Chewy Pumpkin-Cranberry Cookies: Success at Last!

After a lot of work, I've finally achieved a goal I've been working on for a couple months now.   I've made a pumpkin cookie that is chewy but not cake-like, one with the texture of a proper cookie, instead of a miniature cupcake or a piece of unusually fluffy pumpkin bread.

As I noted a couple weeks ago, I thought I was on the right track when I decided to make a pumpkin oatmeal cookie.  My first try at that was promising, but still more cake-like than I wanted, so next I increased the amount of brown sugar.    That seemed a move in the right direction, but the resulting cookie still didn't have the texture I wanted.   The next step that looked promising was to increase the amount of oats while reducing the amount of flour.  That's what I finally got around to trying, and it worked like a charm.

The first sheet of cookies I made during this phase of the experiment were a bit on the plain side, as I was focusing on getting the right texture, figuring that if I could manage that, I could fine-tune the flavor later.  At first I wasn't sure the results were going to be good ones, as even after a fairly long cooking time for a batch of small cookies, the first batch was still pretty moist in the center.   As they sat and cooled, though, they firmed up quite a bit, and the result was a chewy cookie that was by far less cake-like than any pumpkin cookie I'd made or tried to date.  They even had a bit of crunch along the outer edges. 

I mixed in some basic pumpkin spices for the next batch.  These improved the flavor while maintaining the texture.  Definitely on the right track. 

I had enough dough left for a third sheet of cookies, so this time I decided to experiment with different amounts of dough, to see if I could determine the optimum amount of dough to use for each of these cookies.  I made some with about 3/4 tablespoons of dough, some with just one tablespoon (enough dough to just fill a one-tablespoon cookie scoop), some with a bit over one tablespoon, and a couple made with a heaping tablespoon of dough.   I also cooked a couple of them different amounts of time.  Taste tests - including Juli doing a blind taste test - showed that at least when it comes to these cookies, size definitely matters.  The heaping-tablespoon ones were very moist, to the point of perhaps not being all the way done in the middle.  As you reduced the amount of dough the results got better, until you hit 1 tablespoon of dough.  There wasn't any noticeable difference between the 3/4 tablespoon and full-tablespoon cookies, save that the smaller ones were a bit more crisp (leaning toward over-crisped) along the edges.

Wondering if maybe the larger ones were simply overcooked, I tried cooking them longer.   All that did was result in cookies that were burned on the bottom.  They key, clearly, was the right amount of dough.

So, this quest is complete.  It was a success, and I learned some things along the way.  But now I have to find a new quest!

Pumpkin-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

yield = approximately three dozen cookies

1/2      cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4      cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2      cup granulated sugar
1         egg
1         teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3      cup pumpkin puree
1 1/3   cup rolled oats
2/3      cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2   teaspoon cinnamon
3/4      teaspoon baking powder
1/2      teaspoon baking soda
1/4      teaspoon ground ginger
1/4      teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
1/4      teaspoon salt
1/2      cup fresh cranberries, chopped
1/2      cup chopped, roasted walnuts

Set oven rack to medium and preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare two cookie sheets by covering them with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Add butter, brown sugar and white sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer.   In a small bowl, beat the egg and vanilla together, then mix in the pumpkin puree.  In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt.

On medium-low speed, mix the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the pumpkin mixture and mix until well-blended, about 1 minute.   Turn speed to low and add the oat/flour mixture until just incorporated, then add the cranberries and walnuts and mix until they are incorporated into the batter. 

Scoop scant tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheets in three rows of four.  Slightly flatten each scoop of dough.  Bake one sheet of cookies at a time for 14 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through that time.  Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack and allow to rest until the cookies are at room temperature.

Chewy Pumpkin-Cranberry Cookies: The Quest Continues

I've previously written about my Pumpkin-Cranberry Cookies, and the effort I've put into making a version I'm happy with.  As I've also mentioned, though I am pleased with the flavor of those Pumpkin-Cranberry Cookies at this I've made to this point, I'm still not 100% satisfied with them due to their texture.  Those cookies are very light and cake-like, almost more like mini-cupcakes than cookies, whereas I prefer cookies that are more solid, either crunchy or chewy.  Thus, I continue on my quest, attempting to make a pumpkin cookie that isn't cake-like.

I've spent some time on and off researching pumpkin cookie recipes, in hopes they would point me in the right direction.  Mostly, that's gotten me nowhere, because the vast majority of pumpkin cookie recipes out there make cake-like cookies much like mine.  The couple potential exceptions I located just don't sound very good at all.   A recipe on a vegan site that uses no fat whatsoever and very little sugar, for example.  No thanks. 

So, with the recipes not getting me anywhere, I decided the best course of action would be for me to just experiment.

In deciding how to start my experiment, I gave some thought to the core problem and some potential solutions.   The core problem is pretty simple, really:  The pumpkin cookies I already make, and those made by most other people, are more like cake than a proper cookie.   Since the problem is cookies with cake texture, the most likely solution would be to reduce or eliminate ingredients that contribute to a cakelike texture. 

The primary offender, I realized right away, was probably flour, so the solution might lie in reducing the amount of flour, or the proportion of flour to other ingredients.  Still, with something as moist as pureed pumpkin, I'd need a fairly substantial amount of dry ingredients just to make the cookie hold together.  Considering my options, I went with something that is already used in lots of cookies anyhow:  Rolled oats.  I'd try to make a pumpkin-cranberry oatmeal cookie.

With that in mind, I started out with a basic oatmeal cookie recipe, then tried to customize it to incorporate the pumpkin and cranberries.  I knew that I'd have to use a fairly large amount of pumpkin, because ounce for ounce pumpkin puree isn't very flavorful.  I decided to start with 2/3 cup of pumpkin to 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of oats. 

These cookies tasted pretty good, but they were still quite cake-like.  I put them onto the cookie sheet as little balls of sticky dough, and when they were done, they were little mounds of fluffy cake, and hadn't really spread at all. 

That result having been gained, I thought about what makes cookies spread out, rather than maintaining the shape of the dough.   One important factor is sugar:  as the dough heats up, the sugar first dissolves, making the dough lose cohesion, before hardening again. 

With that idea in mind, I added some extra brown sugar, going from 1/2 cup of light sugar to 3/4 cup, along with 1/2 cup granulated sugar.  This was definitely a move in the right direction:  the cookies weren't that much sweeter, and they spread a bit more and ended up with a texture somewhat less like cake (though still more cake-like than I'd prefer). 

The quest isn't over yet, but I think I have some direction now.   Next time around I plan to bump up the amount of oatmeal while reducing the amount of flour.   I've also got to figure out a way to incorporate a bit more pumpkin, because while the current cookies taste pretty good, the pumpkin flavor isn't particularly strong at this point.  The key there will be how to do that without ending up with a runny mess, and that is going to be a challenge, because the dough is pretty sticky as is. 

Anyway, that's where things stand at the moment... but the quest continues.

The latest experiments.  The cookies on the right were from the first batch of
Pumpkin-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies.  The ones on the right are the ones
made with extra brown sugar.  Notice they are flatter and spread more.

Pumpkin-Cranberry Cookies, v. 1.0

I've been working on a new cookie recipe for a couple weeks now.  I finally made a trial batch - three pans of cookies - last Monday night.  After tinkering with things a bit, I was able to make a couple pans of really, really tasty cookies, but I'm still not entirely satisfied, so I'm planning to tinker with the recipe a bit further sometime over the next few days, to see if I can make it even better.

My goal:  a cookie incorporating pumpkin and fresh cranberries, in which the flavors of each stood out with neither completely overwhelming the other.  In designing the cookie, I realized that due to all the moisture in pumpkin puree, I'd need to use a fair amount of flour, and that between the flour and the moisture, the cookies would most likely end up a bit more cake-like than most cookies, and more so than I tend to prefer.  So, I thought it would be good to give them a bit of a topping, to provide a bit of crunch and help make them a bit less cake-like.  

My initial idea was to do a sort of cinnamon-sugar.  We'd recently picked up some coarse sugar, so I decided also to give that a try, and I mixed up some of that with a bit of cinnamon and used that mixture to top the first pan of cookies.   That did not turn out so well.  The coarse sugar and the cinnamon did not blend at all, so instead of the warm, familiar, sweetness of sugar and cinnamon together, the cinnamon ended up tasting dusty and a bit bitter on top of the cookie.  So much for that idea.

For the second pan, I decided to skip the topping entirely, to see how the cookie tasted with no topping.   As it turns out, it tasted really, really good.  Without the distraction of the fairly vile topping of the first batch, the flavors of the pumpkin, the cranberries and the orange zest were each distinct, yet worked together well with the warmth of the spices to produce a really nice flavor blend.   Juli and I both liked them, and I ended up bringing some of these to work and giving them to a couple of my co-workers to taste-test.   They both liked them a lot, too (and one requested to be included in future taste testing, which made me happy). 

Still, Juli thought the cookies might be even better with the right topping.  I agreed, so I sprinkled the last pan of cookies with just a bit of the coarse sugar, no cinnamon this time.  These were also quite good, but while the cookies benefited from the extra bit of sweetness, the sugar topping didn't really hold its own against the bolder flavors of the rest of the cookie.

That third pan of cookies finished off my first batch of dough, and I haven't had time to make another, but as I said above, I am planning to do that sometime over the next few days.  I have another topping idea - namely, to go back to the cinnamon-sugar idea, but this time use regular granulated sugar instead of the coarse stuff.  It works on cinnamon toast, so it might also work on the cookies.   I have some other ideas as well, and I am still giving thought to how to keep the nice pumpkin flavor while making the cookies more crisp and flat (as I prefer my cookies) and less cake-like.  So, while the recipe below will result in a very nice batch of cookies, it is still something of a work in progress.

Stay tuned!

A plate full of Pumpkin-Cranberry Cookies.
The four on the bottom are topped with the coarse sugar; the ones at the top of the picture are not.

Pumpkin-Cranberry Cookies

yield = approx. 24 cookies

1/2      cup softened butter
1/2      cup granulated sugar
1/2      cup packed light brown sugar
1         teaspoon vanilla extract
1         egg
1         cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
2         cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2         teaspoons baking powder
1         teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2   teaspoons cinnamon
1/2      teaspoon ground ginger
1/4      teaspoon salt
1         cup fresh cranberries, chopped
1/2      cup chopped walnuts
1          tablespoon orange zest
3          teaspoons coarse sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare two cookie sheets (by greasing, or covering with parchment paper or silicone non-stick baking mats).

Using a stand mixer, mix butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg; mix until smooth, then blend in pumpkin.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt, then add to the butter-sugar mixture, mixing until well-blended.  Stir in cranberries, walnuts and orange zest.

Place heaping teaspoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet, flattening each just a bit.  (Option:  sprinkle a bit of coarse sugar atop each piece of dough).  Bake 10-12 minutes, until the cookies have just started to brown around the edges.   Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Pasta with Italian Sausage, Pumpkin and Kale

I made another new dish tonight.   Credit where due:  This one was not completely my own invention.  It was very strongly influenced by a recipe from the October/November 2010 issue of Fine Cooking.  That recipe (Pasta with Pumpkin, Sausage and Cavalo Nero) wasn't really like anything I've ever made, or even had, but it sure looked and sounded good.  At the same time, as I thought about making it, I thought of a few things I thought would make it more to my liking.   One of them was pretty straight-forward:  the original recipe calls for chicken broth, but I wanted to boost the meaty taste of the sausage a bit, so I used a mix of chicken and beef broths. 

The other change I made was somewhat more unusual, and honestly, it came about from my initial, visual impression, based on the accompanying photo, before I actually read the recipe.  In the photo, the little bits of browned sausage looked a lot like pieces of walnut, and I thought a mix of pasta, pumpkin, greens and walnuts sounded pretty darn good.   Even after I read the recipe, I couldn't get that walnut impression out of my mind.  I thought walnuts would work well with the other ingredients, so I went ahead and put some in.  I'm glad I did, because they perfectly complemented the slightly nutty flavor of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and they also added an additional texture to the recipe, giving it a bit of a crunch element.

So, the recipe below is mine, but I encourage you to also check out the original version that inspired me.  Who knows, maybe that one will inspire some other ideas in you?


Pasta with Italian Sausage, Pumpkin and Kale

yield = 6 servings

1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1       pound sweet Italian sausage (casings removed if using links)
1       teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil (if needed)
1       medium-size yellow onion, chopped
3       cups of peeled, seeded pumpkin, diced into small chunks
1/4    cup white wine
2       teaspoons minced garlic
1       teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2    cup beef broth
1       cup chicken broth, divided
7       ounces kale, ribs removed and leaves cut into 1-inch pieces
8       ounces pasta (I used farfalle, but rotini, campanelle, etc. would do fine)
1/3    cup walnut pieces
1/2    cup freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus 1/4 cup more for serving
1/2    teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2    teaspoon salt
1       pinch cayenne pepper

Add 1 teaspoon salt to a pot of water and bring to a boil over high heat.  Cook the pasta according to package directions. 

In a large skillet, cook the sausage over medium heat, breaking it up with the edge of a wooden spoon, until mostly browned.  Push the sausage aside and see how much fat it has left on the pan; if there isn't very much, add a bit of olive oil.  Add the onion and cook until golden, about 8 minutes. 

Stir in the pumpkin, wine, garlic and marjoram and cook until the wine evaporates, about 3 minutes.  Add the beef broth and 1/4 cup of the chicken broth and cook until the pumpkin is almost tender (about 6 minutes).  Stir in the kale and the remaining 3/4 cups chicken broth, cover and cook until the pumpkin and kale are tender (4-5 minutes). 

By then, the pasta should be done.  Add the pasta in a large serving bowl, top with the skillet contents, add 1/2 cup of the walnuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano,salt, pepper and cayenne, then stir together until.  Serve with the additional Parmigiano.

Pumpkin and Red Lentil Curry Soup & Sweet and Hot Shrimp Curry

For lunch yesterday, I made two new Indian recipes.  Both were inspired by recipes in Camellia Panjabi's 50 Great Curries of India, but while I used recipes from that book as a starting point, by the time I put my own spin on them, they ended up as something distinctly different.  Both were also quite good.

The one that represents the greatest departure from the recipe in Panjabi's book is Pumpkin and Lentil Curry Soup.  I started with a recipe for masoor dal (red lentils), but decided to mix several things around, include more pumpkin and make it into something more distinctly a soup.

The other new recipe, Sweet and Hot Shrimp Curry, is based on Panjabi's recipe for Shrimps in Sweet and Hot Curry.  My changes mostly involve some changes in the amounts of various ingredients, but are substantial enough to make it a different recipe. 

Both of these recipes utilize something I recently picked up for the first time, tamarind concentrate.  Lots of Thai and Indian recipes call for soaking tamarind pulp in warm water and straining out the resulting juice (tamarind pulp itself isn't really edible, but the strained liquid has a distinct, sweet-tangy flavor).  I've always found that a bit of a pain, really.  The tamarind concentrate - more or less that same strained liquid, only thickened into a paste - allows one to skip that step and still get the same flavor.  I consider this a great find, personally.

I served the two dishes up with seasoned basmati rice (basmati prepared as normal, but with a large pinch each of garam masala and turmeric) and a pair of Indian breads.  Normally we have just been preparing frozen naan with our Indian meals, but last time we stopped by Maria Grocery and Gifts, Juli accidentally grabbed several packages of roti instead.  As it turns out, the round, whole-wheat roti are just as great as the naan we've been buying, so we plan to use both from now on, for variety.

The two dishes worked well together.   The soup was flavorful, but fairly mild, such that it might have seemed a bit boring on its own, but it perfectly complemented the bold heat and sweetness of the thick curry sauce that covered the shrimp.


Pumpkin and Red Lentil Curry Soup

yield = approx. 8 generous servings

1       pound masoor dal (split red lentils)
1       tablespoon butter
1       large onion, finely chopped
2       green hot chilis, minced
1       tablespoon grated ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1       teaspoon ground coriander
1       teaspoon chili powder
1/2    teaspoon cumin powder
1       sugar pie pumpkin, peeled, seeded and strings removed
         (about 1 pound)
1       can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
1/2    teaspoon salt
2       teaspoons tamarind concentrate
2       tablespoons lime juice
1/2    teaspoon garam masala
3/4    teaspoon ground cinnamon

Rinse the lentils, then set aside.

Bring 11 cups of water to a boil in a Dutch oven.  While the water heats up, heat the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat, then fry the onions and chilis until the onion is nearing golden-brown (about 6 minutes).  Stir in the ginger and garlic and cook another minute, then stir in the ground coriander, the chili powder and the ground cumin and cook for one minute more.

When the water has come to a boil, add the lentils, the pumpkin, the onion mixture, tomatoes and salt to the Dutch oven.  Return to a full boil, then reduce heat to high simmer and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring often. 

Remove the soup from heat, and puree about half of it, including all pumpkin chunks and large pieces of tomato, in a blender.  Return the puree to the Dutch oven and reheat to a low simmer.  Stir in the tamarind concentrate and lime juice, then pour the soup into a serving bowl.  Sprinkle with the garam masala and cinnamon, then serve.

Note:
If one wishes to make a complete meal of this soup, stir in an ample helping of rice.

Sweet and Hot Shrimp Curry

yield = 4 servings

4        green hot chilis, chopped
2        teaspoons minced garlic
1        teaspoon cumin seeds
2        tablespoons vegetable oil
1        large onion, finely chopped
1        teaspoon garam masala
3/4     teaspoon ground coriander
3/4     teaspoon chili powder
1/2     teaspoon ground cumin
1/2     teaspoon powdered turmeric
1        14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/2  teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1        teaspoon grated jaggery or palm sugar
10      curry leaves
1/4     cup coarsely-chopped cilantro leaves
3/4     teaspoon salt
1        pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Grind the chilis, garlic and cumin seeds into a paste; set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook the onions until they are starting to brown.  Add the chili/garlic paste and fry for two minutes, stirring well.  Add the garam masala, coriander, chili powder, cumin and turmeric and stir constantly for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Stir in the tamarind concentrate, jaggery, curry leaves, cilantro and salt and cook for about 2 minutes.  Taste; adjust sweetness, sourness and saltiness to taste, if necessary.  Add 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil.  Add the shrimp and cook until they are done, stirring often.  Serve with rice and Indian bread.

Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Muffins

Lately, Juli and I have been thinking a lot about foods associated with this time of year:  cranberries, apple cider, roast turkey and - most relevant to this post - pumpkin.   Juli recently made up excellent batches of pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins, which we have been greatly enjoying.   My office has a pot luck coming up, for which everyone is supposed to bring a normal lunch for him or herself, but also bring some sort of dessert to share.   I signed up to bring some cookies and muffins, and decided I'd also like to try my hand at pumpkin muffins, and at coming up with a recipe that was both different from, and as good as, the pumpkin, cranberry and pecan muffins she made.

I knew that whatever I ended up making, it would be a new experience for me, because while I've eaten a fair number of muffins over the years - some great, some not so good, and a few that were downright terrible - this would be the first time I'd ever cooked muffins.

I looked through cookbooks, cooking blogs and online recipe sites, and while I found some recipes that looked pretty good, I didn't find one that really struck my fancy, so I decided to come up with one of my own.  In doing so, I studied some basic muffin recipes and how-to advice, and gave thought to what had and had not worked well in various muffins I'd had, and what I might do to make more than just another muffin.  That led me to make a few decisions in designing my own recipe.

First off, I had to decide whether or not to add bits of some sort of fruit or nuts to give the muffins more range of texture and flavor.   Though I love cranberries, I didn't want my muffins to be too much like the great ones Juli had already made in the recent past, so that ruled out cranberries.  I also considered raisins, apple chunks and various other options, as well as different sorts of nuts, but finally decided to go with something else:  chocolate chips.   I'd tried a couple other pumpkin muffin recipes that used chocolate chips, not to mention some pumpkin and banana bread recipes that used the chips, and I'd always liked those.  Plus, I figured the dark bits of chocolate along with the orange-brown of the rest of the muffin would look good as a Halloween-time food.

The next decision was a bit more difficult.  Traditionally, muffin recipes have called for oil of some sort in order to make a moist muffin.  Over the past couple decades, though, a lot of people have looked for healthier alternatives to all that oil, and one of the most common alternatives is applesauce.  I will admit to going into this project with a bit of a bias against the applesauce option, mostly because a lot of the time when I've had muffins made with applesauce instead of oil, I've often found them flavorless and unpleasant - albeit with a reasonably moist texture.   In my experience, a lot of people who used applesauce in muffins have often been so concerned about making a healthy muffin that as they also loaded it with whole grains and bran and seeds and so forth, they forgot to make something that actually tasted good and wasn't so dense as to render it nearly inedible. 

Nonetheless, in designing my own recipe, I decided that I would go the applesauce route.  I made this choice not so much for health reasons as to produce the blend of flavors I wanted.  Since I was making pumpkin muffins, I wanted to use other ingredients that conveyed an autumn flavor, and applesauce fit that bill.  Along the same lines, rather than go with a fair bit of water or perhaps milk (both common in muffin recipes), I decided to go with something that would boost both the fruit flavor of the muffins and the spices that tend to go well with pumpkins.  Thus, I added some apple cider to the mix.  I doubt I'm the first person to have come up with this idea, but I didn't see it in any of the recipes I consulted.    It did occur to me that maybe I didn't see apple cider listed in any muffin recipes because it resulted in crappy muffins, but I decided to go with it anyhow.  Even if the result wasn't good, I'd at least learn something.

I needn't have worried.  The apple cider idea worked great, and so did the recipe as a whole.  I didn't use as much sugar as do a lot of muffin recipes, but between the applesauce, the cider and the chocolate chips, they aren't lacking in sweetness.  They're moist and chewy, with a nice blend of flavors:  warm spices, creamy pumpkin with an apple undertone and sweet-bitter, dark chocolate.  About the only thing I might do differently, should I make these again, is to forego the water entirely in favor of more apple cider.

Anyhow, along with a bunch of the cookies I made last weekend, these will round out my offering for the pot luck at work.   I'm hoping others like them as well as we do.  I also hope some readers will give them a shot and let me know what they think.

Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip Muffins

yield = approx. 26 muffins

1 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2    cup applesauce
4       eggs
2       cups canned or freshly pureed pumpkin
1/4    cup apple cider
1/4    cup water
3       cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1       teaspoon baking soda
2       teaspoons cinnamon
1       teaspoon ground nutmeg (preferably freshly-ground)
1/2    teaspoon ground cloves
1/2    teaspoon salt
1       cup semisweet dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray muffin tins with nonstick spray

By hand, mix sugar, applesauce and eggs until smooth.  Add pumpkin, apple cider and water and mix until smooth.  In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt.   Add dry mixture and chocolate chips to wet mixture and stir to mix, but do not over-stir. 

Fill each cup of the muffin tin 2/3 full with batter.  Bake approx. 20 minutes.

Notes:
For chocolate chips, I went with a mix of Ghiardelli Bittersweet Baking Chips and Hershey's Special Dark Chips.

Practically Perfect Pumpkin Bread

This recipe is very easy.  For extra flavor, I used Penzey's Vietnamese cinnamon.  I also grated the nutmeg fresh - the smell makes it worthwhile, never mind the taste, which is fabulous!  For this batch I experimented with using butter-flavor Crisco that was pre-measured in sticks.  Jeffrey hates measuring Crisco out of the can, and he'd bought a package.  I never thought measuring Crisco was that big a deal, but I have to admit it was lovely just to peel the wrapper off a perfectly measured portion and pop it into the mixer!

If the pumpkin bread isn't quite done in an hour (use a clean knife to test the center), turn off the oven and cook for another 8-10 minutes.  I like my slices thickly spread with butter, but Jeffrey likes his plain.

Practically Perfect Pumpkin Bread

1 cup butter-flavor   Crisco

3 cups                        sugar

4                                eggs, beaten

1 15-ounce can           pumpkin

3 ½ cups                     flour

½ teaspoon                salt

2 teaspoons               baking soda

1 teaspoon                 ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon                 ground nutmeg

2/3 cup                     water

1.  Preheat oven to 350°.

2.  Beat Crisco and sugar together in stand mixer.  Add beaten eggs and pumpkin. 

3.  Mix remaining dry ingredients together and stir well.  Alternate flour mixture with water, and beat until batter is smooth. 

4.  Grease two loaf pans and pour in batter.  Bake for one hour.

Pumpkin, Cranberry and Pecan Muffins

Jeffrey likes to tell a story about a former coworker who liked to make muffins of the "healthy" variety- they were so healthy, as a matter of fact, that they made excellent doorstops, and tasted about like you'd expect a doorstop to taste.  Everyone at the office tried to be kind, and so the muffins disappeared, but they never, EVER got eaten.

I'm not sure why traditionally sweet muffins have often been metamorphosed into recipes that use way too much whole wheat, substitute apple sauce for all the fat, and add heavy grains like bran, but that's pretty common.

That's NOT the case with Pumpkin, Cranberry and Pecan muffins from "For the Love of Cooking" - this recipe successfully walks the line of healthy ingredients and great taste! 

I can't even remember the last time I made muffins, so I was pleasantly surprised to find that they are super-quick to mix up.  I made the recipe as posted, except that I didn't have coarse sugar on hand to sprinkle the batter with, so I made do with regular sugar.  Very tasty results!  I think I need to make muffins more often!  They make a great quick breakfast or mid-morning snack.