Some of my favorite Halloween memories revolve around pumpkins. I remember my sisters and I carving pumpkins in our driveway, diligently drawing our scariest faces in the crisp autumn air. After we had finished with our masterpieces, we would bring our carefully collected pumpkin seeds to the kitchen, where they would be spread on a baking sheet and roasted to perfection.
One of the best parts of trick-or-treating was seeing the jack-o-laterns in our neighbors' windows and picking our favorites as we filled out pumpkin-shaped baskets full of candy. I'm pretty sure as a baby I was even dressed as a pumpkin once or twice.
However, at the top of the pumpkin memory list is the smell of pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg wafting through our house while pumpkin bread baked.
For nostalgia's sake, here are some of the pumpkin treats my mom used to make. Feel free to add your own recipes and favorite Halloween memories in the comments box.
Pumpkin Bread:
- 3 1/3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 cups sugar - a little less
- 1 cup oil
- 4 eggs
- 2/3 cups water
- 15 oz. pumpkin
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. Beat and mix until smooth. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake about 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 1 cup pumpkin
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil and egg in one bowl. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Then add milk and baking soda. Mix together the flour mixture and pumpkin mixture. Add vanilla and chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
