Pumpkin Pancakes

A couple weeks ago, each of my boys bought two pie pumpkins at the store. So, imagine 8 pumpkins waiting in my storage room for me to deal with them. That's a LOT of pumpkin! I cooked some of it up last week when Tim wanted pie, so I still have 3 pumpkins to deal with and I have pumpkin in the freezer!! I love that. So, the day after I was doing all the pumpkin stuff Tim wanted to make pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. We searched a recipe out and made some modifications. OF COURSE and the results were yummy! I made them again last night. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pancakes

Mix:
2 cups flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

In another bowl, mix:
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk (regular milk will work, too but NOT sweetened condensed)
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
2 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
2 tbsp vinegar

Combine the wet and the dry. Drop by 1/4 cup onto hot griddle. Spread each pancake out a bit so they aren't as thick.

Really good with whipped cream and/or syrup. Also, I made some with minced pecans and they were super, too!

Pumpkin Seeds

Rugby carved pumpkins at school on Friday. They take them to the Navarino Nature Center for their annual Fall Event (that's tonight, btw!). They have them lit and along a trail and it doesn't start until 6:30, so it's plenty dark to see them and the cool designs the kids carved into them. Normally, we don't carve our pumpkins. I have the kids paint them so that right after Halloween I can use them to make pies and the seeds are an added bonus. This year, the seeds are the main event since Rugby and Riley weren't able to be convinced to paint the pumpkins. Rugby was really excited about roasting seeds, though....he brought home 4 pumpkins worth after their carving event at school and we had 2 pumpkins that they carved here at home, so it's a nice amount of seeds to work with. Most of them were just olive oil and sea salt, but one batch I did get to make the "Martha Stewart" way. Years ago, I had seen her make these and tried them and INSTANTLY loved them. Then I forgot about them and now I haven't made them in a few years again. Today we made them and Rugby is also in love with them. Enjoy!



Martha Stewart Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from 1-2 pumpkins
5 tbsp sugar, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cumin
cayenne pepper, to taste
1 1/2 tbsp oil (I use EVOO or butter for this)

Preheat oven to 250. Line baking sheet with parchment paper before placing seeds on the baking sheet. Bake for 1 hour or until dry, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

In a medium bowl, mix salt, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne (I do a little shake), and 3 tbsp sugar. Set aside.

In a non-stick skillet, heat oil. Add seeds and 2 tbsp sugar. Cook until seeds begin to caramelize (45-60 seconds-ish). Pour seeds into the spice mixture and toss to coat. Allow to cool before eating. They will last 1 week in an airtight container...if you can resist them that long!

Cookies!

Today Tim had to take a plate of cookies with him to work. Every month or so a different department at his school is supposed to treat the other teachers, but they haven't done it since he's been there, so this month there are 3 departments working together on it. I didn't know that until AFTER I already baked cookies. So, I thought it was just him and the other teacher so I made 2 batches, one with chocolate and one without. So, he took both batches, anyway. The chocolate chip ones that I made were good, but they really flattened out....too much for my taste. I won't be making that recipe again, but from the same book, I got this recipe for Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting. Tim didn't get to try them last night because I was up until 11pm making them. Apparently they were good because he woke me up to tell me they were "terrible" (He thinks that telling me they are terrible will make me make them again since I RARELY ever make the same recipe twice...) Well, I have to agree, they are pretty darn good! I love the brown butter frosting....it's caramely in flavor and the color is GORGEOUS! They are a fussy cookie to make, but COMPLETELY worth it!! Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

2 3/4 c ap flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg (fresh ground if you can)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 c) unsalted butter (I used salted and cut down on the salt above to compensate), softened
2 1/4 c packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 c (14 oz) canned pumpkin (NOT pie filling!)
3/4 c evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together: flour, baking soda and powder, salt cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer (here's when I really LOVE my KitchenAid!). Mix in eggs. Reduce spead to low and add pumpkin, evaporated milk and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Add flour mixture and mix until combined. This mixture will be rather soft.

Use a pastry bag and a #12 (or similar) tip to pipe circles 1 1/2 inches around and 1 inch apart on a parchment lined or greased cookie sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, rotate pan and bake another 5-7 minutes or until tops spring back. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Icing
4 c powdered sugar
1 1/4 sticks (10 tbsp) unsalted butter
1/4 c plus 1 tbsp evaporated milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Put powdered sugar in the bowl you want to mix in. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling occasionally, until browned, about 3 minutes. Pour into the powdered sugar and scrape the browned bits from the pan into the frosting. Add evaporated milk and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Frost each cookie with approx 1 tsp of frosting. Allow to set before stacking. Can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for 3 days. (Like they'd last that long!) Makes approx 6 dozen

Pumpkin Bread

This weekend we were at some friend's house and she made some AWESOME pumpkin bread. I thought I'd share the recipe here. I'm planning to make this later today, provided kids stop throwing up long enough for me to do that.

Pumpkin Bread

3 1/2 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 c sugar
1 c oil
4 eggs
2/3 c water
2 c pumpkin

Whisk dry ingredients together. Stir wet ingredients together. Add the wet to the dry and beat until smooth. Pour into 2 greased bread pans. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Enjoy!