Pumpkin Bread

As a kid I would look forward to dessert. When dinner was finally over, out would come the brownies and to my horror nuts would be laced throughout the chocolaty goodness. I vowed that no matter what I would never, ever put nuts in desserts. Because that is what old people do. And even now I don't want to admit that I have crossed that barrier that separates the young from the old. So no nuts will ever grace my sweet breads or my desserts.

This bread was calling to me for two weeks before I got around to making it. When it finally would not be ignored any longer, the ingredients came together into a dense, moist loaf of pumpkin goodness.

I brought one loaf to a friend with a new baby and when he picked up the bag his eyebrows shot up and he said, "Whoa! This is heavy!" Yep, it is.

Pumpkin Bread

5 small or 4 larger bananas, mashed

1-28 oz can or 2 15-oz cans pumpkin

3/4 c brown sugar (or leave it out if you want)

1/2c honey

1/2 c oil

4 eggs

5 c whole wheat pastry flour (or whatever flour)

2 t baking powder

2 t baking soda

1 t salt if

4 t pumpkin pie spice

2 t cinnamon

up to 3 C any other extras such as flax seeds, wheat germ, bran flakes, or cranberries.

Mix everything in a large bowl, stir to combine everything, then fill 2 greased, waxed paper lined loaf pans. Bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake

I am so done making desserts for a while. The first step for me is to remove the "sweets" blogs from the list that I follow and sign up for a few healthy ones instead. But this coffee cake is extraordinarily yummy, so it is totally worth the break in etiquette.

The first time I really paid attention to coffee cake was during seminary. Connie made this awesome coffee cake and I recently asked her for the recipe only to realize with horror that it was a combination of nothing but sugar and Crisco. So I found this recipe instead.

For some reason I have been on a pumpkin streak. Last year in November I really stocked up on canned pumpkin. I wanted to make sure I could find it during the year, and I was positive that I would eat pies and smoothies and all kinds of fantastic creations all year. Not so much. This month is the first time I have delved into pumpkin since last Thanksgiving.

Sour Cream Pumpkin Coffee Cake By Libby’s Pumpkin
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 3/4 cup (16 ounce can) solid pack pumpkin
1 slightly beaten egg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Streusel (recipe below)

Cream butter, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla in mixing bowl. Add 3 eggs, beating well. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture alternately with sour cream.

Combine pumpkin, beaten egg, 1/3 cup sugar and pie spice. Spoon half of batter into 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish, spread to corners. Sprinkle half of the Streusel over batter. Spread pumpkin mixture over Streusel. Carefully spread remaining batter over pumpkin mixture. Spread remaining Streusel over top. Bake at 325 degrees F for 50 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean.

Streusel
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats or quick oats or chopped nuts
Combine brown sugar, butter and cinnamon until blended. Stir in oats. Take one big bite just to make sure it is OK.

Pumpkin Dip

This pumpkin dip was the hit of the company holiday potluck. At least that's what I tell myself. Three women and two guys asked me about it. They talked about how much they like pumpkin (of course) and how wonderful this dip is. I smiled and reveled in my glory, sprinkling my tidbits of pumpkin lovin' comments through the conversation.

Thie dip bowl absolutely must be labeled during a potluck. Otherwise some people will think it is bean dip and that would be a disaster. Just imagine a salty chip dipped in sweet pumpkin.

You know that handy little trick where you dip apple slices in lemon water and they don't turn brown? Yuck-O-Rama. Don't bother doing that. If you wanted to eat something that tasted like a lemon, you'd just go get a lemon. Apples should never be defiled by the vile taste of lemon. Brown apple slices are far superior to white lemon-apples. And if you're really concerned about it, just serve it with ginger snaps instead of cut up apples.

Pumpkin Dip
8 ounces softened cream cheese
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 can pumpkin
1 T pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t ginger
dash nutmeg
Blend everything with a hand blender until it is smooth and creamy. Refrain from eating the whole bowl immediately with a spoon. It will be hard to show that much restraint.

Enjoy with apple slices, ginger snaps, nilla wafers, or graham crackers.

Sweet Potato Fries (or Steak Fries) and Pumpkin Parfaits

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I was worried that I missed the chance to try some pumpkin recipes. So I asked Kevin if it pumpkin season was over. He told me it was OK to eat pumpkin any time of the year. Even on Valentine's day. And I listened to him for a couple of reasons.

1) He is extra smart and I like to listen to everything he says.

2) He gave me the answer I wanted to hear.

So we are going to keep eating "fall" foods until either Kevin demands that we give them up until next year, or else I get tired of them.

If you don't like sweet potatoes go ahead and use regular potatoes. Nobody will think any less of you for it. It is fun to leave the skin on and cut them into wedges. Kevin tried these fries two times, just to see if he would like them better the second time. Both times he gagged and made a face similar to if he just found a giant cockroach in his sandwich. I like them with shredded cheese melted on top or else dipped in ranch.

Sweet Potato Fries or Steak Fries

4 large potatoes

2 T oil

1 t paprika

1/2 t cumin

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper

Mix the oil and seasonings in a large bowl. Cut the potatoes in quarters and then lengthwise again. If you are using sweet potatoes, I like to cut them a little bit smaller.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Broil for another minute or two to make the fries a little crispier.

Pumpkin Pie or Parfait

1 can pumpkin

1 1/2 C milk (any kind - I used skim)

2 eggs

1/2 C maple syrup (or granulated sugar)

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t salt

1/2 t ginger

1/4 t cloves

Mix everything together and either pour into a pie shell or into a baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until somewhat firm. This is not as thick as most pumpkin pies since it uses milk instead of evaporated milk.

If you are making a parfait, let the pumpkin mixture cool, blend it with a hand blender, then layer whipped cream with the pumpkin in an ice cream glass.

Sweet Potato and Chocolate Pumpkin Pie With Marla

Marla is fabulous. She is easy going, and she doesn't care if we cook all evening only to have the food end up yucky. She would just feed me a Fiber One Pop Tart (with a reminder on why you should eat them in moderation) and call it a successful evening.

For this particular get together, she had found a recipe for Sweet Potato Pie. The same blog contained a recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Pie. So off we went on our adventure, with the firm desire to produce something edible at the end of the night.

Here is Marla with her apron, looking particularly stunning. I have no idea how she kisses, but she is a fantastic cook, so ya better watch out if you are trying to take her on a date. She's a fire cracker. Really, I have no idea what that means, it just sounds wild and crazy.

The pies are finally in the oven.

Where they cooked and cooked and cooked, until Marla couldn't wait any longer. She left for her church meeting, and I stayed at her house until they were done. Then until I was finished taking pictures and eating my pieces. All alone in her house. With nobody to supervise me. And then.......well, nevermind. I won't talk about that here.

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 - 15-oz. can pumpkin puree (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon (or pumpkin pie spice)

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup milk (low fat is fine)

1 pie crust (graham cracker or pastry)
In a large bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until slightly foamy, about 1 minute. Whisk in all the remaining ingredients, except the milk, and beat until smooth. Then gently whisk in the milk. Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the crust and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, until pumpkin filling is set.Cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving.

Sweet Potato Pie

cup cooked, pureed sweet potato

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup brown sugar

3 large eggs

2 tbsp all purpose flour

1 graham cracker pie crust
Preheat oven to 350F. Press sweet potato puree through a wire strainer to make it as smooth as possible, adding a tablespoon or two of water if you are working with leftover potatoes to make them a bit more pliable.In the bowl of a food processor, combine all ingredients except the flour, and whiz until smooth. Add in flour and pulse the food processor a few times until it is fully incorporated.Pour filling into pie crust. Place the pie crust on a baking sheet and place baking sheet on the middle rack of a preheated oven. Bake for 50-55 minutes, until pie is set and jiggles only very slightly when the pan is bumped.

The Spell Has Been Broken

Aren't these mini pumpkin pies darling? They are absolutely adorable, but deceiving. They are gross. For the past couple of months I have been drooling over everything at 101cookbooks.com. She is a marvelous cook and everything I have tried is extra yummy. Until now. The pie filling is a deviation from the standard pumpkin pie. It uses coconut milk and hazelnuts. Sound great, right? Nope. Maybe she doesn't have the exact same taste as me, after all. The spell her website had over me has been broken. I will now broaden my recipe horizons.

Actually, it could have been the new silicone mini muffin pan. Has anyone else used silicone and had a disgustingly gross taste bake into your food? Can you get rid of it? Yuck-O-Rama

Anyways, it is back to the standard pumpkin pie recipe for me. Good old evaporated milk.

Pumpkin-Licious

It all started with one giant pumpkin. There is no picture to document the existence of this beast. But here is HALF of the flesh, roasted and cubed. Doesn't it look just like a giant bowl of cantaloupe? It doesn't taste like it. Trust me - I tried it.After I bought the giant pumpkin, I read that you should use a sugar pie pumpkin if you are planning to make pie. So I went back to the store and bought a sugar pie pumpkin. Then I saw an organic one. Does the organic produce really taste better? I thought I had better try it out, so here they are: the organic is less than half the size of the regular one, and it cost slightly more. Needless to say, we've got a lot of pumpkin. So far we have had pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin dip, and now pumpkin pie. All pumpkin recipes are yummy.

And here are, cut in half, spritzed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. The seeds are also getting roasted at the same time.

After all the work cutting and roasting the big pumpkin, I simply didn't have the energy to actually make a pie. So I put everything in the fridge. Then I saw Jeffrey and he told me that I needed to strain the pumpkin before using it, or else it will be too wet and will ruin the recipe. Thankfully, he caught me in time, and I rushed home to strain it in a cheesecloth.

It is amazing how 1 pumpkin produces less than 2 cups of roasted pumpkin puree. Straining reduced the puree by half.
The pie is great. I was too leery of spending a lot of time on cute little pie-lets, so I opted for one big pie the second time. It isn't as cute, but it is a lot less work. And many fewer tears will be shed it it doesn't taste good.

Now that we made a pie from scratch, next time I will buy the pumpkin puree in a can and be done with it. That one step will take the pie from an all afternoon event into a 1/2 hour breeze. And it will be just as good. It you are looking for something fun to do with your family, making a pie from an actual pumpkin might be a fun family activity.

Pumpkin Pie Recipe

1 pie crust
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin (or 2 cups if roasting the pumpkin yourself)
1 (12 fluid ounce) can Evaporated Milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
Bake for 50to 60 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Dive in and eat it all before anyone else tries to come and try it.