The Season of the Pumpkin Things

Bless me, Father...it has been roughly two years since my last rant on pumpkin spice-flavored things.  I just scoured the blog to see how many posts I've written with recipes containing pumpkin.  In the nearly eight year history of this blog, there have been exactly four recipes with pumpkin.   Today I will bring you Number 5, but not before I go on another tiny rant.

Let me say that I am not anti-pumpkin.  I know I am very late to the Pumpkin Appreciation Society party.  I don't exactly understand the deep love that some have for pumpkin spice things.  Every year it seems that the grocery stores have yet another endcap full of items flavored with the squash, and some mixture of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.  I'm not the only one who thinks the overabundance of pumpkin spiced things is a little over the top.  You can see for yourself in this article published on Eater last year.  I'm also sure that since this article was published, there have been even more pumpkin spice flavored foods created. 

Despite not understanding the obsession, my appreciation is true.  I just don't need a cabinet full of Pumpkin Spice Oreos, Pumpkin Spice Cheerios, Pumpkin Spice marshmallows in my hot chocolate, or Pumpkin Spice Creamer in my morning coffee.  Or Pumpkin Spice Eggnog...just because. 

But if you ask me what I think of a pumpkin bar with a spiced wafer crumb bottom and swirled with cream cheese?  Well...I will say, yes, please, and thank you...do you mind if I have two?  The cookie crumb will get even better the second day they're around (if they don't last that long...it's okay.)  I made these in an 8x8 inch pan, which I love.  It's manageable and still gives you enough to share if you feel like it.

I used my favorite Fall cookie here for the crumb.  If you're in the greater Philadelphia, PA area, I suggest running to the grocery store and picking up a box or two of Sweetzel's Spiced Wafers.  It's good to have family back East who send you your favorite Fall cookie.  If you don't have them, gingersnaps would work just as well.  You could also use graham crackers, but the spice in the crumb really makes these great.  You can happily and easily use canned pumpkin (be sure it's not pumpkin pie filling) or grab a sugar pie/pie pumpkin from the grocer's or the farmers market and make your own puree.  It's as easy as halving a pumpkin, scooping out the seeds, drizzling with some oil or butter, and roasting for 40 minutes in a hot oven.  I just find making my own so satisfying.  

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Bars

Makes one 8x8 inch pan

Cookie Crust

1 ¾ c spiced wafers cookie crumbs

6 tbsp butter

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

Filling

¾ c sugar

4 tbsp flour

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

2 eggs

12 oz pumpkin puree

1 tbsp milk

For the crust: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. If using whole cookies, break them into pieces, put in a food processor and process until fine crumbs. Put in a bowl with sugar and salt and mix well. Melt butter on stovetop, then add butter to crumbs, mixing well. Line the pan with parchment, pour the crumbs into the pan, pressing down and into corners with a spatula until crust is evenly spread. Bake for 6 minutes, remove from oven, and allow to cool. Turn oven up to 375 degrees for baking bars.

For the filling: In a medium bowl, cream sugar, flour, and cream cheese. Mix until smooth and reserve about a half cup of the mixture to the side.  Add the pumpkin pie spice, eggs, and pumpkin puree, mixing until incorporated and smooth.  Pour batter into 8x8 pan and spread evenly. Mix milk with reserved cream cheese mixture until smooth.  Spoon sporadically onto batter and make swirl with the tip of a knife.

Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean.  Approximately 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Once mostly cool, chill for at least 4 hours or longer. Remember to run a knife edge along inner edges of bars if you plan on removing from pan.

Can You Be Obsessed...

...with cake?  Not just being pro-cake.  More than just proclaiming, 'I much prefer cake over pie.'  (That's me)  But...can you be obsessed with a cake?  Can you like a cake so much that you make it once and before it's been completely consumed--not solely by you, thank god--you are already thinking about making it again?  Like NOW.  It's similar to how I felt after I got my first tattoo.  No sooner did I have the first one, not even fully healed, that my mind was swirling with ideas on what the next tattoo would be and where it would go.

If you make this yourself, you'll understand why I couldn't stop thinking about it.  The original recipe  is from Christopher Kimball's 'Milk Street' magazine.  My absolute favorite part is that it's a one bowl recipe--all you need is a bowl and a whisk (and a cake pan, naturally).  No mixer, no fancy gadgets.  The best kind of recipe.  For those of you who are gluten-free...guess what?  It's gluten-free!  The cake, hailing from Galicia, Spain, is known as tarta de Santiago.  Traditionally, it is dusted with powdered sugar using a stencil of the cross of St. James the Great, who is reportedly buried in the region's cathedral.

It's a dense cake.  On the Instagram post, someone commented that it is the perfect marriage of marzipan and meringue.  (It IS!)  It gets better the next day or even the day after that.  A friend drizzled a piece with blackberry honey...and holy crap...it was good.  You can pair it with whipped cream and berries as they do in 'Milk Street.'  It would probably be awesome with vanilla bean ice cream.  But, truthfully, I prefer it in it's simplicity.  Just give me a good cup of coffee to accompany a slice.

The recipe in 'Milk Street' uses 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and no zest.  After reading the article, I did a little Googling to learn more about the cake and decided I wanted to try adding citrus as it's a more traditional way of baking it.  Either way, you'll love it.


Galician Almond Cake (Tarta de Santiago)
adapted from the recipe on Milk Street's site
makes one 9-inch layer cake

1 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
3 large egg whites
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
zest of one medium lemon
zest of one medium orange
3 tbsp turbinado sugar
1/3 cup sliced almonds

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9-inch cake pan with a circle of parchment and butter the sides.  In a mixing bowl, add the white sugar, eggs, egg whites, almond extract, salt, and citrus zests (roughly 2 tbsp altogether).  Whisk until well-mixed.  Add almond flour and mix until incorporated.

Pour batter into lined cake pan.  Sprinkle top with almonds and turbinado sugar.  Try to alternate, so sugar will caramelize on top of cake and on almonds.  Bake 50-55 minutes, until top browns.  Cake should feel firm when tested with a slight press of finger.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.  Run a knife along inner edge of cake before turning out onto plate.  Then invert on second plate.