Recipes that appear in Idea Alley have not been tested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
My recent story (and hoarding confession) featuring canned pumpkin inspired two readers to share their favorite pumpkin recipes with me. Both recipes sound too good to keep to myself and both are at the top of my to-make list.
"I wanted to send you my favorite Thanksgiving dessert to try. It's really easy and soooo yummy," Georgia writes.
Pumpkin Roll
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- Filling:
- 1 ¼ cups confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 10-by-15-by-1-inch jellyroll pan and cut sheet of parchment to cover bottom of pan.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs on high for 5 minutes. Add sugar, pumpkin and lemon juice.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Fold flour-mixture into egg mixture. Spread in prepared pan; sprinkle with pecans.
Bake for 15 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for a few minutes.
Generously dust a clean tea towel with confectioners' sugar.
Turn the cake out onto the sugar-dusted towel. Carefully remove the parchment paper. Roll towel and pastry up together; cool and unroll.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Spread on the unrolled cake. Roll up (without the towel); chill 4 hours. Dust with more confectioners' sugar before slicing.
■ ■ ■
"I have been making pumpkin butter, using canned pumpkin, in my slow cooker," Joy writes.
"After cooling I stored the jars in the freezer. That has worked for me, but we seem to eat a jar a week. Enjoy."
Slow Cooker Pumpkin Butter
- 4 cups pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
Mix well to combine.
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, stirring once or twice after the first hour to prevent scorching.
Remove lid and continue to cook on high for another 2-3 hours or until pumpkin butter has reached desired consistency.
Stir frequently to allow steam to escape.
Transfer to jars and let cool before refrigerating.
If you prefer making the puree yourself, this is how:
Cut pumpkin into large pieces, scrape out seeds and remove stringy membrane; rub pumpkin flesh with oil. Place pieces in a shallow roasting pan, skin side up, fill pan with ¼ inch of water, cover tightly with foil and roast 45 minutes to 1 hour or until flesh is soft. Scrape flesh from skin into a medium pot and mash into a puree. Cook puree over medium heat until all of the liquid has evaporated.
Yield will vary. Generally, a 1-pound whole pumpkin will yield about ½ pound of raw flesh. One pound of raw pumpkin flesh will yield about 2 cups of cooked puree. A 15- or 16-ounce can generally contains 1 ¾ cups puree.
Email recipe contributions, requests and culinary questions to: [email protected]