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Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups

 

 

 

I’ve got a bone to pick with Reeses. First, they make the only store bought candy that I can’t stop eating. The only Halloween treat I’m actually tempted to eat in bulk.

But my real issue is with their so called Peanut Butter Cup Pumpkins.

On first glance this Halloween treat seems like it contains, or at least tastes like, pumpkin. Which lures me into breaking my self imposed ban on store bought candy only to be left with the realization that the only thing Pumpkin about it, is the shape.

So I give to you the exact opposite. An Unprocessed, homemade treat that is not shaped like a pumpkin but contains real life, home roasted pumpkin.

If you want to make it a touch easier, you can combine canned pumpkin pie filling with peanut butter until it tastes right to you, but I like to roast my pumpkins myself. I just love real life produce that much, I pledge my allegiance to the framer and not the factory.

Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients

  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

(you will also need mini muffin tins and mini muffin papers)

Instructions

  1. In a microwave safe bowl, add the chocolate. Microwave on high for 20 seconds, stir and repeat until melted. Line a mini muffin tin with mini muffin papers. Add about 1 1/2 tsp of melted chocolate to each paper. Using the back of a spoon, gently "paint" the chocolate up the sides of the papers, making sure to leave enough on the bottom for a sturdy base.
  2. Place muffin tin in the refrigerator, chill until set, about ten minutes.
  3. Place the remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined. (Taste filling, add more honey for a sweeter filling.)
  4. Once the chocolate has set, add a small amount to the middle of the cups, making sure to avoid the top edges.
  5. Remelt chocolate if necessary.
  6. Top the muffin papers with melted chocolate, tap the muffin tin lightly on the counter to evenly distribute chocolate. Make sure the pumpkin filling is completely covered.
  7. Chill until set, about 10 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen.

 

Cucumber Cups Stuffed With Goat Cheese Caprese

 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

On Friday I fought a culinary chicken battle that ended with a giant foam core check with my name on it. This was my second attempt to win the Semi-Finals of the Foster Farms Chicken Cook Off, last year wasn’t my year. But this year, I won a giant check, a trip to Napa, the opportunity to cook at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (my favorite prize so far) and the chance to grab another Giant Check worth ten grand.

I’m so excited. Not just because the other dishes I was competing against were incredible and each worthy of their own Big Check, but because, in a way, this Big Check (that currently sits on my bar, in all it’s 4 foot long splendor) serves as a validation for what I do. I’m good at this! See, look, other people picked my recipe out of thousands of other ones!

Maybe that seems silly, I create 3 to 5 recipes a week, post them for you and you seem to like them. You send me emails and post comments telling me that you liked my little creations. That should be enough, right?

But for some reason, that Big Check gave me tangible evidence that my recipes are good. Other people, who don’t even know who wrote that recipe, liked it.

Maybe I have a future here.

;

For this, I’m resurrecting and re-creating one of my most popular posts.

I love these little cucumber cups, so easy, so versatile, the perfect thing to throw together for a party. They take about 5 minutes, and they look so fancy. I used persian cucumber for these, smaller than your standard English cucumbers and the skin is so thin, there is no need to peel them.

Just use a small melon baller to scoop out a good portion of the middle, or use a paring knife to cut a wedge out of the middle and you can fill them with just about anything.

Cucumber Cups Stuffed With Goat Cheese Caprese

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup balsamic
  • 4 Persian Cucubers
  • 2 oz goat cheese
  • 1 large beefsteak tomato, chopped
  • 3 large basil leaves, chopped
  • salt & pepper

Instructions

  1. Place balsamic in a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Cook until reduced by half (you can also by pre-reduced balsamic, called balsamic glaze, in the market near the balsamic vinegar).
  2. Cut the cucubmbers into 1 1/2 inch slices. Use a melon baller to scoop out the middle, leaving the walls and bottom in tact.
  3. In a bowl, add the goat cheese, tomatoes, basil and stir until combined. Salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Fill cups with goat cheese mixture, drizzle with balsamic reduction.