Great Pumpkin

I love all things pumpkin.  Here are two pumpkin recipes I recently made.  The first is for Pumpkin Bread.  The second is for Pumpkin Cookies.

PUMPKIN BREAD

1 cup raisins – preferably golden ones

2/3 cup boiling water

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs beaten

1 16 ounce can pumpkin

1 cup chopped pecans

3½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Soak raisins in the boiling water for 5 minutes.

Combine sugar, oil, and eggs.  Add pumpkin.  Sift together dry ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture.  Add pecans and raisins with water.  Pour batter into three greased medium sized loaf pans.  Bake 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing.  If you want your slices of pumpkin bread to look nice, refrigerate the bread for an hour or two before you slice it.

PUMPKIN MOLASSES COOKIES

½ cup butter, room temperature

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

¼ cup molasses

½ cup pumpkin - I used canned 

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 2/3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

Granulated Sugar for rolling cookies

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• Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.  Add egg, molasses, pumpkin and vanilla.  I used a hand mixer for this step.

• Whisk dry ingredients together and add them to the wet ingredients just until combined.  Refrigerate dough for an hour or two.

• Scoop tablespoons of dough, roll in balls, and roll in sugar. The dough is sticky so this is a bit messy.

• Place 2" apart on parchment lined baking pans.  Bake in 350º oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

• Let cookies cool on the baking pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

• These cookies have a subtle pumpkin spice flavor and a really soft texture.  When I first took them out of the oven, I thought I had not baked them long enough.

Jobless

Since May 28, I have been without a job.  Unlike many in the faith community, I’ve not aspired to be a wife and mother.  I’ve always sought to be gainfully employed, to serve in church and to serve in the community.  As one friend said, “Some people work to live, and some people live to work.  We all know which one you are.”  In addition to the painful reality of not being able to make ends meet, being without a job is demoralizing.

During this protracted period of unemployment, my pets have been a continual source of comfort and entertainment.  When Isabelle became mine nearly six years ago, I bought purchased some cat toys and placed them in a ‘toy box’ in the living room.  Did she play with them?  No.  I have found that both animals particularly enjoy playing with this purple ribbon.