Pumpkin Patch

So we went to the pumpkin patch... back at the beginning of October ;).

Harrison had just made his unexpected arrival and we were staying with my parents for a week before coming back home, so we took the opportunity to visit the same pumpkin patch we went to last year.

We really like this little pumpkin patch in Vancouver called Joe's Place Farm. It's short and sweet. There is a hay ride and a corn trail (not sure it's a maze) and photo ops, but we just like that it has pumpkins, apples and wagons etc. And mostly that they pick the pumpkins and sort them for you by size and type. No wandering through the muddy fields with babies and toddlers without boots. It's kind of like the pumpkin patch made easy and that's where we are at right now (and where we were last year) ;).

We missed having Auntie Macey with us this year but loved that we could bring Ellie with us! Everyone enjoyed it.. well, Harrison might have slept through it but we can say he enjoyed it.

Pumpkins!!

Ellie found her pumpkin

My pumpkin in the pumpkins. 

We're still working on the smiling/not blinking/looking-at-the-camera-at-the-same-time thing

Cousins!!

Cousins!!

Lots of kisses

This one!

Running on the corn trail

Big camera selfie

The wagon with pumpkins was probably the highlight

For some reason the rest of these are out of order, but I don't have the energy to fix it.

She really likes kissing his fingers. 

Sneaky!

She's pretty sure she can pick it up ;)

Our little family

Late Night Scones

I'm back at it with The Great Australian Pumpkin Recipe Book (the GAPRB).

I had some left over pumpkin puree from making ice cream and thought it was time for some pumpkin scones.

I had planned on making these for my monthly SLP meeting. All day I thought about it, a little concerned that I would be up late because I worked in Pendleton tonight. I walked in the door and... completely forgot I was supposed to make them. It wasn't until I was climbing into bed at 11:00 that I remembered. Now, I am better at staying up than I am at getting up... so I opted for making them tonight and going to bed late.

So here I sit, warm, fluffy pumpkin scone in hand at 1:00 am, waiting for them to cool enough to be covered.

Here's the recipe (adapted from the GAPRB and this recipe):


Pumpkin Scones
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 TBS vanilla
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup Plus 2 TBS sugar
½ cup ice cold butter cut into small cubes
½ cup chopped pecans save some for the top (optional)
½ cup ice cold pumpkin puree
½ cup of golden raisins (optional)
2 T cinnamon


For the glaze
2 TBS cream/milk
1 cup plus 1 TBS powdered sugar


For the spice drizzle:
1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves


Directions:
Cut butter into cubes and refrigerate until ready to use

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar into a large bowl

Cut the butter into the flour mixture with pastry blender until resembles coarse meal (or use food processor).

It looks powdery, but will hold its shape when squeezed.

In a smaller bowl whisk the pumpkin puree and the egg, and vanilla

My new favorite kitchen gadget. A tiny adjust-a-cup!

I added a little spice to this too - optional.

Add to the dry mixture mixing with a fork (or processor), and stir until just combined.

Careful not to over mix it.

Then gently add the nuts and raisins (if desired).

I made a double batch, so I ended up mixing it in a big bowl.
No nuts for me, just golden raisins.

Pour the dough mix onto a lightly floured board and pat into a 7 inch 1 to 1 ½ inch high disk.

Cut into in half then quarters and then in eights as evenly as possible.

Again, this is a double batch and I made minis.

Place the scones on a baking sheet with sil-pat or parchment paper – this ensures even browning on the bottom.

Bake at 375 degrees for 17 minutes and take them out, it’s easy to over bake them.
If making mini scones – bake for 15 minutes.

Make glaze by combining ingredients.

Brush on plain glaze when they come out of the oven.

Drizzle with spice glaze when they are cool (I put spiced glaze in a zip top bag and snip the corner). See this post about the spice glaze.

Pick the goofiest looking one and test it out for quality!

Mmm. So very, very pumpkin good!

Only the Beginning

When we were perusing the Moruya Farmer's Market during our trip to Australia we found this delightful little gem of a cookbook:

I'm pretty sure that this kid is around 20
now, since this was published in 1992.
 Crazy huh!?

I was thrilled to find a cookbook that explicitly said "Australian" because I wanted come away with some appreciation of Australian cuisine. And since, well... I do love pumpkin, it seemed a perfect choice! As it turns out, Australian cuisine is really quite similar to our own, with the exception of a few quirky combinations and specific items (i.e., Vegemite). Nonetheless, this treasury of pumpkin recipes will be put to good use this Fall. Starting with: Pumpkin Ice Cream (in honor of the cute little kid at the Moruya Market that was dripping with ice cream and asking everyone in sight, in the most adorable way, if we like ice cream).

Pumpkin Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup fresh pumpkin puree or canned
   unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves (optional)
1/4 tsp. salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg


DIRECTIONS:
In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate during the remaining steps.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 1/2 cups of the cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Cook until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine the egg yolks, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and the remaining 1/2 cup cream and the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Whisk until smooth and the sugar begins to dissolve.

Remove the cream mixture from the heat. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture back into the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 4 to 6 minutes. Do not allow the custard to boil.

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice water, stirring occasionally until cool (optional). Whisk the pumpkin mixture into the custard.

Strain again through a fine-mesh sieve into another bowl (also optional, but will result in smoother and creamier ice cream later.

At this point, your fingers are sticky and your arms
are sore from holding and stirring.. but it's worth it.

Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, can take up to 8 hours.


Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving. Makes about 1 quart (I doubled this recipe).

At this stage, it's like soft serve.

After some time in the freezer, it'll look more like
ice cream and less like custard.

That's it! Keep it frozen and enjoy! This tastes like pumpkin pie filling and would probably be great as a pumpkin ice cream pie. One word about custard ice cream and flavors. It gets more mellow in flavor the colder it gets. So if you taste the custard, it's sweet and has somewhat strong pumpkin flavor, At the soft-serve stage, it'll be a little less sweet and not so strong of pumpkin flavor. When it's frozen hard, it will be perfect, not too sweet, not too overwhelming pumpkin (I know, who knew there was such a thing). So if you are making homemade ice cream, don't question yoruself or the recipe until you've tasted it in the final, hard frozen stage.

It's the Great Australian Pumpkin Recipe Book [Charlie Brown], and we're just getting started!!