Muffin? Popover? You tell me!

                  From my “Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook”

Nun's Puffs VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

           I woke up this morning wanting to make something different for my little girls, so I opened up the cookbook my husband gave me on our first Christmas together. Huh, he was probably hinting at something, what a turd!!! Anyway back to my morning experiment, I turned to the bread category and starting searching. Muffins, no. Waffles, no. Pancakes, no. French toast, no, Nut bread, no. Hmmm….”Nun’s Puffs?” Sure! I’ve never heard of them so what the heck lets go for it! I had no idea what I was in for. The directions and ingredients made the whole ordeal sound really easy. Well, it was easy, you just need a little muscle. I learned today I need to work on that muscle. It starts off by you simply melting butter in a pot and then adding milk and bringing to a boil, easy.. Then add flour, easy. Stir the mixture, A LOT AND FAST!! Holy Cow! Thirty seconds in my arm was aching!! I had to switch from right arm stirring to left arm then right, then left, phew it was tough!! I swear, I think I broke a slight sweat!

You have to stir the milk/butter/flour mixture until it comes together and forms a ball. It takes (depending on your ability to stir without taking short breaks) probably three to five minutes for the ball to form. It started out very lump and I was getting soo tired, I starting considering quitting, especially since I didn’t think it was ever going to turn into a ball. I couldn’t though, I started, I have to finish. I had to reach deep to silence the screams from my aching muscles! I know I’m a total wimp and need to work on my muscles. Thank you Nun Puffs for pointing that out, those Nuns must have had some guns!! FINALLY, it turned into a ball!! Here comes the fun part. SET ASIDE TO COOL FOR FIVE MINUTES, YES FINALLY A BREAK, kind of!!! Using shortening, *Generously* grease 9-12 muffin cups inside the cups all around everywhere!! Grease the whole pan!!!                                                              
       Flash forward five minutes, here we go again, crack one egg into the pot and stir into your dough ball.
Crack another egg, stir until combined. By now the ball is more of a thick mixture.Continue with another egg, stir. LAST ONE, incorporate your last egg into the mixture and stir until smooth. My mixture never got “smooth”. It had lumps, lots of them, I switched from wooden spoon to whisk and it still had lumps. I’m sure if I kept stirring it would of gotten smooth but I was too tired. Next time, I think I’ll use an electric mixer! Once smooth, pour batter into your greased cups, about two thirds full, sprinkle the batter with sugar.
Bake in your pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 30 mins.
    I didn’t peak, I wanted to be surprised! My husband laughs at me when I’m cooking and taking pictures of the outcome, because I have a huge stupid smile on my face! I can’t help it, I love it!
::BEEP BEEP:: <<that’s my kitchen timer, FYI =)
Cue oven door, get ready, !!WOW!!! It was like magic happened! They were huge!! Beautifully browned and fluffy!!!! I immediately plated them!! I drizzled honey on mine and tore it open. It was insane, it was very porous, fluffy, very moist, and soft! The inside had a texture similar to scrambled eggs, it tasted kind of like eggs with a sweetness, the top was crispy and yummy thanks to the sugar! The honey just added a little something extra, I think jam would be good on these as well. My girls really liked them! They were a success! Finally!! Lately, I’ve been having a lot of failed experiments, so I was very proud. These were special, definitely something I would make again to show off my “gourmet” cooking to guests as a morning snack or as an accompaniment to a full breakfast spread. They reminded me of something you would get from a special bakery/café on a snowy winter day. They have to be eaten warm, immediately after coming out of the oven. Delicious! Now to figure out what to make for lunch…hmmm… Stay tuned for my next food experiment!!
      I hope you guys enjoyed my Nun’s Puffs experience as much as I did. Try the recipe out and let me know how you do!! Send me some pics!!  Thanks for reading!!       
      <3   Morgan

Flour Tortillas

Sounds simple, right? I mean they're just flour, shortening, salt and water.

NO, I tried making them last night, FAIL!! TOTAL FAIL!!! Allow me to explain..

 I made this recipe:

 3 cups flour

 1 tsp. salt 

1/3 cup vegetable oil 

1 cup warm water

 Combine all the flour, salt, vegetable oil, and water in a food processor until it forms a dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth. Using your best sense of judgement pull portions from the dough and roll into  small balls, using your hand lightly flatten a ball, use a rolling pin to roll into circles. Put the dough on a preheated griddle or non stick pan on the stove and cook the tortillas until they are puffy and browned. 

They came out terrible!!! I failed to take pictures of me putting the ingredients in the food processor, sorry.
At first, I thought okay, these seem okay, dough looked like, well dough. So, I began rolling out the dough into circles, which is surprisingly harder than I though!

I rolled out the first tortilla and put it into an non greased non stick skillet on medium-high heat, and waited for them to turn into "tortillas". I waited, and waited, and waited........

They took forever to do anything! They didn't brown, took them forever to brown in the slightest! I fried my first tortilla for probably five minutes, I'm not kidding. The whole time I was thinking, "this can't be right, I've seen them cook faster on food programs." Eventually it started to bubble a little, so I flipped it over, it was HARD, VERY, VERY HARD!!

I thought maybe it was just beginners...failure? So I made another one, same problem, I had tortilla "vinyl records". They also tasted like flour, I know, it's a "flour tortilla" but it tasted exactly like raw flour, it was terrible!!
    My kids ate them though, haha, and my dog, so they weren't lethal just hard, not exactly something you would be proud of feeding to your family and guests.

I looked up another recipe, I refused to be defeated by flour!!

Here's the recipe I found and used:
2-3/4 cups all purpose flour, plus a little extra for rolling the tortillas
5 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups very warm tap water

Combine the flour and shortening in a food processor, dissolve the salt in the water and slowly combine the salt water to the flour until all the flour is absorbed and the dough has turned into a ball and is slightly wet. *You may not use all of the salt water.

 Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead with extra flour until dough is smooth. Divide the dough into 12 portions (less if you want bigger tortillas). Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. Once they've rested heat your griddle or non stick pan over medium to medium-high heat. On your floured surface, flatten one of your tortilla portions slightly with your hands. Using a rolling pin roll the dough forward and back, rotating it just slightly after ever forward and back motion. (THIS WILL HELP TO INSURE A ROUND TORTILLA!!!) Mine never came out perfectly round, but the more I rolled the better I got! 

I sprayed my heated pan a little bit with cooking spray, just as a precautionary.

I threw my first tortilla from my second recipe onto my pan. I waited anxiously. IMMEDIATELY, it started to bubble!! I flipped the tortilla after about 30-45 seconds, I cooked the other side for about the same amount of time. I wiped out the pan after the first two. The cooking spray seemed to burn so I stopped using it, I had no issues with sticking.

Here's what they looked like!!! Pretty cool!! They were a little dusty, next time I think I wont use as much flour when I'm rolling out the dough. They didn't taste exactly like store bought tortillas; they were a little bland, but they weren't terrible. I will try making these again after I search for more recipes and try to figure out how to add a little more flavor. They were soft, and flimsy just the ones I'm used to eating. My husband agreed that they lacked something. Not sure what it is, but I will find out!!

I hope you enjoyed my "Tortilla" experiment! Let me know if you've made some tortillas and what yours were like! If you have an idea of how to help me make mine better please share!!! 

Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

Not my typical Pumpkin Pie!


    Every year Thanksgiving rolls around and I make the same menu as I did the year before, and the year before that, and the year before that and so on and so forth. This year, something felt different so I decided to "alter" my traditional, yet almost boring, pumpkin pie. I decided I wouldn't go buck wild, I don't really like to mess with "traditional" so I went with something very similar and wouldn't disgruntle anyone's delicate taste buds. I chose PUMPKIN PIE CHEESECAKE!! Delicious, it will, from this year forward be my families signature holiday desert!

   Okay, at first I thought, "crap, I've never made a cheesecake and it will probably come out terrible, (because that's my luck)." I was soooo wrong, it was super easy to make and came out perfectly, no issues!
 
   Here we go, I'll tell you the recipe I used:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham crumbs (I used store bought, nothing fancy, the plain kind)

5 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 Tbsp. sugar

Filling:

3- 8oz..pkgs. cream cheese, softened (I know it sounds terribly fattening, but it's delicious, I didn't buy the low fat/fat free kind, again store brand)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin

3 eggs

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. allspice

Whipped Cream (optional)

Once you have created the graham cracker crumbs combine them with butter and sugar. I Probably used more crumbs and butter than the recipe asked for because I like a thicker crust and a little gooey-er. So, I recommend just kind of eye balling the mixture to suite your own preference! 

Once the crust is combined and moist press onto the bottom of an 8" spring form pan, which shockingly I happened to have even though I'd never made anything in it! I sprayed mine with cooking spray just as a precaution!   You should press the crust up the sides of the pan a little. Once the crust is pressed bake for 5-7 mins in a preheated 350 degree oven. 

While the crust sets you can start combining the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl, using an electric mixer beat them until smooth.

(check your crust, mine had stiffened a little and some of the moisture was gone, but it was still pliable)

Remove the pan from oven, and set aside.

Back to the filling, add the canned pumpkin, eggs, and spices to the cream cheese mixture, beat until smooth and creamy. Pour the filling into your crusted pan and bake for 60-70 minutes. The top of the cake, or is it called pie? I don't know, anyways the top should turn slightly brown, not too dark. If the top starts to crack you definitely know it's done! Remove from oven and allow to come to room temperature, I think mine took over an hour. Once completely cooled, refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. RELEASE THE SPRINGS and VOILA!!  You have just made PUMPKIN PIE CHEESECAKE!!! Holy cow! It didn't melt right before your eyes, it stood tall and firm! YAY!! SOO PROUD! NOW TIME TO CUT IT AND TOP IT AND DEVOUR IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations! You have just baked a pie/cake!!! 

Here's just a short little story, after I pulled mine from the oven and set it aside to cool I walked away to do laundry or some other annoying wife/mother chore, I went back to the kitchen to stare at my creation that I was so proud of and, "WHAT THE HECK!?" SOMEONE HAD SPOONED IT!!! I walked to the living room where my husband had a huge smirk on his face and he said, "tastes like pumpkin pie to me!" then he laughed. I went back to the kitchen and spooned it too, it was sooo delicious! Warm and smooth, slight texture from the spices, the crust was soo delicious and soft! Oh my, so I learned, you can eat the pie/cake warm if you want to!! I decided to serve it to my two little girls warm and they loved it, they kept calling it "butt cake" they're 3 and 18 months so they struggled to say Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake, we have decided to call it "butt cake" from here on out!! Believe me though, IT DOES NOT TASTE LIKE BUTT!! I can't wait to make it again next year. I hope you guys like this recipe as much as my family and I did!!! Thanks for reading!!