Recipe Review 9/25/07

To partially quote a friend, Woot! We're cooking now! Thanks to the Hubby, our new recipe sampling has begun to increase. And it is wonderful that the weather is cooling off and we can use the oven again to bake a few tasty treats.

New recipes from the past week:

Apple and Parsnip Soup (Irish Pub Ckbk, pg ) 6
This turned out very good, but it would have been even better with the spices toned down. Alas, the Hubby did not realize that the Penzey's Hot Curry needs to be cut in half for recipes because it is indeed, a bit on the spicy side. Now I thought the dish still turned out very good, and topped it with sour cream and with toasted pepitas. The recipe is pretty simple: parsnips, apples, potato, curry powder, onion, and broth. Cook and blend together (LOVE that immersion blender!). I brought it for lunches for a couple days and we had it for dinner for I think 2 meals.



Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (Every Day with RR, Sept 07) 6
I wanted to bring something fallish for our 8th anniversary for book group, and I know the group likes pumpkin. I've made chocolate whoopie pies and it was past time to try the pumpkin variety. Very simple to whip up and baking time was only 10 minutes. I had everything washed up and drying as they came out of the oven. They are delightfully pumpkin-y, and the cream cheese frosting center was a nice counter point to the pumpkin spices. The only complaint I heard (and I shared it) was they were on the heavy side. Still, I would make these again, perhaps making the little cakes smaller, as they are a fun treat for fall.



Snickerdoodles (Ckng Lght Sept 07) 6
For me, snickerdoodles are the quintessential fall cookies. Next to a nice soft ginger cookie that is. These also were a snap to make, and I had everything washed as well by the time I baked both sheets. The recipe neglected to advise the cook to squish the little balls, but fortunately I realized I needed to do so. I did bake these about a minute too long, so they were a bit more crispy than the Hubby or I care for (or for that matter the book group because they went after the pumpkin whoopie pies and chocolate chip cookies first). Still, these are a great size and I would make them again. In fact, with the frozen leftover's I'm contemplating making ice cream sandwiches out of them with the caramel ice cream I need to use up. Mmmm...