I think back to last year at this time and I was so ahead of the game. Tree was up, as well as all holiday decor. All the gifts were bought and wrapped. All the Christmas cards were done and addressed, stamped and ready to go.
This year I do have some holiday decor up but no tree yet. That was suppose to be done Friday night, then Saturday night, then tonight (yeah, not happening somehow we got the tree up, I think this post nudged me a little to do it). I have one gift bought. I think I have wrapping paper somewhere. Christmas cards? Not purchased. Have no idea where my address book is (it’s been missing for months). Stamps? Do I even have those?
Sigh.
To top it off I have 9 holiday parties I have been invited to. Five of which of course are on the same night. Boo. I hate to tell people no, I don’t want them to think we don’t want to come. But I have done the spreading yourself thin and go to all five party thing before and it is no fun. You don’t get to enjoy any of the parties because you are too busy starring at your watch to make sure you have enough time to get to the next one. So this year I have told myself, no more than two parties in a day.
Most of these are potlucks of some sort. Which means I am frantically trying to figure out what I want to make. I always over analyze what to make. I also tend to bring more than the average person. I need to work on that habit. Especially with all the food based parties we are going to this season.
One of my parties is a progressive dinner party. I’ll be going to that one as I am the co-host for the dessert portion of the meal (surprise…I’m doing dessert!). So I have been working on desserts to see what I want to serve for the party. I want to make one chocolate based dessert and “other”.
This falls into the other category. Orange says holiday to me. Not really sure why though it could have to do with those chocolate oranges that you have to crack open and it breaks into segments. We especially enjoyed opening them by smashing them on each other’s heads. Ah, siblings, if it were not for them who would torture us and vice versa? So when I saw this caramel pecan tart I decided it needed to be a orange caramel pecan tart. So glad I did, it went so nicely with it.

Orange-Caramel Pecan Tart

For the Tart Dough:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp table salt
zest of one medium orange

Coat a 9” tart pan with removable bottom with nonstick spray; line baking sheet with foil. (I used 4 3-inch diameter tart pans instead).
Cream together butter and sugar for the dough in a bowl with a mixer until light. Add egg yolk and vanilla, beat until combined, then add flour, salt, and zest.
Mix just until dough forms.
Press dough evenly into tart pan, trimming excess from the edges. Chill until firm, 30  minutes; preheat oven to 350F.
Place tart on prepared sheet and bake until crust is dry to the touch but hasn’t begun to brown, 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven (leave oven on) and cool slightly.

For the Filling:

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, cubed
¾ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3 TBSP granulated sugar
3 TBSP heavy whipping cream
½ tsp table salt
1 ½ TBSP orange liqueur (I used Grand Marnier)
1 ½ cups pecan halves, toasted
Bring butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, granulated sugar, cream and salt for the filling to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook to 240F on an instant read thermometer. Off heat, stir in the orange liqueur (it will bubble furiously), then fold in the pecans.
Pour mixture into tart shell(s), return to oven, and bake until filling is bubbly and crust is brown, about 20 minutes (about 15 for the smaller ones). Let rat cool on the baking sheet 15-20 minutes, then carefully remove the side ring. Cool tart completely before slicing.

Adapted from Cuisine at Home Magazine Holiday Menus

They say that puppies and babies are made cute so that you don’t want to kill them when they drive you insane (though I have seen some ugly babies in my time so I am not sure how true that is ). I must say that as a dog owner, it was a lot easier to forgive my dog for throwing up grass on my $1500 chair (that I saved for over a year for) which stained it permanently, when she looked up at me with those sad little cocker spaniel eyes. Those woeful eyes have saved my puppy many a time from having to take a long walk off a short plank.
In the cooking world there are recipes that drive us insane but in the end they were worth it. This recipe is a case in point. The first time I made it many, many swear words were spewed from my mouth. You see, this is a very easy recipe….until you have to assemble it in the pan. First you lay down the caramel and pecans…and then spread thick batter over that. Umm, that doesn’t work all that well. Then you top that with streusel (that was easy). But then you have to spread batter on top of the streusel. And, that ladies and gentleman is somewhat of a nightmare. After making versions of this cake several times now I can tell you that using both a spatula and your fingers is the way to go. As is dropping pieces of the batter around the cake so that spreading is kept to a minimum.
The whole time I was spreading the impossible I just kept mumbling to myself that this darn well better be worth it! Good news is, it is. This is one of those recipe that the first time I made it I didn’t get to photograph it because I made it at night and the smell was just too over powering and I ate like half the cake. Oops.
The original recipe does not use pumpkin. If you would like to not use pumpkin then omit the pumpkin and use ½ cup buttermilk and ¼ cup sour cream. I decided to add pumpkin this last time to make it a little more festive. I like both versions equally so it is hard to say which way I recommend you make this.

Pumpkin “Cinnamon Roll” Coffee Cake

For the Caramel:
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

For the Streusel:
½ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
4 TBSP unsalted butter, sliced
1 ½ TBSP ground cinnamon
¼ tsp table salt

For the Cake:
¼ cup buttermilk
2 TBSP sour cream
½ cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp table salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 9-inch pan with nonstick spray.
Stir together the brown sugar, cream and salt for the caramel. Pour into a prepared pan and spread to coat the bottom. Sprinkle pecans over the caramel.
In a food processor, process brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon and the salt for the streusel. Pulse until small clumps form; set aside.
Whisk buttermilk, sour cream, pumpkin puree and eggs together and place into a large measuring cup with a pour spout.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer just until combined.
Alternately add dry ans wet ingredients, starting and ending with the dry. Blend each additions just until incorporated.
Spread half the batter over the caramel, then sprinkle with half the streusel. Carefully spread remaining batter over that and top with remaining streusel. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool cake  for 5 minutes, then run a pairing knife around the sides to loosen. Invert onto a serving platter while hot, then let cool slightly before slicing. Due to the sticky top, and electric knife is best for cutting, but a sharp, thin bladed knife is fine too.

Adapted from Cuisine at Home Magazine December 2005

There are many times in my life that I am glad that I am a fattie. Just like in my adult life, in my childhood I was less than a petite flower.
Growing up my BFF was DB, those were her initials and that is what I called her. We became bff’s because our parents were bff’s and when they would go out for an evening among adults I would sleep over at DB’s house. Why not at mine? Simple. Number one, their pool had the slide, mine did not. Second, she had an older brother who would watch us. Though watch isn’t really what I would call it. More like sibling and sibling friend torture. This is where my chunkiness worked for me.
See, DB was small. Really small, both height and weight. I would say at the time she was about 70 pounds (to this day she is probably not over 100…she eats, she is just tiny… bitch). Her brother was a good sitter when it was just him. He left us alone and that was about it. Trouble stirred when his friends would come over, then we were fair game. Well, DB was. See I bit them when the messed with me. That will teach them.
But, DB, poor DB would get hung upside down in the closet by her feet. They tried it once with me, did not go over well at all. Visualize if you will a hefty 12 year old falling onto the groin of DB’s brother’s friend. Oops, sorry about that…not.
One time, it was right after Thanksgiving and we were to eat leftovers for our dinner. DB’s brother’s friend told us to save him a piece of pie. I ate it. That’s right, take that. I was chased around a lot that night, got piled on and given Indian burns and what not on my skin. No worries though, I got my revenge. See I had to eat 4 pieces of pie to insure that DB’s brother and friends got no pie. Needless to say my tummy was a tad queasy. My revenge…vomit in his sleeping bag.
Amazingly enough I didn’t get an aversion to pumpkin after that…thank goodness.
When talking to my mom the other day she mentioned seeing a Turtle Pumpkin Cheesecake in some magazine. It sounded so good and so I was off to make some, mini ones in fact. This is basically just a pumpkin cheesecake topped with pecans, chocolate glaze and caramel. But oh my, does it make pumpkin cheesecake taste all that much better.

Mini Turtle Pumpkin Cheesecakes

1 cup pumpkin puree
½  cup heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 ¼  pounds cream cheese
½  cup granulated sugar
½  cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 TBSP cornstarch
4 large eggs

12 vanilla or chocolate wafers (if not making mini cheesecakes, you will need to use a crust of your choice)
chocolate glaze
caramel sauce
1 cup chopped pecans

In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, heavy cream, vanilla extract, spice and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium low speed until creamy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Gradually add the sugars and beat until blended.
Add the pumpkin mixture and mix till blended.
Add the cornstarch and mix just until combined. Add the eggs on at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Place a vanilla wafer at the bottom of each of a prepared mini cheesecake pan.
Scrape the batter evenly among the pan ( you can fill them all the way to the top).
Wrap bottom of pan in aluminum foil.
Place the wrapped pan in a roasting pan or large baking pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come 1 inch up the sides of the cheesecake pan.
Bake the cheesecakes in the water bath for 40 minutes(60 for 4 ½ -inch diameter, and 70 minutes for full size cheesecake), until the center of the cake is set but slightly wobbly(the cake will completely set as it cools).
Remove the cake pan from the water bath, place the pan on a wire rack, and carefully loosen the foil.  Let the cake cool completely.
Refrigerate the cheesecake for at least 4 hours.
Top each mini cheesecake with pecans. Drizzle both chocolate glaze and caramel glaze on each one as well.

Source: Adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle 2006

Chocolate Glaze

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons light corn syrup

First, turn the cooled cake over onto another rack so you’ll be glazing the flat bottom, and place the rack over a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper to catch any drips.

Put the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl.

Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water or in a microwave oven – the chocolate should be just melted and only warm, not hot.  Meanwhile, bring the cream to a boil in a small sauce pan.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir very gently with a rubber spatula until the mixture is smooth and shiny.  Stir in the corn syrup.

Glaze adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Caramel Sauce

2 cups sugar
½ cup water
1 ½ TBSP light corn syrup
½  cup heavy cream plus 1 TBSP
1 tsp vanilla
2 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature

To make the topping:
Put the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, stir just to combine the ingredients and then put the pan over medium-high heat.
Heat, without stirring , until the caramel turns deep amber, 5-10 minutes.
Take the pan off of the heat and, standing back from the saucepan add the cream and butter. When the spatters are less vehement, stir to calm down the caramel and dissolve any lumps. Add in the vanilla and whisk until smooth.

Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

The night before we eloped we had to go and get our marriage license. Since in Vegas you can pretty much do that 24 hours a day, we decided to go at night in hopes of it not taking so long (many people told us it would take awhile). So we decided we would go and then eat afterwards. Yeah, it took like 5 minutes, 10 if you want to really stretch it out. There was one couple in front of us, a young couple with the man wearing a “Honk if you like Boobies” t-shirt (I sure hope it worked out for those kids ) and a strange, yet cute (and very in love) goth couple. Moral of the story, if you want to get married in Vegas, go get your license at 8pm on a Saturday night.
Having not made reservations anywhere as we thought it would take a few hours we wandered around from restaurant to restaurant trying to see how long the wait was. They were all a couple hours. Hmm. We figured if we had to wait, we would wait for steak (p.s. Delmonico Steakhouse in the Venetian is fabulous). I could hear music from the lounge, 80’s music. Since I am a product of the 80’s and not knowing anyone (aka no one I know would see me dance) I convinced my husband to go dancing. I happily did the white chick bobbing slug. You know, where you stand and kind of bob your head back and forth. Sometimes you move your arms but that usually results in stabbing someone with your finger so you just go back to bobbing.
We went, we ate, we had fun, we went to bed.
The next day we got married. We got married in the afternoon and had time before we were to go to our  wedding dinner. I made my husband dance to “our” song in the room (Somebody by Depeche Mode…see, 80’s girl) but told him that after we ate I wanted to go dancing again so we could dance on our wedding night. He agreed.
We went, we ate, we had fun, we went to dance. Hmmm. The band that played the night before was not playing. It was a 70’s band. Hmmm. I don’t really know any 70’s music and neither does my husband. We sat there for quite some time. Finally we agreed that we would just dance to the next song that both of us recognized and then call it a night. So that is ladies and gentleman how the song Brickhouse by the Commodores became my wedding song. Yes, a song about a well stacked chick is my wedding song. At least it gives us something to laugh about.

Marriage has it’s good times and it’s sticky times. Lucky for me the sticky times have been few and short lived and the good times are what dominate life in our Brickhouse. But in honour of those having a sticky time in there love life right now, I ofter you up the traditional caramel apple. I tried to make small ones but the lollipop stick kept coming off. The larger ones really do work better as do the wooden sticks (both sticks and pops were found at Michaels). I rolled mine in Demura sugar, just for effect, you so don’t need to do it (it will make it too sweet….but I wanted texture darn it all ).

Caramel Apples

Makes 10 to 12

1 cup granulated sugar
1 ¼  cups heavy cream
½  cup light corn syrup
2 TBSP unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

10 to 12 small apples (I used a variety of sizes), stems removed
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
Round wooden skewers (or lollipop sticks)

Directions
Heat sugar, cream, corn syrup, and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until butter has melted. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan, and continue to cook until mixture reaches 240F. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Let cool for 5 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and coat with cooking spray. Insert a skewer into stem end of each apple. Dip apples in caramel, and place on sheet. Let stand until set, at least 1 hour. Apples can be stored airtight for up to 1 day.
If you want to add decorations you simply roll the apple in the item you want right after you dip them. Chocolate chips, crushed candy pieces, crushed cookie pieces, colored sugars, marshmallows, basically whatever you want.

Adapted from Martha Stewart.com