This potato-pumpkin side dish is easy to make because it uses instant potatoes: There’s no peeling or slicing. Thanks to the Idaho Potato Commission for the recipe.

You can plop these tasty patties atop a salad or serve them as a side with a main course.

> The history of pumpkins.

> The history of potatoes.

> The different types of potatoes: a glossary.
 
 
WHAT ARE PEPITAS

Since this recipe contains pepitas, it’s a Food 101 learning moment.

The word pepita is often used interchangeably for pumpkin seed, but there is a significant difference.

A pepita is the edible seed of a specific variety of pumpkin, the Styrian pumpkin. This is also the seed used to make pumpkin oil.

Pepitas are dark green and have no hulls.

Pumpkin seeds, on the other hand, refer to the larger, white seeds with hulls found inside the jack o’lantern pumpkins for Halloween.

The variety, bred to be uniformly tall and wide, is known as Howden Field pumpkin.
 
 
RECIPE: MASHED POTATO, PUMPKIN & PEPITA PATTIES
 
Ingredients For 8 Patties

 
Preparation

1. WHISK 2 cups of the potato flakes in a medium bowl, with the milk, pumpkin, 2 eggs, the pepitas, and the seasonings. Mix until well blended; set aside.

2. WHISK the remaining 2 eggs in a small bowl. Place the remaining 1 cup of potato flakes into a pie plate.

3. HEAT a 10″ skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly spray with cooking spray.

4. SCOOP the reserved potato pumpkin batter with a ¼ cup measuring cup into your clean hands and form into 2½˝ wide patties.

5. DIP each patty into the beaten eggs, then into the potato flakes, coating both sides. Repeat until you have enough to fill the skillet.

6. FRY the patties in the hot skillet, cooking until golden brown on each side. Coat the skillet with more cooking spray if the patties begin to stick.

7. TRANSFER the cooked patties to a platter. Continue to form and fry patties until all the batter is used. Serve the patties warm or at room temperature.
 
 
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*If you don’t have either Cajun or Creole seasoning, you can approximate by blending 6 tablespoons paprika, 4 tablespoons garlic powder, 2 tablespoons black pepper, 2 tablespoons cayenne (add more for more heat), 2 tablespoons dried basil, 2 tablespoons dried oregano, 2 tablespoons dried thyme, 2 tablespoons onion powder, and 2 tablespoons white pepper. Store the remainder in a tightly-capped jar.

†Pepitas can also come from a related cultivar.

[1] (photos #1, #2, and #3 by Jonathan Melendez © Idaho Potato Commission).

[2] The recipe suggests a side of cranberry sauce. We added Greek yogurt, too.

[3] Pepitas, unlike pumpkin seeds, have no hull (photo © The Nibble).

[4] Mashed potato flakes, a.k.a. instant mashed potatoes (photo © Idahoan Foods).

[1] Cocoa Bomb on the rocks (photo © Heritage Distilling).

[2] A cocoa bomb, inspiration for the whiskey (photo © Williams Sonoma).

Here’s a different type of chocolate for Halloween…or Christmas…or Valentine’s Day…or whenever: Cocoa Bomb Chocolate Whiskey from Heritage Distilling.

Heritage is the largest independently owned craft distillery in the Pacific Northwest.

It’s also the most-awarded craft distillery, with numerous awards for Cocoa Bomb*.

This chocolate whiskey is so delicious that it is sold out just about everywhere.

Trying to replace our supply, we found one spot that still has inventory, Martin Bruni Liquor.

The whiskey was driven by the love of the Cocoa Bomb hot chocolate experience†—a hollow sphere of chocolate with hot chocolate powder and marshmallows inside (photo #2).

You place the cocoa bomb in a mug and pour hot milk over it. The sphere “explodes,” the chocolate shell melts, the cocoa powder mixes with the milk, and you’ve got a delicious cup of hot chocolate.

Thus inspired, the Heritage team set out to make the best-tasting chocolate-flavored whiskey on the market.

It doesn’t explode for theatrics, but bottled at 75 proof and naturally flavored with cane sugar, the whiskey is extremely smooth with notes of cocoa, dark chocolate, and a hint of marshmallow.

It has no milk, but you could create a Black Russian-type drink by combining it with half-and-half.

When you track down a supply, get more than one bottle. You’ll be glad you did.
 
 
> The history of chocolate.

> The history of whiskey.

*Best of Class: Infused/Flavored Whiskey from Sunset’s Spirits Awards 2022, Double Gold Medal / Best Flavored Whiskey from The Fifty Best 2022, Silver Medal from American Distilling Institute 2022, Gold Medal from USA Spirit Ratings 2021.

†Cocoa Bombs™ were invented by Eric Torres Garcia of Boise, Idaho. They became an immediate viral success on TikTok. Today, you can buy them from CocoaBombs.com.

How about an eerily smoking Margarita for Halloween? In this case, a grapefruit Margarita is enhanced with fresh rosemary and a smoking rosemary sprig.

Thanks to Canta Negra Tequila for the recipe.

> More Margarita recipes.

> More Halloween cocktail recipes.

> The history of the Margarita.
 
 
RECIPE: ROSEMARY-GRAPEFRUIT MARGARITA

 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. RIM a rocks glass and fill it with ice. For Halloween, black lava salt makes a great impression.

2. PLACE the rosemary and agave nectar in an empty cocktail shaker (no ice). Muddle until the rosemary becomes fragrant.

3. ADD the tequila, grapefruit, and lime juices, and ice to the shaker. Shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds and double strain (pour from the shaker over a mesh strainer) into the ice-filled glass.

4. LIGHT the rosemary. If you’re using the smoked rosemary garnish, carefully hold a match under the top half of a sprig of rosemary until it starts to smolder slightly. Add the non-smoking stem side of the spring into your glass. Serve.

 
 
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*Note that black flake salt is different from kala namak, which is also known as black salt or sanchal. Kala namak is unrefined volcanic table salt with a strong sulfuric flavor which is mined in Central India. Despite its name, it is actually light pink in color. What you want here is either Cyprus black flake salt or Hawaiian black flake salt (also called black lava salt), both of which are midnight-black.

[1] A smoking Margarita (photo © Canta Negra Tequila).

[2] Black flake salt, also called black lava salt, makes a great Halloween cocktail rim (photo © Get Flavor).

[3] Fresh rosemary (photo © Burpee).

[1] Pumpkin-pizzelle cannoli, ready to eat (photo © Colavita).

[2] Pumpkin purée is mixed with the next two ingredients (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Ricotta cheese, the classic base for cannoli filling (photo © Murray’s Cheese).

[4] Mascarpone, extra rich and called Italian cream cheese, adds a special touch to the filling (photo © Gruppo Grifo).

[5] A pizzelle maker (photo © Cucina Pro | Amazon).

Our weekend baking project is pumpkin cannoli. We made a different pumpkin cannoli recipe last year, with shells we bought from a local bakery.

We served them as sophisticated Halloween fare and liked them so much that we made them regularly throughout the fall and winter seasons.

This year, we have a new recipe. It’s a bit more challenging because it uses pizzelles as the cannoli shells.

 
This new recipe also uses mascarpone cheese along with ricotta, plus almond extract and EVOO. Thanks to Colavita for the recipe.

> Food 101: In Italian, the singular form of the pastry is cannolo, and the plural is cannoli. In the U.S., some people use cannoli as the singular and cannolis as the plural. Both of these latter uses are Americanized.

> June 16th is Cannoli Day.

> October 26th is National Pumpkin Day.

> The history of cannoli.
 
 
RECIPE: PUMPKIN CANNOLI WITH PIZZELLES
 
Ingredients For the Pizzelles

 
Ingredients For The Filling

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the pizzelles. Beat the eggs and sugar with a handheld electric mixer until foamy, Add the olive oil, vanilla, and almond extracts. Mix well.

2. ADD the baking powder to the flour and whisk to combine. Then add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix with the electric mixer until the dough is combined.

3. HEAT up the pizzelle iron. While the iron is heating, roll the pizzelle dough into balls about an inch in diameter. Open the iron, and press the dough balls into the spaces for the pizzelle. Close the lid and allow them to bake. The light on the iron will go out when they are ready.

4. QUICKLY, using a metal spatula, remove the freshly cooked, malleable pizzelle and wrap it around a cannoli form or a wooden spoon handle. Hold it in place for about 30 seconds until set. Repeat with the remaining dough until you have made all of the shells.

5. MAKE the filling. Combine all of the ingredients and blend with an electric mixer for about 1 minute. Do not over-mix or the filling will become grainy. When you’re ready to fill the shells…

6. TRIM off the bottom ½” of the pastry bag and insert a metal tip into the bottom of the bag. Using a spatula or large spoon, scoop the filling into the pastry bag and squeeze it toward the bottom. You don’t have to fill it all up at once.

7. INSERT the tip of the filled pastry bag into one side of the cannoli shell and pipe in the filling. Flip the cannoli shell around and fill the other side. Repeat with the remaining shells.
 
 
MORE CANNOLI RECIPES

Brebirousse D’Argental, an elegant French sheep’s milk cheese, would be appealing on any cheese plate at any time of year. But in this season, we especially like that it wears the colors of Halloween and Thanksgiving.

This pasteurized cheese is from Lyon, a gourmet hub in the Rhône-Alpes region of France.

Orange on the outside, creamy and silky within, spreadable and lust-worthy, this famously orange-cloaked cheese from Lyon, France has eye-appeal.

And oh, the palate appeal! Nutty and complex, Brebirousse D’Argental (BREH-bee russe) is a crowd-pleaser.

The paste (the interior) has a grassy aroma and a subtle milky sweetness. In fact, it’s buttery, creamy, mushroomy, sweet, and tangy all at once.

Its full-flavored profile will appeal to Brie lovers and adventurous turophiles (cheese connoisseurs) alike.

When it gets riper, it becomes soft, runny, and ooey-gooey spreadable.

The name combines the French words for sheep (brebis) and red (rousse), although we won’t argue that the rind is orange.

The orange color comes from annatto seed, which is used to make a natural vegetable color.

Unlike some other orange-rind cheeses, Brebirousse D’Argental is not washed or treated with any molds that affect its color. As a result, it’s relatively mild in aroma and flavor, more like an extra-rich Brie.

That’s because sheep’s milk has a higher fat content than cow’s milk.

A bit of history: Unlike many French cheeses that are centuries hold, Brebirousse d’Argental was launched in 1985 by Fromi, a German cheese company specializing in French cheeses.

> More Halloween-appropriate cheeses.

> The history of cheese.

> The different types of cheese: a glossary.
 
 
HOW TO SERVE BREBIROUSSE D’ARGENTAL

 
TIP: If you serve a particularly ripe Brebirousse D’Argental on a plate with other cheeses, place it on a saucer in case it runs.
 
 
GET YOUR BREBIROUSSE

Head to Murray’s Cheese.

[1] Brebirousse d’Argental, creamy and luscious sheep’s milk cheese (all photos © Murray’s Cheese).

[2] You can slice it for a sandwich—on a baguette, of course.

[3] Or, serve it on great crackers with a dab of honey.