Pumpkin Pasties!

Let's talk college guys. College is busy. And KCE? We go to different schools. But it's SUMMER time y'all! So we're back to cookin'! :D

(Oops, did that sound Southern?)

Last week we were in the mood for something pumpkin. Therefore, we made the ever famous pumpkin pasties! From The Sorcerer's Stone chapter six, during Harry's first train ride. When he made friends with Ron :')

Blending

The recipe calls for a food processor, which we didn't have. A blender will work, it just takes some effort. Just keep at it and stop every once in a while to push down the unmixed parts till it looks like this:

Intense Stirring

 (Literally) Chillin' in the Fridge

In case anyone was wondering what was in our fridge. Because I know you were.

 Waiting an Hour - Adventure Time!

First stop: Pinterest.

In case this wasn't making you hungry enough.

Look what showed up!!

Challenge, already accepted:)

Making the Filling

Rolling the Dough

A wooden one might be better? I'm not sure, just make sure it doesn't stick!

You're supposed to use six inch circles to cut the dough - and it should probably be thinner than we made it - but we estimated sizes with a knife. It worked pretty well (C was a master at it!), they closed and we managed to make four total.

Final Product

No That is Not Where I Go to College

Free shirts are the best.

These were really tasty! If you like pumpkin pie, it's pretty much a must. It does have a splash of spices too. Perfect with milk, especially if you don't wait long enough and end up burning your tongue!!

Holy Crumpet!

Crumpets: At the Leaky Cauldron in the third book, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge offers Harry tea and crumpets rather than expelling him .  These are rather simple to make, with few ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, yeast, butter, and milk.

The Dry Ingredients

Mixing in the Milk and Butter

 Waiting for the Yeast to Rise

 And Waiting...

We ended up outside where it was much warmer, because the house was too cool for the batter to rise.

Our Pretty Cookie Cutter Shapes

No crumpet rings or lobster rings so we used regular cookie cutters - they work just fine so long as they're not plastic (note, we did not try that, we used our common sense). And what is a lobster ring?? Google image results? Not helpful.

Filling in the Cookie Cutters

Our First Attempt

Flipping the crumpets over is like flipping pancakes over.

Holy Crumpet It's a Face!

A kinda scary one at that...

Making More...

Well That Wasn't Supposed To Happen

Spoon submerged in the batter. Very messy.

Moose!

KCE Star

The KCE Star was just recently discovered, didn't you know?

Final Product (Two Batches Worth)

After broken lids, banged heads, lots of mess, and improvisation, the crumpets were a success! Add some jam and/or butter for the full flavor. The recipe says to toast before each serving, but it tastes just as good without.

Golden Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake (from Ron)

The recipe we did this time was the Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake which the author imagine Ron sent to Harry for his Birthday. We wonder if Ron made it himself? Though we doubt it. It was probably Molly. :)

Again, we swam that day too, so ignore the bathing suits. :)

The Ingredients

The First Step

Measuring the flour, sugar, and salt.

KCE working as a team!

Whisking!

We just really liked this pic because of how shiny the bowl is. :D

Mixing and Beating (seems like we might be talking about music now...)

Cracking an Egg

The Batter

This is how it looked right before we put it in the pan.

Oops!

C might've accidentally dropped the spatula. Good thing we were done using it!

Right before the oven.

Warning: Do not use wax paper in the oven! It will burn.

The recipe called for parchment paper and as we had none, we were going to substitue with wax paper. Good thing K's mom looked it up online first!

Tip: If you don't have parchment paper, cooking spray (Pam) works just fine!

Into the Oven

Probably should have used oven mitts or pot holders here, but no burns were gotten!

Clean Up

These are all the dishes we made in the process. Fortunately it was less than when we made the muffins.

Baking

The cookbook called for two round pans, to layer the cake later. However, we just put all the batter in one bigger pan and stacked pieces of cake ourselves.

Out of the Oven

So the cake may have looked slanted and been thicker on one side, but it still worked! And this recipe lived up to it's name as well. Up close it really did look like a songe!

Slicing

K cutting the first piece of cake!

Almost there!

The recipe called for raspberry jam, but as none of had any, we had to substitute with peach jam or cherry preserves, both of which were yummy! Though we are in agreement that the cherry was slightly better.

The Peach Jam!

The Final Product

The sponge cake with jam in the middle and on top!

Thirsty!

Gotta have milk with cake, right?

And though this has nothing to do with baking....

Abby!

K's cat with *very* glowy eyes!

Overall, the Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake was a success! We had fun making it and it tasted delicious!