Pumpkin sourdough monster rolls

We had so much fun making these monstrous dinner rolls with friends! This is a choose-your-own adventure project: You can just set out store-bought dough with a handful of raisins for embellishment, or bread bakers could add pumpkin purée to homemade dough, or those of you with sourdough starter on hand could go all in and make pumpkin sourdough dinner rolls.

Pumpkin sourdough is delicious, but the real treat here is making the rolls together. It's a terrific after-school or rainy day activity. Enjoy some giggly, creative time together in the kitchen, fill your home with the smell of freshly baked bread, and savor your not-so-hard work with dinner.

I'll break this down according to degree of ambition: First, how to make rolls, then how to add pumpkin to homemade dough, and finally how to make your own pumpkin sourdough rolls from scratch.

Shaping monster rolls

Use whatever dough you'd like: store-bought, homemade, the sourdough below. Just tear off hunks of dough and make whatever you wish. I set out some past-their-prime spices for decorations — star anise, cinnamon sticks, whole allspice, and cloves — along with raisins, nuts and seeds, and rosemary sprigs. Dust hands and dough with flour to make it easier to handle, and work right on the baking sheet.

The shaped rolls need to rise a second time before going into the oven. They'll double in size, and as they puff up they'll push out whatever raisins or nuts you've poked into the dough. So push them way in there: The raisins, for example, were almost buried in the dough but came out perfect. Dip a finger in a bowl of water and "paint" the dough to help stick down things like rosemary leaves.

Kids can also use scissors to shape the dough — they're a great tool to makes scales or spikes, for example. But wait until after the second rise, right before the rolls go into the oven. That's how I did the bat: I shaped long triangular wings, and just before baking I snipped the bottom of the wings and stretched the pieces apart.

Bake the rolls according to your recipe or the package instructions.

Adding pumpkin to bread dough

You can pumpkin-ify homemade bread dough easily: Just add a cup or so of pumpkin purée to your favorite recipe. You'll probably need to add flour to compensate for the extra moisture. Fresh or canned pumpkin work equally well, though you're likely to get more color out of canned (be sure to used plain pumpkin, not pumpkin pie purée!).

To make fresh pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pie pumpkin in half, scoop out the strings and seeds, and pierce the shell a few times with a fork. Set the pumpkin halves cut side down on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 90 minutes, until the center is easily pierced with a fork. Let cool, then purée flesh in a food processor or blender. If it's really wet, line a strainer with a kitchen towel or cheesecloth and strain the pumpkin before using it.

Pumpkin sourdough rolls

Weight measurements are provided in parentheses, in case you prefer to weigh ingredients. You might need more or less flour, depending on how wet your pumpkin purée is. You can substitute wheat flour for some of the AP flour — I used equal portions of white flour, white whole wheat, and whole wheat. (Note that wheat flour weighs less: 4 ounces per cup, versus 4 1/4 ounces per cup of white flour.) This yields a sticky dough, so have plenty of flour on hand for shaping the rolls.

1 cup (8 ounces) "fed" sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) lukewarm water
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup (9 1/2 ounces) pumpkin purée
5 to 6 cups (21 1/4 to 25 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
melted butter, optional

Combine all the ingredients except butter. Knead by hand or in a mixer with the dough attachment until smooth. Let rise in an oiled, covered bowl until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.

Shape rolls on baking trays lined with parchment paper or silicone mats. Cover with a towel and let rise again until doubled, about half and hour.

Bake rolls for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees, checking frequently after 15 minutes. Brush the tops with melted butter, if you'd like, for softness and rich color.

Fresh Pumpkin Muffins

One of my favorite things about the arrival of fall is pumpkin season. With the falling golden leaves and cold weather comes the inspiration: Halloween is almost here and all the parties that surround it invite me to bake.

This recipe is a good old-fashioned one that calls for freshly puréed pumpkin. Yes, no cans here, please. It might be good not just Halloween but also for Thanksgiving. My children, who are mostly averse to pumpkin pies, loved them. I can't wait to have another excuse to bake another dozen of these delicate-flavored muffins.

Fresh Pumpkin Muffins

I used a medium-size sugar pie pumpkin, cooking it in chunks with a bit of water for 30 minutes in the pressure cooker. If you're not familiar with a pressure cooker, just bake the pumpkin in the oven at 350 degrees for about one hour or until it is tender. 

1 cup sugar pumpkin, cooked and puréed
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup oat bran
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a big bowl mix pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and oil. Let the mix rest for about 15 minutes and then whisk again.

In another bowl mix bran, flours, baking powder, baking soda, and spices and mix well with a whisk. Gradually add the dry mix to the wet mix with the help of a spoon just until you get an even batter. Slowly add walnuts and chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into baking cups, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Bake about 25 minutes until the top of the muffins are golden. Enjoy for breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack. 

Halloween candy: 4 ways to find it a new home

Our kids came home with 108 pieces of candy in one bucket and 82 in another. This was the final count after we picked out and removed candies that are not popular around here: artificially flavored and artificially colored ones, those hard to brush off teeth, and hard candy with no nutritional value other than sugar and colors. We "recycled" some and put in our door basket, so that older kids who arrived later would enjoy them.

In Darienne's home, the candy haul was smaller. Her kids love greeting trick-or-treaters, so they visited fewer homes before heading home to welcome older kids making late rounds. She lets her boys plow through the candy, then it's done and gone. Sometimes the kids eat way too much at once, and they realize what it means to have too much of a good thing. They gorge on candy for a few days, but then it's out of the house and the kids seem none the worse for it.

If you're looking for ways to use up excess Halloween candy, here are a few more ideas:

Send them to the troops: This organization organizes buyback events for dentists. Candy is exchanged for all sort of prizes, and then is sent to Operation Gratitude.

Play with math: Use leftover candy in an Advent calendar.

Create a crazy recipe: Make up something like this Peanut Butter and Toffee Candy Bark, a fancy sweet terrine, or a wacky cake.

Use them as decorations: Craft a Thanksgiving tree centerpiece or decorate sugar cookies.

Spider Cupcakes

Happy Halloween!
Those spook-tacular spider cakes are our favorite treat this year. They are dairy-free, egg-free, and very delicious. Kids had a great time decorating them and making their own versions of spiders, with different choices of colors and ingredients.

I found this recipe for the cupcake a couple years ago, when confronted with the many food allergies at school, and I tested it many times. It can be found here at one of my favorite DIY websites:

Best Chocolate Cake Ever (and it happens to be vegan) 

It's amazing and its light texture is ideally what we want for a cupcake. Also I've been working on ideas for healthier cake decorations and frosting ideas for years, and this was a great opportunity to use some of them.

The decorations were our choices of natural-colored candies and fruit leather, and, as you can see in this wonderful retro-like photo, taken by Darienne, even some cereal and white chocolate. That means they're still attractive and edible after the eyes and spider legs are devoured by our little monsters.

If you want to trick your friends and kids with a vegan alternative that tastes as good as a regular one, this is your treat to try!  Enjoy.

Healthy Spider Decorations

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods carry lots of no-artificial colors candies that can be used here. Our choice for fruit leather was TJ's boysenberry, but any other will work.

6 fruit leather bars
1 cup cereal (Cheerios, Joe's O's)
1 box coated sunflower seeds (these have a bit of milk chocolate, so they should be avoided if choosing a strictly vegan cupcake) or tiny pieces of strawberry for fangs and dry rasperry bits for eyes
white chocolate chips
children's scissors

Invite kids to cut the legs and create their own spider face with the decorations. Use the chocolate glaze printed with the original recipe like a glue, while it's still warm. Let cakes dry a bit (if you have time), and serve them on a web of treats...

3 ways to enjoy pumpkin for dinner

We're surrounded by sweet pumpkin treats this season — store shelves seem to get a little crazier every year. Take a break from pumpkin pie and try making pumpkin part of the main event with these vegetarian recipes for pumpkin chili, tortillas, and tostadas.

Pumpkin Chipotle Chili

We dished this up for a Halloween party a few years back — my only photo of it is squashed with shots of other treats at the party, so you get the whole thing. But it was the chili that has been repeated year after year... It calls for roasting a pumpkin rather than opening a can, which is hardly any work at all. Your home will smell delicious. Trust me.

Pumpkin Tostadas with Black Beans

This one was a flop with the kids, I confess. My kids aren't eating beans, cheese, vegetables, tortillas, or sauces these days, so it isn't a big surprise. Some day, however, they'll realize what they're missing. This fast meal can be made with canned pumpkin and beans and jarred salsa — or you can prep it all from scratch. Your choice. If you're feeling really fancy, add in some fried sage leaves. Yum.

Pumpkin Tortillas

I usually buy tortillas at the store. Every time I do, I wish I had taken the minimal time to make tortillas from scratch. It really isn't that difficult, but it's hard to pull it together on a week night. These gorgeous,  saffron-hued tortillas last a week in the refrigerator, or even longer in the freezer. Use them to give everyday quesadillas a flavorful boost, or use them to add depth to the Pumpkin Tostadas above.

4 fast and sweet treats for Halloween

These treats take mere seconds to make and are easy projects for children — or busy parents looking to slip something fun into a lunch box. Added bonus: All but one involve healthy, whole foods.


Lunch Box Pumpkins

Clementine + Sharpie permanent marker = super fun fruit in seconds! Pile 'em up on a plate and you have a pumpkin patch centerpiece.

Spooky Bananas

Gently scratch writing on a banana peel. At first it's invisible ... but the writing gradually appears over the next hour. (This one's courtesy of Cute Food for Kids.)

Marshmallow Ghosts

These require slightly more specialized equipment: edible markers, such as Food Writer pens from Wilton. Just draw a spooky face on a marshmallow. Boo!

Eyeball & Ghost Eggs

You can use a Sharpie or an edible marker for these. Aren't they gruesome?!

3 perfect pumpkin treats

This is one of our favorite times of year. Predictably, as the days grow cooler and shorter we find ourselves drawn to pumpkin ... but not always in predictable ways. Here are three sweetly surprising ways to enjoy pumpkin:


Pumpkin Coconut Scones

Coconut adds a Brazilian note to these hearty, spice-infused scones made with a blend of white and whole wheat flour. What a beautiful way to start a fall morning!

Whipped Pumpkin Cream Cheese

I swear people stalk the refrigerated shelves at my local Trader Joe's, snapping up the seasonal pumpkin cream cheese as soon as it's stocked. I kept finding myself disappointed and out of luck — so I worked up this homemade version. It's a less expensive, a little lighter, and I can have as much as I want whenever I want it.

Pumpkin Pudding

Cranberry makes another appearance here — this time, at the center of a unique, velvety pumpkin pudding. Let it set in a beautiful mold and you'll have a standout dessert for a Halloween party or seasonal table.

Shrunken heads

I think we called these apple dolls when I was little, but shrunken heads is so much more appropriate, don't you think? We've had these ghoulish heads impaled on stakes in a flowerpot on our counter for the past two weeks. I rather like them this way, but the kids want to give them mummified bodies.

The finished apples are leathery, soft enough that you can use a needle and thread to sew in a hanger. When I was a girl, we fashioned hangers out of paper clips and stuck those in when we carved the apples. If you remove the core, you can stick the dried apple atop a bottle, then decorate the bottle as a body. Or you could just leave them impaled on sticks — you know, as a warning to the other apples.

The before picture

These are so easy and fun to create with kids, and they make perfect Halloween decorations. We used pointy pencils to scratch out the features, then I carved them with a small jackknife. The kids checked them daily, checking out how the texture changed as the moisture evaporated.

Apple heads can take as long as three weeks to dry, so don't wait until the last minute! I hear they can last for years, but I can't personally vouch for that — yet.

When they're done, you can even sew or glue on yarn for hair and decorate them however you wish.

Shrunken heads

apples
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup salt
2 to 3 cups water

Combine lemon juice, salt, and water in a bowl and set aside.

To make each head, first peel the apple (no need to remove the core, unless you want to fit the finished apple on a bottle) and soak it in the bowl of lemony salt water for a minute or so.

Draw features on the apple with a pointy tool — a toothpick, a small skewer, a paring knife. Kids can use a pointy pencil. Then use a paring knife or other small tool to carve out the features. Remember: It will shrink, so keep it simple and don't fuss over details. If you like, insert whole cloves into the eyes or dried rice as teeth.

Soak the carved apple in the lemony salt water and soak for a few minutes. Remove it, pat it dry, and decide how you're going to let it dry. You can set it on a wire rack, stick it on a skewer, fashion a paper clip hanger — just don't set it on a plate or it will get moldy fast. It will take one to three weeks for your apple head to dry.

To kick-start the process, put your freshly cut apple in the oven at a low temperature — no more than 175 degrees — for an hour or two.

Keep an eye on your apple: If mold starts to form, gently scrape it away. You also can spritz it with a weak bleach solution.

Succotash in Squash

The sight of those beautiful acorn and carnival squashes inspired me to think about something beyond sugar and cinnamon treats. It made me think about something good to be served not just for a Halloween dinner, but also good for Thanksgiving menu.

And then everything came to make sense: a Native North American classic inside a deliciously edible seasonal container.

One of my kids was not happy when he saw the "dead" acorn squash, halved and cooked, in front of him — it used to be one of his favorite good-looking squashes in his "pumpkin patch" on the rug. But soon he was convinced that the squash's fate was good, and ate all of his succotash.

As you might know, succotash can be interpreted in many ways as long as corn and white beans are included to the recipe. I mainly played with seasonings to enhance the sweetness of the corn and squash while adding a bit of a European flavor with thyme and shallots.

Succotash in Squash

Bake the squash while preparing the beans. It's a good idea to bake a whole batch of squash and sugar pumpkin to use in other recipes and freeze for later.

1 carnival squash, halved and de-seeded
1 acorn squash, halved and de-seeded
1/2 pound lima or cannellini beans, soaked overnight and cooked al dente in salty water
1/2 pound yellow corn kernels, cooked
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 bay leaves
1 medium shallot, diced
4 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 cup cooked sugar pumpkin
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 teaspoons thyme
kosher salt to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste
poppy seeds, to sprinkle over the top of each squash

Bake squash halves, face-down in a baking pan with a half-inch of water, at 375 F for about one hour. You want them firm, so check after 45 minutes to see if they're ready — avoid overcooking.

While squashes are in the oven, prepare the filling. Shallow-fry shallots and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. Add thyme and tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add beans and sugar pumpkin and stir. Add salt to taste, and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve beans inside the baked squash. Happy eating!

Spooky Bananas

Have you tried magic writing on bananas yet? This is a perfect time to try it. Using a toothpick, gently write your message on the banana peel. Within an hour, the letters will grow dark and clear. To "color in" a drawing, use a blunt toothpick or another dull tool to press on the peel, without breaking the surface.

It's a great surprise for the fruit bowl or the lunchbox — kids love it!

Eyeball Eggs

I first made these as a teenager: I drew eyes on a dozen eggs, put the carton back in the fridge, and waited for my mom's reaction. She never said a word. (I think she might have been a little exasperated with me at the time.)

If eyeballs aren't your thing, you could make ghosts:

I made these eyes with washable markers, so I could rinse away the ink before cracking them open, and used a bolder Sharpie for the ghost. Decorate a hard-cooked egg and tuck it into a lunchbox — or leave a surprise in the egg carton for the next person to make an omelet. Boo!

Pumpkin Coconut Scone

Pumpkin and coconut are considered a classic combination for traditional preserves and compotes in Brazil. Halloween time here sends me me back to those memories of sweetness — pumpkins are everywhere. My kids, for instance, are organizing their own pumpkin patch on a rug in the living room, made with the pumpkins they bring home from field trips... and although we don't celebrate Halloween there as we do here, the thought of candy associated with pumpkins just helped me to rescue that taste.

But before I started to transform the small jack-O-lanterns-to-be in the house into an exotic compote (that just my grandma was able to prepare), I spent my time trying to find a way to blend the coconut reference into a classic recipe. The result was a hearty and perfumed baked goodie, ideal to be accompanied by Darienne's Whipped Pumpkin Cream Cheese.

Pumpkin Coconut Scones

This recipe is freely adapted from King Arthur's Flour Harvest Pumpkin Scone. The original recipe shares a smart tip: Freezing the dough for 30 minutes before baking will make that delicious crunchy upper crust  happen. If you want to make them more Hallowee-ney, decorate them with Darienne's royal icing eyes, or drizzle with sugar icing. 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup organic turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cups unsweetened desiccated shredded coconut
1/2 cup canola spread (Earth's Balance is my favorite), or butter
1 cup organic, canned pumpkin or cooked sugar pumpkin
2  large eggs (or if substituting, 2 tablespoons flax seed meal diluted in 6 tablespoons of water, as suggested by Bob's Red Mill)

Mix all dry ingredients in a big bowl. In another bowl, whisk eggs (or flax substitute) and mix with pumpkin.

Cut butter or canola oil spread in the flour mix to make a coarse mix. Add pumpkin mix gradually to the mixed flour and butter with the help of a wooden spoon. Knead a little bit, if necessary, to hold the dough together.

Pat dough into two pie-shaped discs and transfer them to a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Cut them into 8 slices each and brush them with milk or milk substitute.

Preheat oven to 425F. Put the pies in the freezer, uncovered, for ideally half an hour.

Sprinkle wedges with sugar and cinnamon and bake for about 25 minutes or until scones are golden brown, making sure that all is baked to perfection. Remove from the oven and serve while still warm. 

Whipped Pumpkin Cream Cheese

We're addicted to Trader Joe's Pumpkin Cream Cheese. My older son tried it late in the season last year and turned to me, eyes huge: "I. Love. This!" It recently returned to store shelves for a second year, and now my younger son — the one who doesn't like cream cheese — is loving it too. We're happy it's back, but what will we do when it disappears from the stores again? The answer, of course: Make our own.

If you have a TJ's near you, definitely seek out this spread. But if you don't, or if you want a version with less fat or less sugar, or it's April and you're craving pumpkin cream cheese, whip this up. I'm comfortable with the amount of sugar here, but you probably can reduce it by another tablespoon or two.

It's delicious on bagels, but don't stop there — this spread is wonderful on celery ribs, quick breads, scones, and fresh warm bread, and as a dip with apple and pear slices or cookies.

We served it as a dip with baked cinnamon chips, made from homemade pumpkin tortillas cut into bat shapes. (Cut tortillas into triangles or into shapes with cookie cutters, brush with melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until crisp.)

Whipped Pumpkin Cream Cheese

If you wish, substitute regular cream cheese or whole milk for the lower-fat equivalents and use prepared pumpkin pie spice instead of the individual spices. This doesn't have the shelf life of a store-bought blend — if you don't plan to use it up within a couple days, make a smaller batch.

8 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup pumpkin pureé
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 to 2 tablespoons low-fat milk (optional, for thinner spread)

Combine cream cheese through spices in a mixing bowl. Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, blend for a few minutes until light. Gradually add milk, if desired, and continue to beat until light and fluffy. You're not going for the texture of whipped cream, just lightening up the cream cheese.

Chill for at least an hour before serving.

Pumpkin Chipotle Chili

This vegetarian chili has become a perennial fall favorite in my home. It's a great make-ahead dish for parties, and leftovers freeze well for ready-to-go meals later. It's a fun way to get your children to look at pumpkins a new light. If you're feeling ambitious, present it in a hollowed out pumpkin—perhaps with a jack o'lantern face drawn on it with marker. Hearty and filling, this will help fuel your family through a night of Halloween haunting.

My favorite chili, with other party classics — spooky pumpkin patch cake
and mozzarella-and-olive eyeballs.

Pumpkin Chipotle Chili

To roast a pumpkin, simply cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds, and pierce the shell a few times with a fork; set halves on a baking sheet, cut side down, and roast at 350 degrees for 45 to 90 minutes. The pumpkin's ready when you can easily pierce to the center with a fork. To keep this child-friendly, go easy on the chile—but offer chipotle chile powder for those who want to turn up the heat.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
cooked flesh from 1 small Sugar Pie pumpkin, chopped (see note)
1 1/2 tablespoons chipotle chile in adobo sauce (more or less according to taste; see note)
1 28-ounce can of tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups cooked black beans
2 cups cooked white beans (cannelini, navy, etc.)
2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
toasted pumpkin seeds, for garnish (optional)

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat. Sauté onion and garlic until softened. Add pumpkin and chile and sauté 2 minutes more. Add tomatoes, vegetable broth, beans, sage, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Serve topped with toasted pumpkin seeds, if desired.

Marshmallow Ghosts

Like the clementine jack o'lanterns featured last week, these don't require a recipe — you just need marshmallows and an edible marker (such as Food Writer pens from Wilton). Draw a spooky face (I made ghosts and attempted Jack Skellington) and tuck them in lunchboxes.

You also could insert lollipop sticks and arrange them in a jar or vase — or in cakes — for a Halloween centerpiece. It's a great little project for kids, too!