Pumpkinpalooza

What to do with all that leftover canned pumpkin from Thanksgiving!!? Somehow the day before Thanksgiving we are all running to get the last minute ingredients we forgot or decided to add to the menu. It always happens but some how we're all still surprised to see empty shelves where canned pumpkin or yams are supposed be. This year we ventured to four stores in Toronto before finding pumpkin, and when we did, boy, did we stock up! As you can imagine after making our Thanksgiving dinner pumpkin souffle, we had so much pumpkin left to go through.

Pecan Topped Pumpkin Pie in a Puff Pastry Crust

We had leftover puff pastry from making tarts earlier and decided to nix the traditional pie crust used for pumpkin pie. You can never go wrong with the recipe on the back of the can - I feel a little better about using organic canned pumpkin when I put the spices and vanilla in myself - as opposed to buying "Pumpkin Pie in a Can," when I don't have time to cook and scoop out a whole pumpkin. Just roll out the puff pastry a bit larger than your dish to leave enough room for the crust. Pour in your filling, brush the edges with an egg wash, and bake at 375F until set. I decorated the pie with chopped pecans immediately upon removing it from the oven. I think I throw nuts in everything - vegetarians can never get too much protein.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mini-Loaf

And still there was more pumpkin! My sister's kitchen has all sorts of lovely tools and pans she's inherited from our mom, her mother-in-law, and my college apartment, ha! I love this baking pan that's just perfect for the holidays when you want to make a bunch of mini-loaves of pound cake or pumpkin bread to give to the mail persons (?), your children's teachers, coworkers, etc.

The pumpkin makes these little loaves so moist and the chocolate adds such a pleasantly, sweet touch, especially when fresh from the oven!

[be back with the recipe, soon]

Chocolate Cake with Kahlua Glaze

Oh my, what a delight to add to any evening. Last Saturday I brought this Martha Stewart chocolate cake over to my friend's apartment for a little get together. It's a fairly simple recipe, but you'll need a spring form cake pan. The cake comes out very rich and chocolatey. It does crack and crumble only on the top as you can see in the picture, but don't worry about when it comes to serving it's easy to slice, and the moisture helps it stay together. 

I did have a few substitutions. I didn't have instant espresso, so I replaced it with instant coffee, really a minor change, but of course a slightly different flavor. I also made my own glaze... just a bit of milk, powdered sugar, Kahlua, and melted chocolate... It took me a while to get the right blend of sweetness and consistency so play around with the ingredients to your liking. I ended up with a nice runny glaze to drizzle upon serving. .. although I have so much leftover.. Not really sure what to do with all my Kahlua glaze now? Maybe drizzle it over ice cream or cheesecake?? I even considered using it for pancake syrup ;)