Pumpkin Cupcakes with Ginger Frosting

I was itching to make a confection out of pumpkin (time of the season, you know). I randomly grabbed this pumpkin cupcake recipe off the internet. It's a pretty good recipe. More like pumpkin bread or pumpkin pound cake than like regular cake. It's a bit denser, but quite tasty. I chose a ginger frosting as opposed to a more popular cheesecake frosting... and I still wonder if the ginger frosting overpowered the pumpkin flavor of the cupcake... regardless, I couldn't stop licking the frosting bowl. Everyone loved these cupcakes and wanted more. I might make another batch soon... I'll probably use the ginger frosting recipe again... but I def would try a plain cream cheese frosting recipe too. oh and sorry for the not so decadent looking picture. I was too anxious to just cram the thing in my mouth to worry about taking a decent picture of it.

Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sift before measuring
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten until frothy
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans ( left these out because I didn't want to bother buying them)
  

Instructions:

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a bowl. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs. Blend in mashed pumpkin. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk, blending until batter is smooth after each addition; stir in chopped walnuts or pecans. Spoon batter into well-greased and floured or paper-lined muffin pan cups.

Fill about 2/3 full. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Makes about 20 cupcakes...
Ginger Frosting (this recipe made a bit more than there were cupcakes to frost... so beware)

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• about 3 cups of powdered sugar (sifted)
• 1-2 T fresh grated ginger
• 1/2-3/4 tsp ground ginger

Beat it all together.

Chicken Tikka Masala

I must admit that I had no idea that chicken tikka masala was to India as Panda Express orange chicken was to China. Needless to say, this tasty British adapted dish is a basic I almost always shamlessley order at some point at any Indian restaurant. This recipe I tried was different in that the chicken wasn't not swimming and falling apart in the sauce. There was just enough sauce to cover. I made some basmati rice with it, but unfortunately I did it Japanese style by measuring the water up to the first knuckle, resulting in sticky white rice (perfect by Japanese standards but not what I had in mind for this meal). Oops.

This might have taken some time to put together, but it was really easy once I got all the ingredients together. It's full of a flavor and I love it. I'll be making this again in the future.

Notes:

(1) this dish was hardly spicy with the one serrano chile i used. So if you want it spicier, add more or leave in the ribs and seeds (although i heard somewhere that the seeds don't hold the spiciness as much as the white ribby part).

(2) fresh cilantro on top added a freshness to it that you won't get without it, so if you can bother to buy it, do it.

RECIPE:

Chicken Tikka

1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (that was about 4 breast pieces)
1 cup of plain whole milk yogurt
2 T vege oil
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 T fresh grated ginger

Masala Sauce

3 T vege oil
1 medium onion diced fine
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 serrano chile
1 T tomato paste
1 T garam masala
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
chopped fresh cilantro to garnish

Directions:

1. Chicken Directions: combine all dry spices and salt in bowl and sprinkle on both sides of breasts. Cover and put in fridge30-60 minutes. Mix yogurt, oil, garlic, and ginger and set aside.
2. Sauce Directions: Heat oil in big pot over medium heat. Add onions and stir until light golden. Add garlic, ginger, chile, tomato paste, and garam masala. Keep stirring for a couple minutes. Add can of tomatoes, sugar and salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in cream and return to simmer. Remove from heat.

3. While sauce simmers, put oven rack in upper middle half (about 6 inches from heat source) and turn oven on for broiler. Coat chicken with thick layer of yogurt mixture (this makes chicken crazy moist). Place on baking sheet or broiler pan (Foil lined makes for easy clean up). Broil chicken 8-10 minutes (flipping half way through). It says parts should be charred, but I didn't get much of that. But as long as it's not pink inside, we're golden.
4. Let chicken rest for like 5 minutes, then cut into bite size chunks and stir into sauce (don't have it when it's still simmering). Top or stir in cilantro. Add salt to your taste.

I served it with my screwed up basmati rice. still delicious. I also got my hands on some frozen samosas that we baked up. perfeito!

Expermenting with Burgers...

Now that my intense study days are over for the moment, I'm back to trying and cooking up different foods. For a while I was eating pasta for lunch and dinner. More specifically, whole wheat Trader Joe pasta, parmesan cheese, shredded sauteed zuchinni (with olive oil and garlic), and sometimes pesto. Delicious. But not when you're eating it for several weeks straight.

Anyways, I had been wanting to try this burger that I had seen had won the Build a Better Burger contest. One was called the Born in Berkeley Burger. It had a lot to it. Figs, fennel, sun dried tomatoes, etc. But today I just went with what I had and tried to make something edible.

Now, I'm not recommending this recipe. I'm just telling you what I did. I put the plain patty in a frying pan with some pepper and A1 sauce (don't ask). Then I topped it with some slices of brie cheese. Topped that with slices of fresh figs (they're not going to be in season for much longer!). Since I didn't have any hamburger buns, I used two hotdog buns. I was too lazy to bust out another pan to toast the bread (the other pan was too gunky with the A1), so i popped those in the toaster oven and then spread a little mayo on it.

My rating? Some of those ingredients definitely have potential to make one tasty burger. I enjoyed it though. For what it was. Considering the circumstances... There will be no picture because, well, I ate it because I was hungry, and two, you weren't missing much visually. I'm sure you can use your imagination. Chicken tikka masala tonight though!

Ingredients:

burger patty
brie cheese
fresh fig
hamburger buns (or hotdog buns if you're like me)
mayo
A1 sauce
pepper