Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Dorcas Annette Walker

A hand-written letter sent in the mail has almost become obsolete with how most people correspond with others. While I still occasionally send out a note written by hand, I’ll have to confess that emailing is a lot quicker and easier for me. Communicating through cyber space is not without its perils though. I first signed up with yahoo email. A couple years passed without any problems. Suddenly one day my phone started ringing as friends from out-of-state began calling asking what was going on. Someone had hacked into my email account and was sending out frantic letters asking for money using my name telling folk that I was stranded in Africa. After a couple of months yahoo was able to run this person down. I started a new email account, but was left shaken at the thought of being sabotaged again. By then my local telephone company had email accounts so I signed up with them, changed all my addresses, and notified my editors. Months passed by and once more I began to relax. Lo and behold if I didn’t discover that randomly people posting emails to me would get their emails returned with my address blocked. A friend of mine using the same telephone company would sometimes have to send an email to me three or four times before it would go through. I called the technical support a couple of times about this problem. The last support fellow I talked with, stating my frustration and trying to impress upon him the vital importance for me to be able to be in contact with my editors and them with me, I was told that the only way they could completely solve the problem was for me to forward the blocked emails. I hung up the phone feeling quite confused. How I am to get a hold of emails that never even come to me is beyond my understanding. Maybe the local company thinks that I have psychic powers. So I have signed up with gmail after being assured by friends that using gmail will solve all my email problems. We shall see. You can now reach me at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com

Thankfully food is one way of interaction that never fails. You can count on smiles of satisfaction whenever you prepare a lip-smackin dish. Not only does food satisfy a basic human need, but it also gives comfort along with an artistic touch. My Pumpkin Bread Pudding is a new twist to an old dish that makes a perfect fall dessert. You can add raisins or pecans to the Pumpkin Bread Pudding, and drizzle Carmel, honey, or maple syrup over it before serving. Preparation time is fifteen minutes (not counting baking time) and this recipe serves twelve.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

12 slices of wheat bread
4 c milk
6 eggs
2 c or 1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin
1 c brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tb pumpkin spice
¼ tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
powdered sugar

Cut bread into 1 inch cubes and place in a buttered 9x 13 baking dish. In a medium-size bowl beat until smooth: the milk, eggs, pumpkin, vanilla, spices, and salt. Pour over the bread, sprinkle with cinnamon, and bake at 350º for one hour (covered with tinfoil for the first 30 minutes) until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Dust with powdered sugar and serve!

Weekly tip: For an even crunchier bread pudding texture, toast the bread before cubing!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Mince Apple Pie

Mince Apple Pie
Dorcas Annette Walker

Every Thanksgiving at home a mincemeat pie was served. Without fail my father would always shake his head and sadly inform us that that the store-bought mincemeat was nothing like the mincemeat his mother used to make on the farm. To keep the family tradition going, each Thanksgiving I would buy mincemeat and make a pie even though a jar of mincemeat was “quite dear” or real expensive like my English grandmother would say. Both my children hated mincemeat. After awhile I finally quit making a mincemeat pie as there were always oodles of other holiday desserts. This past week I decided to add some extra ingredients to an apple pie. To my surprise and delight it reminded me of a mild version of mincemeat pies in years gone by. So I have named it my Mince Apple Pie.

Mincemeat refers to something ground or minced up. An old slang saying, “to make mincemeat”, meant to utterly destroy. Mincemeat was originally medieval containing a sweet and spicy mixture of chopped meat, suet, and fruit as way of preserving meat. English mincemeat recipes from the 15th - 17th century were used to bake a huge pie on Christmas Eve with a pastry topping effigy of baby Jesus lying in his cradle. Early New Englanders made large batches of mincemeat stored in crocks sealed with a layer of lard that could be kept up to ten years. Mincemeat recipes vary by region or ancestry. By the mid-twentieth century recipes for mincemeat sometimes substituted vegetable fats and butter or used green tomatoes to make it vegetarian. Commercial preparations package mincemeat in jars, foil lined boxes, or tins. Mincemeat pies are sometimes served with a slice of cheddar cheese.

Mincemeat was the name of a British operation during World War II that succeeded in making the Germans believe that the Allies would invade the Balkans instead of Sicily- their real objective. British naval intelligence took a corpse they named Major Martin, dressed him as a major, along with a briefcase containing sealed papers. They fitted the corpse with a life jacket and pushed the body out to sea where the tide carried it to shore. When the body was turned over to the British they noted that the papers had been resealed. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the United States were wired: “Mincemeat Swallowed Whole”. The operation accomplished sending German vessels away from Sicily and spreading the German defensive across Europe. Major Martin, whose real identity was never revealed, was laid to rest in a graveyard at Heulva.

Mince Apple Pie

two pie crusts
1 qt apple pie filling
½ c raisins
¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
sugar
cinnamon

Spread one crust over a 9-inch pie pan. In a medium-sized bowl mix together the pie filling, raisins, and nuts and pour into the pie crust. Add the second crust on top sealing the edges poking holes in the crust with a knife. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes until the crust is lightly browned. Serve hot or cold!

Weekly tip: A piece of hot apple pie in a bowl of milk makes a scrumptious filling snack or meal!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcasannettewalker@gmail.com. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

Candied Orange Sweet Potatoes

Candied Orange Sweet Potatoes
Dorcas Annette Walker

Last Sunday our home church had its annual home coming. Along with the huge crowd there were all kinds of casseroles, meats, salads, and desserts that overflowed several tables in our church fellowship hall. Even after everyone was stuffed there were enough leftovers to make another church meal. The sight of tables filled with food always captivates me with the possibility of discovering a new recipe. I think the one thing all good cooks have in common is curiosity. Just let a different dish appear before us or a familiar one with a new twist to it and our noses start to twitch. Not only is the taste of delicious food one grand delight, but chatting with all the other cooks and discussing recipes is the main highlight of church dinners. I’ve made more new friends discussing ingredients to a casserole or dessert over the years than in any other way. No matter what area of the United States I’m in as long as there is food around it is always an instant ice-breaker. Food has a way of breaking down any age or culture barrier. It was Granny in her nineties, who passed this recipe along to me a couple of years ago. What a joy to know that if I live to be a hundred years old I’ll still be interested in trying new recipes.

Our first frost up here on the mountain recently signaled that it was time to begin harvesting the sweet potatoes in my garden. My Candied Orange Sweet Potatoes recipe is a new twist on the sweet potatoes casserole topped with marshmallows. No matter how you prepare sweet potatoes whether by baking, frying, microwaving, simmering in butter and brown sugar, doing up in pies, or making into casseroles you can always be assured of a tasty and nutritious dish. I always keep a supple of canned sweet potatoes in my pantry. Not only do the jars give off a bright orange color, but they are available for instant use.

My Candied Orange Sweet Potatoes gives a hint of summer with its mild citrus taste and embodies the fall season with its bright orange color while the topping of toasted marshmallows is reminiscent of sitting around a campfire. This casserole is quick and easy to make and can be made up ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until ready to pop into the oven for baking. Preparation time for my Candied Orange Sweet Potatoes is ten minutes and this recipe serves eight.

Candied Orange Sweet Potatoes

1 qt cooked sweet potatoes
½ c orange juice
¼ c syrup
½ tsp ginger
3 tb margarine
pinch of salt
cinnamon
10 oz bag of marshmallows

Mash the sweet potatoes in a medium-sized bowl and add the next five ingredients stirring until well mixed. Pour into a buttered 7 x 11 baking dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and top with the marshmallows. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes until the marshmallows are puffy and browned. Serve hot!

Weekly tip: To can sweet potatoes: cook the potatoes until almost tender and ready to peel, then cold pack the potatoes in quart jars with a medium syrup (3 c sugar to 4 c water), and can for thirty minutes!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com

PA Dutch Apple Butter

PA Dutch Apple Butter
Dorcas Annette Walker

Autumn has finally arrived up here in the Tennessee Mountains with chilly nights and warm days. I’ve been keeping a fire in my woodstove relishing the warmth of a crackling fire. The smell of wood smoke wafting on the air, dried leaves swirling downward, and the popping sound of acorns hitting the hard ground somehow makes one feel energetic once again. Even our ancient chocolate lab, Sandy, kicks up her heels and rolls around on her back in the grass as if to savor the last bit of warmth from the earth. Now is the time for gathering in the last bit of garden vegetables before the first frost hits while pumpkins and apples finish ripening. Although my pantry shelves are overflowing with canned goods, like the squirrels outside, I still want to put up more food. The sight of baskets filled with colorful apples in the market draws me like a magnet.

This is the time to make up a big batch of my homemade apple butter using an old Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. Just like it takes a mixture of the right kinds of apples to produce good cider so does the blending of certain spices make high-rate apple butter. Once you have tasted the PA Dutch Apple Butter you will never be satisfied with what they sell in the stores now-a-days. My Mennonite grandmother made apple butter in huge black pots over a fire out in her yard that she would put up and sell in their market. I enjoy keeping the family tradition going. There is something captivating about the smell of apple butter slowly cooking on the stove sending out a spicy aroma that makes all the hours it takes to prepare well worth the effort.

My PA Dutch Apple Butter has a thick dark-brown sweet smooth texture of intermingling spices that can be used in different ways: to make a filling apple butter sandwich, spread on one slice of bread, used for filling in stack cakes, and on top of fried squash. While there are recipes that cook apple butter in microwaves, ovens, or the Crockpot, I prefer cooking mine on the stove in large roaster pans like I’ve always done. Preparation time for making up a batch of PA Dutch Apple Butter is three to four hours and this recipe makes seven pints.

PA Dutch Apple Butter

12 c of unsweetened applesauce
6 c sugar
1 tb cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
½ tsp allspice

Mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon in a large roaster pan boiling slowly for at least three hours until thickened. Pour into pint jars and can for ten minutes to seal. Let cool completely before serving!

Weekly tip: One bushel of apples quartered, cooked, and processed into applesauce will be enough to quadruple (four times) this recipe yielding thirty pints of apple butter with one quart of applesauce left!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a published author, columnist, speaker, freelance magazine writer, and photographer from Jamestown, Tennessee. Contact her at: dorcaswalker@twlakes.net. For more recipes check out her Creative Tennessee Mountain Cookin blog at: www.dorcasannettewalker.webs.com