What do I love most about October? The impeccably crisp smell of fall in the air, the turning leaves, apple cider at its best and pumpkins are all around us. With Halloween and Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s time to get in the kitchen. Let’s set the stage for the extraordinary to happen…

 How tired are you of pumpkin pie? If you’re looking for pumpkin recipes but need fresh ideas, I got you covered on this post (and the next one coming up, stay tuned). Yes, this recipe is an oldie, adapted from the NYTimes   and it’s worth revisiting it.

 My ardent health orientation was put aside when preparing this recipe, as I confess I did take a a few bites. But living a healthy lifestyle is not about total deprivation. It’s about balance. Plus, in cooking, no less than in writing, I feel that I am well positioned to help readers negotiate the passage from fat to fit. Bake, have fun, listen to music while doing it, take a few bites—just a few—and hit the gym the day after.

This pumpkin mousse is a breeze to make. Own it’s own, it is absolutely fantastic. It can be the starting point of many other recipes. Can’t wait for you to try it. As always, please share comments and photos as you make the recipes in your kitchen.

Pumpkin Mousse Adapted from the New York Times

Serves 6

Ingredients: 

¼ cup cold water

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

3 eggs separated

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 ¼ cups canned pumpkin puree

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup whole milk

½ cup heavy cream

Caramelized Pecans for garnish

Procedure: 

• Fill a medium pot with a few inches of water and bring to a simmer.
• In a small pot, add ¼ cup of cold water, sprinkle gelatin over the top, and let soften for a minute or two. Place on stove and stir over low heat to liquify, being careful not to boil. When gelatin is dissolved, remove from heat and let cool.
• In a medium stainless-steel mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, and ½ cup sugar.
• Add the pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and milk and whisk to blend. Set the bowl over the pot of simmering water on the stove and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and becomes custard-like, about 5 minutes. You are looking for a mixture with a similar consistency of vanilla sauce, not too thick, not too thin.
• Add the gelatin into the now pumpkin custard. Pour and scrape the mixture into a large mixing bowl and let the pumpkin mixture cool for about 10-15 minutes.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks and slowly add the remaining sugar, beating until the whites are firm and the sugar has been fully incorporated. Beat half of the whites into the pumpkin mousse. Add the remaining whites, folding gently.
• Beat the cream until it is stiff and fold it into the mousse. Divide prepared mousse among glasses or into a trifle bowl. Chill until set, at least 2 hours, or up to a day.

My first memory of dulce de leche was when I was a little kid in Teresópolis, a city north of Rio de Janeiro. I was probably 6 or 8 years old, and my mother used to buy dulce de leche from a farm on the way to the country-house. A jar never lasted long, as my brother and I would indulge in the sweet and dispute the very last spoon.

Making dulce de leche is a delicious process of cooking milk and sugar over low heat for a few hours, until it thickens to the consistency of chocolate sauce.

It can also be done by cooking a can of sweetened condensed milk in water, or in a pressure cooker, until the milk turns brown. The can must be entirely submurged in a gentle simmering water through out the whole cooking process.

Argentina, Uruguay and Spain have exported some incredible brands of dulce de leche to the world, and while there is a bit of rivalry between who created the sweet (Brazilias clain the fame, and so does Argetina), the fact is, all through South America, dulce de leche is a serious subject. In recent years, it has expanded its reach way beyond the south, and captured the heart and stomach of the entire globe.

One of my favorite ways of eating dulce de leche is with churros, the latin fried dough, piped into hot oil, and rolled in cinnamon sugar. This is street food at its best. Dulce de leche is inserted through a thin tube and slowly stuffed all the way through the inside of the hot churros.  It’s simply irresistable!!

On a recent trip to Brazil, I bought a jar home and made a delicious tart to a dinner party. It was a hit! Here is the recipe, adapted from Pies and Tarts by author Kristina Petersen Migoya

Dulce de Leche Tart

 For the Dough:

½ cup (1stick) unsalted butter

½ cup confectioner’s sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

For the Filling:

1¼ cups heavy cream

1/3 cup milk

1 cup dulce de leche

1/3 cup sugar

Pinch of Salt

1 whole egg

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Equipment: one 9-inch tart pan

• Make The Dough: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally, until well combined, 4-5 minutes.
• Add the egg and continue beating, scrape down the sides of the bowl at least once, until the mixture is well blended, 3 to 4 minutes.
• In another bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch and salt. Turn off the mixer, and add to the butter/egg mixture. Pulse the mixer until just combined. Don’t over mix.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or preferably overnight.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8-inch thickness and fit into the tart mold, pressing evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan trying to have the smoothest dough as possible (you will be filling with a liquid custard, so any wholes can be problematic). Chill for another 20 minutes.
• Blind Bake the Dough: Pre-heat the oven to 350˚F. Line the chilled crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights (or dry beans). Bake the crust until it is a matte, pale, golden color, about 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights and return to oven until it’s golden all over, another 10 minutes (edges will look a little darker than center, that’s ok). Remove from the oven and cool completely. Dough has a tendency to shrink during baking time, that’s normal.
• To Make the Filling: In a medium saucepan, combine the heavy cream, milk, ¼ cup of the dulce de leche and bring to a simmer, whisking until dulce de leche has melted completely.
• In another bowl, combine sugar, salt, egg, egg yolks and vanilla extract; whisk until creamy and smooth.
• Pour the cream mixture into the egg mixture in a steady stream, whisking constantly.
• Reduce the temperature of the oven to 325˚F. Carefully pour the filling into the cooled crust and bake until the filling is just slightly woobly at the center, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove tart from the oven and cool on a rack for at least 1 hour.
• In a small saucepan, heat the remaining ¾ cup dulce de leche over low heat, until smooth and melted (depending on the brand you use, you might want to add a tablespoon or so of water, or heavy cream). Immediately pour the melted dulce de leche over the tart and spread nicely with an off set spatula, covering the entire surface.
• Chill the tart for at least 1 hour until the dulce de leche is firm. You can prepare this tart up to 2 days ahead of time, and bring to rom temperature about 20 minutes before serving.

Have you ever seen a recipe in a magazine, or newspaper, or cookbook, and marked it with a sticky note with the intentions of making it — tomorrow ? Then life passed you by, and you just didn’t have the time. Sounds familiar? Welcome to my life.

The recipe featured in this post has been in back of my mind for a long time, and it got me thinking …

The other day, I was talking to a friend of mine who was lamenting how he really let his real love pass him by. He met a lady. They seemed attracted to each other. They started a very interesting conversation. He asked for her number. But he was so afraid of changes, or something new, that when he finally realized how much they clicked, and tried calling her—a few months later, she never answered his e-mail.

Years went by, and he still didn’t forget that lady. Had he called her the day after they met, would his life had changed completely? We’ll never know.

What is the relation between the story of this man and this recipe? Nothing. Nothing at all. But I am just so glad that recipes aren’t like people. If you want to get back to the same recipe, it’ll be there, documented, unchanged. And I may recover the feeling I had at the moment I marked the recipe, full of excitement to cook and bake.

Here is a recipe (adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine) that I have been thinking about for a long time, and life got too busy. Glad it still there.

Triple Caramel Cake 

Serves 8 to 10 people

Ingredients:

3 cups heavy cream

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

6 oz. (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch salt

Equipment: one 12-cup bundt or tube pan greased with baking spray.

1- Prepare the Caramel: Pour 2 cups of the cream into a medium saucepan and slowly bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and keep at a bare simmer.

2- Put 1 cup of the sugar in a heavy-based medium saucepan over medium heat. Leave undisturbed until the sugar begins to melt and darken. Gently shake the pan to distribute the sugar and to keep the melted sugar from burning. When all has melted and the caramel is a very dark amber, remove from the heat. Carefully add the hot cream, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Don’t worry if the caramel hardens; it will melt as the sauce boils. Return the pan to the heat and keep the sauce at a gentle boil for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside for at least 30 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce is cool. Measure 1 cup of the caramel to add to the cake batter and refrigerate the rest.

3- Prepare the Cake: Heat the oven to 325°F. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and the remaining 1-1/2 cups sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, waiting until each is incorporated before adding the next. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With a rubber spatula, gently but thoroughly fold the dry ingredients into the butter and eggs alternately with the reserved 1 cup caramel, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients

4- Bake the Cake: Pour the batter into the prepared pan

and bake until a skewer comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Set on a rack for about 10 minutes and then unmold and let cool completely on the rack. Bring the rest of the caramel sauce to room temperature. When the cake is cool, glaze it by drizzling half of the remaining caramel sauce over the top

5- Whip the remaining 1 cup cream until it holds firm peaks. Fold in the last third of the caramel gently, leaving streaks visible. Serve with the cake.