From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
I made pumpkin bars by request a week or so ago for a friend’s birthday. You should always have whatever sweet treat you want on your birthday. That recipe is here.
It put me in the mood for more pumpkin. I don’t go crazy and want everything pumpkin flavored during the season, I generally stick to pumpkin donuts (Dunkin Donuts are my preferred and difficult-to-acquire style), pumpkin bars and the occasional pumpkin pie. I prefer the Pumpkin Cream Pie that is the featured recipe tonight, to a traditional custard style pie.
That does not mean I don’t have a bunch of pumpkin recipes at my finger tips. To see everything, click here and it will take you to the pumpkin
patch, er, page.Last week when I mentioned tonight might be pumpkin week, several people sent me links to recipes and these two caught my eye: from Mnemosyne: Mini Pumpkin Pies (recipe here) and a savory, Roasted Pumpkin Soup from Emeril – click here – (sorry I couldn’t find who sent this to me).
Friend of blog, Tes from TesatHome.com posted a good looking and definitely unusual, Pumpkin and Coconut Curry (click here).
And on a non-pumpkin note, this week’s menu of Lemon-Nut Pork Chops and Raspberry Poppyseed Cake is here.
There you go, a nice mix of sweet and savory for your pumpkin cravings. So what are some of your favorite pumpkin recipes? And what’s on the menu for this beautiful fall weekend, food or otherwise?
We’re not done yet…there’s still pie:
Tonight’s featured recipe came about because a friend brought me a piece of Pumpkin Cream Pie from a local store and I was hooked. I decided I wanted to try and duplicate it and I think I made a few improvements on the way by adding gingersnaps and taking some risks with the spices and topping it all with a brown sugar whipped cream. This what I came up with:
Pumpkin Cream Pie
Crust:
2 cups ginger snap crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter (more as needed, mine could have used a couple more tablespoons)
1/2 cup packed brown sugarMix together in a 9-inch pie pan and press around the bottom and sides. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Cool while making pie filling.
Filling:
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
15 oz pumpkin puree
1/3 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp salt (test after 1/2 and see if it needs more, pumpkin very bland without)
3 tsp cinnamon*
1 tsp allspice*
1/2 tsp nutmeg*
3 large eggs, room temperature
bowl, electric mixerCombine cream cheese, pumpkin, cream, sugar and spices*, mix until well combined and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well each time. Pour into cooled pie crust. Place on a baking sheet in the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes, until the pie is mostly set, you’ll want the center to still move a bit, it will set completely while cooling and you don’t want to overcook it. I put foil over the pie for the first 40 minutes so it didn’t burn and took it off for the last 10 minutes to caramelize the filling.
You wouldn’t want to do this with a pastry crust, because it needs to bake, but with the crumb crusts they don’t need that baking time. You may end up covering a pastry crust the last 10 minutes if it is browning too quickly.
*after you add the spices, give it a taste and add a bit more if you’d like to kick it up a notch. I probably added a third more of each the next time I made the pie.
Topping:
1 cup heavy whipping cream, ice-cold
3 tbsp, packed, brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin spice
mixing bowl, ice-cold (I also put the beaters in the freezer)Whip cream on med to high until it forms peaks. Using your fingers, crumble the brown sugar over cream, so it’s not clumped and add spices. Fold in ingredients gently until incorporated. Spread or pipe over COMPLETELY cooled pie and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
Makes 8 pieces and is really good if it is refrigerated for a day, the flavor intensifies.
Okay that’s a sampling of what you can do with pumpkins….I have more, so we may revisit this as Thanksgiving gets closer. Until then…happy cooking. – TaMara
schrodinger's cat
I have roasted mashed butternut squash. I am looking for a cake recipe that uses roasted butternut squash, any suggestions?
schrodinger's cat
Also too, what is in the pumpkin pie spice, I would like to make it from scratch.
TaMara (BHF)
I burnt dinner. My Goddess status is suspended for the evening. I may have been distracted by this.
esc
Important information for people who do go overboard on the pumpkin: Trader Joe’s has pumpkin everything, practically. It is amazing.
My most common pumpkin recipe of late has been whole wheat pumpkin apple pancakes for my baby. I make a big batch for the freezer. Tomorrow I am attempting gluten free (so my husband can have some) pumpkin cupcakes for his birthday. Could be disastrous, which is why I have a King Arthur mix on hand as well.
TaMara (BHF)
@schrodinger’s cat: You mean store bought? Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves. I don’t know proportions. I use it because it’s just easier for some recipes. I rarely have cloves on hand unless I’m really planning ahead.
Depending on what I’m making I alternate between that and the spices in the pie above. The pumpkin bars do better with the cloves and ginger than the allspice. The allspice just seemed to work better with the cream cheese and pumpkin.
schrodinger's cat
@TaMara (BHF) I have request, recipe exchange to celebrate Diwali, which is next weekend.
schrodinger's cat
@TaMara (BHF): Sounds like garam masala, with the exception of ginger.
jenn
@TaMara (BHF): Your edit makes it sound like you’re offering yourself up to some cannibals for dinner :)
debbie
I made pumpkin cider bread. I couldn’t taste the cider, but the grated orange rind was an interesting addition.
Yatsuno
@schrodinger’s cat: Pumpkin pie spice is usually a mix of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, mace, and sometimes allspice. An interesting touch would be cardamom I would think. Of course I just love cardamom as it is. If you’re going to make your own you could think of the basic as a garam masala which you add layers to. In fact I might have to play with that cardamom variation now.
Yatsuno
@Yatsuno: @TaMara (BHF): Fergot the ginger. I haz fail.
schrodinger's cat
@Yatsuno: I have friend whose mom was from Eastern Europe and she would make this wonderful bread for Easter with cardamom in it.
ruviana
In my family’s pumpkin pie recipe the spice was cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. I love cloves. Other pies taste odd to me.
Yatsuno
@schrodinger’s cat: Cardamom is all over Scandinavia as well. I’ll try to dig up the cardamom shortbreads that I’ve been dying to make, but I think it will have to wait until I get home from work.
TaMara (BHF)
@jenn: :-D
@Yatsuno: I love cardamon, little goes a long way for me. I also boil it to make the house smell pretty.
@schrodinger’s cat: Indian food is my weakest skill, so probably couldn’t do that justice. Though, TesatHome.com would be a great place to check out the festivities, she and her family usually do it up big since they’re in India and she takes a lot of photos of the whole thing. I <3 her.
Yatsuno
@TaMara (BHF):
PIZZA NIGHT!!!
Stella B
I have a bumper crop of winter squash this year. I planted one galeux d’eysines squash and it ate the back yard producing seven huge squash. I planted something else, too, but it only produced two nice sized fruit. I think it was intimidated.
Soup: Dice 3-4 slices of bacon, saute until crispy. Remove bacon from pan, add 1 diced onion and 4-6 cups of 1″ pumpkin cubes and saute until onion is soft and pumpkin is starting to brown. Add a quart of chicken broth and simmer until pumpkin is soft. Puree and add 1/4 c. Marsala or sherry or to taste. Garnish with chives and sour cream or cream fraiche.
Pumpkin pie made from fresh squash or pie pumpkin is a revelation. Just whack it in half, scoop out the seeds and roast cut side down at any temperature until soft. Scoop out the flesh and mash it. If it seems watery, let it drain overnight in a mesh strainer. Kabocha makes an especially good pie.
? Martin
@esc: Still not used to Trader Joe’s not being a local chain.
Schlemizel
I make a pumpkin soup recipe for fall events. I’m not at home at the moment so I don’t have the specifics but it uses vegetable broth and a lot of onions. You gut out the pumpkin as if you were making a jack-o-lantern and bake the soup inside the pumpkin. It makes an interesting presentation at the table. To serve remove the top and scrape some of the pumpkin flesh up with the soup. The thing gets a bit droopy as you scoop so its best to have it in a bowl
Mary Brown
Costco has fantastic pumpkin pie. As good as my Mom’s and way better than mine. Extremely good price and a lot less hassle. I loves me that pumpkin pie. Mmmmm good.
jibeaux
This is a pretty straightforward pumpkin bread, but everyone I’ve served it to loves it. I also do mini-muffins of it for lunch boxes. fostersmarket.com/recipe/pumpkin-bread/
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@schrodinger’s cat:
Myrecipes.com is my go-to recipe website. They have a Brown Butter Spice Cake that uses garam masala as the spice mix, along with a couple of others. It sounds as though any cake made with squash will end up pretty dense, like the texture of zucchini bread.
2liberal
Ok, here goes nothing. This may be of use to other cooking impaired diabetics so I offer it up for what it is worth.
high volume food for high volume diabetics
one LB liquid egg whites (i use Kirkland signature from Costco)
4 oz canned sliced mushrooms (box of festival mushrooms from Costco)
2 97% fat free hebrew national hot dogs (Costco doesn’t carry them; cheaper at walmart unfortunately)
2 oz Al Dente Carba-nada noodles (amazon, $20 for 6 x 10oz bags, another worker abusing baddie)
break up the noodles into smaller segments
cook the noodles
boil the hot dogs
chop up hot dogs and mushrooms
optional: sautee chopped veggies and mix in, to get the dietician to stop bitching at you about veggies
combine ingrediants and mix well in 10″ non-stick frying pan
cover and cook on low medium heat for 15 minutes
season to taste
ground cayenne pepper
kernel seasons white cheddar seasoning
salt
black pepper
result: ~ 28 oz serving w/ 30g carbs, about 500 calories
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@2liberal:
If you’re anywhere near a Trader Joe’s, they also carry the Hebrew National 97% hot dogs.
bemused senior
Just made the sweet potato/applesauce souffle from the good old edition of Joy of Cooking, substituting pumpkin for the sweet potatoes, and using home made applesauce from our prolific apple tree. Yum!
JVader
@schrodinger’s cat:
And you didn’t make any pumpkin bars for the BJ community? jk But, seriously, it sounds really good. Wish I could cook.
Gindy51
I had a delicious pumpkin ravioli dish at my favorite restaurant yesterday, bathed in sage butter with pine nuts. To die for.