Maple Pecan Pumpkin Pie

~Day Five of Pumpkin Week~

Looking for a new pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving?  This maple pecan pumpkin pie is easy and delicious.

Ingredients:
Your favorite pie crust recipe* single crust

2  cups  fresh pumpkin puree
            or 1 16 ounce can pumpkin
1/4  cup  sugar
2  eggs, lightly beaten
1  cup  whipping cream
1/2  cup  pure maple syrup
1  tsp  cinnamon
1/2  tsp  nutmeg
1/4  tsp  ground ginger
1/4  tsp  ground cloves

Toppings:
1/2  cup  pecan halves
2  Tbsp  pure maple syrup

1/2  cup  whipping cream
1  Tbsp  pure maple syrup


Heat oven to 375*.  Line 9" pie plate with pie crust.  Set aside.
In large bowl combine pumpkin puree, sugar and eggs.  Add remaining pie ingredients, except for toppings.  Pour into prepared pie shell.  Cover edges of crust with strip of aluminum foil.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove aluminum foil.  Bake additional 15 to 25 minutes, or until knife or toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Arrange pecan halves on top of pie; drizzle 2 Tbsp maple syrup over pecans.
In chilled small mixer bowl, beat whipping cream at high speed, scraping bowl often, until stiff peaks form.  Gradually add 1 Tbsp maple syrup; continue beating until stiff peaks form (1-2 minutes).
Serve pie with whipped cream.
Serves 8

Pumpkin Milkshake

~Day Four of Pumpkin Week~

A pumpkin milkshake in November?  Of course!  Here's a simple recipe using fresh pumpkin puree.

Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
10 scoops vanilla ice cream
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Pour 1 cup almond milk into blender pitcher, add pumpkin puree until milk and pumpkin reach the "2-cup" level.  Then add ice cream and pie spice.  Blend for about 10 seconds.  Makes approx 2- 12 oz servings.

 Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/4 cup ground cinnamon
2 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg*
1/2 tsp ground cardamom (optional)

Pumpkin Muffins Mmmm

~Day Three of Pumpkin Week~

Who doesn't love a pumpkin muffin?  I've been making these muffins for almost 20 years now. They're easy to make and fairly low in fat and sugar.  You can leave off the optional toppings, but they just won't be the same if you do.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1  cup whole wheat flour
3/4  cup All-purpose flour
1/2  cup sugar
3  tsp baking powder
1  tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4  tsp salt
3/4  cup pumpkin puree
1/2  cup low fat milk (I use 2%)
1/4  cup oil
1  egg

Optional Toppings:
low-fat cream cheese
brown sugar
chopped pecans

Heat oven to 400*F.  Spray 12 muffin cups with non-stick spray or use paper liners and spray those with spray.
In large bowl combine all dry ingredients and stir to combine.  In small bowl, combine all wet ingredients and whisk together completely.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until combined.  Do not over mix.
Use a large ice cream scoop to evenly divide the batter into the 12 muffin cups.

Press about 1 teaspoon of cream cheese into the center of each muffin.

Top each with about a teaspoon of brown sugar and then top with finely chopped pecans.  Gently press pecans into top of muffin batter to "set" them.

Depending on the type of muffin pan you're using, bake for 15-25 minutes (Mine took 25 minutes in the stoneware).  Cool on wire rack, serve warm, store in refrigerator.  I like to make several batches and store them in the freezer.
Makes 12 muffins.

Pictured below is another delicious pumpkin muffin........chocolate chip pumpkin muffin to be exact. It's so full of flavor!

You can find the recipe {here}.  The recipe calls for sliced almonds, however I used finely chopped pecans since I was already using them for the other recipe and I love pumpkin and pecans together.

Check back tomorrow for day 4 of Pumpkin Week!

Making Spiced Pumpkin Butter....Yum!

~Day Two of Pumpkin Week~

Yesterday I {shared} how to make pumpkin puree from fresh pumpkins.  Today I'll be showing you how to make a simple spiced pumpkin butter with some of that puree.  It's easy & super delicious!

I doubled the recipe, but will be listing the "single" recipe ingredient amounts.  A single recipe makes about 4 to 5 half-pint jars.

While this recipe only takes about 30 minutes to cook, you'll need to allow at least an hour beforehand for straining the liquid from the puree.

Ingredients:
3  1/2  cups fresh pumpkin puree
1  1/4  cups maple syrup (not flavored pancake syrup)
1/2  cup apple cider or juice
2  Tblsp lemon juice
1  tsp ground ginger
1/2  tsp ground cinnamon
1/2  tsp ground nutmeg
1/4  tsp salt

First, you'll need to line a large sieve or colander with a couple layers of cheesecloth.  Set the colander over a bowl and spoon pumpkin puree into the cheesecloth.  Let set for at least an hour.

After this time, gather the corners and sides of the cheesecloth and gently begin to twist & tighten the cheesecloth around the puree.  Being careful not to squeeze too hard, press as much liquid out as you can.

 Don't skip this part, I was able to drain more than a cup of liquid from my 7 cups of puree.  If you're making the single recipe, you should get about a half cup of liquid.

Once you've drained as much liquid as possible from the puree.  Put the puree in a large pot and whisk in remaining ingredients.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring often.  Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for 20-25 minutes, stirring very often to prevent burning.

After about 25 minutes, spoon pumpkin butter into freezer-safe canning jars, leaving half-inch headspace.  Let cool, then twist on lids & label.  Can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week or in the freezer for 6 months. Single recipe makes about 4 or 5 half pint jars.

I was able to make 10 half pint jars from a double recipe.  It's so easy and delicious, I hope you'll try it!

My favorite way to enjoy this pumpkin butter is with plain Greek yogurt & granola.  It makes a great breakfast or snack.

I hope you'll stop by tomorrow for day 3 of Pumpkin Week.

How to Make Pumpkin Puree

~Day One of Pumpkin Week~

We are well into "Pumpkin Season" and I've been wanting to make pumpkin puree to use for several favorite recipes for Fall.  I recently bought 7 sugar pumpkins from our local produce market just for this purpose.  I do keep commercial canned pumpkin in the pantry, but there's nothing like using homemade when it's available.  If you've never tried making your own, it's easier than you probably think!

After you've picked out small, unblemished sugar pumpkins, you'll want to wash and dry each one. Then cut the top off and cut it in half.

Next, scoop out all of the seeds (save for roasting if you'd like) and scrape out as many of the stringy fibers as you can leaving the pumpkin flesh intact.  I used a couple of tools from the Halloween carving kit.

Then cut each piece again so that your pumpkin is now quartered.  Place all of your pumpkin pieces on parchment lined baking sheets.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  I decided to use both ovens since I had so many slices and was able to get the roasting done quickly.

Place your baking sheets in the oven and roast for 45 minutes to one hour.

The pumpkin should be fork tender, skins wrinkled and beginning to separate from the pumpkin flesh.

If the skins aren't wrinkled and easily peeled away, leave in oven a bit longer.

The skin should look similar to the above photo and be separating like in the photos below.

Pull the skins away from the flesh and scrape as much flesh from the skins as possible.  Place a little at a time (maybe 4 slices) into the bowl of a food processor and puree for 10-20 seconds at a time, scraping sides of bowl down if necessary.  Process until the puree is smooth.

If you don't have a food processor, you can use a blender (just be sure to not liquefy your pumpkin) or use a food mill.

If you aren't using your puree immediately, you can store it in a bowl in the refrigerator for a few days.  I like to press a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the puree before placing the lid on the bowl.  This keeps liquid from pooling on top of the puree.

If you would like to store your puree for a longer period of time, it can be frozen.  I like to use wide mouth pint jars with the white plastic freezer/pantry lids.

Pumpkin puree is too thick to safely process it for pantry storage.  It needs to either be used immediately or stored in the freezer.

I was able to make about 28 cups of puree from the 7 sugar pumpkins I roasted.  Check back each day this week for a different pumpkin recipe.

Making Applesauce

Fresh Picked Apples

Last month we picked two baskets of apples from one of our trees.  The first basket weighed 20 pounds.  The basket picked a week later weighed 24 pounds.  What to do with all those apples?  I decided to make applesauce with about 24 pounds of them. 

Homemade Applesauce

According to one of my canning books, 12 pounds of apples would make about 8 pints or 4 quarts of applesauce. I weighed out 12 pounds of apples and washed them.  Then I set to work on peeling them with my peeler, corer, slicer contraption.  I'm not sure how long this took, but it seemed like forever.  Although, I'm absolutely sure it was faster than doing all the work by hand. 

Apples, Peeler, & Jars to save peels & cores for making cider vinegar

If you don't have one of these peeler, corer, slicers, I recommend that you find one.  I purchased this one from The Pampered Chef about 12 or more years ago and it comes with 2 different slicing widths options.  It's simple to use; just push your apple onto the spikes at the end of the rod and turn the handle.  The apple is moved to the left where it is peeled, cored and sliced into a spiral.  From the there, you can cut in half to give you perfectly sliced apples for baking, canning or snacking.

Apple Peeler, Corer, Slicer in action

As you can see in the background of the photo above, I was saving the peels and cores to make cider vinegar.  You can read about that {here}

As you're peeling your apples, you'll need to set your cut pieces into a large pot (I needed my 12 quart pot for this) and treat them with citric acid (available where you purchase canning supplies) to prevent browning.  Once you have all of your apples in the pot, add about a cup of water and heat them until they begin to soften, stirring often to prevent sticking.

Apples cooking down a little to soften

After this, transfer a little at a time to a food mill (the amount will depend on how large your food mill is) and puree through into another pot (an 8 quart pot was perfect for this).  Keep working until you've turned all of your cooked apples into applesauce.

*Before you begin the food mill step, this is a good time to start heating your canner water & jars.  By the time you're finished with the puree, your jars will be heated.

Cooked apples in the food mill

Once you're finished with the puree, add 4 Tbsp of lemon juice to your applesauce.  If desired you can sweeten your applesauce with up to 3 cups of sugar.
Return your applesauce to the stove and bring just to a boil.  Then you're ready to begin filling jars.
Ladle hot applesauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Process in a waterbath canner, both pint & quart jars process for 20 minutes.  After these 20 minutes, turn off  burner, remove canner lid and let rest for 5 minutes before removing jars. Remove jars from canner and let cool for 24 hours.

You may experience leakage from your jars.  If this happens, leave your jars to cool undisturbed, as they will still most likely seal.  After cooling for 24 hours, remove bands, check seals and wash all sealed jars along with their bands.  Refrigerate any unsealed jars.

Completed applesauce ready for the jars

The first day I made a batch of unsweetened applesauce.  The next day I made cinnamon applesauce.  To make cinnamon applesauce, add 4 teaspoons of cinnamon to the applesauce during the step where you add the lemon juice (& sugar if you're using that).  You can also  use any combination of ground spices; cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, etc.

Unsweetened & Cinnamon Applesauce

I used about 12 pounds for each batch and was able to make 9 pints from each.

Unsweetened Applesauce

I ended up using all of those 44 pounds of apples that we first picked (I canned some in light syrup as well) and I picked about 45 pounds more last Sunday.  I think I know what I'll be working on next week!

Cinnamon Applesauce

Making Paprika

Paprika Peppers

Last Fall I read somewhere online about how to make paprika.  I didn't realize how easy it was.  I really didn't even know that a "Paprika Pepper" existed.  Come to think of it, I guess I thought paprika was a blend of peppers.  So...when ordering seeds last Winter / early Spring, I found some paprika pepper seeds at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  I grew 2 little seedlings and planted them in the garden.  They were so easy to grow and are still producing peppers.

To begin with, I collected ripe red peppers over a couple of weeks, storing the peppers in an airtight plastic bag in the refrigerator.  This kept them fresh and firm.  Once I had a good amount, (I didn't weigh them or count them, but you can see there are quite a few)  I decided it was time to dehydrate them.

Paprika pepper slices ready to dehydrate

If you have sensitive skin, you may want to wear gloves while working with the peppers as they do have a little heat to them.  Remove the stems, core and seeds and slice into thin pieces about 1/4 inch wide.  I had about 4 trays of pepper pieces.
Place on dehydrator trays and dry at 130 degrees for about 16 hours, until dry and crispy.

Crispy little paprika pepper strips

Once your pepper pieces are thoroughly dry, put them in your blender or food processor.  The Vitamix dry blade container works perfectly for this.

Nearly filled the 4 cup container

Blend or pulse for a few seconds at a time until a fine powder forms.  It really only took about 10-20 seconds to turn the crispy peppers into a fine powder.

Depending on your blender or food processor, you may need to pulse or blend a little longer.

About 10-20 seconds later

A fine powder of paprika has formed.

We have paprika seasoning now instead of paprika peppers

Next, using a wide mouth funnel, pour your paprika into a jar.

Into the jar

Seal with an airtight lid, label it and store in a dry pantry.

Fresh, homegrown paprika seasoning ready for use

It's really that easy!  Now you can enjoy fresh paprika in your recipes or sprinkled over deviled eggs and potato salads.