calherewecome

So here we are in November and we are deluged with pumpkins. Paula and I went shopping at Trader Joe’s yesterday. It seemed about half of all the products had some pumpkin in it. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffin mix, pumpkin relish, and on and on.

So we came home with pumpkin flavored almonds, package of pumpkin muffin mix, pumpkin cheese cake and pumpkin cheerios.

So there is pumpkin patch vendor in San Pedro on the corner of 9th and Western. Every year at the beginning of October, they set up shop selling pumpkins (real pumpkins). And like clockwork, on November 1, the pumpkin signs come down and the Christmas tree signs go up.

Don’t get me wrong, I like pumpkin stuff. I just wish availability was more level. Why can’t I find pumpkin pie filling in March?  Maybe this year, I will persuade Paula to stock pile some cans of pumpkin puree, so that I can have a pumpkin pie in July. So here are some of my favorites. I’ve heard that there are people that actually cook stuff from real pumpkins. Bah, too much work.

Pumpkin Whoopee pies
It seems that my west coast friends  have never heard of Whoopie Pies. They are so culturally  deprived. Whoopie pies are two pieces of chocolate cake with a whipped cream filling. You won’t find them in stores. But, Paula has an excellent recipe. Whoopie Pies are the official state snack of the State of Maine.

Here’s the recipe:

• 2 c canned pumpkin (15 oz can)
• 2 c brown sugar
• 1 c vegetable oil
• 3 c flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla

Filling

• 3/4 c powdered sugar
• 6 oz cream cheese
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix cake ingredients. Drop Tbsp’s of batter on to cookie sheet. Use parchment paper, if you have it. Bake for 8-10 min. Cool on rack.

Spread filling on each pie and put together. Refrigerate over night.

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

This is also one of our favorites. We constantly fight over whether one puts whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I prefer whipped cream. Click here > pumpkin-crunch-cake to get the recipe.

Don’t wait too long. The pumpkin puree will be gone from the stores and you will have wait until next year.

This entry was posted on November 2, 2016 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: pumpkin