Shaker Pumpkin Sweet Bread

450.  Pumpkin is a great source of beta-carotene and nutrients that protect and support the heart such as vitamins A, B1, B6, and C, copper, fiber, folate, and manganese.  It is best to obtain these nutrients from food like pumpkin and not from supplements, because it may help lower your risk of heart disease.

This great recipe has been at the top of my list of favorites for many years and I know you will find it a favorite as well.  It is Shaker Pumpkin Loaves found in one of my most favorite cookbooks,  The American Country Inn and Bed and Breakfast Cookbook by Kitty and Lucian Maynard.

I love, love, love these cookbooks and rarely are disappointed with any recipe.

Here is my version of the Shaker Pumpkin Sweet Bread:

I love to pull frozen pumpkin from the freezer all year long and make these sweet loaves.  The recipe always turns out perfect.  

"Every skilled baker was first an amateur."

~ Chris Geiger

Browned Butter & Sage Pumpkin Ravioli

433.  It's Autumn and I love when the seasonal options are made available.  Trader Joes never disappoints with a variety of spice, pumpkin and squash flavored items.

The pumpkin ravioli in the fresh refrigerated section was a must have!  

In a large frying pan I melted 1 stick of salted butter and let it bubble away until all the foam disappears and the butter turns a nutty brown color.  All the milk solids drop to the bottom and toast to wonderful buttery bits.  I then placed my fresh sage leaves in the butter and they crisp up rapidly.  Then remove them to a paper towel to use as garnish.  The sage flavors the browned butter.

On the side I have water boiling and add the fresh Pumpkin Ravioli.  It is so brightly colored yellow on one side and orange on the other filled with pumpkin.

After the sage is removed I added chopped garlic, about 2 cloves.  It will simmer and cook quickly.  

Spoon the finished pasta into the browned butter and turn the ravioli over to coat with the yummy butter.

You can add any vegetable or no vegetable at all to the dish.

Then place the crispy sage on top as a garnish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  WOW!!!  

"Why are terms of endearment always food? Honey, cookie, sugar, pumpkin."

- Jodi Picoult.

Squash Soup

321.  Have you tried Panera's Squash Soup available each fall?  This soup is always a favorite of mine, on the same level as "psl's" for others. (That's "pumpkin spiced latte's"😉)
Though, once December came, this yummy soup disappeared off the menu.  So I thought to myself, "How hard could this soup be to make?"  So I decided to try it.  I did a bit of research and discovered the ingredients on the Panera website of menu items.  Then I set out to recreate the magic.

I used a fresh pumpkin, cleaned and then baked at 275∘ F till tender to the touch.

Puree pumpkin in processor and set aside.

I then peeled, and chopped 

1 medium onion

4 carrots peeled and chopped

2 apples peeled & chopped

3 cups cooked pureed pumpkin

1 1/2 cup vegetable broth

I brought to a boil and cooked till tender.  Transfer the veggies to a processor or blender and blend on high/puree or use an immersion blender.

Return puree to the pot.  Add 3 Tablespoons coconut oil

salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons honey

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish

Taste and add more salt, pepper, curry or cream as needed.  Bring back to boil then serve in warm bowls adding toasted pumpkin seeds on top for texture. This soup was so simplistic using basic products.  You could use frozen squash or canned pumpkin but the flavor will vary and may not be as bright as fresh butternut squash and pumpkin.

"When the Lord starts out to make an oak tree, He takes 100 years to do it, but He can make pumpkin in 90 days.  More or less life is like that. We must choose whether we desire to become an oak tree or a pumpkin."

-Sterling W. Sill

Pumpkin Floral Centerpiece

320.  This is a beautiful and easy centerpiece for fall.  It's fresh flowers, live pumpkin and a few additives that will be a stunning conversation piece. 

Start with a pumpkin, any size you would like, fresh flowers from your garden or the florist and a few floral pics or floral filler and an oasis block.

Cut a square in the top of the pumpkin then scoop out the seeds and discard.  Cut oasis block to fit the opening and soak the block in warm water till completely saturated.  Place wet block in the opening of the pumpkin.

 
I picked marigolds from my garden to use as filler and completely cover the oasis block.  Then begin to add flowers in three levels:  tall, medium and short.  Accent with floral picks such as berries, corn stalks or fall leaves.

 There is no need to add a bow or ribbon.  The arrangement will stun and delight as the focal point of your table, centerpiece or coffee table.

"Creativity is intelligence having fun."

-Albert Einstein

Pumpkin Pie Biscotti

318.  Thanksgiving is near and I'm trying a new recipe for Pumpkin Pie Biscotti.

I experimented with a few recipes and found that if you add to a plain recipe; 1/2 cup purée pumpkin, canned or fresh along with pumpkin pie spices: 1/2 tsp clove, tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger and 1/4 cup flour with the dry ingredients,  1/2 cup chopped Ghirardelli white chocolate and 1/2 cup chopped pecans...you will have a great variation to your biscotti recipe.

 The texture of your batter should be moist but not dry or sticky and should be able to hold the shape of a log once formed.  Bake as your recipe states but make sure you do not over bake.  It should be browned and firm.

 I use Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bars because they melt smoother and will not become hard inside your biscotti. The white chocolate chips always seem to burn or become very hard when baked.
Once the biscotti are finished I make a drizzle of white chocolate and a teaspoon or more of crisco to bring the chocolate to a runny consistency for drizzling.

Experiment with your recipe and see how easy it is to change and adapt a recipe to new flavors.

Here is a great link to a variety of biscotti recipes:  http://italianchef.com/biscotti/

and http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17241/biscotti/

"Like most things in life, rushing the process only leads to disappointment."

- Mary Berry, Britains Great Bake Off

Baked Pumpkin

243. Pumpkins as a side dish? Why yes!

Little Sugar Pumpkins are perfect in flavor and texture.

Start by preparing the 1 to 2 lb pumpkins washing the pumpkins with mild dish soap, rinse and dry. Cut the top cap off by cutting a large circle.

Scrape out all the membrane and seeds clean from the inside and trim the top cap.

Peel, and cube an apple, one per pumpkin.

Cover with 1/4 - 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup raisins (optional), fresh squeezed lemon juice and dot the top with butter.

Place the top caps back onto the pumpkin.

Place in a 350 degree oven and bake 50-60 minutes or till tender. Or, microwave by covering with plastic wrap tightly. Microwave on high for 30 minutes.

Scrape the pumpkin down from the sides to mix with the filling. Serve hot.

"Only the knife knows what goes on in the heart of a pumpkin."

~Simone Schwarz-Bart

Sweet Pumpkin Soup

239. Memories of childhood come flooding back into my mind. It's a Friday night in late October. The air is crisp and chilly. The sounds of whistles blowing and fans cheering our local High School Football team stand out in the distance. Bright lights illuminating the neighborhood from the local stadium. The kitchen windows are steamed up as a hot pot of Sweet Pumpkin Soup gently simmers on the stove.

My mother would always make a pot of Sweet Pumpkin Soup each year in the fall. It is ultimate comfort food for me.

Sweet Pumpkin Soup

4-5 cups raw pumpkin, cubed

1/2 cup water

8 cups milk

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

liquid from cooked pumpkin (reserve after draining pumpkin)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup sugar

cinnamon and sugar

Place cubed pumpkin and 1/2 cup water into a stock pot. Bring to a boil and simmer till pumpkin is tender. Drain liquid and reserve. Mash pumpkin to desired texture leaving chunks if you so desire. Pour milk into pot with cooked pumpkin. Bring to a simmer.

Dumplings: In a separate bowl add melted butter, flour, salt and 1 cup drained liquid. Begin to stir together till it forms a sticky dough. If dough is too dry continue to add more liquid until it comes together into a sticky dough.

Once the soup comes to a boil, dip a tablespoon into the soup to warm the spoon, then scoop a spoonful of dough onto the spoon creating a small ball of dough. Then drop into the soup. Reheat the spoon each time and continue till all dough is used. Simmer the soup for about 25 minutes till dumplings are cooked. Stir in sugar.

Soup will thicken.

Ladle hot soup into bowls and sprinkle top with cinnamon and sugar.

"And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen."

~Ward Elliot Hour

Pumpkin Pancakes

185. "HAPPY THANKSGIVING"

"Remember God's bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor.

Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light!

Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude!"

~Henry Ward Beecher

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/4 cups flour

• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/3 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup fresh pumpkin puree
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Vegetable oil
• Maple syrup

Whisk first 6 ingredients in large bowl to blend. Whisk milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, melted butter and vanilla in medium bowl to blend well. Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients; whisk just until smooth (batter will be thick). Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into batter in 2 additions. Brush large nonstick or griddle with oil; over medium heat. Working in batches, pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls into skillet. Cook until bubbles form on surface of pancakes and bottoms are brown, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with oil between batches. Serve with syrup.

My daughter loves small pancakes of various sizes. So I always make a vast array of different sizes for her.

This is a beautiful recipe and the texture is perfect.
They were delicious as well.

"So once in every year we throng
Upon a day apart,
To praise the Lord with feast and song
In thankfulness of heart."

~Arthur Guiterman, The First Thanksgiving

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that

the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Icing

177. This is a frightful post...because you can't eat just one, or two of these awesome cookies and also frightful for the amount of butter in the recipe. Ha, ha! But, that has never scared us away in the past.

With fresh pureed pumpkin ready to use, a batch of Pumpkin Cookies was on the "to-do" list.

I found a few recipes and adjusted them for use with fresh pumpkin puree'.

Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Icing

1 1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup fresh pureed pumpkin

3/4 cup evaporated milk

3 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/4 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

In a mixing bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar for approximately 3 minutes till creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, pumpkin puree'. Blend together at medium speed and slowly add the evaporated milk in a stream. Next, add all the dry ingredients. Mix together till the batter is smooth and all flour is incorporated.

The batter will be sticky and wet. Using a cookie scoop, drop dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet allowing room for cookies to spread. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or till they spring back to touch. Remove cookies to parchment paper to cool. Be careful you do not overlap or touch cookies together. They will stick to each other and you will loose the perfect edge.

Cookies will rise nicely and will brown lightly on the bottom.

The centers will be very cake-like and soft.

Browned Butter Icing

4 cups confectioners sugar, place in mixing bowl and set aside

1 1/4 cup butter

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup evaporated milk plus 1 Tablespoon

Place butter in a small saucepan. Melt the butter over medium heat, swirling the butter and continue the cooking process for 3 minutes till butter browns. First the water cooks off and foams, then the temperature rises as the butter boils. Finally, the small bits of milk solids and salt drop to the bottom of the pan. Once the color of the butter becomes nutty brown remove the saucepan from the heat.

Scrap the bottom of the pot to release all the yummy bits from the bottom. Pour all into the confectioners sugar. Add the vanilla and evaporated milk. Blend together till all sugar is smooth and butter is incorporated.

Allow icing to cool and spread on cooled cookies.

Now this is Pumpkin Cookie Heaven!!!

"Eat butter first, and eat it last,

and live till a hundred years be past."

~ Old Dutch Proverb