Archive for November, 2008

Old Fashion Recipes for Apple Pumpkin Custard Dessert and Southern Pecan Bars

Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Grandma Linda asked:


Why not surprise your family, friends, co-workers, etc and break out of your mold this year.  Try a new recipe or two–in fact, try an old recipe or two.  And here are a couple of great ones to choose from.  Both these recipes are from my vintage collection I inherited from my mother’s kitchen files.  Apple Pumpkin Custard Desserts is a quick and easy recipe with impressive results (isn’t everything that’s made with Eagle Brand Milk delicious?).  Southern Pecan Bars are excellent bar cookies that are perfect for just about anything from filling the family cookie jar to gift giving and co-worker treats.

APPLE PUMPKIN CUSTARD DESSERTS

I like to identify the sources of these old recipes when I can. However, that is not always possible. I believe, but cannot be sure, that this recipe is from an old advertisement for Borden’s Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk.

1 can (21-oz) Apple Pie Filling

1 can (16-oz) pumpkin (about 2 cups, if you cook your own)

1 can (14-oz) Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (not evaporated milk)

2 eggs

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 18 cookies)

2 tbsp butter, melted

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spoon apple pie filling evenly into 8 to 10 custard cups. In a large mixer bowl, beat pumpkin, milk, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Spoon mixture into custard cups over the top of the apple pie filling. Combine the cookie crumbs and the butter. Sprinkle over the pumpkin mixture in custard cups. Place cups on a jelly roll pan and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 15 minutes or until set. Cool. Keep any leftovers in the refrigerator.

SOUTHERN PECAN BARS

This recipe won the Best of Class at the Pillsbury’s 5th Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest. I believe this contest was the forerunner of the current Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, then for 25 to 30 minutes. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

Sift together…….1 1/3 cups sifted Pillsbury’s Best Enriched Flour

                           1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder

Cream……………1/3 cup butter. Gradually add 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar,

                           creaming well.

Add…………………the dry ingredients; mix with electric mixer or spoon until

                            particles are fine.

Stir in………………1/4 cup pecans, chopped fine; mix well. Pat firmly into the

                            bottom of well-greased 12×8x2 or 13×9x2-inch pan.

Bake……………….in moderate 350 degree oven for 10 minutes only.

Pecan Topping

Beat…………….2 eggs until foamy.

Add……………..3/4 cup dark corn syrup

                       1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

                       3 tbsp flour

                       1/2 tsp salt

                       1 tsp vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Pour over the partially baked

                       crust.

Sprinkle with…3/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped. (If desired, fold the chopped

                       pecans into filling before pouring over crust and arrange 30

                       pecan halves evenly over the top; one for each bar.)

Bake……………in moderate oven (350) 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in pan; cut

                       into bars. Store in a tightly covered container.

Enjoy!



Cathy

How much Pumpkin should I add to a 18.25 oz box of cake mix?

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
whenunderether asked:


I’d like to add the entire 15 oz can of puree (not pumpkin pie filling) to the cake so that I’m not stuck with half the can. How will this affect the amount of liquids (1 1/3 C water, 1/3 C oil) and eggs (three) the box recipe calls for? If I add an entire can, what ingredients need to be reduced and by how much since the pumpkin will be adding a lot of moisture? Professional chefs please answer.

Anna

Does anyone have a super easy pumpkin cheesecake recipe?

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
jennaonna2000 asked:


I’m not a baker so it needs to be super simple but taste great. (I originally though of pumpkin pie mix with cream cheese added but wasn’t sure if that would set up if cooked…

Joan

Halloween Activities

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
Freda J. Glatt, Ms asked:


With more and more Halloween celebrations taking place in the classroom, at home parties, or at community events, here are some cross-curricular Halloween activities for you to enjoy.

1. Read a Halloween poem or song and find rhyming words, similes, metaphors, nouns, verbs, onomatopoeia, and so on.

2. Find Halloween-related words in the dictionary by using guide words. Divide them into syllables, write the accent mark, tell the part of speech, give the definition, add suffixes…whatever skills you want to review.

3. Research the origin of Halloween and its symbols. Write a report and include a bibliography.

4. Brainstorm a list of Halloween words and create your own crossword, kriss-kross, or word search puzzles.

5. Write a Halloween story or a short play. Perform the play and tape it!

6. Tape the class singing Halloween songs and play them on October 31.

7. See how many 3-letter words you can make out of ‘Halloween.’

8. Cut out Halloween pictures from different print media to make cards or a collage.

9. Give everyone some colored M&M’s and have children graph them. Alternately, have children classify the candy they bring to school and graph the different kinds. Possible categories are chocolatey, nutty, soft, and hard.

10. Look through newspaper ads and see what you would buy if you had $20. If your children are old enough, have them calculate the tax for your area.

11. Review following directions, measurement, health, and safety by making Halloween cupcakes, a cake, or cookies. Use Halloween-related cutters, food coloring for frosting, and small candies as decorations. Of course, adults should supervise children.

12. Use a pumpkin for the following activities:

a. Cut out the stem, take out the seeds, and carve out the pulp (refrigerate it). Have children draw a face for a jack-o-lantern and cut it out.

b. Roast the pumpkin seeds and have store-bought seeds on hand. Let children eat both and compare the taste, texture, and color.

c. Heat the pulp until it is soft and use it to make your own pumpkin pie! (NOTE: One recipe usually makes three regular pies.) Make sure to save pieces for the principal and others in your school. Tell children to remember the taste so they can compare it to a store-bought pumpkin pie.

d. Make sure to take pictures of each step. Have children write a caption for each one and make a book.

13. Foster multi-cultural awareness by having candies from different countries.

I hope these ideas are useful and inspire your own creative thinking. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

And remember…Reading is FUNdamental!



Beverly

Interesting Story About Her Latest Cooking Creation

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
Naveenk asked:


Our friend she, recently contacted us with an interesting story about her latest cooking creation. She’s annual Thanksgiving dinner must include apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies. Her husband insists on it even though she protests that only the apple pie typically gets eaten, and she tosses the bulk of the pumpkin and pecan pies into the trash after giving him a week to refuse any more desserts.

This year, she got inspired a week after Thanksgiving in her quest to avoid wasteful tossing of food into the trash bound for a landfill instead of for someone’s palate.

Beware: this is not an exact recipe. It’s a cooking style that relies on sound instincts on the cook’s part. Here’s what She did, but says you can modify at will and still get good results:

Since her pumpkin pie was made from canned pumpkin pretty much following the recipe on the label but substituting sweetened condensed milk instead of canned evaporated milk and baked in a graham cracker crust, she just dumped the three-fourths of the pie she had left into a mixing bowl and started stirring.

Then, she scraped the remaining two-thirds of the store-bought pecan pie from its too-thick crust and mixed that real good. Next step was to mix about a half cup of all-purpose flour with about a half cup of light brown sugar, then blend that into the pie mixture, after which she added about a quarter cup of honey, three-quarters cup of chocolate chips, about a half cup of coconut, and about a cup full of mixed dried fruit that included raisins, pineapples, cherries, and cranberries.

She dropped the mixture in “dollops” on a buttered clay baking dish and baked for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees, watching carefully for the edges and tops of the randomly shaped caakies to turn light brown. She cooled them slightly on a wire rack and test-tasted to her delight.

A hit! She says the same creative cooking technique could be applied to a leftover sweet potato pie with any variety of interesting ingredients including oatmeal, granola, and your favorite varieties of nuts (got some leftover from a holiday party you aren’t sure what to do with?).  Or, spice it up a bit with fresh natural nutmeg seed.

As they come out of the oven, personalize them even more using that excess holiday candy. Press a chocolate kiss, a bite-size peanut butter cup, or a piece of candy corn into them. For simplicity, you might even just sprinkle on a little white powdered sugar. If you are feeling super creative, mix up a batch of frosting (or cheat by using the store-bought kind) and slap two caakies together.

She says she’s likely going to make pumpkin and pecan pies for Christmas and might even hide them after a couple of slices have been removed so she can make caakies for New Year’s with very little planning, shopping, and effort. Bet you could serve it with ice cream, but be sure you also offer your guests a fresh brewed cup of Thai coffee or tea or Tortuga gourmet coffee.



Laura