I truly never thought I would say those words, but after a five-day period in which I made pumpkin bread, pumpkin scones, pumpkin oatmeal cookies, pumpkin ice cream, and pumpkin granola bars, I'm almost there. The tried-and-true pumpkin bread was as good as I hoped, though I made them into muffins and they did this weird collapsing thing that I think happens when I add batter from the bottom of the mixing bowl that didn't get mixed in so well with the leavener. The cookies were initially promising: when I tried the first batch, which I baked til almost crisp, I thought they were quite good. But they softened considerably over the course of the next day and I was no longer crazy about them, to say the least. The softness just made them taste too fatty and the pumpkin flavor was anemic. Maybe I should have baked them longer. The pumpkin ice cream I adapted from David Lebovitz. And I did adapt (used 1/2 c. evaporated milk instead of the whole milk, and half-and-half for the rest; didn't have brown sugar and subbed about 2 Tbsp molasses to the custard mixture), so don't let my review necessarily dissuade you from making the recipe; however, if you do not like pumpkin pie, you will not like this ice cream. You might say "duh," but I was surprised at how much it resembles the polarizing pie, from the texture to the spice mixture. I love pumpkin pie but think this iced incarnation is just a little too odd for me to want to make again. Then there were the pumpkin granola bars: in short, a failure. I took note of her warning about the bars being soggy if underbaked, so I took them well into "golden-brown" territory, but to no avail. Still soggy, weird flavor, and then I spent some time crumbling them onto a cookie sheet and trying to salvage the mess by making granola. That didn't work either. The cranberries were burning before the moisture from the pumpkin evaporated, and I have to work up the nerve to throw it all out because I really don't like it. Anyway, to end this pumpkin saga on a happy note, the scones were most delicious, though the dough was a bit more difficult to work with than other plain scone recipes I've tried. I managed, and though my scones look quite a bit smaller and more "rustic" than hers, they're the perfect mid-day snack with coffee. I could eat the spiced glaze with a spoon. Not that I did. Oh no, I have restraint.
So I have a strange kitchen science-related problem/question for those inclined. This was so weird to me. I made a big batch of chicken stock last week. For once none of my recipes for the week called for even a little bit of stock, so I packed it all up into freezer bags and put it in the freezer. In case of spills, I put a large ceramic plate on the bottom of the freezer, then lay two quart-size bags of stock on top of it. (The rest of the bags were laid in various places around the freezer with a distinct lack of similar care, but that is not relevant to our problem.) The next day, I was shocked when I opened the freezer to stack the frozen bags of broth and remove the plate, because after picking up the first of the two bags on top of the plate, I went to grab the one underneath it and found it completely unfrozen! Cold, but not even a chunk of ice in it. If someone could explain to me the mechanics/chemistry by which a ceramic plate going into the freezer with two bags of broth stacked on top will keep the bag on the bottom from freezing at all, I would be very impressed. Obviously there was little air circulation around the bag sandwiched between the plate and the other bag; but it is beyond my unscientific self how this could prevent it from freezing at all, after 24 hours. So. I will award a food-related prize to the person with the most plausible answer. Not really. Well, maybe. Depends how busy I am with this moving thing, and how far away you live...
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