Mom's Pumpkin Cookies

My sister and I spent months trying to find this recipe for my mom's pumpkin cookies. Sarah finally got it from my mom, so I'm logging it away on my blog so that we don't lose it again!

Mom's Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
dash of ginger
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or dried cranberries (optional)

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix sugar, pumpkin, and butter together.
3. Then stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon,cloves,nutmeg, allspice, ginger, salt.
4. Stir in walnuts or cranberries, if desired.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Top with cream cheese frosting and serve warm.

Persimmon Pudding

My dad has been making this traditional English pudding for as long as I can remember, and I have fond memories of the spicy aroma wafting through the house around the start of the holidays. This last year, my dad's little persimmon tree started to bear fruit, and we made this pudding as a steamed pudding for the first time. Excellent! Both ways are great, but the baked pudding is more like brownies while the steamed pudding is lighter and more moist.

 

Persimmon Pudding

 

Ingredients

1 cup ripe pulp

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts

pinch of salt

 

Procedure

Dissolve soda in pulp. Add sugar. Sift flour with baking powder. Add to pulp alternately with milk. Add butter, vanilla, nuts, and salt. Put into greased baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or it can be steamed for 1 1/2 hours.

 

Vanilla Sauce for Pudding

 

Ingredients

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons corn starch

2 cups hot water

2 tablespoons butter

pinch of salt

About 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

nutmeg

 

Procedure

Stir corn starch into sugar thoroughly. Pour hot water into mixture slowly stirring constantly to keep from lumping. Add all other ingredients and bring to boil.

Rye Muffins

A bit ago, I decided to try something new and make rye muffins. I have always loved rye bread, and muffins have never tasted right to me using all-purpose flour (probably because my mom always did half or all whole wheat). I made three different batches of muffins to try out the effects of rye flour, wheat bran, and flaxseed, and found that they make for extremely delicious, healthy muffins. I took a bunch of the muffins to my parents' house, and my dad made bread pudding out of some of them. It was great! This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Rye Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup milk (1 1/4 cup if too dry)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 cups rye flour
     or 1 cup rye and 1 cup whole wheat
1/4 cup wheat bran
1/8 cup brown flaxseed
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup of raisins
     or 1 cup mashed bananas
1 cup broken pecans or walnuts
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups with shortening, spray with cooking spray, or line with paper baking cups.

2. In large bowl, beat milk, oil, and egg with fork or wire whisk until well mixed. With a wooden spoon, stir in all but the raisins and pecans all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy--DO NOT OVERMIX). Fold in raisins and pecans. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Set aside the extra batter for another partial batch.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. If baked in greased pan, let stand about 5 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to wire rack; if baked in paper baking cups, immediately remove from pan to wire rack.

Makes about 15-17 muffins. Would work best if you mix up enough for three batches and cook it in four batches.

Dad's Killer Coconut Cookies

Since I've been putting up a bunch of sweet stuff anyways, I'll put up my dad's crazy cookies. They really are killer cookies because of how bad they are for you! But they are delicious! My dad makes them for us during the holidays, and they hardly ever make it to the cookie jar!

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups oats
2 cups (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
1 cup coconut

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut; mix well.

3. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.