Cookie.

Chocolate is good. 

Like chocolate cake…

Chocolate peanut butter cups…

Crisp chocolate cookies…

Chocolate frosting…

And oh yeah, the cupcake too…

Chocolate kisses…

Chocolate covered almonds…

Chocolate soufflés…

Chocolate tarts…

Mmmm and Chocolate Chips…

Chocolate chips are genius.  They really are. 

What makes a brown sugar cookie batter taste good?

Chocolate Chips. 

Duh…

That’s what makes Pumpkin Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies taste so good.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Pumpkin Patch.

It's fall.  Officially. And finally.

I'm so happy.

Pumpkin!

Don't hate on pumpkin because everyone burns it to a pulp during this time of the year.  
I'm not going to lie.  The Pumpkin Bread was pretty darn tasty.  I thought it was anyway.

Pumpkin should not immediately be envisioned with Pumpkin Pie.

Rather, why not pumpkin bread pudding?

My first vision was pumpkin almond biscotti.  Not exactly epic.

Once I got the biscottis to crisp, I laced them with a chocolate ganche and leaving them out to dry.

Being that San Diego seems to be going through a menopausal stage, it decided to rain.  The problem with that?  I left the kitchen window open, with the result of soft, bread-like cookies.

If you have never heard of a biscotti, that needs to change.  Now.

A biscotti is an Italian, twiced baked cookie, that is meant to be dunked.  Preferably in coffee.

The biscottis tasted good, but they were nothing to be blown away with.
A) It took a day until the spices meshed.
B) Tasted good, but it was like dunking a dry bread-like cookie thing in coffee.
C) It only tasted truly delightful dunked in coffee.

My tastebuds were not satisfied.

I present to you: Pumpkin Almond Chocolate Bread Pudding.

Its not labor intensive, but it is lengthy.  But please do take into consideration the fact that it is gluten free. 

Exactly how many gluten free bread pudding recipes do you come across that tastes good, isn't made from nasty rice bread, and makes your tastebuds sing?

Point proven.  I would say it's worth it. 

On a day it's raining outside and you need and want some comfort food, here you go:

Tea Time.

Is it fall?  Many would say, "Of course it is!  Don't you look at your calendar?"

I do, thank you very much.  But according to San Diego it says:

 

I'm 104 degrees, to...

 

I'm extremely hot and yet now, I'm extremely humid.  To...

Thunder and Lightening...all day, to...

Peace, calm, serenity.

After two weeks of bipolar San Diegan havoc, its time for tea.

 

Pumpkins. 

Scarves.

Cranberries.

Boots.

Spices.

All of these things make me think of fall.

For a successful quick bread, cake, or anything with a light, fluffy consistency, bring all of your ingredients to room temperature.  It keeps components of your batter from solidifying.  The reactions will happen more freely, allowing for a lighter cake.

Pumpkin is a squash.  It could be cubed and sauteed with leeks, sage, bacon bits, and some chipotle smoke, and most people wouldn't be able to tell that its the same squash used to make a pie.

Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, define the "pumpkin taste."  Although, pumpkin may be the only squash that can carry those flavors properly.  That may be the reason why people love the pumpkin so much.

Pescado.

People don't like fish.

Fish doesn't mean breaded and fried, or just grilled with a lemon wedge squeezed over it.

Different types of fish have different flavors.

Not all fish tastes the same.

Salmon for example, has a very distinct flavor.  Some find it to be too strong.  Swordfish is flavorful, yet mellow.  Sole is mild...yet tasty.

I can't just tell you this.  You have to go out and try it.

Some don't like fish because they think it's too fishy.  If something tastes "fishy," your fish is not fresh.  And you just got ripped off.

There's multiple ways to go about cooking fish. It can be pan seared, broiled, grilled, regardless of how you do it, you cannot over cook it.  Allow me to repeat this.  DO NOT OVER COOK FISH.  ...ever.

Now that that point has been made, lets to move on to how you can put this advice into practice.

There are two good indicators of when the fish has had enough heat.
One:  Insert a fork into the fillet, if the meat flakes up, its done.
Or...
Two:  Look on the side of the fillet.  You want the middle of the fillet to be underdone.  When you remove the fish from off the heat, its going to continue cooking.

By not over cooking your fish, you're preventing chewiness and dryness.  While still obtaining the chance to impress you guests.

My dear aunty got me the Shauna Adhern's new book.  I'm so excited.  This will be our first recipe from her book.  The pictures are fabulous by the way.

Just a note: Sole can be expensive.  The key is to have a mild-tasting fish.  I'm using Talapia.

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