Pumpkin Cake with Eggnog Cream

I realize it's not the season for all these holiday themed treats, but I figured I'd keep going as long as I started in on Christmas treats.

This one doesn't have to be used for Christmas, but is more of a fall/winter dessert. After all, you have to be able to buy eggnog for it! I found this recipe a couple of years ago, but just got around to making it this year. My in-laws all seemed to enjoy it, and it also looked really pretty. :)

Here is the recipe:

Cake:
1 16-oz. can pumpkin (not pie filling), (the recipe recommends using name brand)
3 c. sugar
1 c. oil
3 eggs
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger

Icing:
2 c. powdered sugar
milk (a few teaspoons)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Garnish (optional):
nutmeg
1/4 c. toasted walnuts or pecans, chopped (I used chopped almonds)

Cream:
2 c. heavy cream (I used regular whipping cream and it worked fine)
1/2 c. eggnog (Light didn't work well when I tried it. Sorry, you've got to use the full-strength stuff here.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease and flour a bundt pan. (Or spray thoroughly with Pam with flour.) Mix pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs together thoroughly in a large mixing bowl. Stir flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger together in a separate bowl. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until smooth. pour batter into prepared pan.Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (Don't over bake or it will become dry.) Gently shake cake in pan or tap on counter to loosen. Turn out onto cake plate to cool.

Place powdered sugar into bowl. Add milk 1 tsp. at a time until you reach a thick "gravy" consistency. Add a pinch of salt and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Drizzle over top of cooled cake and garnish by sprinkling lightly with nutmeg and nuts before glaze sets, if desired.

Beat heavy cream until quite stiff. Fold in eggnog to make soft peaks. Serve slices of cake with a generous dollop of the eggnog cream.

You can also use the cake recipe to make pumpkin muffins. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

Caramels

This one also comes from my friend Barb. This is one of my favorites, but it's a little more tricky than some of the other candy recipes I've posted. Don't worry, it will taste good no matter what. The only hard part is if you don't cook it long enough, it will stick to the waxed paper, and if you cook it too long it can become harder than you want. These are meant to be soft caramels, and when they're cooked just right, I love them. My husband's not a caramel person, so he never eats them, but his sister can't get enough! I make extras for her whenever she's in town for Christmas. She also helps me wrap them, which is great, because that's my least favorite (and the most time consuming) part about making caramels.

Caramels

2 c. sugar
1 1/3 c. light corn syrup
2 c. cream
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. pecans (optional)

Mix cream with milk in a bowl. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into a heavy large saucepan on med/high heat. Add corn syrup, sugar, and salt. Stir until sugar dissolve and mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to slow boil for about one minute. Increase heat and add another third of the cream/milk mixture. Bring to boil, reduce heat to slow boil for one minute. Repeat the process adding remaining cream/milk mixture. Cook and stir over medium/high heat until it reaches firm ball stage. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and nuts. Pour into greased 9-inch square pan. Cool. Cut into one inch (or smaller) squares and wrap in waxed paper.

By the way, I once read about a trick to line the pan with waxed paper before pouring in the hot caramel. Then, you could lift the paper out, peel it off, and make it easier to cut the caramels. This did NOT work for me. The waxed paper completely stuck to the hot caramel, and took forever to get off. I don't know if it was the brand of waxed paper or what, but from now on, I'll just stick to a greased pan.

*I recently purchased a silicone mold on Amazon that I now use instead of a 9-inch square pan for caramels. Once they set, they're pretty easy to pop out, and I find it quicker and easier than cutting. I have to be careful when I pour the hot caramel into the molds, and it requires moving quickly from square to square while pouring, but I overall prefer this method. The mold I bought has 80 cavities, and each cavity is 1.18" square. I bought two, and I seem to get 90-100 caramels per batch, depending on whether I fill each cavity completely to the top. I also now buy 5" cellophane wraps from either Amazon or Orson Gygi. It saves me the time it usually takes to cut the wax paper into squares, and looks a bit more polished.

Toffee

This is my husband's favorite among my Christmas candy. He can pass up all the others, but does like to take a piece of toffee here and there. This recipe isn't hard, but can be a little tricky if you've never used a candy thermometer or done a water test on candy. (Google the water test if needed.) I usually just use the water test, but if you've never made candy before, I recommend also using a thermometer. Just be aware the temperatures can vary at different altitudes, so Google that as well. :)

Also, every once in awhile, toffee will separate for some reason when it's almost done cooking. The butter separates from the rest of the ingredients, and if you pour it into the pan, it will be like an oil slick on top. Some people say it's due to weather, some due to not stirring enough, or heating it too quickly. I learned a few years ago and if this happens, you can add about a 1/2 cup of water to the toffee (which will steam A LOT), stir like crazy to combine it back together, and cook back up to hard crack stage. It takes some extra time, but will save the batch of toffee.

Hopefully that last bit didn't scare you away...it really works great most of the time, and is delicious! I owe my friend Barb for this one.

Toffee

1 lb. butter (Yeah, no shortage of butter in this one.)
2 c. sugar
1 c. water
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
Chopped pecans (optional - I don't use them)
7 oz. Symphony milk chocolate bar
Crushed almonds (optional - I do use these)

Melt butter in a large, heavy pan over medium heat. Mix in sugar, water, and corn syrup, and increase heat to medium/high. Cook, stirring constantly, until candy reached 303 degrees F (hard crack stage). Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan* with pecans on the bottom of the pan. Let stand. After 5-10 minutes (toffee should still be warm but should be slightly firm on top), break up chocolate bar and place on top of toffee. Cover with a cookie sheet and let stand until chocolate is soft. Spread chocolate evenly over toffee. Sprinkle with almonds if desired. Once set, break into pieces.

*When you make the toffee in a 9 x 13 pan, it's thick enough that you can't break it easily with your hands. I usually use a butter knife and hit the top to break it, but it's a bit of a pain, and isn't very safe. (My friend Barb once had to have surgery after cutting her finger on a butter knife doing something very similar, and I've worried about it ever since.) Last year, I decided to try pouring it into a jellyroll pan instead. It didn't quite spread all the way to the edges, but since you break it into pieces, that didn't matter. It took more chocolate and almonds to cover the top, but it was soooo much easier to break apart. From now on, I think I'll do it that way every time.

Peppermint Candy (or Bark)

Of all the treats I make at Christmas time, this one is probably the most requested. The good part about that is, it's also BY FAR the easiest. It's basically a form of peppermint bark, but my mom always just called it peppermint candy. She just developed this version on her own, after trying peppermint bark somewhere once. This recipe isn't very exact; you can vary it to suit your personal taste. I also usually buy 5 lb. bags of the melting candy, and do batches of about 2 1/2 lbs. at a time. Here's the basic recipe:

Peppermint Candy

1 lb. white molding/melting candy (My favorites are from Guittard, and are called Vanilla A'ppeals. You can get them from Orson Gygi in Salt Lake. Otherwise, I'm sure they're available on the internet. Wilton brand candy melts are available at most craft stores, but I don't like them quite as well.)
1 tsp. peppermint extract (You can adjust this to your own taste.)
3-4 drops red food coloring
3-4 red and white peppermint candy canes (You can add more if you like lost of peppermint bits.)
Melted chocolate, optional

Crush candy canes in the blender. Melt molding candy in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Stir in peppermint extract to taste. Stir in the red food coloring, then mix in the candy cane bits. Spread on waxed paper, about 1/8 inch thick. (My mom makes hers closer to 1/4 inch thick.) If desired, drizzle melted chocolate on the top, and swirl into the peppermint layer. Once set, break into pieces.

Here are a few tips:

• My least favorite part of making this candy is peeling the candy canes. I know that sounds silly, but I do several batches at a time, which means peeling up to 2 boxes of candy canes. The plastic creates static and the wrappers stick to everything. One year, the store was out of the regular size candy canes, but had the mini ones. They came with 2 attached together, and I could cut the tops of both off at once, and they slide right out. It was much quicker. If you can find the mini ones, go with those. (Obviously, you'll need to use more than 3 or 4...)
• If you decide to swirl chocolate in, you need to have it melted and ready to go before spreading out the peppermint layer. It sets very quickly, so you want to drizzle the chocolate on right after spreading out the candy out on the waxed paper.

Fudge

I haven't listed any of my Christmas candy recipes on here yet, and I get asked for these quite a bit, so I thought it was about time to add them. Fair warning: these are definitely treats, and are NOT at all healthy. It's a good thing I only make them one month out of the year.

This is the fudge recipe my mom has used for years, and I grew up with this fudge. It was a must every year at Christmas time.

I know there are fudge "purists", who make fudge without marshmallows of any kind, use a candy thermometer, and beat the fudge on a slab after it cooks. If that's the only kind of fudge you'll eat, this one isn't for you. If you want a quick and easy fudge recipe, then you've come to the right place. I know there are a ton of fudge recipes out there, but I've had a few people tell me this is their favorite fudge, so you might just want to try it!

Fudge

4 1/2 c. sugar (this has the most sugar of any of my candy recipes by far)
1 cube butter
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
2 12 oz. packages semi-sweet chocolate chips (My husband prefers milk, so I usually make some both ways. Overall, I prefer milk chocolate to dark, but this recipe is plenty sweet already in my opinion. It doesn't taste quite "chocolatey" enough for me with milk, so I prefer the semi-sweet.)
1 7 oz. jar marshmallow cream
Chopped nuts, if desired (I don't like nuts in my fudge, but my mom loves it with walnuts)

Bring sugar, butter, and evaporated milk to a boil over medium-high heat while stirring constantly. Once boiling, reduce heat heat to medium and cook 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips and marshmallow cream. Blend well. (Your arms get a bit of a workout here. Also, getting the marshmallow cream out of its jar is the hardest part of this recipe.) Add nuts if desired. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan and let set before cutting.

Crispy Shrimp Pasta

This is one I found online, thanks to the "Kevin & Amanda" blog. I would say it's one of my favorite new dinner recipes we've tried recently. Kazi and I both really liked it, so it's one we've made for dinner several times since we first tried it. Here is a link to the original source with pictures, but I'll post the recipe here as well:

Crispy Shrimp Pasta

4 oz fettuccine pasta

3/4 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
1 tsp kosher salt (I probably use 1/2 tsp.)
1 tsp freshly ground pepper (again, I use only about 1/2 tsp.)
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning (She used Zatarain's  Creole seasoning. I really liked it, because it's flavorful but not too hot, and I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to spices.)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Sprinkle shrimp with salt, pepper, and toss to combine. (On her blog, she said to sprinkle generously with salt. It was a bit to salty for me, so I reduced it a little.) Sprinkle 1 tbsp flour over the shrimp, and toss to coat the shrimp. Sprinkle 1 more tbsp flour and toss to evenly coat the shrimp. Melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add the shrimp in a single layer and cook on each side, flipping once, until golden brown, approximately 2-3 minutes per side. Remove to plate. Pour in the chicken broth. Cook for about 5 minutes, whisking the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Reduce heat to medium and pour in cream, whisking constantly. Cook sauce over medium heat until bubbly and the cream starts to thicken the mixture, about 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and add seasonings as desired (salt, pepper, Cajun seasonings, etc.) Add the drained pasta and shrimp to the sauce, and stir to combine.

*If you have trouble getting the sauce to thicken, thoroughly mix 1 tbsp cornstarch with 4 tbsp cold water and add to the sauce. Sauce will thicken immediately. (I do usually need to thicken the sauce a little, but I usually use flour instead of cornstarch.)