

Palm tree cookies - she loved laying on a hammock hanging between two palms.  Reading a book or napping or just swaying to the gentle breeze off the Atlantic Ocean.  My first piping icing wasn't thick enough, so I had to get creative.  I think they turned out okay...but they sure do have a lot of royal icing on those palms!



The rustling sound of palms is one of my favorite sounds
These cookies have coconuts - our palms do not.
I liked the look though, so coconuts they are!

Dolphins - ahhhh, the dolphins.  We used to ride the ferry to Mustang Island and the dolphins danced around the ferry, smiling their happy smiles, delighting the souls of children and adults alike.  When I moved to the South Padre Island area I told her about our tribe.  She told me in January "I want to go see the dolphins with Scarlet...it's on my bucket list".  I knew that wouldn't happen because she would never have been able to make the 7 hour journey.  She entered at-home hospice care in January.  We met in Port Aransas instead, as one of her final wishes, and the dolphins were at the ferry waiting for her.  So, dolphin cookies were a must.  Dolphin Love - it's the best.

A happy pod of dolphin cookies

Flip Flops - we were two true flip flop devotees!  I know I have a LOT of flip flops - but she may have had more.  Flip flop cookies were mandatory!



Flip Flops - piled up like mine are.  I had fun making these.

The last batch of cookies are more about her beautiful grandchildren.  She had a lot of grand kids for a 62 year young woman!  She loved to tickle their tummies when they were little and say the belly button bug was getting them (a ladybug of course).  So, the final batch was my first attempt at lady bug cookies.  I hope they love them.  Unfortunately, I know they will turn their mouths black and red.  I did try the trick of adding cocoa powder to the icing to darken it before adding the black food coloring.  I definitely used less black gel color, but still...I'm anticipating some colorful mouths!  I used a tutorial from O So Sweet Cookies - and it was perfect.  I have had the lady bug cookie cutter for a while and never got to making them.  This was the perfect opportunity.

Lady Bugs - my first attempt...cute!

My cookie dough was in the freezer waiting for me (thank goodness) and I used both my long-time favorite Mather World's Best Sugar Cookie Dough and Lila Loa's Vanilla Variation.  I used Ali's Sweet Tooth's method of making royal icing and not a single bag separated!  Yay!!!

Now, after this I hope life will return to the more gentle pace I grew accustomed to when we moved to the coast.  I need the peace and tranquility of the waves lapping, the gulls calling, the pelicans soaring, and the sand between my toes.  I know, then, I will be able to feel the previous joy I felt for baking and blogging and sharing my meandering thoughts with my blog readers.  Thanks for hanging with me during this really icky time of my life.  I'm hoping this will be the final melancholy post you will have to endure from me!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!! 

UPDATE: 4/29/2013:  At the reception in Fellowship Hall,
the tables were decorated with leis, coastal ornaments, and
my cookies!  Everyone seemed very appreciative.
It was a lovely ceremony, filled with spirituality and
love and caring.  Happy Trails my dear sister!

Cookies for Book Signing

I love to take baked goods to share when our wonderful indie bookstore, Paragraphs on Padre Blvd, hosts a book signing.  I haven't been in my baking groove (as you can tell from the lack of posts) for some time.  Last night and this morning, however, I was "on" and ready to bake!  Both of these cookies have been blogged about before - but I decided to go ahead and re-post anyway!  The Lemon Ricotta Cookie below was changed only by the utilization of Meyer Lemons this time around.  Have to say I LOVE them.  I made one tiny change to the glaze by zesting two lemons instead of one in the glaze.  Meyer Lemon zest is much less tart (to my taste) than the usual lemons used in the past.  They are a cake-like cookie which I find very appealing.  I think they turned out great.

The other treat is a Vanilla Bean Madeleine.  Also, the perfect joining of cookie and cake!  Sometimes I make excellent Madeleines with no effort...and other times, like today, each batch was a struggle.  Nonetheless, they turned out okay and taste quite yummy.

If you are a local, and want to try any of these treats, come by the Pat McGrath Avery signing and discussion of her book "Emergence - The John Bax Story".  It's bound to be a good activity; an informative discussion of John Bax's life as a self-taught filmmaker who loved birds and captured incredible and beautiful scenes of birds in the wild.  He spent many years of his life in South Texas so I can't wait to learn more!  It is today, April 12, 2013, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  Paragraphs is located at 5505 Padre Blvd. South Padre Island, TX.  Hope to see you there!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

Shrimp Boil

I've had a lot of shrimp boils in my day...but this may have been one of the best ones and easy to throw together!

Twelve people, a six-month old who had had enough fun for the day, an ocean-front condo with seating for 5...hmmmm.  No biggie - we could make it work!  We dragged in the balcony table and chairs, covered both tables with wax-backed butcher paper (double layer) and threw all of the food on the table.  Literally!

We used a big "turkey fryer" pot filled 2/3 with water and two packages of Zatarain's Crab and Shrimp Boil.  Started it to boil and first put in a bag of clean new potatoes and let it go for 15 minutes or so...next went the frozen corn (24 pieces) and then, 5 minutes later, three pounds of sausage chunks.  I prepped the 4 pounds of fresh shrimp purchased near the docks at Port Aransas by peeling, butterflying, and deveining (because my sister doesn't like to peel them and see the vein...so, like a good sister, I cleaned them for her).  Once the shrimp were added, they were finished cooking in 3 minutes or less and everything smelled so incredibly delicious!

We melted 3 sticks of butter and placed in little ramekins around the table; my sister-in-law, Lana, mixed up 2 bowls of cocktail sauce and toasted two loaves of French bread.  We put out a container of my homemade pasta salad and dinner was ready!

We carefully transported the extremely heavy boiling pot to the floor on top of towels, lifted the strainer basket up over the sink and let it drain.  With a towel underneath, my oldest son transported it to the table and we tossed it down the middle of the two tables.  One table got more potatoes and corn and the other table got the majority of shrimp (which, of course, we re-distributed!)...and everyone dug in. 

People took turns holding the baby and eating and laughing...what a great time was had....the laughter, the jokes, the sounds of happy eating!  Friends, family, and lots of joy all around the table. Anyone having room for dessert could nibble one of the "Beach Cookies" I made for the trip.

We finished the evening with the poker people (most of the people) playing a fun, albeit quite competitive, game of Texas Hold'em...which was, of course, a win for my sister-in-law Lana.  She's just a little competitive!

A fun time was had by all - good times, good times.

Sister-in-law Lana, big sister Cynthia, and their beautiful
granddaughter Sarah Jewel.

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

Cinnamon Streusel Pumpkin Loaves

A travel breakfast...hmmmm.  I dug through my folder of recipes I had intended to try over the holidays before chaos erupted in my life.  I wanted something easy that would travel well...something to snack on or to have with coffee as we sat listening to waves rushing in and gulls calling.

As soon as my hand touched a print out for Cinnamon Streusel Pumpkin Bread from Michelle Day at Michelle's Tasty Creations blog, I just "knew" this would be perfect.  We have pleasant temperatures this week-end, but there is a call for being overcast and a light rain.  What is better than the warm taste of pumpkin and cinnamon and all of those warm spices on a lightly drizzly day?  Not much.

I made a few minor tweaks - but nothing major.  My addition is a vanilla bean cream cheese drizzle for a bit of extra topping (like streusel isn't enough) .  Everything is baking while I type... I'm departing in a few short hours.  My house is smelling really awesome about now!  I should probably sample it before taking it with me, right?

Here's the recipe:

CINNAMON STREUSEL PUMPKIN LOAVES
Lightly modified from the Michelle Day recipe


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Streusel Topping:

1/2 cup unbleached AP flour
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Drizzle:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 ounces butter, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
1-2 tsp. milk - more if needed

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray three mini loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large 4 cup measuring cup, add 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.  Whisk together until well blended.  Set aside.

In bowl of a stand mixer, beat the eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, oil, pumpkin, and vanilla extract until smooth.  Pour the flour mixture into the bowl and beat until smooth (on low) then evenly distribute the batter between the three pans.

For the Streusel Topping:
Mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon with a fork in a medium bowl.  Add the butter and using a fork, pastry blender, or your fingers, crumble the butter into the sugar mixture until you have a crumble mixture.

Divide evenly over the three pans of pumpkin bread dough.

Bake for 40-45 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).  Allow to cool in pans for a few minutes then remove to a cooling rack.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Drizzle

In small bowl of food processor, pulse 1/4 cup softened butter, 4 ounces of softened cream cheese, and 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste until smooth. 

Add enough powdered sugar to make the consistency of a thick icing. Add milk, 1/2 tsp. at a time, pulsing after each addition until it's just the consistency you desire for drizzling.  I like mine a little thick.

When pumpkin bread is completely cooled, drizzle VBCC Drizzle over each loaf.  If you are eating it warm, drizzle over each slice after plating.

I sampled a slice with a glass of milk because I'd finished all the coffee for the morning....boy howdy, that is so yummy!  I love the crunch of the streusel hidden under the creamy tartness of the drizzle...all on top of the wonderfully aromatic pumpkin loaf.  Two thumbs up...and it was an easy preparation, so even better!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!