Tag: pumpkin

No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

All Things Pumpkin, Desserts



This dessert is a hybrid of three different recipes.   Gratefully, it came together as I hoped it would.  It’s a no-bake cheesecake with gingersnap crust, cheesecake layer, and pumpkin layer.  It looks pretty and tastes rich and delicious.

If you don’t want to bake at all, pick up a graham cracker crust from the store.  I think it would also taste good, but I prefer the way the dark brown crust looks with the pumpkin color, and the gingersnap taste adds the perfect touch.

Here we go.


For the crust you’ll need:

1.5 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs 3 Tb. sugar 1 tsp. ground ginger 6 Tb. melted butter In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs, sugar and ginger.  Add melted butter and stir to combine.  Press into 9 inch pie pan and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely.


Next comes the cheesecake layer.  You will need:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened 1 Tb. lemon juice 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk 3/4 cup cool whip In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.  Add lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk and mix until combined.  Fold in cool whip.  Spread over cooled gingersnap crust.


Last comes the pumpkin layer which is basically an adaptation of this pumpkin dip recipe .

Ingredients:
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin 1 (5 oz) package instant vanilla pudding 1 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. ginger 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/4 tsp. allspice 1/3 cup raw sugar 8 oz. cool whip Mix together pumpkin and pudding.  Add spices.  Fold in cool whip and then stir in raw sugar.  Spread over cheesecake layer.  Refrigerate 2 hours.  Slice and serve.


YUM.  It’s fun to experiment.  We loved the way the layers look together, and the combination of flavors in each bite.


Hope you love it!
Hopeful Homemaker

Leave a comment ,

Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

All Things Pumpkin, Breads and Rolls



I found this recipe online a while ago, and I prefer it over plain cornbread muffins.  The pumpkin keeps them soft and moist while the cornmeal adds texture and substance.

Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins 1 1/4 cups flour 3/4 cup cornmeal 2/3 cup light brown sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree 3/4 cup buttermilk  (if you don’t have buttermilk, add a Tablespoon of vinegar to regular milk and let sit a few minutes) 1/4 cup butter, melted 2 eggs Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl, toss together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. In another mixing bowl, mix with a wooden spoon, the pumpkin puree, buttermilk, butter and eggs until well combined. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture just until combined.  Spoon into greased muffin tin.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool.  Yields 12 muffins.


I love the recipe as is, with a subtle sweet flavor.  I like to make these as a side dish with a meal.  If you want to sweeten them up a bit, try sprinkling some raw sugar on the top of each muffin before baking.  It adds more sweetness and a hint of crunch to them.  It also looks pretty on top.


Hope you like them!
Jennifer

Leave a comment ,

Dinner in a Pumpkin

All Things Pumpkin, Main Dishes



This dish isn’t sweet, but it certainly spotlights pumpkin!


My Mom made this dinner for us when I was growing up, and I make it every fall for my own family.  Traditionally, we eat it around Halloween, but it’s a lot of fun to make it during November as well.

Dinner in a Pumpkin 1 small to medium pumpkin 1 onion, chopped 1 Tb. oil 1 1/2 to 2 pounds ground beef 4 Tb. soy sauce 4 Tb. brown sugar 1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained 2 cans cream of mushroom soup 1 1/2 cups cooked rice 1 ( 8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts, drained.

Cut off top of pumpkin and thoroughly clean out seeds and pulp.  Preheat oven to 350.


Note:  The recipe says that the pumpkin cooks in about an hour, but my experience has been that it always takes about twice as long as that for the pumpkin meat to be tender.  Therefore, when I clean out my pumpkin I lightly salt the inside, replace the lid, place the pumpkin on a baking sheet and bake it by itself while I prepare the meal.  This gives the squash a head start on cooking.

In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until tender.  Add meat and brown.  Drain drippings.  Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup.  Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add cooked rice and water chestnuts.


Remove pumpkin from oven.  Spoon mixture into pumpkin and replace pumpkin top. Bake 1 hour or until inside meat of the pumpkin is tender.  Remove from oven and serve.  For a vegetable, scoop out pumpkin flesh and serve with salt and pepper.


I always enjoy seeing my children taste the pumpkin meat.  Several of them are usually wary of it, but I scoop them all a small spoonful of it, and almost invariably they request more.  It’s a fun way to help them try new things.


Enjoy!  And thanks, Mom, for making this all those years ago, and for passing it on.
Jennifer

One comment ,
1 2 3 4