Pumpkin Squares

I made a pan of these on Monday. It’s a recipe I got from Taste of Home Magazine several years ago. I’ve made them once or twice before, but I’d forgotten what a big hit they were with my family. I’ll be making them more often from now on.

• 4 eggs
• 1-2/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Icing

• 1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Little by little, add the dry mixture to the to liquid mixture and mix well after each addition.
4. Pour the batter into an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan and spread evenly.
5. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes.
6. Cool on a baking rack.
7. Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, sugar, butter and vanilla in a small mixing bowl.
8. Add enough of the milk to make a spreadable icing.
9. Once the pan of bars is completly cool, spread the cream cheese icing evenly over them.
10. Cut into 24 bars and serve.

I made a double batch and froze half of them to serve later. What treats have you been baking for Christmas?

Some holiday recipes posted previously:

• Rasberry Coffee Cake
• Frosted Sugar Cookies (I made these today.)
• Rosettes
• Cranberry Apple Pie

Bumbleberry Jam

Last week youngest daughter decided that she wanted to learn how to make jam, so we spent Friday afternoon making a couple of batches of Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, which is the favorite jam of almost everyone in this family.

 

Next up, I’m going to start a batch of Bumbleberry Jam, another yummy jam that uses rhubarb. It’s good for using up bits of overripe summer fruit and for giving you a reason to rummage through the marked down section of your supermarket produce department.

 

Here’s how you make it.

1. Wash fresh rhubarb and cut enough of it into 1-inch pieces to make 2 cups of cut-up rhubarb.
2. Put the rhubarb pieces into a saucepan with 2 cups sugar. Heat slowly, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil for 10 whole minutes of fruit-stirring misery. (This is where having a couple of stand-by stirrers will come in handy.)
3. Put the mixture into a covered 2 quart container the fridge.
4. Keep cooking and adding fresh fruit as you get it. You can use strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, plums, grapes, cherries, peaches, oranges, apricots, or apples—whatever fruit you like. Prepare each batch of additional fruit in the same way as the rhubarb—cut it up (berries and cherries can be used whole), measure two cups, add two cups sugar, bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes.
5. Then add the previously cooked fruit to the newly prepared fruit in the saucepan and heat the whole mixture to boiling. Pour the whole shebang back in the covered container and store the fridge again.
6. Repeat this process until you’ve added 3 kinds (or six cups) of fruit to make a total of eight cups of jam.
   
7. Seal the hot jam in hot sterile jars. (I’m a little food-safe compulsive, so I process this one in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes because something about having it sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks makes me nervous. I’m pretty the boiling water bath isn’t necessary, however.)

No matter what fruit I use, this jam turns out very tasty and deliciously fruity.

Beer Batter Deep Fried Halibut

This recipe is posted for the Recipes Around The World Recipe Round Up at Whatever Things… It’s one of our favorite ways to serve and eat the halibut we catch, when and if we catch it.

• 2 - 2 1/2 lb. halibut fillets
• 1 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 3/4 c. beer
• Oil for deep frying
• Lemon wedges and tartar sauce.
  

1. Heat the oil in a deep fat fryer to 375 degrees.
   
2. Cut  fillets in to 2 inch squares.
3. Make a batter by mixing dry ingredients and slowly stirring in the beer. Beat until smooth.
   
4. Dip each piece of fish into batter. Drain.
   
5. Deep fry a few pieces at a time until golden brown.
   
6. Drain and and place on paper towel lined serving platter.
   
7. Serve with salt and lemon wedges or tartar sauce.

Makes 4-6 servings.

---

Wild cranberries are another local ingredient that I often cook with. Here are two previously posted recipes using cranberries.

• Cranberry Muffins
• Cranberry Apple Pie