Acorn Squash Casserole

This is one of those awesomely sneaky recipes. It's called a casserole and served as a side dish, but it actually tastes like a dessert. Reminiscent of those delightful candied yams or sweet potato casseroles served alongside turkey and stuffing at Thanksgiving, this acorn squash casserole has a wonderfully sweet autumnal flavor. I found the recipe over at Cooks.com, where it was titled "Heavenly Squash Casserole." I have to agree, this stuff is heavenly.

Sorry about the picture, it was an afterthought. It wasn't until after dinner that I decided I needed to post this recipe so I could have it available whenever I wanted it. So I scooped out another serving just for the picture. Then I ate it. Of course. Can't let it go to waste. :)

Acorn Squash Casserole
(adapted from Cooks.com)
2 large acorn squash
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter, softened
4 tsp. vanilla, divided
4 eggs, well beaten
Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
2/3 cup flour
1 cup pecans, chopped (didn't have these, but they would have been an amazing addition)

Split each squash in half and scoop out seeds. Place cut side down in two large baking dishes. Unless you have one large enough for all four halves. Then by all means use that one. Add 1/4 inch water around the squashes. Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until tender. Scoop out squash into large bowl and beat with mixer or potato masher until smooth.

Add sugar, butter, and 2 tsp. vanilla to the squash. Mix well. In a separate bowl, beat together the remaining 2 tsp. vanilla and eggs. Add to the squash mixture and mix thoroughly. Place in a greased 2 qt. baking dish or 9x13 pan.

Combine topping ingredients and mix well. Sprinkle over top of squash mixture in pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve warm.

This is great served on its own, but topping it with whipped cream takes it to a whole new level. Just saying.

Linking to:
Think Tank Thursday 
Link Party Palooza
Strut Your Stuff Saturday

Layered Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

In honor of Pi Day (March 14 = 3/14 = 3.14), Jeff and I decided it would be criminal not to make some sort of pie. I know that pumpkin is more of an autumn thing, but it's what we had on hand and the recipe just looked so delicious.

This recipe came from an old (1978) Better Homes and Gardens recipe book, called "All-Time Favorite Pies." I love old recipe books, they're so much fun! Anyway, this layered chiffon pie has a mild pumpkin flavor that Jeff and I agreed would be wonderful as a Thanksgiving dessert. But being so light and fluffy, it wasn't at all too heavy for early spring. Just an all-around delightful pie.

Layered Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Oil Pastry Crust
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup oil
3 tbsp. cold milk
Chiffon Filling
1/2 cup sugar
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
1 cup pumpkin puree, canned or cooked from fresh
1/2 cup milk
3 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
Whipped Cream Filling
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Prepare crust: Stir together flour and salt. Pour oil and milk into small bowl (do not stir); add all at once to flour mixture. Stir lightly with a fork. Form into a ball; flatten slightly with hands.

Cut waxed paper into two 12-inch squares. Place ball of dough between 2 squares of paper. Roll dough into circle to edges of paper (Dampen tabletop with a little water to prevent paper from slipping). Peel off top paper and fit dough, paper side up, into pie plate. Remove paper.

Prick bottom and sides of pastry all over with a fork, to prevent the crust from puffin up. Line pastry shell with a double thickness of heady-duty foil; press down firmly but carefully. Bake pastry in preheated 450 degree oven for 5 minutes. Remove foil, continue baking 5 to 7 minutes more or until pastry is golden. Set pastry aside.

Prepare chiffon filling: In a saucepan combine the 1/3 cup sugar, gelatin, salt, the 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, allspice, ginger, and nutmeg. Combine egg yolks, pumpkin, and milk; stir into gelatin mixture in saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat till gelatin dissolves and mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat. Chill gelatin mixture to the consistency of corn syrup, stirring occasionally. (That's what the recipe says. But with the pumpkin, the consistency was never anywhere near corn syrup, it was too thick and gloppy. I just chilled it until it was noticeably thickened.)

Immediately beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Gradually add the 1/4 cup sugar, beating till stiff peaks form. Fold stiff-beaten egg whites into gelatin mixture. Set aside.

Prepare whipped cream filling: Combine whipping cream, powdered sugar, vanilla, and the 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon. Whip mixture till soft peaks form.

Spread half of chiffon filling into baked crust, top with half of whipped cream filling. Repeat layers; chill several hours or overnight until set. After serving, cover and chill to store.

I know there's a lot of steps. But the finished product is so worth it. As a side note, I really liked this method of pie crust. No shortening to cut in, no floury mess on the table to roll it out. It turned out light and crispy, a great accompaniment to the airy fluffiness of the filling. Mmm, so yummy!

P.S. Here is the book where I got the recipe. Isn't it delightful?

Mini Winter Squash Whoopie Pies

Whoopie pies are so fun - cakelike cookies sandwiched with a creamy filling. They are usually a few inches across, but this recipe makes much smaller cookies, about an inch across. Fun, bite-sized cookie sandwiches. This was originally a recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies, but I didn't use pumpkin. We had some banana squash that we purchased on clearance that needed to be used. So we cooked it in the slow cooker, then pureed it and used it in this recipe.

There is a very large variety of winter squash available - acorn squash, banana squash, hubbard squash, butternut squash - that can be used interchangeably in many recipes. We don't usually have pumpkin on hand, so it's nice to have alternatives when it comes to fall baking. The flavor and color will be different depending on what squash you use (my cookies are much more yellow than the original orange of pumpkin cookies), but they turn out equally delicious.

To prepare winter squash for use in baking, simply cut up the squash and remove the seeds, cook in either a slow cooker or the oven until it is soft, remove the skin, and mash the squash into a puree.


Mini Winter Squash Whoopie Pies
Cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup winter squash puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

For cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add squash and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

For cream cheese filling: Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy.

Spread a heaping teaspoon of filling onto flat side of one cookie; top with flat side of second cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Butter

Another deliciously spiced autumn fruit spread. I've made pumpkin butter once before, but this time I used an actual recipe. It turned out so delicious, just as wonderful as the apple butter I made recently. I made pumpkin pancakes this morning specifically to serve with the pumpkin butter. I won't post the pancake recipe - they were dense and heavy, and not as good as I had hoped. Edible, just not post-worthy. Anyway, the pumpkin butter was the star of the meal, and it shone brightly.


Pumpkin Butter
1 (29 oz) can pumpkin puree (3 1/2 cups if you're using fresh puree)
3/4 cup apple juice
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar

Combine pumpkin, apple juice, spices, and sugar in a large saucepan; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stir frequently.

Pack into small, freezer-safe containers leaving 3/4 inch space at the top. Store in the freezer. Makes 2 1/2 pints.


This would be good over regular pancakes, biscuits, bagels, toast, whatever! And it's also good over the pancakes when you add some maple syrup, yum...

Pumpkin Bread (Well, Not Really...)

Here's another delicious autumn-inspired sweet bread. This was originally a recipe for pumpkin bread, but I had some other squash that needed to be used. So I made a crookneck squash/acorn squash bread. I also added raisins and chocolate chips just for fun, and doubled the recipe to make two delicious loaves. I'm really not sure what to call this, so I'll go ahead and keep calling it pumpkin bread, but just know that you can use any pureed squash or combination of squashes and get delicious results.


Pumpkin Bread
3 cups flour
1 tsp. of salt
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups pumpkin puree or other squash puree, canned or made from fresh
1 cup oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1 cup raisins
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the raisins and chocolate chips.

Pour into 2 well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pans. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pans and let cool on a rack.


I have two big cans of pumpkin puree and lots of big, shiny apples that are just itching to be used in more delicious autumn goodies. I'll probably wait until this bread is all eaten before making more; gotta ration my overeating, you know. But I'm so excited about fall and getting to make lots of wonderfully and warmly spiced baked goods!

Fluffy Pumpkin Mousse

It started as a craving for something sweet. It turned into a refrigerator raid. From there it became an idea. Then it became...
Fluffy Pumpkin Mousse!!!

And it's amazing.


Fluffy Pumpkin Mousse
1/4 cup pumpkin butter*
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

Mix together gently, and serve.

So easy, and so divine!

*The pumpkin butter I used was some that I made a week or two ago. No real measurements, I just threw stuff in. I combined some canned pumpkin, applesauce, cinnamon, brown sugar, and pumpkin pie spice, and heated it for a few minutes on the stove. All the ingredients are just to taste - put in a bit until it looks and tastes right. This is good on biscuits or bread.

What to Do With Your Pumpkin Puree

Now that you've used a fresh pumpkin to make your own pumpkin puree, there's so much that you can do with it! The pumpkin we pureed gave us approximately 8 cups of pumpkin puree. And here's what we used it for:


Pumpkin Pie
2 cups mashed, cooked pumpkin (reviewers suggested using more like 2 1/2 cups)
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger (we skipped this; Mom doesn't like ginger)
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
Pastry for 2 single 9-inch pie crusts (here's a good crust recipe)

Prepare pastry. Roll out pastry to fill two pie plates. Partially prebake crust to keep it from getting soggy: Line crust with a double thickness of foil. Heat oven to 425 and bake foil-lined crust for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 2-4 minutes until crust is just barely starting to brown. Press down any bubbles with a fork. Don't prick the crust, though; you don't want filling leaking through.

In a large bowl with mixer speed on medium, beat pumpkin with evaporated milk, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix well. Pour into a prepared crust. Bake 40 minutes or until when a knife is inserted 1 inch from the edge comes out clean.


After cooking the pies, we realized we had two pies, extra pastry trimmings, and six more cups of pumpkin! So we mixed up another batch of pumpkin pie filling, and did this with it:


Mini Pumpkin Pies
1 batch pumpkin pie filling
Pastry dough

Roll out dough as if for making pie crust. Cut 5-inch circles, and use them to line a muffin tin. Pour pie filling into the pastry-lined muffin cups. Bake at 425 until knife inserted in center comes out clean; approximately 30 minutes.


Those were tasty little mini pies! But 12 mini pumpkin pies only used about half of the pumpkin pie filling we mixed up. So I chose to use the rest of the filling to make pumpkin custard.


Pumpkin Custard
Leftover pumpkin pie filling

Grease an oven-safe bowl. Pour pie filling into bowl. Bake at 425 until knife inserted near center comes out clean; approximately 40 minutes.

Pumpkin custard is awesome because as soon as it cools down, you can eat it right out of the bowl! :-)


Okay, so now we've used about 5 cups of puree. I think it's time to break out the mug and make some cake in the microwave!


Chocolate Pumpkin Microwave Mug Cake
4 tbsp. flour
4 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 egg
3 tbsp. milk
3 tbsp. pumpkin puree
3 tbsp. chocolate chips
We didn't do this, but it might be good to add a tablespoon of oil, for better texture.

In a large mug, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, and cinnamon. Mix well. Add egg and mix well. Add milk and pumpkin (and oil) and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Microwave on high for three minutes. The cake with rise above the top of the mug; don't be alarmed. When done, turn cake out onto a plate.



And now, as a bonus, here's the pumpkin-y delightful pizza we had for dinner tonight!


Pumpkin-Sauced Pizza
Crust:
1 tsp. active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. oil

Pumpkin Sauce:
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup tomato juice
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. oregano

Toppings:
Shredded cheese
Sliced tomato
Sliced onion

To make crust: Sprinkle yeast over the surface of the warm water. Let stand one minute. Stir to dissolve. Stir in flour, salt, and oil. Knead on floured surface five minutes, adding flour as needed if dough is too sticky. Place in oiled bowl, cover, and let rise in warm place until doubled.

While the dough is rising, make your sauce by combining all sauce ingredients. Preheat oven to 475. If using a pizza stone, place stone in oven while preheating.

Once dough has risen, sprinkle a flat surface with cornmeal. Turn dough out onto cornmeal-ed surface and flatted to a 12-inch circle. Sprinkle pizza pan generously with cornmeal. Gently fold dough in quarters and transfer to pizza pan. Spread with sauce, then top with shredded cheese, sliced tomato, and sliced onion.

Bake at 475 for 12-14 minutes (slightly less if using a pizza stone), until crust is browned and cheese is melted. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.


This was a really unique flavor for a pizza. It took a few bites to get used to it, but after a little bit I was totally hooked and ended up eating three pieces! This crust was particularly good. Jeff really prefers his pizza crust to be very thin and very crispy -as this was both, he said it was the best crust I've ever made.


And there you have it - Several absolutely delicious recipes to make with your homemade pumpkin puree! :-)

Making Pumpkin Puree

It's easy and not too expensive to open up a can of pumpkin puree. But it's a lot more fun to make your own, and more satisfying too! And if you grew your own pumpkins, like my parents did, then it's even cheaper.

Here, my sister Janelle and I demonstrate how to make puree from a fresh pumpkin. Any hands you see in these pictures are hers, because I was taking the pictures. But don't worry, I helped too.

First, of course, you need a pumpkin. We used a medium-sized pumpkin and it gave us about 8 cups of puree. So pick yourself a nice pumpkin, and be sure to clean it off really well. You don't want dirt in your puree. Pictured pumpkin has not yet been cleaned.


Cut the pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds and pulp. If you want to roast the pumpkin seeds, Pioneer Woman has a great tutorial on that. We found that the hardest part of this whole pumpkin experience was cutting that thing open - it's really hard! So use a big sturdy knife and a lot of effort.


After you've scraped out the pulp, cut the pumpkin into chunks. Janelle and I found that it was easier to cut if you start from the skin, as opposed to the inside pulp. Get through the tough stuff first.


Here's all our chunks, each one about 3 inches across.


Boil one inch of water, add the pumpkin chunks, return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes until the pumpkin is tender. We used two pots of water so we could fit all the chunks in. It doesn't have to be all in one layer, or even all immersed in the water.


While the pumpkin is cooking, now is a good time to work on the crust if you're making a pies. We were, so we did.


Once the pumpkin is tender, drain and cool the pumpkin chunks.


We found that it cooled faster when we put all the chunks in a single layer.


Remove the skin from the pumpkin.


Place all the pumpkin chunks in a flat pan and mash them with a potato masher! That's the fun part.


Then get as much moisture out as possible. We lined a colander with paper towels, plopped in the puree, and pressed more paper towels on top.


Then just measure your puree. It's ready to be used!


There, wasn't that simple? It really is fun to do up your own pumpkin. Then when you make a pie or anything else with it, you can really say you made it from scratch!

Coming up: pumpkin pies, mini pumpkin pies, pumpkin custard, and microwave chocolate pumpkin cake!

Pumpkin Chickpea Burgers

This recipe was inpspired by Megan's Munchies' delicious-looking Pumpkin White Bean Burgers. I wanted to cook something unique last night for dinner, something that I could prepare ahead of time and then not worry about until dinner time. I also was really in the mood for an Autumn recipe - something that tastes like fall. I knew that Megan has been on a major roll with all her pumpkin recipes, and was sure that I could find some sort of delicious savory pumpkin meal that would taste just like fall - and this recipe didn't disappoint at all!

Megan's recipe calls for great northern beans, but I happened to have some cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in the freezer, so I thawed some of those to use instead.

Pumpkin Chickpea Burgers
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp oil (I skipped these first three ingredients, and just used dried minced onions and garlic to save myself a bit of effort)
1 cup great northern beans (I used chickpeas, aka garbanzos)
1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/3 cup quick cooking oats (equal to one packet instant oatmeal)
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil for about 5 minutes or until soft, then set aside. In a large bowl, mash beans with a fork. Be sure to mash most of the beans until a paste forms, leaving some whole beans are okay (at the end of this step my arm was very tired! I used beans cooked from dry, so they were a lot more firm than the canned variety. Just a fair warning). Add pumpkin, oats and seasonings to beans. Add onions and garlic to mixture. Mix until well combined. Allow mixture to rest in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, the mixture can be left overnight or up to 3 days. Divide bean mixture into 4 equal balls. With hands, shape mixture into patties about 3 inches around and 1/2 inch thick. To cook patties, bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, turning once. Or, place 1 tsp oil in large skillet over medium heat. Place patties into pan and cook for about 5 minutes. Turn patties and cook an additional 5 minutes, or until patties are browned on both sides.


I served these like regular burgers, on some homemade bread with tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and a special sauce!

Special Burger Sauce (tastes similar to Thousand Island, but better :-)
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 1/2 tsp. ketchup
1 tsp. chili sauce
1 tsp. sweet relish

These amounts are approximate. I didn't really measure; I just made it up as I went along, squirting stuff here and there until it looked right!

Combine all ingredients, and spread on bread or buns for burgers. This tangy-sweet sauce went so well with these uniquely flavored, spiced burgers!


Inadvertently, I realized that without the cheese, this is a completely vegetarian meal. We don't usually care about that kind of stuff - we're not at all opposed to eating meat and other animal-based products. But I have noticed that plant-based foods are much more inexpensive than animal-based ones, so we're totally fine with eating vegetarian meals once in a while. It's economical, and tasty!

I'm submitting this to the October I Love Baking event.