Pumpkin Recipes

I'm finally getting around to getting my pumpkin cooked and think of recipes and I'm finally posting the recipes I promised.

Pumpkin Cookies
1/2 cup margerine
1-1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup pureed pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup nuts

Grease cookie sheets.  Cream shortening and sugar.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, add pumpkin and beat until smooth. 

Sift dry ingredients.   Add raisins and nuts.  Stir into pumpkin mixture.  Drop onto greased cookie sheet.

bake 12-15 minutes.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup canned seasoned pumpkin pie filling

Combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger, set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar.  Beat in molasses and pumpkin.  Add dry ingredients until well mixed.  Wrap well in plastic wrap or waxed paper and chill several hours or overnight. 

Preheat oven to 357F.  On a floured board, roll out half the dough to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into desired shapes with floured cookie cutters.  Place on a lightly greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Bake 7-10 minutes or until edges are set.  Remove cookies to wire rack to cool.

Repeat with remaining dough.  When cool, decorate with icing.  Shortening produces a white icing, suitable for ghosts.

I'm confused, but hungry.  The second recipie has no shortening or sugar amounts. Ahhhh. Now I want cookies!!

All fixed.  Thanks for the save bookgrl!

Pumpkin Soup:

Ingredients:
1 pumpkin (5-6 lbs)  Cut in half, ball out inside; should end up with 8 cups of pumpkin
1/4 cup butter
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
6 cups of chicken stock
1 bay leaf

1 1/2 cup light cream
2 TBLS. orange zest
2 TBLS. orange juice
1 TBLS. lemon juice
1/8 ts. nutmeg
1/8 ts. ginger
salt, pepper
3/4 - 1 cup of Gruyere/or swiss cheese
Bit of chedder

optional: sprinkle croutons or toasted pumpkin seeds on top.  Can serve in pumpkin if desired.


Recipe:
Saute onion in butter (about 5 minutes). Add 6 cups of chicken stock, add pumpkin and bring to a boil. Add bay leaf, drop temp and simmer (15-30 minutes) until tender. Take bay leaf out. Puree soup. Put back in pan on low temp.  Add light cream, orange zest, orange juice, lemon juice, nutmeg, ginger, salt, pepper, gruyere or swiss cheese and a little cheddar until melted.

I made the first type of cookies tonight, although I might have accidentally replaced raisins with chocolate chips.  How did that happen?  :-)

I thought that since it's that time of year, I would revive this thread!

Here's a pumpkin dip, great with gingersnaps! 

1 16oz can pureed pumpkin
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
2-3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon (adjust to taste, I like a little more)
1 tbsp minced ginger

whip together until fluffy

PUMPKIN PRALINE CAKE

FILLING
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup softened butter

CAKE
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
4 eggs

Mix the filling ingredients together and chill.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a Bundt pan.

Beat the cake ingredients together for 4 minutes. Pour half the batter into the pan.

Roll the chilled filling into a log and place it over the batter, being careful not to let it touch the sides of the pan. Cover with the remaining batter.

Bake for 1 hour. Let the cake cool for 45 minutes to 1 hour in the pan before inverting it onto a plate.

We tried these Pumpkin Ginger Nut Muffins from the Simply Recipes website last week and loved them!

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/006124pumpkin_ginger_nut_muffins.php

Pumpkin Soup:

Ingredients:
1 pumpkin (5-6 lbs)  Cut in half, ball out inside; should end up with 8 cups of pumpkin
1/4 cup butter
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
6 cups of chicken stock
1 bay leaf

I'm thinking of making this tomorrow! It sounds delish! I'm just confused about the pumpkin. You say to "ball out" the inside ... but won't it be hard? Do you mean to cook it first? Or peel the raw pumpkin and cut it up in pieces?

Good question - I usually ball out the inside and you're right it is hard. It's probably just me but I had not thought to do it the other way  of peeling it then cutting it up. If that's easier then go for it.  It really is a nice tasting recipe so hope you enjoy it:)

I ended up cutting the pumpkin into chunks and peeling it. It was still pretty difficult, though! The peeling, especially! The recipe was absolutely delicious! But I think if I did it again, I might roast the pumpkin first and then scoop out the soft flesh before making the soup - to avoid the peeling.

I loved the lemon and orange flavours in it! I've had it for lunch the past couple of days, and my freezer is still full of tubs of soup! Yaye! Thanks for the recipe!

 

I find that it is a big pain to try and actually peel pumpkin (or any hard squash, for that matter).  I always just slice them into pieces that will fit into an oven-proof dish, add a little bit of water, bake them until they are soft, and then scoop it out and use it in whatever recipe.

Do you think that would have a big impact on any of these recipes?  I have mostly given up on finding a reliable source of pumpkin around here, and I just make a sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving instead.  I made pumpkin from scratch last year with a rather expensive fresh one, and it just wasn't as good. 

To easily ball out the inside of the pumpkin you should cut it in half, and roast it in the oven upside down for about 30 minutes or until soft. Then once it cools a bit you can scoop it out easier. My mom also does that in the microwave, but it tastes better when done in the oven.

You all were just balling it out while hard!!!! Wow you must be strong!!! 

Do you think that would have a big impact on any of these recipes?  I have mostly given up on finding a reliable source of pumpkin around here, and I just make a sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving instead.  I made pumpkin from scratch last year with a rather expensive fresh one, and it just wasn't as good. 

I've found fresh pumpkins to be pretty inexpensive, actually! Much cheaper than buying tinned stuff. Besides, the tinned stuff is loaded with sugar syrup, so I wouldn't use that for a savoury soup even if I did have it available.

But, yes, I'm sure you can use fresh pumpkin for any of the recipes here! For pie, you might have to drain it, though, as there's lots of liquid in it. Of course, for soup that doesn't matter.

I always use fresh pumpkin for my pumpkin things. I put cans on their because it's how I have it written down, but I just substitute the same amount of fresh.