| Whip up a batch of muffins, harvest cookies, or a cake with these great
pumpkin recipes from the South 47 Farm.
HOW TO PREPARE FRESH PUMPKIN
Many people think
pumpkin comes in cans and don’t know what to do with the real thing. Actually,
it’s no big deal. There are two good ways to go at it—parboiling (easiest
with a small pumpkin) and baking (best with a large pumpkin). For best results,
use a pumpkin raised for cooking, like our Cinderella, Lumina, or Jarrahdale
pumpkins.
Parboiling:
Get
a pumpkin small enough to go into your largest pan. Cover with water and boil
10-15 minutes. Drain and cool. When cool enough to handle, cut out a wedge big
enough that you can get your hand inside the pumpkin. Slide seeds loose from the
membrane and set aside. Cut the pumpkin into workable-sized wedges, peel and
scrape the sticky-stringy membrane loose from the “meat” with a sharp knife.
Put the cleaned wedges back into the pan. Add 1 1/2 C water and 1 t salt
(optional), and boil until just tender, about 20 minutes. Mash. A small pumpkin
(3-4 lbs.) yields 3-4 C pulp.
Baking: If
your pumpkin is too large to fit into a pan, bake it at 275 degrees
REAL PUMPKIN PIE
1 C fresh pumpkin pulp
2 eggs
2/3 C sugar
1 1/2 C milk
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t cloves
1 t cinnamon
pinch salt
Whirl in blender until smooth, then pour into unbaked 8-inch pie shell.
Bake at 350 degrees for one hour, or until set. The pie will be paler
than a pie made with canned pumpkin and will have a custard-like layer
at the bottom.
--from Betty Freeman, editor of Northwest Baby and Child, who notes:
"Once you've tried 'Real' Pumpkin Pie, nothing else will do!"
LUNCHBOX COOKIES
1 C butter or margarine
1 C brown sugar
1 C fresh pumpkin pulp
1 egg
1/2 t lemon extract
2 C unbleached flour
2 t baking power
1/4 t salt
1/4 t each, nutmeg, clove, mace
1/2 t cinnamon
2 C chopped walnuts
Cream butter and sugar. Add pumpkin,
extract, and egg, and blend well. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder,
and spices and add to the pumpkin mixture. Add the walnuts and stir well. Drop
by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 12-13 minutes.
HARVEST MUFFINS
1/2 C fresh pumpkin pulp
1 egg
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C milk
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/2 C raisins
1 1/2 C unbleached flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t each, cinnamon and nutmeg
Beat egg, add vegetable oil, pumpkin,
and milk, and blend well. Sift dry ingredients together and add to liquid
mixture, stirring just enough to wet the flour. Fold in raisins. Bake in greased
muffin tin 18-20 minutes at 400 degrees.
PUMPKIN SPICE CAKE
1 C fresh pumpkin
pulp
1/2 C shortening
1 t molasses
3/4 C milk
2 eggs
2 C unbleached
white flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/4 C sugar
1/4 t each,
nutmeg, ginger, cloves
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/3 C chopped
dates
2/3 C chopped
walnuts
1/2 C whole wheat
flour
Cream the
shortening, then add molasses, eggs, milk, and pumpkin. Combine the white flour,
baking powder, soda, sugar, spices, and salt. Sift and add to the pumpkin
mixture. Combine the whole wheat flour, nuts, and dates and fold into the
batter. Pour into two 8x8x2 baking pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 mins.
FROSTING
1 8-oz. package
cream cheese
1/2 C margarine
1 box confectioner’s
sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 C chopped pecans
Combine all
ingredients except nuts and cream thoroughly. Stir in nuts and spread on cooled
cake.
BAKED
PUMPKIN
For
this recipe, it is not necessary to cook the pumpkin meat the second time, as
when preparing pulp. Simply cut the pumpkin into bite-sized chunks after the
first parboiling, and proceed as follows:
2 C parboiled
pumpkin, chunked
1/2 t pineapple or
orange juice
1/2 t clove
1 T butter
Pour the juice
over the pumpkin, dot with butter and sprinkle with clove. Cover and bake at 375
degrees for 20 minutes.
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