This is just a reminder to buy your holiday travel tickets because for the first time in years I’m actually doing it in a responsible month and the prices are still nuts. Other than that, let’s hop right in!
EGO Recommends
📱 Social Media: Elly Curshen on Instagram
I have been really enjoying the series “Rollover Leftovers” from Cookbook author and recipe columnist Elly Curshen. In each video, she takes leftovers or ingredients that otherwise could be on their last leg and creates a totally new dish from them. Watching them inspires me to get a little more creative when cooking to live more sustainably and save money — but the ideas are also very approachable and not overwhelming.
🍝 Recipe: Zahav’s Hummus ‘Tehina’
I realize not everyone has a NYTCooking subscription, but I believe by sharing the link above, I’m using their link “gifting” function which means anyone can read it for 30 days. I was putting this stuff on positively everything for a whole week. It’s shockingly creamy (you don’t need to remove the chickpea skins!) you can use canned or dried chickpeas, and tastes just like the kind you would get at a fancy mediterranean restaurant. If it’s a little runny at first, don’t worry, it will thicken as it cools down, and especially once it spends some time in the fridge.
Updates
New on Serious Eats: How Smart Is the GE Profile Smart Mixer, Really?
Are the tech-y bells and whistles on this new machine from GE worth the price tag? I made pizza dough, cake and whipped cream to test its “auto-sense” and other guided recipes and accompanying app — as well as just how it stood up as a mixer. The results were… interesting!
Now on easygayoven.com: Picnic Cake
Sometimes when I post recipes, especially if they get traction on the app TikTok, I get pretty deranged comments. Things like, “I can’t believe you think you invented banana bread” or “My grandma made this and you stole it from her.” But when I asked people on social media if they had ever tried this cake or a cake like it — or any cake called a “picnic cake” — I got really sweet comments. I was still pretty surprised to find out it’s not a very well-known cake, but a select few have similar recipes running in their families. And people were callign it anything from “dump cake” to “snack cake” to “dump cake.” You can read more about my family’s personal history with this special cake, and get the recipe, on my website!
This Week’s Recipe
The second the weather dips below 70 degrees, I need some kind of pumpkin bread. These pumpkin coffee cake muffins are not my pumpkin bread, but their recipes are related (cousins not sisters). Veins of brown sugar and espresso run through them and they’re topped with a streusel — that you don’t have to make separately! More on that later!
I have tried to make this recipe as user-friendly as possible: a normal batch makes six muffins with half a can of pumpkin puree. (I like the kinds from Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. For this recipe and the pumpkin bread recipe, I found that I preferred them to Libby’s for their color and higher moisture.) They rise sky-high out of the tin because 1) we fill the cups up a lot 2) A hefty amount of leavener 3) a high oven temp that helps them spring up right when they hit the heat 4) spacing them out in the tin, which helps the hot air circulate better. And it can be easily doubled to make a dozen — and use the whole pumpkin can!
Plus! Don’t let the filling and streusel fool you, baby! The streusel is made right at the start of the recipe. We mix the sugar, flour and butter together, reserve about 1/4-cup, and then use the rest as the base for the muffin. I learned this little trick from Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. And the filling is so simple: espresso powder, brown sugar and salt, mixed together in a bowl.
Pumpkin Coffee Cake Muffins
Makes 6 muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, gently melted (85 grams)
1/3 cup granulated sugar (71 grams)
1/3 cup dark or light brown sugar, lightly packed (73 grams)
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (162 grams)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup organic pumpkin purée (7.5 ounces from a 15-ounce can)
1/4 cup whole milk or plant-based alternative
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder
Espresso swirl
1/4 cup dark brown sugar (55 grams)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon espresso powder
Pinch salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease the top of a standard 12-cup muffin tin and line 6 of the cups, staggering them.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Make the muffin batter. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar.
Mix the dry ingredients into the butter and sugar until the mixture is crumbly. Reserve 1/4 cup of the crumbles for the topping.
Add the egg and mash it into the butter and sugar with a rubber spatula, trying to break up the crumbles a bit. Whisk in the pumpkin purée, milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and espresso powder. Mix until combined (it’s okay if there are a few lumps).
For the filling, combine the dark brown sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon and salt.
For each muffin, fill the lined cup with a heaping tablespoon of batter, then cover that with the filling mixture, about 1 1/2 teaspoons. Repeat. Then, add a final heaping tablespoon of batter and sprinkle some reserved streusel on top.
Bake the muffins on the middle rack for 11 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350°F, rotate the tin, and bake for about 12 more minutes or until the muffin edges are golden brown, and the tops spring back when lightly pressed in the middle.
Allow the muffins to cool completely in their tin.
Yum! Does the espresso swirl have a teaspoon or tablespoon of espresso powder