Pumpkin jam and Puff pastry roll with pumpkin and almond filling

I got a nice pumpkin from my mother and since the jam making adventure was successful last year I wanted to try again.I made jam, puff pastry rolls, gnocchi and a crostata.

How to make pumpkin jam:

Cut the pumpkin in slices, peel them and clean from seeds

I got about 1200 gr of pumpkin flesh for the jam and left two slices aside for gnocchi

Grate the pumpkin and put in a large pot with a pinch of salt

Cover the pot and let the pumpkin cook in its own juice

Stir from time to time

When the liquid has almost evaporated add half the weight of the pumpkin of sugar (if you want it sweeter add more)

Stir often

Cook until it thickens

Done!

Puff pastry roll with pumpkin and almond filling:

Peel and grind 200 gr (or more, to taste) almonds

Roll out the puff pastry

Spread the pumpkin jam evenly

Sprinkle with ground almonds

Roll, put in a baking tray, and add some butter on top

Bake 45 min at 180C until golden brown.

Sprinkle with sugar

Serve and enjoy

Pumpkin crostata with mascarpone cream

For the shortbread dough ( pasta frolla):

250 gr flour

125 gr butter

pinch of salt

lemon peel

little cold water

Spread:

Pumpkin jam

Cream topping:

125 gr mascarpone cheese

2 egg yolks

2 spoons sugar

lemon peel

Mix the ingredients quickly with your hands, add enough cold water to make a soft dough and let sit inside the fridge for 30 min wrapped in plastic foil.

Roll the dough and transfer it into a cake mold. Pierce the dough several times with a fork. With the leftover dough form a cylinder to decorate the edge of the cake.

Spread the pumpkin jam evenly over the dough and bake for 45 min at 190C.

Combine the yolks ,sugar and lemon peel in a bowl until white and frothy. Add the mascarpone and mix well. Top the crostata with the cream.

Enjoy!

For a bit of fun...Mr Pumpkin

Home made knitting needles

Recently E and I went looking for knitting needles of a bigger size. The diameter we had in mind was 10 mm or more. They were hard to find, I tell you. The only pair we found was quite expensive. 80 kn for a pair of pointed sticks? Well, I can make them myself! Why not? It's worth to try, isn't it?

So, I explained what I wanted to do to Z, we went to Bauhaus and bought for wooden sticks 1 m long. After a bit of handiwork involving a grinder, saw and abrasive paper.. voila' - my new needles!

Four pairs for the price of one bought pair.

The pencil is for measure. The sizes - 12 mm, 14 mm, 20 mm, 25 mm.

The thinnest ones were made of beech wood, the others of pine wood. I didn't think it would be necessary but a coat of varnish has to be applied.

I tried them right away! Isn't this beautiful? The knit is sooo soft, and also quick to make.

The only thing to figure out is the way to prevent stitches to slip off the needles. I thought about gluing beads to the edge of the needles, or wooden discs slightly larger then the needles to the end. Maybe it isn't necessary to do anything since they are long 50 cm. Quite enough for scarves. What if I want to knit a blanket? Uhm, I have to think of something nice...

Do you think I could carve out a crochet needle? I had that crazy thought...

Apple cake recipe

I owe a recipe to Maggie! Here it is directly from the cook book. My only cook book in English, heh!

Wholemeal Apple Round ( from The Hamlyn New All Colour Cookbook)

You will need:

1 medium cooking apple

225 gr / 8 oz wholemeal flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

50 gr / 2 oz butter or margarine

50 gr / 2 oz soft brown sugar

about 150 ml / 1/4 paint milk

For the glaze:

a little milk

1 teaspoon demerara sugar

Peel, core and finely chop the apple. Put the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in the butter or margarine, then stir in the sugar and chopped apple. Add the milk and mix to form a soft but not sticky dough.

Roll out on a floured surface to a 5mm / 1/4 inch thick round. Place on a greased baking tray and mark into eight wedges. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake at 200C / 400F / gas 6 for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with butter.

Ok, my cake was based on this recipe. I used Integral flour and diced the apples. Also, I think there was too much milk so the dough was sticky and I couldn't roll it out. Because of the flour, I guess. Well, it didn't look like in the cookbook picture but was tasty anyway!

I hope you get better results! Let me know.

My first mittens

A few days ago I went searching around the net for glove patterns to see if there is something nice and easy to make to keep my poor fingers warm. Yesterday E infected me with the fingerless mittens bug (hm, I see crocheting ahead). Today? It's SNOWING!!! Oh, and a sweater felted while washing, so...inevitably, I made a pair of mittens.

I chose this pattern.

This sweater was a refashion to begin with. Now that it shrank it's perfect for practicing. Just the thing I needed.

Here's how I made the mittens. Since the colors in the photos are so neutral that it's not really clear I hope you can see everything anyway. I guess I should have used contrasting thread.

I adjusted the pattern to fit my hand and divided the front and back to be able to get two equal mittens because the front of the sweater had braids.

Then I pinned the thumb part to the back part. What you see is the wrong side of the fabric. First you pin the thumb all around right sides facing (you can see how to place them on the right side), then you pin the rest of the thumb part to the back part right sides facing (as shown on the left).

I serged these pieces together. Not a simple task. The curve on the thumb is too small to get a nice and even stitch. I had to correct it by hand. Next time I'm going to simply sew them together.

This is how it looked from the right side.

After that I pinned the back and front right sides facing and serged.

Looking wonky from the wrong side.

Looking wonky from the right side. :-)

Looking better after being ironed.

The cuffs turned inside and basted.

Sewed with a double needle.

And the finished mittens.

Very light and comfortable, indeed!

Of course, the whole thing wouldn't pass without a bit of embellishment. :-))))

Notes to self for next time: Elongate a bit the upper part of the body, add elastic to the cuff or make a ribbed cuff, use bright colored knit.