Recipe: My Giant Pumpkin Puff Cookies Are Spectacular!

Giant Pumpkin Puff Cookie

This is the size Ice Cream Scoop that I use.

The recipe that I have for you today is delicious and truly easy to make. Imagine a soft, cake-like pumpkin cookie with just some ginger and cinnamon for spices to go along with fresh or canned pumpkin that is accompanied by plump raisins to pump up the flavor in each moist bite.   

You won’t need to waste your time creaming butter or shortening for this since my recipe uses only four tablespoons of canola oil. 

The most difficult step is just assembling the ingredients and then dropping this wet batter with an ice cream scoop to your greased cookie sheets. Actually, the hardest part is waiting for your oven’s timer bell to ring so that you can finally taste these fragrant puffs that smell so good while baking.

My Giant Pumpkin Puff Cookies

3 cups of flour
2/3 cup of sugar

Plate of Giant Pumpkin Puff Cookies

1 tablespoon of baking powder, leveled
1 teaspoon of baking soda, leveled
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons of canola or corn oil
1 cup of canned or cooked, fresh mashed pumpkin
3/4 cup of buttermilk or sour milk
1 large egg
3/4 cup of raisins


Sift all your dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Add the oil and mix through until it gets somewhat crumbly.

In another mixing bowl, you combine the pumpkin, egg, and milk.

Now mix the moist ingredients with the dry and blend together.  This will be a wet batter.

Stir in your raisins last.

Use an ice cream scoop to drop the batter onto your greased cookie sheets, leaving room for them to spread.

Bake at 400-degrees for about 15 minutes, depending on how your oven is regulated.  Insert a toothpick to see if anything sticks testing if done.

ENJOY!

Recipe: Serve My Scrumptious Pumpkin Fudge to Put Extra Pizzazz in Your Holiday!

Today, I have a sinfully decadent treat that you might want to consider making over the holidays with my special pumpkin fudge.  This is one incredible creamy  and quite uncommon candy that your family and guests will love that uses butterscotch chips, pecans, marshmallow cream to enhance the pumpkin and spice in this rich milk, sugar, and buttery base of true awesomeness! 

In fact, when you pass around some of this fudge, you can rest assure that faces will suddenly brighten with instant joy once they pop a piece of this candy into their mouths. 

For this particular fudge, I do recommend using your candy thermometer.  I will be sharing other fabulous fudge recipes with you soon that don't require it, but I always have better success keeping the heat just right for this one.

Here's a trick to remember when using your candy thermometer.  When you stick it into your heavy saucepan and immerse it to test that hot syrup mixture, you should not let the thermometer touch the bottom or sides of that pan.  All you want is  to dunk it below the surface to get the accurate reading.  Otherwise, your fudge can turn out too creamy or hard.

If you don't have a candy thermometer, you need to test some of that syrup mixture in a glass of water.  When you drop some of your cooked fudge syrup in, it should form a ball that can easily flatten when you press it with your fingers.  Each time you test and try to get to that stage, you need a fresh glass of water before you attempt to drop a piece in.

So when you're about to make that pumpkin pie, I hope you pick up some additional pumpkin and make a batch over the holidays for something deliciously different!

My Scrumptious Pumpkin Fudge

3 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of butter or margarine (not spread)
2/3 cup of evaporated milk
1/2 cup of pumpkin
1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
12 ounces of butterscotch chips, melted
7 ounces of marshmallow cream
1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts
1-1/2  teaspoons of vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, butter, milk, pumpkin, and spice in a heavy saucepan. 

Next, you bring those ingredients to a rolling boil while you keep stirring.  Try not to get sugar mixture on the sides on your pot, but if you do find some wipe away with a wet towel.

Reduce the temperature after it reaches that rolling boil to medium heat.  Continue cooking until the mixture  comes to the soft ball reading  on your candy thermometer or test in some in a glass of water. 

When you get to that desired stage, remove your cooked fudge mixture from the heat.

Stir in your chips, marshmallow cream, pecans, and vanilla to thoroughly mix.

Pour your fudge into a greased 13 x 9-inch pan.  Cool completely before cutting into square.

Store tightly wrapped in your refrigerator.

ENJOY!

Enjoy a Fall Pleasure With My Incredible Pumpkin Cake Roll

This time of year is the perfect time to try my wonderful pumpkin cake roll.  My recipe will give you a fabulous spice cake that you will stuff with a sweet cream cheese filling for an absolute incredible way to indulge.  You can add nuts to this batter to give it more crunch or enjoy plain.

Canned pumpkin is the easiest way to go.  However, if you want to take advantage of fresh pumpkin, then you need to be aware of one thing.  Once you peel and cut the pumpkin into pieces to cook in some water in your saucepan, you must be careful not to use too much water.  If you do cover those pumpkin pieces over with too much water and think it will work, you will be disappointed to find that you end up with a mushy pumpkin soup instead.   Try as little water for the amount of pumpkin that you can and watch your pot as it cooks.  This is your safest bet when trying to cook pumpkin down and being later able to mash it into a suitable puree. 

Nonetheless, if you do have a fresh pumpkin that you wish to play with, you can make lots of delicious recipes at a fraction of the cost from one tiny fresh one over a commercial can.  

One last thing that I want to mention is about baking powder.  Do check your labels and read the ingredients.  As you will notice, most varieties have aluminum, which is said to be unhealthy for brain health in particular.  I use Rumford baking powder only since it is the only one that I have ever found to be free of that aluminum.

Either route you take will give you a beautiful pumpkin cake roll that is moist, springy to the touch and an ideal one to receive that creamy sweet cheese filling.   I honestly do hope you will be tempted to try my recipe because it is yummy especially the next day once those flavors totally come together in your refrigerator.

My Incredible Pumpkin Cake Roll

3 eggs (medium size is best for this type of cake)
1 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of pumpkin
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of finely chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup of flour

Pumpkin Cake Roll Filling:

1 cup of confectioners' sugar
6-oz. of Neufchatel cheese or cream cheese
4 tablespoons of margarine (not spread)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

To make the cake roll: 

Beat your eggs with your electric mixer on high for about five minutes until nice and fluffy in your mixing bowl. 
Add the sugar  and beat in gradually.

Stir in the pumpkin and lemon next.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt into a separate mixing bowl.  Take these dry ingredients and fold into slowly into your pumpkin mixture.

Grease and flour a baking pan approximately 15" x 10" x 1" size and pour in the batter.

At this stage, you can add chopped nuts, if desired.  (I only add the nuts if I happen to have them in the house or for special occasions).

Bake this roll in a  375-degree oven for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Be sure to sprinkle a towel with some confectioners' sugar before trying to remove your cake.  (I like to let this cool at least five minutes first before attempting to this hot cake).

Starting at the narrow end, roll the towel and cake together.  Let this cool thoroughly in this fashion before unrolling to stuff with the filling.

To Make the Filling:

Mix thoroughly all the filling ingredients together with your electric mixer until well combined and creamy.