Dessert: Pumpkin Pie Pockets

First, many thanks to my friend Akane at Juggling with Kids for pointing out this great recipe over at Cookies and Cups. Really, you should just go over to Cookies and Cups and see her photos. I have a really artsy one my husband took, but I didn't have it ready for this post.

Pumpkin Pie Pockets
Ingredients:
Your favorite pie crust (2 crusts)
Your favorite pumpkin pie filling (14 tablespoons/ ~1 cup)

Egg wash (1 beaten egg and 1 Tbsp water)
Cinnamon sugar (2 Tbsp sugar + 1 tsp cinnamon)


Directions:

1. Flatten your crust on a floured work surface. Roll the crust out a little thinner.
2. Cut your crust into rounds, approx 3" in diameter. Or use pumpkin-shape cookie cutters.
3. Place 1 tbsp of pumpkin pie filling in the center of each.
4. Brush the edges with egg wash and place a top crust over filling and pinch edges.
5. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
6. When done, remove from oven and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
7. Serve warm or room temperature.

Next week I'll be posting a pie crust, along with the apple pie filling. It's a great pie crust and would work great for this application. Cookies and cups suggested roll-out pie crusts. I ended up buying a pie-crust mix and making that for the pie crusts.
I haven't ever made a pumpkin pie, so I don't have a filling I use. I used the suggested filling from Cookies and Cups, which is a modified one from Paula Deen. It is below for your use, in case you don't have a pumpkin pie filling. I probably will hunt for one I like more before making these again.

Pumpkin Pie Filling
Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese, room temp.
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup half and half
4 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Spray an 8×8" pan with cooking spray, set aside.
3. In your mixing bowl beat cream cheese and pumpkin until combined and smooth. Add in your sugar and salt and mix until incorporated. On low add in your butter, half and half vanilla, pumpkin pie spice and egg yolk.
4. Turn mixer up to medium and mix until combined.
5. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until set.
6. Let cool before filling your pie pockets.

Other Details:

• Makes approx 14 pie pockets (I got closer to 1 dozen).
• Nutrition is per pocket based on 14 made and very generic ingredient descriptions.
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Side dish: Rice Balls

This recipe is actually called "Brown Rice Risotto Suppli." I got it from The New Whole Grains Cookbook by Robin Asbell. However, my family loved it and called it Rice Balls. For weeks after I first made it, I was asked to make it again. So, it goes into our Recipe Codex as "Rice Balls" because that's what we call it. According to Asbell, "Suppli in its original form is a way to use up leftover risotto, and you can make it with any cooked sticky grain." In that light, the first part of the recipe is to make a sticky brown rice. However, if you have leftover risotto, you can just use that. The original recipe also had a creamy spinach sauce. I knew no one in my family would touch it, so I abstained from making it.

Ingredients:

Sticky Brown Rice (Risotto)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup minced onion

1 cup short-grained brown rice

3 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Suppli

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour or unbleached white flour

3 eggs, beaten

2 cups whole wheat panko or dry breadcrumbs

1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:
Risotto

1. To make the risotto, in a 4-quart saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, heat the olive oil.
2. Saute the onion over medium heat until soft and clear. 
3. Add the rice, and stir to coat thoroughly. 
4. Add 2 cups of the stock and the salt, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. 
5. Uncover, and begin stirring in more stock as needed to make a soft, sticky risotto. Keep cooking and stirring after each addition until you have a thick texture. Take the pan off the heat, add the Parmesan and tomatoes, and chill.

Suppli

1. To assemble the suppli, form the cold risotto into balls, using 2 tablespoons for each one. Dredge them in the flour then the egg, then the crumbs. 
2. Heat the oil in a large saute pan until it shimmers, and fry the suppli until golden, about 3 minutes per side. 
3. Drain on paper towels, and serve hot.

Other Details:

• For a simpler cooking process, it can be made into one large, flat cake, instead of little balls. 
• Panko is better but use regular breadcrumbs if you can't find it.
• Makes about 18 suppli, 4 servings
• Nutrition is per Rice Ball
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Dessert: Super Easy Nutella Cookies

I saw these on Food Gawker last summer and made them one evening "real quick." Since everyone is probably preparing for a weekend of sweets, dessert is probably not necessary, but these are an easy addition to the sweet collection.

Ingredients:

1 cup Nutella

1 egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper
3. Whisk together Nutella and egg until fully combined
4. With a cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop small dollops of batter onto prepared cookie sheets leaving 2 inches space between each one
5. Bake 8-10 minutes. 
6. Let cool on rack 5 minutes then transfer cookies to cooling rack.

Other Details:

• Original Recipe 
• I don't recall how many this makes. Theoretically, it should be 48 cookies, but I think it was fewer. Nutrition is for 3 dozen. 
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Side dish: Baked Corn II

Years ago the husband found this recipe to dress up having corn. We make it a few times a year. 

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz) pkg frozen corn, thawed and drained
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
salt and pepper to taste


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^o.  
2. Grease a 2 quart casserole dish (8” square.)  
3. In a large bowl combine corn, milk, egg, butter, sugar, flour, salt and pepper.  Mix well and transfer to dish.  
4. Bake, uncovered, 1 hr.

Other Details:

• Serves 4  
• Prep: 10 min  
• Cook 1 hr
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Bread: Cinnamon Pull Apart

I made this this past weekend. It didn't stick together quite right for me, but the family loved it. So the photo is in it's fallen apart glory. But these are super tasty. I don't recommend eating them with yesterday's French Toast, though. That's a little overwhelming. I got the recipe from a magazine years ago by Kraft foods. The original recipe can probably be found on their website, but I tweaked it a little.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. Ground cinnamon
2 cans (7.5 oz each) refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1/2 cup butter, melted and divided
4 oz. Cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp. Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Separate biscuit dough into individual biscuits and cut each one into quarters.
2. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a gallon ziploc bag. Shake dough quarters in the cinnamon sugar by batches, until coated.
3. Place half of biscuits into greased 12-cup fluted tube pan (bundt pan). Drizzle with 1/4 cup of the melted butter. Top with remaining biscuit quarters and melted butter.
4. Top unbaked loaf with remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Baked 40 to 45 minutes or until golden. Let loaf stand 5 minutes, then invert onto plate. While waiting to invert loaf, make glaze.
5. Beat softened cream cheese and powdered sugar in bowl with electric mixer until well blended. Add 1 to 2 Tbsp milk, beating until desired consistency is reached. Spoon over warm loaf

Other details:

• Makes 12 servings. (The four of us went through this in one sitting, so I'm not sure 12 servings is really accurate.) 
• Nutrition is given per serving with 12 servings in mind.
• Prep 15 min.
• Total 1 hour.
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Breakfast: French Toast

Fench Toast was one of my favorite breakfast meals growing up, but I rarely got it. I ended up always ordering French Toast at diner-style restaurants. Then, my husband started making and perfecting French Toast. We've hodge-podged our favorite parts of various French Toast recipes. What's important about French Toast? The Challah bread being sliced and layed out for several hours (overnight even) before using. As long as the dip is very eggy, then the spices are up to you. Here's one variation we recently made.

Ingredients:

Loaf Challah bread
6-8 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla
butter

Directions:

1. Cut Challah loaf into 12 or so 1.5-2” thick slices. Let sit overnight (about 8 hours or so.)
2. Beat eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla together. Pour into an 8 x 11” pan or larger. Soak each side of each slice of Challah bread.
3. Melt a little butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Place 2-3 slices of the soaked bread in the pan and cook each side until a golden brown. Keep warm in a warm oven until all slices are cooked.

Other Details:

• Freeze uneaten slices and use as toaster French toast (like toaster waffles) a morning you don't have time to make such a delicious breakfast. 
• Nutrition data is per slice.
• Eat topped with cinnamon & sugar or whipped cream or syrup or powdered sugar or fruit (or all of it!)
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Dessert: Apple Streusel Topped Pumpkin Cake

When I made this, my family loved it. My daughter described it as "apple pie on top of pumpkin pie." I would love to have loved it, but I don't care for cooked fruit and the apple streusel topping is exactly the sort of thing I don't like. The pumpkin part was not particularly special on its own, but if my family is to be believed, it was fabulous together.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup unsalted butter, divided
4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
5 tablespoons granulated white sugar, divided
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup sour cream
2 large eggs

Directions:

1. Butter and flour a 9-inch-across, 3-inch-deep springform pan. In a large sauté pan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter, then sauté the apples over medium-high heat until softened and browned in spots, about 5 minutes. Mix 3 tablespoons of the white sugar and the cinnamon in a cup and sprinkle over the apples, then toss and cook until the liquids are thick and bubbly.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
3. Dice the remaining 1/2 cup of butter, and let it come to room temperature. In a stand mixer, combine the flour, brown sugar, and salt, and mix. Toss in the diced butter and mix until the butter is broken into small bits. Measure 2/3 cup of the mixture into a small bowl, and stir into that the remaining 2 tablespoons white sugar and pie spice to make the streusel.
4. To the mixer, add the baking soda and mix, then add the pumpkin, sour cream, and eggs, beating until smooth. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
5. Distribute the apple sauté over the batter, then sprinkle the streusel topping over that.
6. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

Other Details:

• From Robin Asbell's The New Whole Grain Cookbook  
• Serves 8
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