… if you make small portions and share with friends and family, croissants are actually not that bad for you. Just don’t be a fatty and eat it all by yourself.

… making croissants can be very soothing. Someone prone to using hyperbole (e.g. me) might even call it the best therapy session money could ever buy

… once you make the croissant dough, you can easily make an entire slew of other delicious pastries like pain au chocolat, danishes … and pain aux raisin.

These pinwheels of croissant dough are filled with a rich almond cream that bakes to a fluffy, cake-like texture in the middle of the flaky layers of croissant. The plump, spiced raisins serve as wonderful counterpoints to the buttery notes of the pastry. The surface shatters when you bite into it, giving way to an incredibly moist interior.

In one word, they are perfect.

Pain aux raisin
1 batch of croissant dough

Almond cream
1/2 c + 1 tbspn unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 c almond flour
1 large egg
1/4 c flour (I used rice flour, which worked wonderfully. You can really use any kind of flour here as it just serves as a starch to prevent the cream from running out of pastry shell while baking)

Hydrated raisins
1 c raisins
1/2 c red wine (can also use rum or other flavored alcohol here)
1/4 tspn cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg (I really like the complexity added by the cinnamon and nutmeg, but you can opt to leave them out)

Egg wash
2 egg yolks
2 tbspns milk
pinch of salt

Nappage (terrible name, I know. But I love it for the shiny, professional sheen it gives)
3/4 c apricot jam
1/4 c water
3 tbspn corn syrup
+ Soak the raisins in the spiced wine and allow them to plump up
+ Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Prepare the almond cream
1. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and almond flour with an electric mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes or until it is light and fluffy
2. Add in the egg and continue to beat for about 3 more minutes or until the almond cream is very light and fluffy
3. Beat in the flour just until combined
4. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. The cream can be stored for up to 5 days in an airtight container. Remember to let the cream come back to room temperature before you use it. You can also re-beat the cream so that it is light and fluffy.

Assemble the pain aux raisin
1. Follow the croissant dough recipe up until the point when you are doing the final rolling of the dough for shaping into croissants. For the pain au raisin, you will roll the dough out into a rectangle about 10 inches wide and 1/8″ thick.
2. Smear the almond cream all over the surface of the rectangle all the way to the edges
3. Drain the raisins and sprinkle evenly over the surface of your pastry
4. Starting from the long edge closest to you, use your palms to roll the rectangle into a cylinder. Don’t roll too tightly, or the centers will puff up while baking.

5. Cut the roll width-wise into cylinders ~1-1.5″ high. Tuck the “tails” of the cylinders underneath.
6. Placed on an ungreased baking sheet about 2″ away from each other and let sit at room temperature until they have doubled in size and look like they are light and fluffy. This can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on temperature and humidity of the room.
7. Prepare the egg wash by whisking together the egg yolks, milk, and salt
8. Brush the egg wash onto the pain aux raisin and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden
9. Prepare the nappage by mixing all ingredients into a saucepan and bringing to a boil. Whisk continuously.
10. Brush the glaze onto the finished pain aux raisin

Serve warm

Remember these little beauties I shared with you a month ago? They continue to be my family’s favorites. So whenever it comes time to say goodbye, I always find myself baking up a batch. These freeze incredibly well, so I’ll bake a big batch and pack it away in the freezer so that the family will always have some baked goods to tide them over until the next time I can make it back out to see them again.

I’m constantly trying to figure out how to up the healthful factor in these while making sure that they continue to taste like treats rather than health food. This batch is my favorite by far. It has a delicate crumb while still being incredibly dense and moist. And the chew of the oats provides a nice contrast to the tenderness of the crumb. Plus, I have configured the recipe to use canned pumpkins, because while I wish fresh pumpkins were accessible year-round, we know that’s not always the case.

Next time around, I want to experiment with replacing some of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, some of the sugar with honey, and some of the oil with apple sauce. And maybe I’ll even add a dash of rum. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? I’ll share with you how those revisions turn out. In the meantime, though, this recipe is good to go. Hope these become a healthful staple in your household, too!

Pumpkin muffins
2 c all purpose flour
2 tspns cinnamon
1 tspn ground ginger
1/2 tspn ground nutmeg
1 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 c sugar
3/4 c vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tspn vanilla extract
15 oz can pure pumpkin puree
1 c toasted pumpkin seeds
1 c rolled oats
1/2 c raisins

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
Set out 2 large bowls
Measure out the ingredients

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt in one bowl
2. In the other bowl, mix on medium-high speed the sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla extract
3. Mix a little of the wet mixture into the dry mix. Then add the dry mix to the wet mix and fold just until combined.
4. Add in the pumpkin puree, seeds, oats, and raisins. Fold just until combined.
5. Plop about 3-4 tbspns of the batter into a greased muffin tin
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean

What makes this book so unique is its ability to seamlessly integrate European and Asian baking recipes and ingredients. Mind you, it’s not perfect; the weight-to-volume and baking temperature conversions need to be adjusted here and there. But it is a solid enough foundation to begin to attempt the asian delicacies that hadn’t accessible before … like this sweet potato cake.

Sweet yet savory, with a moist, delicate crumb, sweet potato cakes have always been one of my favorite cakes to pick up at the bakery. This recipe produces a cake just like that … if not better.

Sweet potato cake
Adapted from Young Mo Kim’s A Collection of Fine Baking

Vanilla génoise
5 large eggs
125 g sugar (~3/4 c)
17 g corn syrup (~2 1/2 tspns)
25 g honey (~1 1/2 tbspns)
125 g cake flour (~1 cup)
20 g heavy cream (~4 tspns)

Sweet potato mousse
550 g sweet potatoes (19 1/2 ounces)
30 g unsalted butter (~2 tbspn)
55 g honey (~1/4 cup)
5 g rum (~1 tspn)
100 g heavy cream (~1/2 c), whipped

150 g milk (~3/4 c)
1 tspn vanilla extract
35 g egg yolks (~2 egg yolks)
35 g sugar (~3 tbspns)
15 g cake flour (~1 1/2 tbspns)
15 g unsalted butter (1 1/2 tbspns)

Chantilly Cream
100 g heavy cream(~1/2 cup)
10 g sugar (~1 tbspn)

Roast the sweet potatoes
Preheat oven to 480 degrees F
1. Clean the sweet potatoes, dry, and wrap them in aluminum foil. Roast them for 1 hour. Let cool completely before use.

Prepare the vanilla génoise
+ Find a saucepan and a heat-safe bowl that will allow you to nest the bowl over the saucepan
+ Fill the saucepan halfway full with water and bring to a simmer
+ Preheat oven to 320 degrees F

1. In the heat-safe bowl, beat eggs at medium speed for 30 seconds
2. Add in the sugar, corn syrup, and honey and beat just until combined
3. Nest the bowl into the saucepan and beat the batter at high speed until the mixture is pale and thick and the batter is warm (~104 degrees F). Remove the batter from the heat and continue to beat until the batter cools down and is thick and a light creamy yellow.
4. Fold in the sifted cake flour just enough so that the flour is mixed in. Fold in the heavy cream.
5. Line a cake pan with parchment paper or foil. Pour the cake batter into the lined cake pan and tap the bottom of the pan against the counter a couple times to release the air bubbles within it.
6. Bake for about 30 minutes or until light gold in color. Remove the sponge from the pan and place on a cooling wrap. Peel off the parchment paper once the cake has cooled.

Prepare the sweet potato mousse
+ Prepare an ice bath

1. Peel the sweet potatoes and mash into a fine puree
2. Mix in the honey, butter, and rum. Set aside.

Prepare the custard cream
3. In a small separate bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks
4. In a medium separate bowl, sift together the cake flour and sugar
5. Add the egg yolks into the sifted flour and sugar and whisk until creamy
6. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, butter, and vanilla extract. Remove from heat right before it is about to boil.
7. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the egg yolks, cake flour, and sugar
8. Pour the mixture back into the pan and whisk over medium-low heat until the batter is a thick cream
9. Pour the cream into the ice bath and stir slowly until cool

10. Combine the custard cream with the sweet potato puree
11. Whisk in the whipped cream

Prepare the chantilly cream
1. Whip the heavy cream in an ice water bath on high speed for about a minute. Add the sugar and beat until it forms stiff peaks.

Assemble the cake
1. Cut through the middle of the vanilla génoise to form two layers
2. Wrap a plate in plastic wrap and put the first layer on top. Put a cake ring around the cake.
3. Put half of the sweet potato mousse onto the middle of the cake and rotate the cake, smearing the mousse out from the center to the edges with each rotation.
4. Place the second layer of cake on top. Smooth on the remaining half of the sweet potato mousse.
5. Remove the cake ring and move the cake onto a cake board or plate for serving. Slide little pieces of parchment paper underneath the cake and around the circumference of the cake so that the board or plate is protected when applying the chantilly cream
6. Smooth on the chantilly cream and decorate as you like

You see, I have been intending to make croissants for quite some time now, but have never had a free day to spend chilling and rolling dough until this week when I took a reprieve from work, leaving me with an entire week to spoil my family silly with baked goods galore.

And these are the resulting products from yesterday’s adventures: fresh croissants. They are buttery. They are flaky on the outside with a rich, moist center of layers upon layers of buttery goodness. They were made with these very hands. And can be made by yours, too!

Croissants
Makes about 30 mini croissants
Adapted from Young Mo Kim’s A Collection of Fine Baking
Note: Please excuse the McKinsey-esque feel of the diagrams. It’s a curse, really.

Détrempe
500 g flour (~ 2 c + 2 tbspn)
15 g nonfat dry milk (~1 1/2 tbspn)
35 g granulated sugar (~ 3 tbspn)
10 g salt (~2 tspns)
10 g instant dry yeast (~1 tbspn)
25 g unsalted butter (~1 2/3 tbspn)
300 g cold water (1 1/2 c)

Butter block (yes, you read that correctly)
250 g unsalted butter, cold (2 1/4 sticks)

Egg wash
2 egg yolks
2 tbspns milk
pinch of salt

Prepare the détrempe
1. On a clean working surface, mix and sift the flour, and dry milk
2. Create a well in the middle of your flour mound and stir into it the sugar and salt. Cover the well with flour.
3. Use your fingers to lightly mix in the 25 g of butter and the yeast, forming small pebbles. The key thing to remember here is to keep the yeast separated from the sugar and salt.
4. Create a wide, shallow well in the middle of the flour mound again and slowly pour in the cold water
5. Knead the dough with your hands. It will be very wet and sticky at first. Continue to knead the dough for 5-7 minutes using your hands and a bench scraper until the dough comes clean off your hands and your working surface.
6. Place the dough into a large, deep bowl and cover with a towel or with plastic wrap that you have poked a couple holes into so that the dough can breathe. Leave at room temperature for around 30 minutes.
7. Remove the dough and place on a large piece of floured plastic wrap. Flatten the dough with your hands, cover, and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

For the beurre manié
1. Place the cold butter on a piece of plastic wrap, cover with another piece of plastic wrap, and lightly pound the butter with a rolling pin to flatten and soften it. Create a square butter block about 8″ by 8″.

Encasing the beurre manié in the détrempe
1. Remove the chilled détrempe and place on a well-floured surface. i) Roll out as demonstrated and place the beurre manié in the center. ii) Encase the beurre manié with the wings of the détrempe.

2. Place the dough, seam-side up, on a well-floured surface, and roll out to create a rectangle about 9″ x 21″. Brush off excess flour.

Foldings – three tour simples*
1. Fold the ends of the rectangle in onto the center of the dough, as pictured

2. Turn the dough 90 degrees, so that the “spine” of your “book” faces away from you. Roll into a rectangle again about 8″ by 24″. Do another tour simple.
3. Cover your “book” with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. Then do your third and last tour simple. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 more minutes (up to 12 hours)

* You could also opt here to do 1 tour simple, 1 tour double, and 1 tour simple. For the tour double, picture your rectangle divided into fourths rather than thirds. Fold the outermost fourths over onto the inner fourths so that the edges of your rectangle meet in the middle. Then fold the folded dough once more to create a “book” of a sort.

Shape your croissants
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

1. Prep your egg wash by whisking together the egg yolks, milk, and salt
1. Roll the croissant dough out into a long rectangle about 1/8″ in thickness and 6″ tall (for minis)
2. Cut isosceles triangles with a base about 3″ wide. Give the tip of the triangle a bit of a tug. This will help add layers without adding density to the croissant.
3. Cut a small slit into the bases of the triangles, and roll the croissants up, starting from the base of the triangles.
4. Brush with egg wash and place on ungreased baking tray. Proof at room temperature until the croissants are light, fluffy, and have doubled in size.
5. Back for 10-12 minutes until golden on top
Serve warm

And then I wait. And sure enough, I hear comforters beginning to rustle, limbs reaching out to stretch, and eyelids opening to the light of day: the sweet sounds of success.

On most mornings, a simple dish like this frittata with the savoriness of the pancetta and onion permeating throughout is all that I need. But weekend mornings call for a bit more ammo. That’s when I’ll bake up some extra special breakfast treats, like this lavender brown sugar stuffed french toast (not pictured, but recipe below!).

Pancetta Frittata
Serves 4

3 whole eggs
7 egg whites
2 pinches of salt
2 pinches of pepper
handful flat leaf parsley, minced
4 strips of pancetta (or bacon)
1 small onion
1 medium tomato
1/3 cup of freshly grated parmesan

Set the oven to broil

1. Whisk together the eggs, salt, pepper and half the flat leaf parsley until combined
2. Thinly slice the tomatoes. Set aside for now.
3. Mince the onion and then the bacon
4. Saute the pancetta in an oven-safe pan over high heat until the fat is rendered. Add the onions and saute until the pancetta is crisp and the onions are caramelized.
5. Lower the heat to medium-high. Pour in the egg mixture. Lay the tomato slices on top and sprinkle the parmesan atop it all. Continue to cook over the stove top without disturbing until the edges are cooked and the top begins to cook (about 3 minutes)
6. Transfer into the oven and finish cooking (about 3-5 more minutes)
7. Garnish with the remaining half-portion of the minced parsley

Lavender brown sugar french toast
Serves 4

4 thick slices of brioche
4 tablespoons lavender brown sugar butter
1 cup milk (I use nonfat, but milk with higher fat content will be more rich and decadent)
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
A drop of vanilla extract
A pat or 2 of butter

Melt a pat of butter on a 10-inch, non-stick pan over medium heat. Until nice and browned. If the butter browns too much, remove from the heat.

1. Cut slits into the middles of each of the slices of brioche
2. Smear a tablespoon of the brown sugar butter into each of the cavities and close
3. In a wide, shallow bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and cinnamon
4. Drench the slices of brioche in the milk and egg mixture and set on a cooling rack. Let sit for about 1 minute.
5. Place the slices on the hot pan
5. Lower the heat to medium-low* and let cook until golden on one side (about 2-3 minutes)
6. Turn and cook until golden on the other side (about 2-3 minutes)

Serve warm

* Cooking on medium-low heat will allow the lavender brown sugar butter in the centers to caramelize within the french toast

Lavender brown sugar butter
2 tbspn fresh lavender buds
8 tbspn brown sugar
10 tbspn butter (1 1/4 sticks), softened
A tiny drop of vanilla extract

1. Muddle the lavender into the brown sugar using a mortar and pestle or the blunt end of a wooden spoon. You are releasing the aromatics here by using the brown sugar as a natural abrasive. Muddle until the lavender buds are ground fine.
2. Mix the lavender brown sugar with the butter and the vanilla extract. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

I threw together some spanish meatballs, rosemary honey cream cheese figs, and bacon-wrapped dates for a mani/pedi event we threw for our summers in the Upper East Side. The spanish meatballs added some heartiness to the line-up of hors d’œuvres and the bacon-wrapped dates served as a good transition into the sweet broiled figs, which ended up being my favorite dish of the night. All three are relatively pain-free to put together, and if timed correctly, can all be prepared from prep to plating within 1.5 hours. I liked these three appetizers so much that they made a repeat appearance last night at a dinner party I threw for my parents and their friends. This time around, I supplemented the menu with stuffed baby bellas, which ended up being the crowd favorite.

And the entree of the night? I kept it simple with a shrimp scampi over linguine with a caprese salad and a simple salad of romaine hearts. And how can I forget … dessert. I kept it super simple once again with pound cake topped with homemade vanilla ice cream and strawberries tossed in balsamic vinegar. But you’re just going to have to wait for the recipes for those, at least until the next post.

Spanish meatballs
Serves 6

4 cups ground turkey (completely unorthodox to measure meat in cups, I know, but please bear with me. My brain thinks in cups and spoons.)
3/4 cup unsalted almonds, roasted
1 small onion
2 tbspn minced garlic
handful of fresh parsley
1/2 tbspn salt
1/2 tbspn ground black pepper
1 egg

Olive oil

1. Pulse the almonds in a food processor for a couple turns until the almonds are coarsely ground.
2. Mince the onion and the parsley.
3. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and crack the egg into it all. Combine with a wooden spoon or better yet with your hands. Form into meatballs using about a tablespoon of the mixture for each.
4. Coat the bottom of a saucepan with olive oil and turn the heat on high. Place the formed meatballs onto the pan, cover, and let cook on one side for 2 minutes. Turn the meatballs onto the opposite side, cover, and let cook for 2 minutes. Uncover and sautee the meatballs in the pan by turning them occasionally until they are just shy of being cooked completely through. Remove from the heat and let cool. They will continue to cook off the burner.

Rosemary honey cream cheese figs
Serves 6

12 figs
1 cup cream cheese
2 tbspn honey
2 tbspn fresh rosemary

Set the oven rack to the highest level, leaving enough space for your baking dish to sit on the rack as close to the top of the oven as possible. Set the oven to broil.

1. Wash the figs and cut in half. Cut a small sliver off the undersides of the figs so they will sit evenly on the plate, cut side up.
2. Combine the cream cheese, honey, and rosemary.
3. Pipe or spoon the cream cheese mixture onto the flat sides of the figs.
4. Place on a baking tray and broil in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until the cheese is soft and slightly golden brown. Serve immediately.

Bacon wrapped dates
Serves 6

24 pitted dates
12 thin strips of bacon
a handful of thyme
24 almonds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit
1. Stuff an almond and a couple sprigs of thyme into the cavity of each date
2. Cut the bacon strips in half and wrap the bacon around each date. Soak a couple of toothpicks in water and use them to hold the bacon in place.
3. Place on a baking tray and roast in the oven until the bacon is crisp (around 8-10 minutes). Serve warm.

Stuffed baby bellas
Serves 6

24 baby bella mushrooms (you could also use button mushrooms or big old portabellas here, too)
1 1/2 cups of fresh bread crumbs
handful of fresh minced parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 egg
1 small onion
1 tbspn freshly minced garlic
1/2 tbspn salt
1/4 tbspn pepper
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

1. Gently wipe down each of the mushrooms using a damp cloth. Remove the stems from each of the mushrooms and place the mushroom caps, undersides up, on a well-oiled baking tray

2. Mince the mushroom stems, onion, and parlsey and combine in a large bowl with the bread crumbs, parmesan, egg, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Drizzle some olive oil into the mixture until it is glossy.

3. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Then spoon it into the cavities of the mushroom caps to form heaping mounds atop each of the caps. Make sure to pack the mixture (not too tightly, though!) so that it keeps its form.
4. Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the stuffing is cooked through and the tops are golden brown. Serve warm.

It was a hot summer day (much like this one), and the end of a very long work week (much like this one) when we made our way through the Pocantico Hills to Blue Hill at Stone Barns for dinner. We had the Farmer’s Feast (8 courses) with cheese course. I have to admit that when they brought out the amuse bouche of cherry tomatoes skewered on toothpicks and served on a block of wood, I thought the guy was a bit off his rocker. But I was a convert at first bite. The halibut was barely steamed and flavored just enough to have the natural savoriness of the fish enhanced. And the corn chowder, oh my the corn chowder, was a puree of the sweetest corn known to man with just enough cream to complement the natural texture of the tender corn kernels.

Summer days beg for the uncorking of chilled bottles of white wine, light bites you can dig into with your fingers, and fresh produce sparingly altered only enough to heighten their natural flavors. These are days when I ask myself: What Would Barber Do? I like to apply Barber’s “I-just-barely-touched-it-the-rest-was-mother-nature” gentle cooking style to crostinis, though making crostinis barely constitutes as cooking. And that’s fine by me.

Jamon iberico, fig, green apple crostinis

This is an unlikely combination at best, but the combination of savoriness, saltiness, and sweetness with just a slightly tart kick from the green apple floors me every time.

Quantity: a dozen crostinis
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

12 slices of good bread, sliced to about 1/4 inch thickness (ciabatta is favored by most. I like to use baguettes … sacrilege, I know.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Some good salt (doesn’t need to be pink himalayan, but a good sea salt is always nice) and freshly ground pepper
4 tablespoons of fig spread
6 thin slices of jamon iberico de bellota (you might as well use the good stuff, given that you need such a tiny bit of it)
1 tart green apple, cored, quartered, and thinly sliced length-wise
A good handful of marcona almonds

1. Liberally brush both sides of each of the bread slices with the olive oil. Sprinkle both sides with some salt and freshly cracked pepper.
2. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Turn on the other side, and bake for another 5, or until the edges are golden brown.
3. Let the slices of bread slightly cool on a cooling rack. Liberally smear a generous dollop of fig spread onto one side.
4. Fan a couple of green apple slices onto each slice and loosely drape half of a slice of Jamon iberico on top
5. Sprinkle a couple of marcona almonds over everything

And you’re done.

I baked a variation of this for a good friend who alighted on New York City in the middle of the night and left before the sun itself had a chance to wake up. His version had a lighter, cakier crumb, which I am sorry to say was not as delicious as the original. But he still described them to be simple. homey. comforting.

I am still working on the original recipe, but here is a sneak peek for now.

(Almost) perfect blueberry oat scones
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour + 1/2 cup cake flour (or 2 cups all purpose flour if not using cake flour)
4 tspns baking powder
3/4 tspns salt
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter (chilled, cut into small cubes)
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tspn vanilla extract
3/4 cup dry rolled oats
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
2 cups blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar
2. Using a food processor, your fingers, two knives, or a dough cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until pea-sized pebbles form
3. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract with a couple quick whisks
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and combine
5. Give the blueberries a quick toss in a bit of flour (just to keep them from sinking when baking)
6. Add the oats, white chocolate chips, and blueberries to the mix and gently combine
7. Plop the entire batch into a 9-inch round tart pan or a similar size baking pan and smooth out until even. Cut into 8 triangles (think geometry when you were learning fractions, or how you would cut a pie) Slightly wetting your knife in-between cuts will keep the dough from sticking.
8. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the center is just set. The triangles will have run into each other while baking, but the indentations from the first cuts will still be there. This baking style won’t turn out picture-perfect scones, but is the best bet if you want moist scones. If you want more picturesque scones that travel easier, you can also drop heaping spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Just make sure to adjust down the baking time.

Pumpkin energy muffins

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 fresh medium-sized kabocha (or about 3 cups of freshly shredded pumpkin)
1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup candied ginger

Pre-work: Cut the kabocha (you can also use pumpkin or butternut squash) in half, hollow-out the halves, coat with a bit of olive oil, and place face down on a baking sheet. Roast for 30-45 minutes in a 425 degree Fahrenheit oven, or until fork tender

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F

1. Sift together the flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt

2. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, vegetable oil, olive oil, eggs, and vanilla extract

3. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and add the shredded pumpkin, nuts, and dried fruits into the mix. Give a couple quick folds to combine.

4. Grease some mini muffin pans (makes ~36 minis) or a regular muffin pan (makes 2 dozen small-ish muffins) and bake in the oven for 15-25 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.