Whipped Goat Cheese Spread

Oh hai.

So this summer I met my sister-in-law for happy-hour on the roof of a restaurant in Seattle. Just your run-of-the-mill afternoon in Seattle where you wander into a traditional French cafe and watch the sunset over the Puget Sound while you sip champagne cocktails.

I was meeting her to catch a ride to Portland during The Dark Days of Unemployment - I was taking the short ride to see if it would broaden my potential job options. But obviously we needed nourishment before hitting the road.

I have long-since forgotten most of what we ate, but one dish has stuck with me over the months. We enjoyed whipped goat cheese spread with crostini and crudites. The cheese was light and mousse-y; salty and tangy, and utterly addictive.

This spread takes about 3 minutes to whip together if you have a food processor and at least 30 minutes to set up in the fridge. Aside from prepping the sides, this comes together so quickly that it will be easy to add into any holiday party line-up! Also consider adding in a few tablespoons of chopped herbs to any batch. The original recipe calls for chives, and I've seen basil used in other variations. Chopped rosemary, parsley, or even cracked pepper.

As you can imagine, any sort of toppings will work well with this. I chose to make mine with some cracked pepper in the spread, and a light dusting of smoky spicy paprika on top. I shmooshed it on some lightly toasted baguette and topped it with prosciutto or thinly sliced radishes.

It tasted surprisingly like summer, and with the variety of toppings, can be a great all-season party treat. Or, if you're ambitious, great for two people with a bottle of bubbles and your next holiday movie marathon.


Whipped Goat Cheese Spread
Adapted from The Internet

Serves 4 as an appetizer

1/2 cup whipping cream
2 Tbls milk
4 oz. soft goat cheese
1 - 2 Tbls mix-in of your preference

1. In a bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade, add all the ingredients.
2. Pulse the ingredients until combined. Turn the blade on and whip until light and fluffy - only about 30 seconds.
3. Spoon the mixture into a ramekin - mine came straight to the rim. Top it with a piece of parchment and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. Serve with crackers, bread, veggies, meat, and/or spoon.

Pumpkin Week - Pumpkin Scones

And so endeth Pumpkin Week. *Cue sad violin*

I have been so inspired and hungry from all the delicious pumpkin recipes this week. They really ran the course - from breakfast with Kirsten's Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls, to dinner with Shanna's Pumpkin Risotto, to all manner of desserts and sweets including Mads' Pumpkin Spice Cake and Carrie's Pumpkin Pie Macarons. Be sure to check out the fill list below! I have been so inspired by pumpkin this week, that I've gone out and bought WAY too much pumpkin and now I'm going to have to eat it all. Oh darn. Woops? Can't wait!

To the scones... I was slow on the scone train. They just seemed so boring to me. And, for some reason, I always thought they were terribly complicated. I don't know where I got this impression. I made this batch of scones while having an indepth discussion with my mom about birthing plans. Not my birthing plan - I have nothing to birth right now. This is how rumors get started. About HER plans, from *mumble mumble* years ago. Never mind. If I can assemble while contributing and getting mildly horrified about all the creams that accompany pre and post-birthing side effects, then it is a terribly EASY recipe.

I really didn't think that scones had much taste when I first tried them. They were bricks. Dense. Not much flavor to speak of. Really just a way to get butter and jam into your mouth. But isn't that why we have biscuits? Plus biscuits are moister... right?

Turns out I was eating all the wrong scones. These scones, by Surly Kitchen, and inspired by the great and powerful Starbucks Pumpkin Scones, are tender, and flavorful, and like all things that pumpkin touches, are very moist. That's right, Megan. Moist. These scones are moist. One more time for Megan: MOIST. And just good. Good with butter. Good with Jeanne's Cinnamon Honey Butter. Good devonshire cream. Good with spiced icing. Dipped in coffee. Dipped in leftover donut frosting. Good in your mouth.

Check out all the great posts from this week!
Monday: Kirsten from Comfortably Domestic makes Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
I made Struesel topped Pumpkin Bread

Tuesday: Jeanne from Inside Nana Bread's Head makes Pumpkin Waffles
Carrie from Bakeaholic Mama makes Pumpkin Pie Macarons

Wednesday: Megan from Wanna Be a County Cleaver makes Pumpkin Cheesecake
Allison from Decadent Philistines Take Over The World makes Pumpkin Marshmallows
Shanna from Pineapple and Coconut makes Pumpkin Risotto

Thursday: Anne from From My Sweet Heart makes Pumpkin Donuts
Kat from Tenaciously Yours makes Marbled Gingersnap Tart
Mads from La Petite Pancake makes Pumpkin Spice Cake with Frosting

Friday: Madeline from Munching in the Mitten makes Savory Pumpkin Tart
Lauren from Climbing Grier Mountain makes Pumpkin Mousse
Kirsten from Comfortably Domestic makes Pumpkin Kiss Cookies

Saturday: Monica from The Grommom makes Pumpkin Ice Cream

Pumpkin Scones
Makes 12

Adapted from Surly Kitchen's Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Scones

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
6 Tbl cold butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)
3 Tbl buttermilk
1 large egg

1. Preheat the oven to 375*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Whisk together.
3. Add the cut butter into the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the mixture is a coarse texture throughout.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the wet ingredients.
5. Fold the wet ingredients into the butter and dry mixture.
6. As the dough forms a ball, turn it onto a floured surface. Fold the dough on itself two or three times. Pat into a large rectangle about 1" thick. (I didn't measure mine, but Surly says hers was about 7" x 11" in size).
7. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough in half the long way (hot dog). Cut the dough into thirds along the long side (hamburger?). You should have six triangles. Cut these diagonally.
8. Place the 12 scones on the baking sheet. Try not to have them touch or crowd, but they shouldn't expand too much during baking.
9. Bake for 20 - 22 minutes, or until just starting to brown on top and corners.
10. Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Optional Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 scant tsp vanilla extract
About 3 Tbl Soy Milk

1. Mix together. Drizzle lazily over the scones.

OKMH February 2013 Reveal

MY FIRST OKMH!! This is a big deal. To me, at least.

How beautiful are these women??

The out-pour of love and support from this group (really before I was "one of them") has been earth altering to me. I know people say that. And most people mean it. I don't mean it in a "I wasn't loved enough as a child so now I have internet friends" (because I was loved plenty, still am). But I feel like this is more than a group of just "internet friends". They baked for me before I really knew them. And the friendship has grown from there. Just a couple of strangers. Tweeting each other, reading a few blogs, then last year the first OKMH started and it was the first event of "more than just internet friends". I had a whole year of reading up on what the lovelies sent each other - so let me tell you that the pressure was ON! And then Jeanne sent me a box that was more "me" than even what I could have told someone to pack for me. The theme was Winter Essentials and she went above and beyond! Wanna see??

This is the first face I saw when I picked the box up. The lid was COVERED in mustaches. I knew it would get better inside. Also - how maniacal is that baby?? I practically couldn't drive back to our apartment what with being so giddy.

My first peek inside!

This screams Texas winter to me.

Mustaches. EVERYWHERE!! I started making weird yipping/squeely noises at everything. Hubs kept came over a few times to check on me, before just leaving the room altogether.

Front...

With notes on the back!! I die.

Y'all? The mustaches are tags! With notes!! They explained everything! I saved them. Because who knows when you'll need a large scrapbook mustache tag? You don't know that!!

Awesome shirt and cutie-patootie socks

I changed my outfit immediately to accommodate.

For the record, I was not creeped out that she would creep around on my Pinterest. Frankly, isn't that we even have Pinterest?? She made the shirt, guys. Okay, she put the letters on it. I have been obsessed with this shirt. I don't care that I'm cutting back on coffee - it will always have a weird obsessive corner of my heart. /Tangent: my boss wandered past my cube with a cup of fresh coffee yesterday and I interrupted her mid-sentence to talk about her coffee. Woops. Single focus. /End tangent. I immediately put the shirt on (and the socks, honestly) before I unwrapped the rest of the box. It's really long (like a night shirt!!) so I was just playing with scrunching - don't worry, Jeanne!

Homemade matching neck wrap and infinity scarf

Wearing both. Also immediately.

Next up? Hand stitched neck-rice warmer in fleece. And because she was concerned about my office wardrobe, she even included a matching infinity scarf to go over it (I'm wearing both in the photo!). First of all, I love it. Second of all - awesome, right?!? Also - super warm. And, it's like a Northwest requirement that you wear flannel. It's like they send it to you with your "Welcome to WA" package. So obviously perfect.

I am Godzilla.

Meet Tea-Rex. TEA-REX - GET IT?? I have laughed about this at least a dozen times. Practically every time I see the thing. It is a tea infuser! His little head pops off and the loose leaf goes in his body. There are holes along his back and head to steep. His arms are perfectly short. And a fully-intact Houston Starbucks mug (have you heard I'm obsessed?). There was also tea. For with to brew in the miniature dinosaur (*giggle*). The tea (pictured below) is a super tasty basic black tea. Each tea bag comes individually wrapped in a sealed pouch for maximum freshness. I have been trying to find it locally - because I will be adding it to my permanent tea rotation.

Someone sent this to from the interwebs. It is perfect in every way.

As far as winter essentials, this is as basic and utterly practical as they come. Basically my mitts have been impeccable since I got this box. Guys, if you need a good winter hands cream, the Carmax lotion is AMAZING stuff. I'm picky with my lotion because I have terribly dry skin and hate the greasy feeling... this absorbs quickly and lasts all day! I need to buy in bulk. I love this Burts Bees cuticle cream - I've been using it for years! And I'm a nail polish hoarder, so this is just perfect (have I said "perfect" enough yet?).

All the loot!

Also (as if that all weren't enough?) there were black and white prep bowls (in the back there) which I have used DAILY, and hidden at the bottom was a huge tub of sugary treats. Despite promising the Hubs that he would lose limbs should he touch anything, I have shared the treats with him. I've had most of them - but it was a huge box!! A huge, delicious box...

I know I've said it to her a few times over, but let it be written here in internet history - thank you SO much, Jeanne!!

For other Winter Essentials from the group, check out the other ladies:
Jeanne at Inside NanaBread's Head
Allison at Decadent Philistines Save the World
Mads at La Petite Pancake
Kirsten at Comfortably Domestic
Megan at Wanna Be a Country Cleaver
And Finally! See what I sent to Kat over at Tenaciously Yours