Pumpkin Recipes, With and Without Spice

Click image if you're basic.

I'd have my Basic White Girl card taken away if there weren't at least a dozen pumpkin recipes on the blog. No chance of that happening, as there are eighteen recipes (so far) using pumpkin as a main ingredient. Most of the recipes are sweet, of course, but a couple are savory. Pumpkin is a vegetable, after all. I am rather surprised that I don't have a recipe for pumpkin hummus here somewhere--a situation that will be rectified very soon. I recently found a yummy-sounding one on the Interwebs but haven't had a chance to whip it up. 

I've made more variations on pumpkin cheesecake (3) than anything else. There are also muffins, cake, cupcakes, breakfast items, plus soup and risotto. One thing I noticed while searching for pumpkin recipes: the older posts have some pretty horrible photography! Going from small digital camera to iPhone camera has made a big difference in the quality of my images. Good lighting makes an impact as well. So this post is recipe-heavy and photo-light. 

Curried Pumpkin Soup This recipe is stupid-simple. 

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chai Muffins This is clearly one of my more recent recipes, as I eat mostly gluten-free these days. Plus I'm hoping that the term will attract new followers to the blog....

mini pumpkin cheesecakes

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes Specialty pan alert! You need two 4-inch springform pans for this recipe. I suppose one 6" pan will do, but the cheesecake will need to bake for a bit more time. Don't ask how long. It's in your hands now.

Pumpkin Bread Just to be different, I added a bit of curry powder. 

Pumpkin Butter Don't spend $5 on a jar of pre-made pumpkin butter! Make it yourself for much less.

Pumpkin Cheesecake This is for a full-sized cheesecake to serve to family and friends. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies Rather than the usual cream cheese-swirled brownie, these are topped with a thick layer of pumpkin cheesecake. 

Pumpkin Cornbread There's actually no good reason to add pumpkin to cornbread. But I did it anyway.

Pumpkin Cupcakes Rich and moist, these cupcakes taste better after a day or two.

Pumpkin Fruitcake Don't be afraid--this is more pumpkin bread with dried fruits and nuts than actual fruitcake. Real fruit, not those awful red and green plasticized cherries.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle is a great dish for the upcoming Winter holidays. Make it easy on yourself and use boxed gingerbread and pudding mixes.

Pumpkin Oatmeal sure is cozy on a fall morning!

Pumpkin Pancakes are too!

"pumpkin" pie made with squash

"Pumpkin" Pie There are quotes around the word "pumpkin" because this recipe calls for fresh squash. Pretty much all canned pumpkin is actually butternut squash, and it can be substituted for the other squashes in this recipe. 

Pumpkin Risotto There are no "pumpkin spice" spices in this recipe!

Pumpkin Seed Brittle only uses the seeds, not the flesh. My late Dad said it was "like heaven" in his mouth. 

Pumpkin Spice Cake This is like a blondie, only pumpkin-spicier.

Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Compote Do make the compote! 

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Minx Fruitcake

Fruitcake is one of those things that one either loves or hates. The majority of people proclaim to hate it, but judging from the quantity of fruitcake one sees in the shops this time of year, *somebody* likes it. Other than my Dad, that is. He'll even eat the cheap-o square fruitcake logs full of plastic-looking dyed "fruit" they sell in drug stores.

I've never been a fan of the stuff myself. Until I made my own. Years back, I made a couple of fruitcakes that I soaked in booze. The idea was to allow them to mellow in the fridge for a few weeks until Christmas came around. Unfortunately, the fridge I used had humidity control issues. By Christmas day, the cakes were both green and fuzzy, and I had to throw all that work away. Now I tend to make my fruitcakes closer to Christmas, and I don't worry about boozing them up too much

--Kathy


This post was originally published on December 23, 2011.
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Minx Fruitcake

Believe it or not, people have been asking for my fruitcake recipe. I usually just give guidelines but have finally put the whole thing in one place. Please to enjoy - it really is good! (And I normally hate fruitcake.)

Minx Fruitcake

1 1/2 cups of assorted dried fruits (chopped apricots, chopped figs, cherries, pineapple, blueberries, raisins, currants, candied ginger, cranberries)
1/2 cup rum
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup candied orange rind
1/4 cup chopped neon green or red cherries for fruitcake (optional)
1 cup assorted roasted unsalted nuts (cashews, almonds, pecans, walnuts, brazil nuts, filberts)
booze

Put dried fruit in a microwave-safe bowl and pour over the rum. Stir well, cover with plastic wrap, and nuke on high for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a loaf pan with release spray and set aside. Combine the first five ingredients in the bowl of a mixer (or use a hand mixer) and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and spices. Add the macerated fruit (plus the rum) and nuts. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

With the fruitcake still in the loaf pan, poke holes in it with a toothpick. Pour over about 1/4 cup booze of your choice (rum is nice). Allow to soak in. Add another 1/4 cup or so after the cake has cooled a bit. When cake is completely cool, remove from loaf pans and wrap tightly in foil.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - 12.13.2013

This post was originally published on December 23, 2011.
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Fruitcake

Believe it or not, people have been asking for my fruitcake recipe. I usually just give guidelines but have finally put the whole thing in one place. Please to enjoy - it really is good! (And I normally hate fruitcake.)

Minx Fruitcake

1 1/2 cups of assorted dried fruits (chopped apricots, chopped figs, cherries, pineapple, blueberries, raisins, currants, candied ginger, cranberries)
1/2 cup rum
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup candied orange rind
1/4 cup chopped neon green or red cherries for fruitcake (optional)
1 cup assorted roasted unsalted nuts (cashews, almonds, pecans, walnuts, brazil nuts, filberts)
booze

Put dried fruit in a microwave-safe bowl and pour over the rum. Stir well, cover with plastic wrap, and nuke on high for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a loaf pan with release spray and set aside. Combine the first five ingredients in the bowl of a mixer (or use a hand mixer) and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and spices. Add the macerated fruit (plus the rum) and nuts. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

With the fruitcake still in the loaf pan, poke holes in it with a toothpick. Pour over about 1/4 cup booze of your choice (rum is nice). Allow to soak in. Add another 1/4 cup or so after the cake has cooled a bit. When cake is completely cool, remove from loaf pans and wrap tightly in foil.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Minx Fruitcake

Believe it or not, people have been asking for my fruitcake recipe. I usually just give guidelines but have finally put the whole thing in one place. Please to enjoy - it really is good! (And I normally hate fruitcake.)

Minx Fruitcake

1 1/2 cups of assorted dried fruits (chopped apricots, chopped figs, cherries, pineapple, blueberries, raisins, currants, candied ginger, cranberries)
1/2 cup rum
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup candied orange rind
1/4 cup chopped neon green or red cherries for fruitcake (optional)
1 cup assorted roasted unsalted nuts (cashews, almonds, pecans, walnuts, brazil nuts, filberts)
booze

Put dried fruit in a microwave-safe bowl and pour over the rum. Stir well, cover with plastic wrap, and nuke on high for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a loaf pan with release spray and set aside. Combine the first five ingredients in the bowl of a mixer (or use a hand mixer) and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and spices. Add the macerated fruit (plus the rum) and nuts. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

With the fruitcake still in the loaf pan, poke holes in it with a toothpick. Pour over about 1/4 cup booze of your choice (rum is nice). Allow to soak in. Add another 1/4 cup or so after the cake has cooled a bit. When cake is completely cool, remove from loaf pans and wrap tightly in foil.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Pumpkin Fruitcake

I know a lot of folks don't like fruitcake. I don't either, actually, especially not the typical dyed cherry-filled abomination. But my Dad loves the stuff - plastic fruits and all - so I gave him rather fabulous home-made fruitcakes for the past two Christmasses in a row. He got one for his birthday this year, too, but it was a fruitcake in name only. A pumpkin bread studded with dried fruits and nuts, this moist creation was also a big hit.

Pumpkin Fruitcake, adapted from this recipe

1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 2/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 cup roasted unsalted nuts of your choice, chopped into rough chunks
3/4 cup dried fruits including figs, apricots, sour cherries, cranberries, raisins, chopped into rough chunks

Preheat oven to 350°.

In one bowl, cream butter and sugar. In another bowl combine eggs, water and pumpkin. Add butter mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir together dry ingredients in a third bowl. Add about one-third of the dry ingredients at a time to pumpkin mixture, stirring well after each addition. Mix in nuts and dried fruits. Bake bread in greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan for 60 to 75 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out with only a few dry crumbs attached.

Photo: © Poisson d'Avril/SoFood/Corbis 
Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Fruitcakery

When I made Coconut & Lime's Cranberry Ginger Tea Bread, I thought the recipe needed something. I was originally going to try again and add more oil and maybe another egg and be done with it, but as the original loaf sat around, the more I thought it tasted like a fruitcake base. So that's what it became. Dad was over on cookie-baking day, lamenting the fact that he had not yet had any fruitcake. He's not a connoisseur--he'll eat the super-commercial Claxton or Hostess brands with no complaint--but I thought he should have a good fruitcake this year. A home-made one, even.

You legion of fruitcake fans out there are probably thinking "Wait up there, Miss Minx! Fruitcake must be made weeks, even months, before its eaten! It needs to be wrapped in cheesecloth and doused in spirits (so consumers won't notice how bad it really is)." Yeah yeah, I tried that once. It was a lot of work and expense and the cake came out moldy because the fridge I stored it in had humidity issues. Never again.

And that's why a quickbread version sounded particularly attractive to me. I changed the original recipe by swapping out the 1/4 cup of oil for 1/2 cup of butter. I didn't have sour cream on hand so used yogurt instead. And I omitted the fresh ginger.

The fruit component of the "fruitcake" was made up of 3/4 cup of mixed dried blueberries, raspberries, and cranberries that I soaked in warm vanilla rum, about a cup and a half of chopped walnuts and pecan halves, and a good handful of that weird plastic-y fruitcake fruit (because I know Dad likes it).

All of the extra ingredients required an extra half hour in the oven, but look at how golden brown and delicious it came out! I made sure the cake wasn't stuck in the pan before I brushed on a vanilla rum syrup (simple syrup with rum added). After unmolding the bread, I brushed the syrup on all sides and let it cool completely before wrapping it in foil.

I presented it to Dad on Boxing Day. He wasted no time in getting a knife.

Shockingly, amazingly - it was good. I hate fruitcake, and I thought this was pretty great. It wasn't too sweet, and there wasn't too much of the green cherry stuff. I think I might make this an annual tradition, switching up the recipe a bit every year. I realized as I was eating it that candied citrus peel is an integral part of the fruitcake flavor, as are nuts. The other candied bits are for texture and color. So next year I'll skip the red and green stuff. I think figs would make a good addition, maybe some dried sour cherries too.

Any other suggestions? Does anyone out there actually like fruitcake?

Fruitcake

Ok, who else doesn't like fruitcake? Maybe I've just never had one that was really good, but I've never been able to tolerate the stuff. Back in the 80s, my Mom used to order them from Mary of Puddin Hill, and they weren't too horrible, but they were still chock full of nasty, plastic-like, candied fruits. My Dad loves fruitcake, even the cheap rectangles of the stuff they sell at the drug store starting the day after Thanksgiving.

One year, I thought I'd make homemade fruitcake - heavy on the nuts and booze, light on the fruit and cake. The recipe I used resulted in two huge rings, each of which I wrapped in booze-soaked cloth and stored in the bottom of our spare fridge. After several weeks of faithful re-boozing, I discovered that they had started to grow mold - the fridge was far too humid a spot to cure fruitcake. Both went in the garbage. What a waste!

Oddly enough, considering I really don't like raisins, I do enjoy a good Christmas pudding. I've made those from scratch before with much success. This year, I ordered one online, a Duchy Originals organic pud. I popped it in the microwave for 3 minutes and served it with Bird's Custard (also prepared in the nuker). HRH Prince Chuckles makes a good product! The pudding was extremely moist and flavorful and better than the several home-made varieties I've eaten in the past.

So who out there actually likes fruitcake? Who gave or received them as gifts? How about Christmas pudding?