fall

orange glazed roasted butternut squash bread

It’s been a minute I know. I’m sorry.

I think this little two week break is the longest I’ve ever gone between posts since I started this whole adventure. I promise that I have a very good reason for for my little hiatus.

I’ve been working on giving my kitchen a little facelift. I told you a few weeks ago that I wanted to change a few things in there, and your comments and encouragement gave me the strength to take action on a project I’ve wanted to tackle for years but never did. I don’t want to give anything away just yet, but rest assured things are looking rather different in there.

I’ve still got a bit of work to do, but I hope to be able to give you a peek at the progress in a week or two. Right now though, the kitchen is a total mess, and Russell and I have been surviving on delivery pizzas, tacos, and Thai food. I really can’t wait to get back in there and start cooking again, and get back into the swing of things over here too.

Luckily, I had the foresight to make one last treat before the disarray began. I’ve been so distracted over the past few weeks though, that it’a just taken me this long to get around to posting the recipe.

This cold weather has me craving some homey comforting sweet bread, with a healthy dose of warm spice. At first I was thinking about making pumpkin bread, but on a whim I decided to try it with butternut squash instead. Butternut squash, roasted and pureed, has much the same texture as pureed pumpkin, but has a brighter, fresher, sweeter flavor.

To compliment that brightness and sweetness, I added a bit of fresh orange zest to the recipe. I kept the cinnamon in the recipe for the traditional warmth, but in place of nutmeg I substituted a bit of ground ginger and clove to compliment the citrus. Then I topped the whole thing with a thick orange glaze.

This loaf is incredibly moist and tender, with a wonderfully homey and satisfying flavor. It’s such a fun yet familiar twist on traditional pumpkin bread. The warm spice is perfectly suited to the flavor of the earthy roasted butternut squash, and the orange zest adds a lovely touch of brightness. The bread itself is so perfect on it’s own that it doesn’t even really need the glaze, and would be just as good with a simple swipe of soft unsalted butter.

I added the glaze to boost the citrus flavor, but I have to admit that I found it just a bit too sweet for my taste. My sweet tooth just prefers something a bit more subtle. If you think you’re like me and might prefer a more refined sweetness, you could skip the glaze altogether if you like. You could also try using less sugar to make a thinner glaze, or even try a cream cheese icing instead. If you like a nice dessert-like sweetness though, just make the glaze as is. Either way, a slice of bread will be heaven with your morning coffee or perfect as a treat at the end of the day.

Orange Glazed Roasted Butternut Squash Bread

Servings: Makes 2 loaves
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adapted from Once Upon a Chef

Bread:
1 small to medium butternut squash
2 teaspoons peanut or vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs

Glaze (optional):
zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Rub flesh with oil and place cut side down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes or until soft when pushed with a finger. Cool until cool enough to handle.
Peel the skin off the outside of the squash, and puree the flesh in a blender or food processor, or in a bowl using an immersion blender.
Measure out 2 cups of puree and save the rest for another use, or feed it to your dogs.

Reduce oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour two 8 ½” x 4 ½” loaf pans.
Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, orange zest, and spices in a bowl. Whisk until well combined and set aside.
In another bowl, mix together sugar, melted butter, and squash puree. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Fold squash mixture into flour mixture until combined.
Turn batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly, and bake for about 65 – 75 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let loaves cool in pan about 10 minutes, then turn out on wire rack to cool completely.

Once the loaves are cooled, whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth and free of lumps. Pour over the loaves and smooth the top. Let the glaze set for a bit before slicing.

maple & thyme whiskey sour

Last week I made a cake with bourbon, and this week I thought it might be fun to use whiskey in a different way. I thought I’d try drinking it.

When I was in college I worked as a waiter at a restaurant on Main Street in Lake Placid, and one winter I caught a nasty cold and lost my voice. Trying to wait tables in a busy restaurant with no voice is not an easy feat, but like most waiters, I needed the money and couldn’t get my shift covered.

At the time my usual drink of choice was a gin and tonic, and I thought whiskey was the nastiest diesel fuel known to man. Next door to the restaurant was a ski shop and a few times a week the guys working there used to come by for a drink after work. They saw me sipping hot tea and lemon at the end of the bar and told me that if I put a shot of whiskey in my tea I’d be able to talk for the rest of the night. The bartender poured me some Crown Royal and I gave it a shot (literally).

I choked it down but my throat immediately felt better, and my voice improved enough for me to get through my shift without incident. I actually think it was probably the hot tea that helped my throat, but at the time I was sure the whiskey did the drink. I started three more shifts that way and by the end of the week I’d developed a little bitty taste for whiskey.

At first I was a strict Crown Royal man, but it didn’t take me too long to start trying other whiskeys. Shortly after college I got into bourbon and have been hooked ever since. Lately I’ve been drinking a lot of rye whiskey though, and I’m becoming a really big fan. While I think bourbon is my favorite whiskey to sip straight, I think I may actually prefer rye for cocktails and mixed drinks.

The main difference between bourbon and rye is the ratio of ingredients that make up the mash. They share many ingredients but corn must be the main ingredient in Bourbon, while rye is made with, you guessed it, rye. Bourbon usually tends to age a bit longer as well. Flavor-wise, I think bourbon tends to be a bit smoother, sweeter, and more balanced while rye is a bit of spicier and more assertive.

I think the smooth subtle flavor of bourbon can get a bit lost in cocktails, but rye has enough backbone to hold its own against bitters and citrus and mixers.

Lately I’ve been in the mood to make a whiskey sour the old fashioned way, with egg white shaken into the drink to give a smooth foamy texture. The combination of superfine sugar, fresh lemon juice, and egg white blows bartenders sour mix out of the water. If you’ve never tried a whiskey sour made this way, you don’t know what you’re missing.

The only small twist I made to make this bright summery cocktail more appropriate for the fall is to substitute real maple syrup for the superfine sugar, and add some fresh thyme to green things up a bit. If you’re a whiskey fan, you’ve gotta try this.

If you’re worried about drinking raw egg, you can use pasteurized eggs or egg whites from a carton, but I feel completely safe in knowing that I buy high quality eggs from small farms and don’t need to worry.

This cocktail is bright and fresh and satisfying. The rye whiskey and fresh lemon juice play off of each other perfectly and the addition of egg white gives the shaken cocktail a smooth, creamy, almost silky mouthfeel. Adding maple and thyme to this classic drink give just a hint of Autumnal earthiness without being too blatant. The flavors are the perfect subtle compliment to the lemon and whiskey. Thyme adds an herbal woodsiness, and the maple is a wonderfully sweet and smoky replacement to the superfine sugar traditionally present in a whiskey sour.

Maple & Thyme Whiskey Sour

Servings: 1 cocktail
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2 to 3 big long sprigs of fresh thyme
1/2 oz real maple syrup (grade B preferably)
1 dash orange (or citrus) bitters
1 oz fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
2 oz good rye whiskey (or any good American whiskey)
1 egg white
ice
1 small thyme sprig to garnish

Using a cocktail muddler, muddle the long sprigs of thyme with maple syrup and orange bitters in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Smoosh ’em and smash ’em and stir ’em up real good.
Add lemon juice, whiskey, & egg white and close the shaker. Shake and shake and shake and shake and shake like you’ve never shaken a cocktail before. If this were 2003 you might want to shake it like a polaroid picture.
Remove the lid, add a good handful of ice, and close it back up. Give it a few more good shakes, just until the cocktail is niiiiice and cold.
Strain into a martini or coupe glass. Most cocktail shakers have a built in strainer, but you may want to use a small mesh strainer to catch any loose thyme leaves. (I didn’t. There were a few but they didn’t bother me.)
If desired, garnish with a cute & dainty little thyme sprig.

spiced apple cider bundt cake with buttered bourbon glaze #bundtbakers

It’s the third Thursday of the month y’all! You (probably) know what that means!

Bundt bonanza baby! #bundtbakers is back and this month’s theme is BOOZE!!!

Now that’s my kinda theme! I knew when I joined the bundt bakers that booze was bound to turn up as a theme sooner or later, and I’ve been waiting patiently since day one. When I hosted a few months back I almost chose it myself, but I decided that I shouldn’t force it. Thankfully I didn’t have too long to wait!

I want to say a big big thank you to our host, Lauren of From Gate to Plate, and remind everyone to keep scrolling down after the recipe to see all of the beautiful booze based bundts everyone baked this month!

I wanted my bundt this month to have a nice assertively boozey flavor, but also wanted the cake to be seasonally appropriate with some kind of Autumnal produce.

After weighing several options I decided on an apple spice cake with a boozey glaze. I love the flavor of apple cider spiked with a bit of whiskey so I figured I couldn’t go wrong turning that into a cake. I opted for bourbon because it has such a nice sweet caramel-y flavor, but in a pinch you could use other whiskeys. Scotch might be a bit too smoky, though that actually could be an interesting addition.

As fate would have it, I’d have a few stumbling blocks before I’d end up with a finished cake to slice into.

Early on I had a feeling that the batter was too liquid, but I’d gotten the recipe from a trusted source so I powered through and put the cake in the oven. The minute it came out of the oven I knew it wasn’t good. The cake seemed like it had hardly risen at all, but within minutes it managed to start to sink in the center. I waited for it to cool a bit before un-molding, but the minute I lifted the pan off of the cooling rack I knew something had gone very wrong. The texture was dense and rubbery, almost flan-like, and not in a good way. I think the addition of a small amount of bourbon to the batter may have made things even worse, but I hadn’t made any serious changes or substitutions so I still don’t fully understand what went wrong.

Not being one to accept failure, especially in the face of a #bundtbakers deadline, I asked Russell to run to the store for me while I washed the pan and took out more butter to soften.

The second time around I decreased the amount of liquid and apple and increased the amount of flour. Before the batter even went into the pan I knew things were going to be okay.

Aaaand then I went to make the glaze.

I thought a brown sugar bourbon glaze would compliment the flavors in the cake really nicely, but when I tried creaming the brown sugar with butter it refused to dissolve and the resulting glaze had a terrible gritty texture. Ugh. Seriously?

So, that batch went in the garbage along with my first cake. Next I tried melting the butter and brown sugar together in a saucepan to get rid of the grit factor, but again, disaster. I don’t know if my brown sugar was old or something, or if I was just having an off day. Either way, two cakes had been baked and I was about to make a third glaze.

Thankfully the third time really was a charm, and the glaze was perfect both in texture and flavor. Phew!

In the end, this cake was worth all the effort and frustration.

It’s unbelievably moist and wonderfully tender with loads of fresh apple flavor and plenty of spice. Like apple pie in cake form, with a hint of sweet bourbon to round everything out. It doesn’t get much better than that, especially this time of year. Bourbon has such a rich caramel-y flavor that the buttered bourbon glaze perfectly compliments all that apple and cider and spice. The glaze does have a kick to it, but you get such a small amount in every bite of cake that it feels really well balanced. None of the alcohol gets cooked out of the glaze though, so this cake is strictly for adults. Sorry kiddos!

Spiced Apple Cider Bundt Cake with Buttered Bourbon Glaze

Servings: 12ish
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adapted from Serious Eats

1 stick unsalted butter, softened (plus more for pan)
1 medium firm apple (I used Braeburn), peeled and grated (about 3/4 cup grated apple)
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons (1 oz) bourbon whiskey
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously butter and flour a non-stick 10 cup bundt pan and refrigerate until ready for use.
In a medium bowl, mix together the grated apples, apple cider, buttermilk, bourbon, and vanilla. Set aside.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter and white and brown sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating fully between each addition. Mix in canola oil until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding 1/2 of the liquid mixture. Mix to combine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Repeat with the remaining flour and liquid, ending with flour.
Pour batter into the prepared bundt pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 20 minutes in the pan before inverting onto a cooling rack to remove from the pan. Cool completely before drizzling with glaze.

Buttered Bourbon Glaze:
4 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoon bourbon
1 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

To make the glaze, melt and slightly cool the butter. Whisk in the confectioner’s sugar and bourbon until smooth and free of lumps. If too thick, you can add a few more drops of bourbon until it reaches the desired consistency. Drizzle or pour over the top of the completely cooled cake and allow the glaze to dry before serving.

Check out this bounty of boozey bundts! They all sound amazing, and I can’t believe how much our group is growing!

Anisette and Orange Bundt Cake by Samantha at Un Mordisco Un Pecado
Apple Bundt Cake with Whiskey Salted Caramel by Lauren at From Gate to Plate
Baba au Rhum by Terri at Love and Confections
Banana Bourbon Bundt Cake by Linda at Brunch with Joy
Champagne Soaked Cranberry Bundt Cake by Teri at The Freshman Cook
Chestnut and Rum Kugelhopf by Jelena at A Kingdom for A Cake
Chocolate Baileys Bundt Cake by Bea and Mara at I Love Bundt Cakes
Chocolate Chambord Mini Bundt Cakes by Tara at Noshing With The Nolands
Chocolate Guinness Bundt by Veronica at My Catholic Kitchen
Chocolate Kahlua Bundt Cake by Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook
Chocolate Kahlua Bundt Cake with Kahlua Glaze by Tanya at DessertStalking Blog
Coffee Baileys Bundt Cake by Kathya at Basic N Delicious
Frangelico and Fig Bundt Cake by Victoria at Just One Bite Baking
Gin and Tonic Bundt by Jane at Jane’s Adventures in Dinner
Gingerbread Rum Bundt Cake by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
Grand Marnier and Chocolate Chips Bundt Cake with Seville Orange Sauce by Anna at Media racion doble, Por Favor
Grand Marnier and Tangerine Bundt Cake by Caro at En la Cocina de Caro
Guinness Chocolate Bundt Cake by Patricia at Patty’s Cake
Irish Coffee Bundt Cake by Laura at The Spiced Life
Kentucky Bourbon Cake by Cassie at Cassie’s Kitchen
Lemon Rum Bundt by Catherine at Living the Gourmet
Limoncello Bundt Cake by Natalia at Principiando en la Cocina
London Porter Bundt with Lemon Glaze by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
Peach Brandy Pound Cake by Renee at Magnolia Days
Pomegranate and Chocolate with Rum Glaze by Rocio at Kidsandchic
Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
Rum Pudding Cake by Rebekah at Making Miracles
Rum Raisin Apple Bundt by Maleka at La Luna en Dulce
Southern Sweet Potato, Bourbon, and Pecan Bundt by Margaret at Tea and Scones
Spiced Apple Cider Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze by Tux at Brooklyn Homemaker
Tangerine Screwdriver Mini Bundts by Kelly at Passion Kneaded

Interested in learning more about us? #BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BundtBaker home page here.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. If you are just a lover of Bundt baking, you can find all of our recipe links by clicking our badge above or on our group Pinterest board.

apple walnut dressing with sausage and caramelized leeks

I tend to go a little crazy around Thanksgiving every year.

Not only is it one of my favorite holidays, one that I take VERY seriously, but it’s also the beginning of the busiest season of the year where I work.

No matter how much planning and thinking ahead I do to make things easy on myself, the chaos at work and the perfection pressure I put on myself always starts to overwhelm me in the week or so before the day of the big bird.

This year I’ve been poking around the internet for tips and ideas on the best way to host a stress-free Thanksgiving; and make sure every aspect of the day, from the shopping and prep work to the serving and cleaning up, goes as smoothly as possible.

This ain’t my first time at the rodeo, so a lot of the information I found wasn’t entirely new to me. One tip that I realized would actually make a big difference though, is not testing out any new-to-me recipes when I have a million other things going on in the kitchen.

Sometimes those unfamiliar recipes on Pinterest may look perfectly delicious on the screen but can actually turn out to be a big fat flop in reality. You don’t need to add that flop possibility, or any extra time figuring out a new recipe, to the already lengthy list of chores and worries you have when people are on their way for the biggest meal of the year.

Even when the tips I’ve found haven’t been entirely new to me, I’ve tried to do my best to share them with you on facebook and pinterest. I hope you’ve been learning (and making your lives easier) right a long with me.

If you don’t follow me on social media, you totally should. Not only does it make me feel warm and fuzzy to get new “likes” and “follows”, but you might learn something too! I try to share as much information as I can right here on the blog, but I can only do (and write) so much. When I find something interesting or helpful on the internet that I don’t have the time or expertise to blog about, I try my best to the share the wealth on social media so you don’t feel left out.

This Thanksgiving I’ll be making the same (life-changing) turkey recipe that I made last year, along with some pies that I’m completely comfortable with.

In the name of not testing new recipes with so many other projects in play, I’ve been working on a few things ahead of time to make sure I know what to expect and don’t need to work out any kinks. Last week a good friend was visiting from out of town so I used her as a guinea pig for my new sweet potato gratin recipe and this here apple walnut dressing (or stuffing, if you prefer, though technically it’s not stuffing unless it’s actually stuffed in something).

This recipe has everything I want to see in my dressing. Yeasty artisan bread made tender with rich stock on the inside with a crispy craggy buttery golden top. The variety of flavors and textures going on here are the perfect compliment to any roasted poultry (or pork), no matter what the occasion. Tender sweet apples, crunchy bitter walnuts, chewy savory sausage, and rich caramelized leeks all brought together with plenty of autumnal herbs and a mixture of chicken stock and apple cider. I seriously cannot get enough of these flavor combinations this time of year, and I think you and your friends and family won’t be able to either.

This can easily be made vegetarian by leaving out the sausage and swapping vegetable stock for chicken. There are more than enough other elements and flavors at play here that the dressing will still be amazing, and truth be told, it looks like I’ll be leaving the sausage out myself to accommodate my guests.

Apple Walnut Dressing with Sausage and Caramelized Leeks

Servings: 8-10ish
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Inspired by thekitchn

One 1 1/2 to 2 pound loaf artisan bread
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage (spicy works too)
2 cups thinly sliced leeks or 1 cup finely diced onion
3 celery stalks, diced (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 large firm apple, diced (I used Braeburn)
3 large eggs
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup apple cider
2 cups chicken or turkey stock
2 tablespoons butter

Heat the oven to 350°F. Slice the bread into small cubes, removing the crusts if desired, and spread the cubes in a single layer on two baking sheets. Toast for ten minutes, stir up, and add the chopped nuts. Continue toasting until the bread is completely dry and the walnuts are toasted, approximately another 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. If you like to think way ahead, you can toast your bread and store it up to a week before moving on with the next step.

To prepare your leeks, slice the white and tender green parts in thin disks, and slice each disk in half. Discard the deep green leaves. Place all the sliced leeks into a bowl and top with cold water. Leeks are very sandy so this is important. scoop the leeks out being careful not to disturb the sand at the bottom of the bowl. Repeat twice, and set aside to drain dry.

Brown the sausage with a sprinkle of salt over medium heat, breaking it up into crumbles as you cook, about 10 minutes. Transfer the cooked sausage to a bowl and drain off all but a few teaspoons of the fat.

In the same pan over medium heat, cook the leeks with a sprinkle of salt until softened and beginning to brown, about 5 or 10 minutes. Add the celery and continue cooking until the celery is softened, another 5 minutes. Add the apples and the fresh herbs. Cook until the apples are just starting to soften, another 1-3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Remove the pan from heat.

Increase the oven temperature to 400°F.

Combine the sausage, vegetables, apples, bread cubes, and nuts in a large mixing bowl. In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs, and add in the salt, cider and chicken stock. Whisk to combine and pour over the stuffing. Gently fold or stir until all the ingredients are evenly coated, being careful not to mash down or squish the bread cubes.

Pour the dressing into the baking dish and try to even it out. If you have a bit too much you can mound it a bit in the center, or bake some separately in ramekins (or you can make it into stuffing by filling it into the hollow cavity of a turkey). Dot the top with butter and cover the dish with aluminum foil. If you’re trying to make things a day ahead, you could stop here and refrigerate the whole shebang to be baked the next day. Just make sure you take the dish out about an hour before baking so you don’t crack your baking dish by putting a cold dish into a hot oven.

Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until the top is crispy and golden, another 15-20 minutes. Let cool briefly before serving.