Pumpkin Bread

One of my favorite things about fall is baking with pumpkin. The cool weather combined with the sweet aroma of pumpkins makes for such a cozy feeling. I wish it could be fall all year- althought I probably wouln't appreciate it as much.
I decided to bake some pumpkin bread a couple of nights ago since I still have some frozen pumpkin puree left over from the giant pumpkin I baked the other day. I had to substitute walnuts for pecans because I accidentaly burned my walnuts, that's what happens when one doens't pay atttention! I must take charge of the ADHD in me. Despite that it came out pretty good, nice and moist. Speaking of moist, because the pumpkin was frozen and thawed it was very liquidy, so I added a little less oil than the recipe called for. Another thing I always do, even when the recipe doesns't call for it, is lightly toasting my nuts, it really enhances the flavor.

Spiced Pumpkin Bread ( Epicurious Recipe)

Ingredients

3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 16-oz can solid pack pumpkin
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts ( optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans. Beat sugar and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir in pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in walnuts, if desired.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. bake until tester inserterd into center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool.

                                   Loaves cooling on rack. Yum!

                                 I love the color of the fresh pumpkin.

                                 Going into the oven.

Pumpkin Pie

What can I say? After a lot of research I ended up using the exact same recipe I have been using for years. I thought of substituting evaporated milk for condensed milk but Dear Husband doesn't like his desserts very sweet, and since I make this pie for him, I decided to keep it simple the way he likes it. I did however used my fresh pumpkin puree instead of the one in a can, and it did make a difference! It was more aromatic and creamier.

                  Ready to go into the oven.

So it turns out I forgot to take a picture of the pumpkin pie. But here is a group picture, sugar-free chocolate cake on the left ( baked by my mom). pecan pie on the right and pumpkin on top.

Pumpkin Cake

Tonight I decided to use some of that pumpkin I pureed over the weekend, and found a recipe I had saved a long time ago but had never gotten around to making it. It is from Cooking Light. I made a couple of modifications and it came out terrific! The house smelled incredible, and Dear Husband couldn't wait to eat it, he nearly burnt his tongue. 

Ingredients

• 3 1/4  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  tablespoon  baking powder
• 2 1/2  teaspoons  ground cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1  teaspoon  ground nutmeg
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1 1/2  cups  fresh or canned pumpkin puree
• 1/2  cup  applesauce ( I didn't have any, used vegetable oil instead)
• 1 1/2  cups  granulated sugar
• 1/2  cup  stick margarine, softened
• 3  large egg whites (only had 2 eggs, so used both of them whole)
• 2  teaspoons  vanilla extract
• Cooking spray
• 3  tablespoons  dark or light brown sugar
• 1  tablespoon  dark rum
• 1  teaspoon  skim milk
• 3  tablespoons  powdered sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine first 6 ingredients; set flour mixture aside. Combine pumpkin and applesauce; set aside.
Beat granulated sugar and margarine in a large bowl at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 5 minutes). Add egg whites and vanilla, beating well. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Pour batter into a 12-cup Bundt pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan.
Combine brown sugar, rum, and milk in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until brown sugar dissolves. Remove sugar mixture from heat, and add powdered sugar, stirring with a whisk. Spoon glaze over warm cake.

Pumpkin Puree

When I was a little girl back in Brazil, there was no canned pumpkin ( as a matter of fact, I still don't think there is) so my mom used to peel the pumpkin, cut it in cubes and boil it on the stove forever, which was messy and time-consuming.

Last night I was watching Chow on my Roku and came across a much easier way to get the pulp. Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I decided to give it a try, after all fresh ingredients are always better than canned ones. So I went to my local grocer and got a Cinderella pumpkin, the recommended variety. . I came home and wrapped it really well in aluminum foil, put it on a baking sheet and stuck it a 200F, pre-heated oven. I then turned the timer for 9 hours ( because the pumpkin was so huge) and went to bed. I woke up this morning and it smelled so good! When the timer went off I turned the oven off but left the pumpkin in there for another hour or so while I cooked something else.

When I removed the pumpkin from the foil it was super easy to peel it, it pretty much cracked open by itself. Dear Husband and I proceeded to scoop out the seeds and strings, and after that it was a breeze to get to the pulp. The whole ordeal only took about 20 minutes and it was a very neat job, because of the foil. The baking pan was so clean it did not even need to be rinsed, it went straight back into the drawer.

As for the pulp, I blended it with an immersion blender for about two minutes, they were so soft already. It kinda looked like baby food at the end. 

And for 99c I now have 12 cups of pumpkin puree! I froze ten in batches of 2 cups each, and left 2 cups out to use this week...I guess I will be spending a lot of time googling " pumpkin recipes" :-) Please let me know if you have a good one!

                      The whole uncooked pumpkin ready to be wrapped into foil.

                   Removing the strings and seeds from the cooked pumpkin.

                                             Scooping out the pulp.