Pineapple Souffle

An old family favorite, I'll be making this several times over the holiday season.

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 lg. can (16 oz.) crushed pineapple
8 slices white bread, cut into 1" squares

Melt butter in 8x8 dish. Add bread pieces, coating evenly. Beat sugar and eggs until frothy. Stir in pineapple and pour into dish. Bake, uncovered for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve warm (delicious with ham). Refrigerate leftovers and enjoy cold, or reheat.

Squash/Sweet Potato Coffee Cake

I made this (modified a bit from Baking Bites) for my family visitors during their Thanksgiving week stay. We actually haven't tried it yet but it smells and looks delicious! [Update: it was delicious!!]

Winter Squash/Sweet Potato Coffee Cake with Dried Cranberries

Streusel
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 tsp ground ginger
1/3 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, plus an extra Tbsp for altitude)
1 teaspoons baking powder (very slightly reduced for altitude)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (very slightly reduced for altitude)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cup pureed cooked squash or sweet potatoes (cooked, unseasoned; fresh or canned - I used thawed frozen)
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350F (I did 325 for altitude) and lightly grease a 9-in square pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together all topping ingredients on low speed - or stir very well by hand - until moist, sandy crumbs are formed. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter until light. Beat the eggs, adding them one at a time until mixture is smooth, then blend in the vanilla extract. Mix in the pureed squash/sweet potatoes.
Gradually stir flour mixture into the squash/sweet potato mixture, stirring only until everything is incorporated and no streaks of flour remain visible. Stir in dried cranberries and scrape batter into prepared pan.
Top batter with streusel mixture, generously sprinkling it into as even a layer as possible.
Bake for 30-35 minutes (a bit longer with lower-altitude decreased temp), or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Serves 12.

Maple Pizzelles

I finally used my pizzelle maker, and as Scott isn't a big fan of anise, I decided to go with a maple flavor instead. The flavor was good, although the pizzelle consistency will require a little tweaking, as they aren't as thick/crisp as my Uncle's amazing ones!
I see that other recipes call for less flour/baking powder and more butter...maybe that should be tweaked below for next time?

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla paste
2 tsp maple extract

Beat eggs and sugar, mix in butter, vanilla and maple. Mix in flour til just blended.
Make according to pizzelle maker instructions.

Crumb-topped Pumpkin Pie

This will be this year's version of Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. I saw a couple of similar recipes for this online, and just tried to combine them into this. I actually made this a week or two ahead of time and froze it, so we'll see how well it holds up!

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat-free)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I increased this a touch)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, chilled
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (400 for altitude).
In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, and eggs. Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Pour filling into pie shell.
Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. While the pie is baking, prepare the streusel topping: In a small bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Blend in the cold butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly. Mix in the chopped nuts. Sprinkle the topping over the pie.
Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F (325 for altitude). Bake an additional 40 minutes, or until set.

Chinese Five Spice Oatmeal Cookies

This weekend I picked up some Chinese Five Spice blend at the local spice shop in downtown Boulder. I wasn't completely sure what I would do with it, but decided to give this recipe a shot, from a blog I just stumbled upon online. I modified it a little bit for altitude, and am pretty happy with how it turned out. The cookies have a great flavor, but aren't overpowering at all, and also aren't overly sweet. They are a nice alternative to some of the other overly gooey and decadent treats that are more common around here during the holidays.

½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
[2 tsp canola oil for altitude correction/anti-drying]
Cream the butter and sugars together well. Add egg and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.

Sift together:
¾ cup + 2 Tbsp flour
1 & 1/2tsp Chinese five spice powder
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch salt
½ tsp baking soda [touch less for altitude]

Fold into the creamed mixture.
When the dry ingredients are almost incorporated, add:

1 ½ cups large rolled oats
2/3 cup raisins
2/3 cup chopped dried apricots

½ cup chopped pecans, cashews, macadamias, slivered almonds or walnuts (optional -- I omitted)

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet about 2 ½ inches apart.Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes [7min at 395 for altitude]. Do not over bake or your cookies will lose their chewy texture. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.