Black Bottom Pumpkin Cupcakes

As I was writing this recipe, it occurred to me that I wasn’t really sure I understood the difference between a cupcake and a muffin.  What was this thing I had created?  Does a cupcake need frosting? Could that really be all it is?  Do muffins need oatmeal or bran?  I’ve seen muffins without wholesome, breakfasty ingredients.  Are muffins breakfast food and cupcakes desserts?  I was lost in a world of sweet batter.

Pickled Cauliflower

Well, at least in Chicago, the fresh food season is pretty much over.  This is the part of the year where we rely more heavily onions, potatoes, apples, and anything we froze during the summer.  Luckily, I froze quite a bit.  My stand-alone freezer is totally and completely packed. All summer, I cut and weighed, boiled or blanched and ended up with a freezer full of vegetables and fruits, berries and jams, herbs and sauces. I even froze some pickles and leftovers from summer meals.  (We’ll see how those pickles turn out.)

Real Salted Caramel Apples

Caramel apples, candied apples, taffy apples… what’s the difference?  I’ll tell you.   Candied apples are apples covered in a cinnamon flavored clear candy (here’s a good recipe).  The difference between caramel and “taffy” apples is a little more tricky.  Some say there’s no such thing as a taffy apple, but I think the distinction is useful. Cook it a little less and you’ve got caramel apples, cook it a little more and you’ve got taffy apples.

I’ve never made caramel apples before.  So, I started to research caramel apples.  I have a good idea of how to make caramel–I was pretty sure I had made it… and then passed it by on the way to toffee.  But as I was sifting through recipes, looking to mix and match to devise a recipe that would result in the kind of caramel apples I was imagining, I found an abundance of recipes that ask us to melt caramel candy and dip apples in it.  I know it’s the snob in me that doesn’t like that, but I don’t.

So Long, Basil, and Thanks for all the Dishes.

I’m back!  This was a trying week, but everything is starting to get back on track and I wanted to make sure that I shared this recipe before it got so cold that no one would have a basil plant in all the world.