Tag Archives: nutmeg

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Marshmallow Cream Filling

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As I was perusing the internet I came across this quote:

Churches that have not nurtured a common life among members will find hospitality to strangers difficult.  The table is central to the practice of hospitality in home and church.  The nourishment we gain there is physical, spiritual, and social.  Whether we gather around the table for the Lord’s Supper or for a church potluck dinner, we are strengthened as a community. Meals shared together in church provide opportunities to sustain relationships and build new ones. They establish a space that is personal without being private, an excellent setting in which to begin friendships with strangers.

I don’t remember where I got this or who wrote this, but I find the statement appealing.  One it makes me wonder how my church family is doing in this area of life (and how I am doing within the church body).  For me, it’s fairly easy to invite people into my home, or my life, to share a meal or drink coffee, in order to know one another.  I have the ability to make friends wherever I find myself and (not boasting) if you were to ask Ben, he would tell you, “Kamille has an inquisitive nature to draw people out by asking questions and putting them at ease.”  This type of hospitality and welcoming doesn’t scare me, but I know it scares other people (and that’s okay if it does).

However, what’s hard for me in my idealist/dreamer ways is seeing a need for hospitality & community meals in the larger church gathering; yet, it stays fairly idle.  I get discouraged, because I read quotes like the one above and say, “YES, we need that to survive, to breathe, to truly know one another.”  I get discouraged, because I see people on the fringes not knowing how to make their way in and I’m only one person (who just happens to have two little ones and by default it makes me less available).  Does anyone else feel like this?  Whether, it be the outsider trying to make your way in or the insider trying to find an opening?

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But, in trying to live in the “glass half full” mindset, I see how amazing a meal can bring people together.  It’s not HUGE; yet it is!  I know I felt incredibly loved & cared for in my postpartum stage with my two girls through people bringing meals.  For one, I was simply famished like any mother nursing a schizophrenic sleeper.  And two, it’s something I didn’t have to think about.  Blessing.  We are community friends with four Japanese students who are studying at Western for about six months.  We can alleviate some of the language barriers and anxiety by feeding our bellies, and ultimately our souls.  Blessing.  There’s a young adults gathering called ‘Soup & Story’ through our church body.  People who don’t know one another are able to find friendship & be friendship through something simple as soup and bread.  Blessing.  And I got to make some wonderful pumpkin whoopie pie cookies last week for the new group of freshman at Western.  A time when they’re possibly feeling insecure or fearful about being away from home, I can put my baking skills to good use.  Blessing.

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As I share this recipe with you, I hope you will see the many blessings in your life and ways to shower down blessings on someone else.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple-Marshmallow Cream Filling (printable version)

Adapted from this recipe by Two Fat Cats Bakery, Portland, Maine My changes were adding ground ginger and using rapadura sugar in place of the granulated sugar.  I found this from Bon Appetite.

Ingredients

FILLING

  • 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 7-ounce jar marshmallow creme
  • 2 teaspoons maple extract

CAKE

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup rapadura sugar (you can use granulated)
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 15 oz pumpkin puree or 1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup milk (I used whole)
  • Nonstick vegetable oil spray

FILLING

  • Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add marshmallow creme and maple extract; beat until blended and smooth. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

CAKE

  • Sift first 8 ingredients into large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in another large bowl until blended. Gradually beat in oil. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Beat in pumpkin. Add dry ingredients in 2 additions alternately with milk in 1 addition, beating to blend between additions and occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Cover and chill batter 1 hour.
  • Arrange 1 rack in bottom third of oven and 1 rack in top third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment; spray lightly with nonstick spray. Spoon batter onto baking sheet to form cakes (about 3 level tablespoons each; about 12 per baking sheet), spacing apart. Let stand 10 minutes.
  • Bake cakes until tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking. Cool cakes completely on baking sheets on rack. Using metal spatula, remove cakes from parchment.
  • Line cooled baking sheets with clean parchment; spray with nonstick spray, and repeat baking with remaining batter.
  • Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling on flat side of 1 cake. Top with another cake, flat side down. Repeat with remaining cakes and filling. DO AHEAD Can be made 8 hours ahead. Store in single layer in airtight container at room temperature.

P.A.C. Crisp (pear, apple, cranberry)

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Crisp ala mode, what could be better?

Yesterday we had an Autumn Family gathering with the other families from our playgroup we go to Thursday mornings.  I made this delicious crisp, along with the help of my trusty 2.75 year old assistant.  I have to say that this crisp is exceptionally tasty.  No, let’s not kid ourselves…it’s a complete foreshadow of everything Autumn (which is a GOOD thing indeed).

I was looking for something rustic, simple, and a ‘knock your socks off type of good,’ to make for dessert.  I actually had never made it before, but I knew my Ina Garten hadn’t let me down so far, and her Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook would for sure have a crisp recipe. I made a few adjustments from the original recipe, by using rapadura sugar, whole wheat pastry flour, using cranberries instead of dried, and adding cardamom (since there was orange in the recipe, cardamom screamed to be used).  All of these made it taste great, especially the addition of cardamom.

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The pears, apples, & cranberries sitting in sugary, spicy goodness.

Since my two year old helped make the crisp, she couldn’t stop talking about it the rest of the afternoon.  The party was at 4:00 and she still needed to take a nap.  She had a bit of a meltdown when I informed her that we weren’t going to the party quite yet, because she needed to take a nap.  Her eyes quickly filled up with tears and some speaking in tongues began, to which effect something about not being able to eat the crisp was murmured.   Poor girl, she even got a bit anxious as we were walking up to our friend’s door, where she looked around for the crisp then blurted with panic, “CRISP! CRISP?”  And yes, she was the only kid at the dinner table eating her crisp after dinner, while all the others were playing downstairs (Then, was it bad to serve this for breakfast to her?  I did put my foot down and say no to the ice cream she requested).

IMG_4237The crumb crust before entering the oven.  Yes it’s a lot of topping, but keep piling it on.


And it must be said that I adore all of these ladies whom I get to share life with (almost) every week.  We have been meeting weekly since just after V’s first birthday, which is almost two years now.  I love how we have our similarities and differences, yet we still choose to be more than co-mothers, but friends.  Each one of them brings a different gift to my life as a woman, wife & mom.  There isn’t judgment on how we parent different or how we fail, but grace, because we understand (period).  I also love how everyone is real & genuine.  No one comes in with a, “Wow, I LOVE being a mother every second of the day (or everyday for that matter).”  But there’s also not this, “Whoa, I hate being a mom and my kid is a….”

Instead, it’s a sincerity and a realness of “this mothering/parenting job is hard, and I don’t always like it, and I’m not going to be fake and make you think it’s the best job in the whole world 100% of the time.   But I do value something higher, which means I will give up some of my rights, in order to provide my children with something greater.  I not only value something higher, but love these stinkers so deep it hurts and am willing to go above & beyond for them.”  That’s who these women are to me and I love them for it.  So thanks Biz, Lindsey, Becky, Christine, Bethany, Megan & Talia–my Thursday mornings (although always running late & a bit disheveled) are my diamond in the rough as a stay at home mom and you ladies’ bring out a different spectrum of light in my diamond.

IMG_1673Last year’s Halloween party before many of the siblings were born.

P.A.C. Crisp (pear, apple, cranberry) (printable recipe)

Recipe is adapted from the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook. **A little side note: If you’re not familiar with other sugars like rapadura, I would encourage you to start baking & cooking with them.  I get mine from the bulk section at our local Co-op, which is cheaper than buying it pre-packaged in the health/natural section of your grocery store.** The recipe also called for Macoun apples, but I used what I had on hand and I’m not too particular when the recipe calls for say ‘Granny Smith.’  Instead, I use what I know could create a good end product and wouldn’t dissolve into mush (say Red Delicious).  My apples came from a friend’s tree, so I have no idea what they are called.

Ingredients:

3 ripe Bosc pears

5 apples (I have no idea what kind I used)

3/4 cup frozen cranberries (that’s what I had on hand, but you could use fresh)

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Squeezed juice of one orange

Squeezed juice of one lemon

1/2 cup evaporated cane juice sugar (this is sugar which is less refined and has a golden color to it)

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Topping:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup rapadura sugar (however, I know most people don’t have this, so do 3/4 of the above sugars)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and core the pears & apples. Cut them into large chunks. Put the fruit into a large bowl, toss with cranberries, zests, juices, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, & cardamom. Pour into a 9×13 baking dish.

For the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the mixture is in large crumbles. Sprinkle evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely. You’ll notice that this is a lot of crisp topping, but keep packing it on and you won’t be disappointed.

Place the baking dish on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbly. Serve warm (with vanilla ice cream to live on the wild side).

IMG_4221Maybe sitting by the fire eating the crisp with this little cutie could be better.