Category: Desserts

Chuck’s Pumpkin Pie Cake

A few years ago, one of Jerri’s grand nieces graduated as salutatorian of her high school class. She was one of over four hundred seniors and is currently completing her doctorate in cultural anthropology. At a family get-together a year or so after she had begun her college work at Carnegie Mellon University, she was visiting her grandparents in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, when her high school honor was brought up by one of her aunts.

“You were only salutatorian? I was valedictorian!”

Another aunt spoke up. “But there were only fifty-six seniors in your class.”

Her great aunt joined the conversation. “I was valedictorian, but there were only eight in my class. And your grandfather was valedictorian, and there were three in his class.”

We still enjoy thinking of how we treasure those honors from many years ago.

Recently Jerri, her brother and I attended her high school reunion in Rosalia, Kansas. As you might guess, it is an all class reunion in a small community. Since it was 2017, graduates present from classes in 2007, 1997, etc. were recognized.

It was a friendly group of fifty or sixty people who enjoyed sharing memories of their school. Everybody knew everybody else, or at least appeared to know the parents of the the younger attendees. We won the door prize as having come the farthest distance to the reunion and Jerri’s brother, the valedictorian of three, got a prize as the oldest attendee.

My only disappointment was with the food or rather with the caterer. The food was tasty and well seasoned. The coleslaw was the best I have ever eaten and the dessert was excellent, but Cindy, of Cindy’s Copper Kettle in Eureka, Kansas, refused to share her recipe for either.

She flat out refused when I explained that I would like to publish the recipe for her cole slaw. “I’m sorry, but we have been making that coleslaw for forty-nine years, and we can’t share it. You can buy it by the pint or quart at the restaurant if you want some.”

“But you don’t understand….” I tried to explain.

“I understand all too well, but I make fifty pounds at a time, so the slaw probably wouldn’t turn out right for you anyway,” she replied.

I tried another tactic. “That pumpkin dessert was wonderful too. Would you share that recipe.”

“Nope, sorry,” but then a pause. “It’s just my version of pumpkin pie cake. You can find recipes on line to get you started.”

Polite but firm. It’s hard to fool a Kansas woman.

I don’t think that I can come close to the the coleslaw recipe unless I disguise myself and sneak into the kitchen when Cindy is making it. However, her tip about the pumpkin pie cake encouraged me, and here is my version. It’s not quite as good as hers, but it is a great dessert.

INGREDIENTS:

For the cake:
1 package yellow cake mix
8 T unsalted butter
1 cup chopped nuts
1 can pumpkin (or two cups fresh purée)
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. allspice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2 cups evaporated milk

For the topping:
1/2 to 1 cup heavy cream
2 to 4 tsp. sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp. vanilla

PROCEDURE:

Start by making the crust. Melt the butter in your microwave or a small pan on the range over low heat. Chop the nuts. Dump the cake mix into a mixing bowl and stir in the nuts. Use a fork to blend the butter with the cake mix and nuts.

Grease a nine by thirteen-inch baking pan, and use a spatula to press the prepared cake mix evenly on the bottom of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350º while you make the pumpkin pie batter.

Combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, salt, eggs and evaporated milk in a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat the pumpkin mixture until you have a smooth batter.

Pour the batter over the crust in the pan and bake for sixty to seventy minutes until a knife inserted near the center of the pan comes out clean.

Cool thoroughly on a rack.

To make the whipped cream topping, chill the cream and beaters in the freezer for about fifteen minutes. With an electric mixer, beat the cream until it begins to thicken, add the sugar and continue beating. Beat in the vanilla.

NOTES: Use sugar and vanilla proportional to the amount of cream you need to whip. A half cup of heavy cream will produce enough whipped cream for six generous servings of cake.

Grandma Libbey’s Soft Ginger Cookies

Our camp cook’s wife, Lorraine, shared her recipe for soft ginger cookies after I begged for it at one of the sumptuous Christmas open houses she and Chris hosted. As I have mentioned before, I really prefer cookies that remind me of cake rather than crackers.

I do like crackers, particularly when they are smeared with a nice ripe Brie or Camembert or are supporting a generous slice of aged Cheddar from Wisconsin or Cave Aged Gouda from the Caves of Faribaultt. I also use crackers in lots of recipes for everything from Italian Meatballs and Jerri’s Salmon Loaf to Nellie’s Rhubarb Raisin Pie and Phyllis’ Bar-B-Que Burgers, and of course, Jerri’s Oyster Stew demands oyster crackers.

I do enjoy an occasional crisp cookie, but I would sneak an extra one of Grandma Libbey’s Soft Ginger Cookies before I reached for a crisp sugar cookie. Lorraine got the recipe from Ms. Diane, as Chris calls her, who is married to his brother David. She contributed it to “Feeding the Flock,” a cookbook published by The Baptist Church of Grafton, Massachusetts.

In a note at the end of the recipe, she explains, “This recipe comes from David’s Grandma who made it frequently to celebrate, to console and to be enjoyed with cold milk.”

I think Diane says it all. It’s time to bake some cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large egg
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups molasses
1/2 cup sour milk
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. baking soda
5-6 cups all-purpose flour

PROCEDURE:

First make the sour milk. Put one and one-half-teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup. Add enough milk to make a half cup. Stir the mixture and set it aside. Preheat the oven to 425º.

Beat the egg, sugar and molasses together in a large mixing bowl. Add the sour milk and beat well. Add the oil and beat until it is blended with the other liquids.

Sift the salt, ginger, baking soda and flour into a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture a cup at a time, beating well between additions. If the dough is not firm enough to roll out after the last cup has been stirred in, add more flour.

Transfer half of the dough onto a well-floured surface. Use a spatula to turn the dough until it is covered with flour. Roll out the dough to a quarter-inch thickness. Cut with a floured cutter and place the cookies about an inch apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for six to seven minutes until the center of the cookie is set.

Work the scraps into the remaining dough and cut more cookies. Knead the final scraps into a ball and roll it out to make the rest of the cookies.

NOTES: If you want extra sweetness, sprinkle a little granulated sugar on top of the cookies before putting them in the oven.

Depending on the size of your egg and the kind of molasses, you may need to add a little more than six cups of flour. This recipe makes five dozen three inch cookies.