Tag: Vanilla Bean Paste

Bourbon Pumpkin Flan

It’s no secret that I love pumpkin everything. Sweet or savory, it’s a safe assumption that I will enjoy whatever pumpkin treat comes my way. So when I was contacted about restaurants under the Darden Restaurant umbrella featuring pumpkin desserts for the month of October, I was happy to taste test!

 

I was sent a $30 gift card so that I could go to Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Longhorn Steakhouse to try their pumpkin desserts. Here are the yummy offerings:

 

Red Lobster: Pumpkin Pie in a Jar – layered pumpkin and cream cheese mousse with a graham-cracker crust, topped with sugared pecans

Photo courtesy of Red Lobster

 

LongHorn Steakhouse: Pumpkin Spice Lava Cake – warm pumpkin spice cake filled with a cream cheese icing and drizzled with Maker’s Mark® bourbon-caramel sauce and candied pecans

Photo courtesy of LongHorn Steakhouse

 

Olive Garden: Pumpkin Cheesecake – pumpkin cheesecake topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce and ginger cookie crumbles

Photo courtesy of Olive Garden

They are as delicious as they look! I unapologetically scarfed down each and every one. They are super rich so I’m sure you should probably share them. But hey, I’m not going to judge.

I was given a second $30 gift card to GIVE AWAY so that one reader can go try one (or all) of these desserts for themselves! More on that after the recipe! {THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED}

I made my own pumpkin dessert inspired by a mixture of the three above: Bourbon Pumpkin Flan with Graham Cracker Crumbs. This recipe incorporates the Bourbon in the Pumpkin Spice Lava Cake, the creaminess of the Pumpkin Cheesecake, and the graham cracker “crust” of the Pie in a Jar. I adapted this recipe from a Bon Appetit Pumpkin Flan recipe.

 

Ingredients:

  • 6 large eggs
  • 6 large egg yolks
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided (I used Sugar In The Raw for a deeper caramel flavorMi)
  • 1 tablespoon bourbon
  • 2 1/3 cups heavy cream, divided
  • 1 cup milk
  • 5 whole cloves
  • 3 whole star anise
  • 1 cardamom pod, cracked
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
  • 1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée
  • 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • freshly ground nutmeg
  • Continue reading Bourbon Pumpkin Flan

Gluten Free Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Gluten free baking. Does it terrify anyone else? Just me? Hm.  Whelp. I finally decided it was time to conquer my fear and try my hand at it.

I was sent a copy of Kyra Bussanich’s new cookbook Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle which makes gluten-free baking seem not-so-scary. Kyra was the first gluten free  baker to win Food Network’s Cupcake Wars and has actually won twice overall so she knows her stuff! The cookbook is filled with really amazing sounding cupcakes but has a bunch of other mouthwatering baking recipes, including gluten free muffins, scones, cookies, brownies, and much more!

As I was paging through the cookbook, I came across her recipe for Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes. I just had to make them!

I used a bunch of OXO baking tools to create these cupcakes including the Cupcake Corer, the 6 Piece Measuring Spoon Set, and the 6 Piece Measuring Cup Set. These tools, along with many others, can be found during the month of September with these green stickers on them:

For every specially marked item sold, OXO is donating 25 cents in support of pediatric cancer research as a part of its $100,000 pledge to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Keep an eye out for the green sticker when buying your baking tools, every little bit helps!

Now, on to the recipe. I changed the frosting but kept the rest of the recipe intact.

Ingredients:

CUPCAKES:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup tapioca starch
  • 1 cup potato starch
  • 2/3 cup white rice flour
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

VANILLA BEAN PASTRY CREAM:

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

DARK CHOCOLATE FROSTING

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 package dark chocolate chips (12 oz)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
  • Pinch fine sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • Cocoa powder, as needed
“Adapted with permission from Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle by Kyra Bussanich (Ten Speed Press, © 2013).”

Continue reading Gluten Free Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Nutella Swirled Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

It’s time for my monthly Walkers Shortbread Blogger Ambassador program post, and I think they tailored this one just for me! This month’s theme is “Fruit Desserts for Fall,” where we were asked to use in-season fall autumn fruits including apples, pears, cranberries, figs, pomegranates, or pumpkins. Clearly, there was no question which one I was choosing.

Walkers Shortbread also has an exclusive promotion for I Can Cook That readers. Now through Monday, September 23, you can receive 25% off your total purchase, excluding sales items when you use the promo code ICCTFRUIT. So you can experiment with your very own fall treats! (Another favorite of mine that uses Walkers Shortbread is this Gingerbread Chocolate Pumpkin Trifle)

Because it is September and it hasn’t completely cooled off just yet, I thought I’d go for a chilled dessert. I have wanted to make Pumpkin Cheesecake for a while now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. But to make it a little more special, I decided to swirl in some Nutella.

The crust is a mixture of Walkers Shortbread Highlanders and Stem Ginger Shortbread Cookies to give it a bit more flavor. I adapted this recipe from a recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars on Taste of Home.

Ingredients:

  • 1 7 oz box Walkers Shortbread Highlanders (9 cookies)
  • 5 Walkers Stem Ginger Shortbread Cookies (~1/2 box)
  • 1 cup sugar, divided
  • 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 8 oz packages reduced-fat cream cheese
  • 1 8 oz package regular cream cheese
  • 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon each of ground ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom
  • 1/8 teaspoon allspice
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup Nutella, warmed

Continue reading Nutella Swirled Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

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