Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I am kinda obsessed with this book.
I bought this for my sister last christmas. It met my criteria for the perfect gift:
1. my sister subscribed to Canadian Living magazine for the recipes
2. it had a decent amount of photos

Since christmas, she has baked a ton from the book and everything was really delicious.

Next, I bought this book for my friend. She likes to bake and since my sister gave it good reviews, it was an easy choice.

That brings us to today. I recently got a library card and the first place I went to was the cookbooks. I saw this one but kept saying "next time" until I finally took it out. This is the first recipe that I made, Pumpkin Creme Brulee.




I have never made a regular creme brulee. I was worried it would be really difficult, but it's far from that. The prep and mixing of ingredients is really quick, then you bake for 35 minutes, let rest in fridge for 2 hours, burn the sugar on to, let rest for 30 minutes. As you can see, the most time consuming part is the waiting, but it's so worth it! You can actually make the brulee, minus the sugar topping, and leave it in the fridge for up to 2 days, so you can make a bunch for a dinner party in advance and really impress your guests.

Here it is after baking for 35 minutes:



And with the crunchy sugar topping:




It was so creamy and perfect for fall.
I actually made a regular creme brulee yesterday and it is now my favourite dessert. I cant even explain the consistency properly other than smooth.

The only thing that I dont like about this dessert is that you only use egg yolks.
I dont know what to do with my egg whites so I usually end up throwing them out.
Maybe I can try scrambled egg whites for breakfast??

Test Kitchen

It's time for my first recipe test.
I plan on documenting any recipes I try that I find online or in a cook book. I will give you my opinion and post photos, even if it's a mess!

**I have only been baking for a few weeks. I have almost no knowledge of even the basic baking principals. I am going in blind, using an apartment stove and grocery store products.****

The first recipe I tried out was for individual apple crisps which I found HERE.

I wanted to try this because it is apple season and since there are only the two of us, me and my husband, there is no need for a full size crumble. (It might also be that I will end up eating too many portions if I'm faced with the choice!)

The recipe:

Yield: 1 Servings
1 sm Apple, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon All-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Brown sugar
1 tablespoon Quick-cooking oats
1/8 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
ds Ground nutmeg
ds Salt
1 tablespoon Cold butter or margarine
Half-and-half cream OR
Ice cream, optional




Instructions:

Place apple in a small greased baking dish.
In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients; cut in butter until crumbly.
Sprinkle over apple.
Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 30-35 minutes or until apple is tender.
Serve warm with cream or ice cream if desired.




I did tweek this a bit by adding some Grand Marnier into my ramekins.


And here is my result:



As you can see, not too pretty.
It tasted okay, but it really need to be fixed.

I tried it again, with my changes and it was so much better but I unfortunately forgot to take photos of it.
The changes I made were doubling all the dry ingredients and adding a bit more butter. It really needed the extra brown sugar because it was obviously missing sweetness.


Tips:

1. The apples will shrink. Don't be afraid to fill your dish with extra. I like to cut up different sizes because the smaller ones will reduce to a sauce and the bigger ones will leave a bit of a crunch

2. If you are going to add liquor, pour it over you apples.

3. You can add some lemon zest and lemon juice as well as it pairs nicely with apples and adds a fresh taste.

4. If you are serving this right out of the oven, make sure to let it cool down. You may think that it's cool enough to eat, but you can easily burn your tongue on an apple slice.

5. Make sure that you mix the butter with the ingredients. That is what lead to my mess above. You can see the flour and oats that haven't been cooked because it was not mixed with the butter.

Review

My first review is for the book that actually made me create this blog, MARTHA STEWART'S HOMEKEEPING HANDBOOK.




I love this book!


The first thing that caught my eye were six cleaning schedule charts. They are just so simple, so basic, some might even say "duh, of course that's what you do", but it's really helped me out.

The book is broken down into 7 sections:
1. Introduction
2. Room by Room
3. Throughout the House
4. Comfort and Safety
5. Moving
6. Materials Guide
7. Reference

In Room by Room, each room in the house is broken down. For example, in the kitchen section, layout basics are discussed, furniture, supplies, appliances, how to clean each, the different kinds of organizational supplies for your drawers, cabinets, etc, how to care for appliances. There is so much more, but that is the basic idea.

In Throughout the House routine cleaning and periodic maintenance are discussed. How to clean every type of surface, cleaning products, small repairs like fixing a hole in a window screen.

In Comfort and Safety, lighting, air quality, water systems, heating and cooling, pest control, emergency preparedness are discussed.




This book is definitely not a pocket sized, condensed version on homekeeping, it's about 750 pages.
I know some people might be thinking "well, I can just find this information on google" but I think it's important to have reference books on your bookshelf. You can make notes, highlight and put tabs on the most useful information.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone with a limited knowledge of homekeeping, and even to those who think that they know it all, because I can guarantee that you will find things in here that you didn't know and that will make your life easier, because that is what it is all about to me: making daily tasks easier!

Welcome!

Welcome to HOMECRAFT: HOW TO CRAFT A HOME

This blog is designed to document my successes, my failures, and my tips for crafting a home.



The term housecraft basically means 'maintaining a house', but some of us, including myself, live in an apartment. I thought that the term homecraft would be better suited.





I decided to start this blog because I am a newlywed and I have no experience with taking care of a household. I was someone who thought they would never get married, never share responsibility with chores/errands, but here I am!

I am so happy to be married to my wonderful husband for just over a year now.
I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The relationship between me and him is perfect, the only thing that isn't is my knowledge of simple daily household tasks!

I had never really done laundry before getting married. I didn't cook anything that wasn't frozen. So I am taking charge and learning everything I need to know, starting with the basics.

I have taken out books from the library on cooking, cleaning, organizing, watched cooking shows, found recipes and blogs online and I'm going to share it all with you.

I hope you learn something along with me and share any tips you have along the way.

Please feel free to contact me stinapawluk@gmail.com anytime.






images from www.smallhousestyle.com and www.iacovoubrothers.com