Mushroom Onion Tartlets

Today I made mushroom onion tartlets, which are basically mini-quiche.  The dough consisted of cream cheese, butter, and flour.  The filling had egg, a small amount of flour, mushrooms, and green onions.  It was very easy.  The recipe is from the instruction manual/recipe book that came with Boyfriend's new stand mixer.  They were a delicious snack/appetizer!

Banana Pecan Muffins from Baking by Martha Day

Based on past experiences with this cookbook, I decided to modify the recipe for my altitude.  To do this I used slightly less flour and baking powder than the recipe required in order to get the muffins to rise more.  They rose a little, but next time I would use even less baking powder.

One thing I keep messing up: I don't look at the recipe much the day leading up to when I cook it, so I don't notice that the butter should be at room temperature until I'm supposed to cream it with something else.  I should get a butter dish because it doesn't hurt to just leave it out, as long as it's not in the sun.

Concerning bananas:  You get the most banana flavor in your baked good if your bananas are already turning brown, just a little bit past ripe.

So, other than being a little flat on the top, my banana nut muffins are pretty tasty!

Applesauce Biscuits from Baking by Martha Day

This week I made some applesauce biscuits because I love applesauce.  I did not get confused by the measurements this time, but I thought the dough looked a little bit runny when I was dalloping it on the cookie sheet.  Lo and behold, they spread out flat while cooking.  I know it was not because of my oven, I got that fixed.  One thing I can think of is that the applesauce may have been too runny, but it wasn't that bad and I don't think it could have ruined the biscuits so badly.  What I think did it is that the book was written for sea level but I live at about 4,000 feet.  That may not sound like much, but it is a lot when baking.  I'll probably have to modify any recipes I do from that book in the future, especially the cookies and biscuits.

Pumpkin Pie

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have heard that I was thinking about making an apple pie today.  Unfortunately, I did not have all of the ingredients for apple pie, mainly apples, and I had no intention of going to the grocery store hours before the Super Bowl.  The lines would be huge!  It just so happens that I keep pumpkin and pie crusts in my kitchen just in case.

I don't happen to keep condensed milk, however, so it ended up being more like pumpkin jelly or sludge.  It tastes fine, though!

Yummy!  

(That was sarcasm, by the way.)  

One tip I offer is, if you put a cookie sheet under them to catch drippings, you should either place the cookie sheet on the rack underneath the one the pies are on, or you preheat the cookie sheet in the oven before you put the pies on it.  

I just realized I did two pumpkin things in a row.