Pajama Pundits

Gifts of food should always include chocolate, or something that goes well with chocolate. This is not an ironclad rule, but before you protest too much, tell me what, other than certain animal innards and green vegetables, doesn't go well with chocolate?

If you're the type of person who gives chicken livers and cans of spinach for Christmas presents... well, what can I say?

Until my daughter made Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread for me, from a recipe given to her by the mother of a friend, I would have said chocolate and pumpkin don't go together. I was a fool.

Her husband loves these, and she's tinkered with the recipe over the years, catering to his taste.

All Time Favorite Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

3 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3 eggs
1 16 oz can pumpkin
3 cups plain flour, unsifted
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 bag mini chocolate chips (can use full size, but mini melt better)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Mix first 4 ingredients well. Add dry ingredients and spices. Mix thoroughly. Fold into chips. Grease and flour pans. Divide into small loaf pans or muffin pans. (makes great mini muffins). Bake at 350 degrees for 65-70 minutes. Best the day after.

Personal experience note - experiment with baking times and oven temperature, as your mileage may vary.

If I were giving baked goods this year, it would probably be cookies. I'd use one or both of these recipes I've submitted to previous carnivals, No-Name Cookies or Snickerdoodles.

This year I'm sending marshmallows. The basic recipe and technique is from Test Recipes: Marshmallows at Cooking For Engineers. I've made some changes and additions and... um, some messes.

Through experience, I discovered that lining the pan with plastic wrap, lightly oiling it (use a light oil, like canola that has little or no flavor), then dusting that with a mixture of 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part cornstarch, works better.

I don't have a candy thermometer, so I used the cold water test to determine if the sugar syrup was ready.

After the mixture has set for several hours, I turn the pan upside down on a cookie sheet or cutting board lined with plastic wrap prepared the same way.

Through impatience, I learned that letting the mixture set overnight makes it easier to cut. No, make that possible to cut. Impatience gave me some really sticky messes to clean up.

I also don't have a pizza cutter, so I used a round cookie cutter. I discovered that these cute round marshmallows fit perfectly in a cup of hot chocolate and decided that made them unique enough to give as gifts, especially if the recipe worked as well when I added flavors. I get 15 round marshmallows out of a batch instead of 40 little square ones.

For cinnamon marshmallows, I added a heaping tablespoon of cinnamon to the sugar.

For peppermint marshmallows, I substituted 2 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract and 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring for the 1 tablespoon vanilla extract.

The peppermint marshmallow in Ibarra Mexican Chocolate has already got rave reviews from the younger daughter.