A few days ago, my employer treated our office to a group cooking class at Cooking at the Cottage. For a couple of hours, we were transported to a world where we were each Head Chef – our mise en place prepared, our mistakes whisked away, and our every effort praised. And we ate well – very well – from sweet potato soup through salmon and vegetables, all the way to poached pear in filo dough with a chocolate sauce drizzle. With the experience of preparing each course, we took the recipes home (along with a couple of secrets that we learned in class), ready to cook again for our friends and family and impress the heck out of them.
The Fall Cooking at the Cottage class schedule is full of bread baking, Thanksgiving dinner making, Italian and French cuisine, gluten-free cooking and even knife skills. Once you start looking, it’s hard to choose your top two or three, because they all look so fun and it’s a chance to meet and learn from chefs from some of the best restaurants in Louisville. Take a date, or bring the family. A class would make a beautiful gift, too.
When I asked owner Linda Kunz Bayens about autumn recipes, she wanted to share a personal favorite: pumpkin bread. Pumpkin rules in October, and this bread will make your house smell fantastic. It even has a ton of chocolate chips, if you want to go all out. The recipe makes two loaves, so you’ll have one for a friend, too.
Cooking at the Cottage Pumpkin Bread
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 2/3 cups pumpkin
4 large eggs, beaten
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cup water
1 1/3 cups chocolate chips or raisins
Grease two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans; dust lightly with flour; tap out any excess.
Combine sugar, oil, pumpkin and eggs. Beat until light and fluffy.
Sift flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cloves onto wax paper. Add to pumpkin mixture alternately with water; mix until blended. Turn into pans.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until centers spring back when lightly pressed with fingertip. Cool loaves in pans 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack. Cool completely.
Cooking at the Cottage is located at 3739 Lexington Road.
Photo: Shutterstock Copyright: MShev
