Swedish-ish Berry Tart

I only learned 2 words when we were in Sweden this summer: smor and hallonpaj.  That means butter and raspberry pie.  The pastries in Europe are to die for, and as soon as we got back I knew I needed to recreate this in my kitchen.  Finding a recipe was not easy but I found it and of course made a few adjustments to make it even more awesome! (Like doubling the amount of fruit)

Original recipe from: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/raspberry_walnut_tart/

Crust:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (12 tbsp) - cut into tbsp's

Mix crust ingredients with a food processor to a crumb texture.

Filling:
2 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
20 oz raspberries and other berries (half fresh, half frozen, or a mixture)

Line a 9-10 in. in diameter tart pan with foil.  Press crust crumbs into the bottom and up the edges a little.  Bake at 350 for 25 min.  Mix the filling ingredients except for the raspberries.  Take out of oven and spread the raspberries out evenly on the crust.   Pour the filling mixture evenly throughout.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until set in the middle.

Enjoy! Let me know if you like this recipe as much as I do.

Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes

Halloween may be over... but for me, pumkin season is at the peak! I bought 3 sugar pumpkins this year and so my freezer is full of goodies.  1 pumpkin makes about 4 cups of pureed pumpkin so we have a lot of pies in our future.  This morning I made pumpkin pancakes.  Ever since a visit to a good friend of mine in Boston, I've loved the idea of this breakfast food.  And as a bonus, it's an extra boost of veggies in your breakfast!

Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Sift together, add:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tbsp veggie oil

Stir together with wet ingredients. Makes about 4 servings.
I serve with a simple raspberry sauce - 1/3 cup frozen raspberries (about $2 at Trader Joe's for a 12 oz bag), and 1-2 tbsp sugar, cooked at medium heat for about 5 min until thickened.

The combination of raspberry and pumpkin is astonishingly delicious! I'm a sucker for raspberries though.

Adapted from Allrecipes "Simply Pumpkin Pancakes".

Chocolate-Cinnamon Pear Loaf Cake

Holy delicousness Batman!  Seriously... I didn't have a rectangular cake pan so I used a round one and it didn't turn out quite as pretty but BOY was it delicious.  This is probably my favorite chocolate cake recipe in general now.

Next time I am going to slice the pears into quarters and spread them evenly throughout the cake first.  I frosted mine with some cream cheese frosting - it was the perfect addition, don't do the white chocolate.

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chocolate-cinnamon-pear-loaf-cake/

Seriously, people, try this!