Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere!
What would the fall holidays be without pumpkins? They appear in window displays, holiday decorations, and become a wonderful addition to the daily menu. Here are some recipes to allow your kids to cook with pumpkin during this season.
Pumpkin Pie Leather
2 eggs
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
3/4 c. honey
1 t. ground cinnamon
½ t. ground ginger
¼ t. ground cloves
1 c. unsweetened evaporated milk
Place in blender in order given. Blend well. Prepare five (5) leather trays. Spread as directed. Dehydrate 8 to 10 hours, or until leather will pull away from liners. Yield: 5 leathers.
Pumpkin Pie Leather Chips
Dry fruit leather until brittle. These can be eaten as a snack, chopped to make toppings on cereals and puddings or reconstituted to flavor yogurt, ice cream, milk shakes, and baby cereal. Store dried chips in airtight glass or plastic contaners.
Pumpkin Chips
Cut peeled pumpkin strips into chips about the thickness of a dollar. To every pound of chips add a pound of sugar and the juice of one lemon. Let stand overnight. By morning there will be juice sufficient to cook it in. Cut lemon rinds into strips and boil until tender. Add to pumpkin and boil until pumpkin chips look clear. Cook on a slow fire.
Pumpkin Cake
½ c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar
½ c. granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
¾ c. mashed pumpkin
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
½ t. soda
1 t. salt
½ t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
½ t. allspice
¼ c. buttermilk
¾ c. walnuts, chopped
Cream shortening and sugars well. Beat in eggs and mashed pumpkin. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with buttermilk. Stir in nutmeats. Turn into greased and floured 8" layer cake pans. Bake at 350F for 25 - 30 minutes.
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Combine three beaten egg yolks, ¾ cup brown sugar, 1½ cup cooked pumpkin, ½ cup milk, ½ t. salt, ½ t. each nutmeg and cinnamon. Cook in double boiler until thick, stirring constantly. Soak one envelope unflavored gelatin in ¼ cup cold water, and stir into hot mixture. Chill until partly set. Beat three egg whites until stiff, add ¼ cup sugar and beat again. Fold into gelatin mixture. Pour into baked pie shell and chill until firm. Garnish with whipped cream.
Fried Pumpkin
After slicing pumpkin and cleaning out seed, scrape inside clean. Either halve or quarter pumpkin and bake until its soft enough to spoon out of shell. Put in iron skillet that's been greased and already frying hot. Add slat as you like. When pumpkin starts getting soft to a fork test, add as much sorghum molasses as you like to sweeten. Now cook until pumpkin get sort of orange brown. Better stir often to keep from scorching.
Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
1 (1 lb.) can of pumpkin
¾ c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 pint half-and-half
½ t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
½ t. ginger
¼ t. cloves
sprinkle of nutmeg
All you do with this is mix all of the above ingredients together very carefully. Then chill, crank, and freeze.
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
The provident mountain woman would not think of discarding pumpkin or winter squash seeds, and had a method for preparing them that makes them good eating. Remove fiber and put seeds on a baking sheet. Allow to dry about 12 hours, then toast in 400 F, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes, or until brown. If you prefer salted seeds, they may be soaked in heavily salted water after fibrous material is removed. After about an hour of soaking, drain, then let dry overnight. Toast as above.
