Pumpkin Praline Dessert

My darling sisters introduced me to this recipe. A friend of theirs made it for them and they thought it was divine and passed the recipe around.
It kind of tastes like a combination between pumpkin pie and a cobbler. It might be a little food-trashy of me to love this (cause it uses a boxed cake mix) but I absolutely do!
It is the perfect recipe for someone who wants the taste of pumpkin pie, but doesn't want to go to all the trouble or fuss of making and rolling out pie crust.

Ingredients:

1can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)  - I used half of a large can
1can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice  - I used 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans  (optional)
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

 Add pumpkin to a large mixing bowl.

 Add one can of condensed milk.(make sure you don't get sweetened condensed milk-two totally different things)

Whisk to combine.

 Add eggs and whisk again.

 Add sugar. (I think I also threw in a pinch of salt here-if a dessert recipe doesn't call for salt I generally still throw in just a pinch because it will always enhance every flavor just a bit)

 Add the pumpkin pie spice (or if you are like me and don't have pumpkin pie spice here in China, you can do what I did and add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves separately)

 Place pumpkin mixture in one 9x13 pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over the entire thing. Scatter nuts over the cake mix. Drizzle 3/4 cup butter over the cake mix.


My alteration (I decided to make one nut-free for the kids, so I divided the batter into two square pans, then divided the cake mix in half (just eyeballed it- didn't measure exactly) and the butter in half and followed the recipe above.

 Bake at 175 C for 50- 60 minutes until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the top begins to brown,

* don't worry if there is a little cake mix here or there that doesn't get covered by butter- still tastes great when you top it with whipped cream.

Serve with whipped cream. It is so super sweet that you may or may not want to add sugar to your whipped cream when you whip it.

Enjoy!!!

Pumpkin Bagels

Back in the days when I worked as a dental assistant, one of the offices I worked at happened to be right across the street from an Einstein Brothers Bagel Shop. My favorite time of the year was right around Halloween because they always had pumpkin bagels and gingerbread cream cheese at that time. Well, I have yet to attempt gingerbread cream cheese(someday I promise I will) but here is the recipe I created for pumpkin bagels in Shanghai. (I used fresh pumpkin-available at any Shanghai wet market. See my previous entry on baking pumpkin if you've never done it- it is so easy, healthier and way cheaper than the stuff in a can)

Pumpkin Bagels

Ingredients:
3/4 cup pumpkin (mine was a pretty soft puree)

1 cup luke warm water

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger (you could easily sub fresh grated ginger)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp yeast

5-6 cups flour

Directions.

In a large bowl add pumpkin.

Dissolve sugar in lukewarm water and add to bowl.


Add sugar water mixture, salt, spices, and yeast.

Stir well.

Add 3-4 cups of flour and stir to combine ingredients. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough is too stiff to stir.

Knead in bowl or on counter for 8-10 minutes (I like to put on a show on the portable dvd player and get in my upper arm workout while I'm listening to something :) Keep adding a little flour at a time if dough is sticky.

Cover and let rise until doubled in size. 1 1/2 -2 hours.

Deflate by turning over in bowl a few times. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. This will make shaping easier.

Divide into 16-24 balls depending on size preference.

Let rise 1/2 hour (Don't let them rise too much- it will seriously affect the texture of the top of your bagel if you do)

Using your floured finger, make a hole in the center of each bagel.

Pick it up and give it a little spin around your finger.

Meanwhile in a saucepan or wok (I actually like my wok best) heat 2-3 inches of water. Dissolve 2 tbsp brown sugar and 1 tbsp white sugar in the water. Heat until boiling.

Working in batches boil 6-8 bagels at time. Two minutes on the first side, then flip. Then one minute on the next side.

I use a bamboo chopstick to flip the bagels and to take them out of the water.

After the bagels have boiled transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet. Parchment paper is not essential, but it makes it so much easier to get them off the pan. Cooking spray just doesn't work that well. The bagels have a tendency to become glued to the pan. Parchment paper solves this problem.

Bake at 215°C or 450°F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.

Enjoy toasted with cream cheese!

Baking Pumpkin

Fresh pumpkin is very easy to use as a substitute for canned pumpkin. In China it is much cheaper to use than canned and it is available all year round. I use it in muffins, bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin donuts and pumpkin praline dessert.

You can find it at the grocery store or at the vegetable markets. I find that the butternut squashy looking pumpkin has a very sweet flavor while the squash that looks like a small orange pumpkin is less sweet and has more intense squash flavor.

Begin by trimming off the cut end of the squash. I always cut off the bottom 1/2 inch because I don't know how clean it is after being cut at the vegetable market.

Next cut off the stem end.

Cut in half and then either using a knife or a spoon remove the "guts" or the soft inner part of the pumpkin.

Use a knife to trim off the outer rind of the pumpkin.

If necessary, use a vegetable peeler to get all of the outer skin.

Cut into wedges and place in a baking dish. Add 1/4 inch of water to the bottom of the pan.

If you want a really soft puree you can cover it with tin foil before you bake it. (This is okay if you are using the pumpkin in muffins or breads- just subtract a little liquid or add a little extra flour to compensate for the liquid) If you want to use it for pumpkin pie or other desserts leave the pumpkin uncovered until the last twenty minutes of baking- then cover with tin foil to prevent burning.

Bake at 375˚ for 45min to 1 hour.

Remove from oven. Let cool uncovered. Drain water.

If I want the puree really fine I will put the cooked pumpkin in the blender and blend it. If I'm using it for bread I will sometimes just stick the cooked pumpkin pieces in a plastic ziploc bag and smoosh it up in there or use a fork to mash it!

Use it for your pumpkin favorite recipes.