Pumpkin Pecan Bread with Streusel Topping

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...While spring is my favorite season, I love the aromas that drift from the fall kitchen. This bread is wonderfully fragrant and it's as tasty as its aroma promises. While it is delicious, I must warn you the bread is very sweet and that may be off-putting to some. The recipe was develop by Rebecca Rather, of Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe, and it can be found in her The Pastry Queen cookbook. The recipe makes two loaves of bread or enough muffins to feed the third world. Properly rapped the breads stays fresh for days and it freezes beautifully. I have several loaves in the freezer waiting for meetings and coming holiday parties. It is very easy to prepare and can be made without special equipment. The bread was new to me this season and I consider it to be a wonderful addition to my fall kitchen. Here's the recipe.

Pumpkin Pecan Bread with Streusel Topping ...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Rebecca Rather

Ingredients:
Bread
1-1/2 cups pecan pieces, divided use
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 (15 ounce) can pure pumpkin
1 cup water
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1-1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Topping
1/2 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces (above)

Directions:
1) To make bread: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast them in oven for 7 to 9 minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Reserve 1/2 cup of toasted pecans for topping.
Grease two 9 by 5-inch pans or 36 standard-size muffin cups with butter or cooking spray.
Whisk oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs, pumpkin, and water and whisk until combined. Stir in flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Gently stir in 1 cup of the pecan pieces. Divide batter evenly between two pans or fill muffin pans almost to top with batter.
2) To make the topping: Stir sugar, butter, cinnamon, and the reserved 1/2 cup of pecan pieces in a medium bowl. Sprinkle topping liberally over the loaves or the muffins before baking.
3) To bake: Bake the loaves for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Bake muffins for 30 to 35 minutes.

You might also enjoys these recipes:
Raw Apple Bread - Living the Gourmet
Apple Caraway Bread - Eclectic Recipes
Okanagan Apple Bread - One Perfect Bite
Pumpkin Apple Bread - One Perfect Bite
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread - Two Peas and Their Pod
Pumpkin Molasses Bread - Tasty Eats at Home
Walnut Topped Pumpkin Bread - LA Easy Meals
Pumpkin Bread with Raisins and Pecans - That's Not What the Recipe Says
Pumpkin Bread with Dried Cranberries - No Fear of Entertaining

Mincemeat Tart with Apple annd Streusel Topping

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It stands to reason that those who make and preserve mincemeat would have plans to use it. That's pretty much the case here, save for this one tart. I never plan to make it, but it always ends up on our table, You see, Bob and I are of two minds when it comes to desserts like this. He loves them and I don't. Don't get me wrong, I love mincemeat, but I have a barely sweet tooth and find this particular pie almost treacly in its sweetness. I snipped the recipe from Family Circle magazine some thirty years ago, but I suspect is roots are firmly planted in the kitchens of Mennonite and Amish communities. On reflection, it is very much like the Funeral Pie I featured here several months ago. Over the years, less and less mincemeat seems to make it into the jars that are sold for the holidays. There was a time when a jar could make a lovely 9-inch pie, but when you shave an ounce here and an ounce there, pies that are suppose to celebrate abundance get mighty stingy. I'm convinced that the apples and streusel that are piled onto this tart were devised to camouflage the scant amount of filling in the pie shell. The original recipe called for piling apples onto the mincemeat and then covering them with streusel. It was a bit of a mess to look at , so I decided to use spirals of overlapping apple slices and less of the streusel topping. It's still awfully sweet , too sweet for my tastes, but at least it looks more planned and festive. I use two, rather than the three, apples called for in the original recipe and I cut the streusel ingredients in half. Those among you who love mincemeat and highly sweetened desserts will love this tart. Here's the recipe.

Mincemeat Tart with Apples and Streusel Topping...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Family Circle magazine

Ingredients:
1 unbaked pastry shell for a 9-inch pie or tart pan
2 cups homemade or bottled mincemeat
2 apples, pared cored and thinly sliced
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a pie or tart pan with pastry.
2) Spread mincemeat evenly in pie shell. Place apples in a medium bowl. Add lemon juice and granulated sugar and toss to coat. Spread in an overlapping pattern of concentric rings on top of mincemeat filling.
3) Combine flour and brown sugar in a small bowl. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. Sprinkle over apples.
4) Place pie or tart pan on a baking sheet to catch spills. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Mince Pies - The English Kitchen
Mincemeat Gingerbread - Cooking with K
Mincemeat - Felice in the Kitchen
Christmas Flavor Ice Cream - Antics of a Cycling Cook
Cranberry Port Mincemeat Brioche Rolls - What's for Lunch Honey?
Funeral Pie - One Perfect Bite
Green Tomato Mincemeat - One Perfect Bite

Plum Tart with Streusel Topping

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We do our green market loop every weekend when farm stands are open. The trail begins in the produce section of our Saturday Market and then heads past the city limits to farms, where we can actually measure the growth of food from one week to the next. The weekly run for provisions usually works well, but I occasionally find fruits and vegetables ganging up on me. This week I had to deal with surplus corn and plums before new stores could be brought in. I decided to use the plums to make a tart, and because I was using red and blue varieties of varying sweetness, I thought it best to use a streusel topping to assure they would not be too tart when baked. Even with that, you'll find this to be a just sweet tart and scheduling trumpet practice following dessert would be unwise. In order to proceed you will need pastry for a one crust pie. Homemade is, of course, best, but use whatever is easiest and most convenient for you. This dessert is about the plums, not the pastry. This is really easy to do and if you are fond of European desserts you'll love this tart tart. It is very juicy and I think it's best served warm. Here's the recipe.

Plum Tart wit Streusel Topping...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, inspired by The Cookworks

Ingredients:
Pastry for 1 9-inch tart or pie pan
8 large purple plums, pitted and thinly sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Streusel Topping
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a pie or tart pan with pastry. Set aside.
2) Toss plums with brown sugar and cinnamon. Pile plum mixture into pastry shell.
3) Combine flour, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal. Sprinkle streusel evenly over plums.
4) Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes longer. Serve warm. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Plum Jam with Ginger and Vanilla - Cotto e Crudo
Plum Honey - How I Cook
Plum Buckle - One Perfect Bite
Plum Custard Pie with Almond Crust
Cinnamon Streusel Plum Cake - My Kitchen in the Rockies
Double Crusted Plum Crisp - Two Peas and Their Pod
Plum and Raspberry Clafouti - Cafe Leilee

Blueberry Buckle - Cowboy Camp Meeting for Blue Monday

Blueberry Buckle



Cowboy Church Camp Meeting



Pastor Tom's Right-Hand Man

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Bob and I happened on the camp meeting while looking for decent blueberries. The blue striped tent, positioned along the river and abutting the bridge couldn't be missed. I'll admit to being cat curious and instigating a trip down the embankment to the the camp grounds. We took a few pictures before being joined by Jeb, who handles security and parking for the event. He was as curious about our presence as we were about the revival meeting. Jeb kindly led us through the intricacies of the event and how it came to be. More information about events such as these can be found here. While a man of few words, when asked about attendance he ventured, "Some nights it's a healthy handful, some nights we're packed." Ever the good disciple, he clearly hoped we'd be back and spoke of that a bit, but then shared with us locations of berry fields and farms we would have otherwise missed. I had promised Bob I'd make a blueberry buckle if we could find fruit that had any flavor. Thanks to Jeb, I was able to keep that promise and we had a lovely dessert. Bob loves it because of its thick sugar topping. The topping cracks as the dish cooks and the craters in it surface are how this buckle got its name. The recipe I use was originally developed by Martha Stewart and the topping is based on one made by her mother. Both recipes are delicious and I think best of kind. I really think you love this buckle. Here are the recipes.

Blueberry Buckle...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
Streusel Topping
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
Cake
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
5 cups wild or cultivated blueberries
Streusel Topping

Directions
1) To make streusel topping: In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut in butter until fine crumbs form. Using hands, squeeze together most of mixture to form large clumps. Topping be frozen in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
2) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a springform baking pan, and dust with flour, tapping out excess. Set aside.
3) In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
4) In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add egg and vanilla, beating until fully combined.
5) Add reserved flour mixture, alternating with the milk, a little of each at a time, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Remove from mixer. Gently fold in blueberries.
6) Pour batter into prepared pan; sprinkle streusel topping over cake. Bake until cake tester comes out batter-free, 60 to 70 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool for 15 minutes before serving. Yield 8 to 10 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Blueberry Glace Pie - One Perfect Bite
Blueberry Flognarde - One Perfect Bite
Old-Fashioned Blueberry Crumb Bars - One Perfect Bite
Blueberry Ebelskiver - Baking Bites
Blueberry Zucchini Bread - Closet Cooking
Red Rice Salad - Lisa Is Cooking

This post is being linked to:
Smiling Sally - Blue Monday