I'll do the recipes first! Here are two of my favorites... Roasted Sweet and Salty Pumpkin Seeds Recipe: Ingredients 2 cups pumpkin seeds 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt Preheat oven to 300°F Mix all ingredients together and spread on a baking sheet. Pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool before serving Pumpkin Fudge: Ingredients: 2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup packed light brown sugar 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter 2/3 cup (5 oz. can) evaporated milk 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 2 cups (12 ounce package) white chocolate chips 1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow crème 1 cup chopped pecans (optional) 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract Directions: 1. Line a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with foil. 2. In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the sugar, brown sugar, evaporated milk, pumpkin, butter and pumpkin pie spice. 3. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. 4. Boil, stirring constantly, for 10 to 12 minutes or until candy thermometer reaches 234° to 240º F (soft-ball stage). 5. Stir in white chocolate chips, marshmallow crème, nuts and vanilla extract and stir vigoriously for 1 minute until chips are melted. 6. Immediately pour into prepared pan. Let stand on wire rack for 2 hours or until completely cooled. Refrigerate tightly covered. 7. To cut, lift foil from pan. Remove foil and cut fudge into 1-inch pieces.
Pumpkin Bread (probably some of the best I've ever made/had!) Combine: 2.5 cups sugar (original calls for 3 but we cut it a bit and its plenty sweet still) 3 cups flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp cloves 1 tsp allspice 1 tsp nutmeg Add: 1 cup vegetable oil 2 cups pumpkin 1 tsp vanilla 3 eggs 1 cup nuts (we use pecans) Bake at 350 for 1 hour in 2 greased and floured loaf pans.
I love the simple 1 can of pure pumpkin + 1 box of any cake mix (spice or carrot are my top picks) = one super moist and yummy (and supposedly low something...fat...calorie...this might be a WW recipe) cake or muffins. The last time I made it I added chopped apple and lots of cinnamon. I'll be it would be fab with cream cheese icing (oops...there goes the low whatever! LOL)
Gardenturtle, Do you use just the dry cake mix for the muffins or mix it by the directions on the box? I love pumpkin and the muffins sound so good! Thanks.
Not exactly a recipe, but I recently learned that you can cook a whole pumpkin in your crock pot to make your own puree! I'm SUPER excited about this because the tedium of making puree always kept me buying cans. You saw the pumpkin in half, scoop seeds as usual, then just chop it into pieces that will fit in your crock pot. No need to make them "small". After you've had the crock pot on high about 4 hours, start to check it every hour. If a knife slices easily through the skin, the pumpkin is done. You can peel the (soft) skin easily, then blend the 'meat' into puree.
This is Rachael's "Almost Prize-Winning" recipe. When she was young, someone made them at co-op. She liked them so much that my (then) shy little girl actually asked the mom for the recipe (when she realized that her mother wasn't going to do it for her, lol!). Then, when she went to the fair, she used it as her 4-H entry and made it to the top four, but didn't place. Most people think they're better the next day. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins 1 2/3 cups flour 1 cup sugar 1 tbs. pumpkin pie spice (or nutmeg and cinnamon) 1 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. baking powder 2 large eggs 1 cup plain pumpkin 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or mini chips!) Heat oven to 350°. Grease muffin cups. Thoroughly mix flour, sugar, pie spice, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. Break eggs in another bowl. Add pumpkin and butter, and whisk unti well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour over dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula just until dry ingredients are moistioned. Scoop batter evenly into muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until puffed and springy to the touch in the center. Put on a rack to cool. Makes 12 regular muffins or about 48 mini-muffins.
Wow, Amie! That's good to know! I have four pie pumpkins sitting in my garage, just waiting for me to do something with.... I've baked them in the past, but will try this and see how it works!
Ok ladies, this leads to a question I just had come up this week. How do YOU make a graham cracker crust. I followed a recipe this week to make a homemade pumpkin pie. My crust ended up almost chewy, not flaky at all. I think one mistake was chopping the graham cracker too fine (I just tossed it in my food processor, so it was more of a powder than chunks). I would love to hear your recipes.
I steam my pumpkin. Once in a while I also cook it in the oven. It gets a nice warm, caramelized flavor. I use it for many things.
I've always used regular pie crust for pumpkin pie. I never considered using a graham cracker crust. As for making them, I'm no help. The only times I've used graham crusts, I simply unwrapped the plastic.
Graham Cracker Pie Crust In a small saucepan or the microwave, melt 6 tablespoons of butter. Place about 24 graham crackers in a plastic bag. Roll with a rolling pin until finely crushed. This may be done in small batches. Measure 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs into a medium bowl. Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the graham crackers. Add the melted butter. Stir or blend together with your hands. Press into the pie plate or other pan. To pre-bake the pie crust, bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F. oven.
This sounds to be exactly what I do. I don't the recipe anywhere near accessible, so I didn't comment the other day when the crust request came up. It's been awhile since I've made it, but the measurements sound to be the ones I've always used. Anyway, just wanted to "second" this graham cracker crust recipe!
Pumpkin Pie Dessert Squares 1 Pkg Baker's Corner Yellow Cake Mix 3 Golden Hen Eggs (divided) 3/4 Cup Country Creamery Butter (divided) 3 Cup Happy Harvest Pumpkin (about 2 cans) 2 Tsp Cinnamon (divided) 1/2 Tsp Nutmeg 1/4 Tsp Clove (if you like that flavor) 2/3 Cup Milk 1/4 Cup Baker's Corner Sugar Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom only of a 13" X 9" pan. Reserve 1 Cup Cake mix for the topping, set aside in a bowl and mix with 1/4 Cup Sugar, 1 Tsp. Cinnamon and 1/4 Cup Butter. Combine remaining cake mix, 1/2 Cup butter, and one egg in a medium bowl. Mix well. Press into the bottom of the pan. Mix pumpkin, spices, 2 eggs and milk in a separate bowl. Stir well to remove all lumps. Pour over crust. Crumble reserved topping over the pumpkin layer. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted at the center comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream, or ice cream. Pumpkin Muffins 5 Golden Hen Eggs (.89/dozen this week! so... .37) 1 1/4 Cups Carlini Canola Oil (.72) 1 15 oz Can of Baker's Corner Pumpkin (.79) 2 Cups Grandma's Best Flour (.50) 2 Cups Baker's Corner Sugar (.50) 1 tsp. Baker's Corner Baking Soda (.05) 2 tsp. Spice Club Cinnamon (.03) 1/2 Tsp Sebree Salt (.01) 2 3oz packages of Baker's Corner Vanilla Pudding (.75) Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add oil and pumpkin. Beat until smooth. Combine remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well. Gradually beat into the pumpkin mixture. Pour into prepared muffin pans (you can either spray well or use muffin liners, I use the liners! Makes travel easier!). Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This makes approximately 30 muffins at .13 each! ENJOY. They're fairly sweet, but if you like a little frosting, you could melt about 2 tablespoons of the Baker's Corner Vanilla Frosting in the microwave and drizzle over top. BTW...they freeze and travel very well!
The group that served dinner at our church last night may have served those pumpkin pie desert squares! If not, it was very similar to them, only they added nuts to the top. Very good, but they weren't baked all the way through.
This is not a recipe, but an observation. We grew pumpkins this year. I have always enjoyed pumpkin pie, but my dh made a 'blind taste test' with canned vs fresh pumpkin. I am hooked on fresh. I probably will never want canned again. I can't believe that I used to like canned pumpkin pie, now I LOVE fresh pumpkin pie! YUMM
Sorry, sloan...Just seeing your question to respond. You just mix the dry mix into the pumpkin puree...thats it...no eggs, no oil! This weekend I used a triple chocolate cake mix and hid a rolo in the middle - tasty!
OOOOoooo....ewww....baking them all the way is CRUCIAL! Also, chilling them for at least 4 hours after baking helps too...make the custardy part set better. I like to add walnuts or pecans when I make mine, too. I make another one similar that uses cherry pie filling and almonds in the crust mix part. But that's more summer, right? And really, 1 can pumpkin (a 15 oz can???) and cake mix? Bake as normal? Wow...I gotta try that!!!!
