There’s Lots of Inspiration in that Humble Can of Pumpkin!
It tends to start in November—all the stuff you’d be using for your Thanksgiving dinner goes on super sale. And in most places, these sales continue off and on through the first of the new year. With all these good prices, what do we do? We stock up, of course.
It’s no surprise then, that I happen to have a can or two of pumpkin hanging out in the pantry. This is actually a good item to have on hand; it’s one canned food that has a high amount of health benefits. For instance:
It’s loaded with beta-carotene (aka vitamin A). A one-cup serving of canned pumpkin has 250% of our recommended daily amount of Vitamin A.
Like all fruits (yes, pumpkin is a true fruit), it’s a great source of fiber. Canned pumpkin contains 7 grams of fiber per one-cup serving.
And it’s low in fat, salt, and sugar, making it heart-healthy.
It’s also a good source of potassium. Just ¼ cup of canned pumpkin contains 10% of your daily minimum requirement.
It’s a filling food that is low in calories. One cup of canned pumpkin contains only 83 calories. In fact, pumpkin is 90% water.
High in vitamins and minerals, low in fat, salt, sugar and calories—we can say pumpkin is truly NUTRIENT DENSE!
Then there are its seeds to consider. They’re packed with magnesium, zinc and fiber. According to the American Heart Association, one-fourth of a cup of pumpkin seeds has almost half of our daily recommended amount of magnesium.
To top it all off, pumpkin is an excellent baking substitute. Use it to substitute of the oil in a recipe in a one-to-one ratio (if the recipe calls for one cup of oil, simply use one cup of pumpkin puree instead).
To substitute for butter, multiply the amount of butter in the recipe by three-fourths (or .75). This indicates how much pumpkin puree to use (if the recipe calls for one cup of butter, use three-fourths of a cup of pumpkin puree).
To replace eggs, use one-fourth of a cup puree for each egg.
Note that substitutions can change a product’s texture. Therefore, start with just one substitute at a time.
I’ve been surfing the Internet for all the different things you can do with canned pumpkin (besides pie, I mean), and the list is amazing.
There’s the canned pumpkin smoothie—delicious! There’s a pumpkin/squash soup that’s hearty and easy. There’s the proverbial pumpkin bread, and pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies, too. And I saw the other day that the International House of Pancakes has come up with a pumpkin pancake. You probably have your favorite pumpkin recipes as well.
But I found a delectable and maybe unusual pumpkin recipe in my Aunt Annie’s collection of saved Cook’s Country magazines. (It’s too bad Cook’n Recipe Organizer wasn’t around back when this adorable little cook was well and cooking—she would have had all her favorite recipe clippings organized and in one spot!)
This recipe is called Maple-Pumpkin Stack Cake, and it sounds and looks gorgeous. The blurb beside the recipe says “Tender pumpkin cake sandwiched with maple cream.”
I will be making this for Sunday dinner. You make it too, and we can compare notes. When you think about it, there’s a lot of inspiration in that humble can of pumpkin!
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
3 large eggs
1 (15-ounce) can unsweetend pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups heavy cream chilled
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup pecans toasted and chopped
Directions:
Add Recipe to Cook'n
blog comments powered by Disqus
It’s no surprise then, that I happen to have a can or two of pumpkin hanging out in the pantry. This is actually a good item to have on hand; it’s one canned food that has a high amount of health benefits. For instance:
It’s loaded with beta-carotene (aka vitamin A). A one-cup serving of canned pumpkin has 250% of our recommended daily amount of Vitamin A.
Like all fruits (yes, pumpkin is a true fruit), it’s a great source of fiber. Canned pumpkin contains 7 grams of fiber per one-cup serving.
And it’s low in fat, salt, and sugar, making it heart-healthy.
It’s also a good source of potassium. Just ¼ cup of canned pumpkin contains 10% of your daily minimum requirement.
It’s a filling food that is low in calories. One cup of canned pumpkin contains only 83 calories. In fact, pumpkin is 90% water.
High in vitamins and minerals, low in fat, salt, sugar and calories—we can say pumpkin is truly NUTRIENT DENSE!
Then there are its seeds to consider. They’re packed with magnesium, zinc and fiber. According to the American Heart Association, one-fourth of a cup of pumpkin seeds has almost half of our daily recommended amount of magnesium.
To top it all off, pumpkin is an excellent baking substitute. Use it to substitute of the oil in a recipe in a one-to-one ratio (if the recipe calls for one cup of oil, simply use one cup of pumpkin puree instead).
To substitute for butter, multiply the amount of butter in the recipe by three-fourths (or .75). This indicates how much pumpkin puree to use (if the recipe calls for one cup of butter, use three-fourths of a cup of pumpkin puree).
To replace eggs, use one-fourth of a cup puree for each egg.
Note that substitutions can change a product’s texture. Therefore, start with just one substitute at a time.
I’ve been surfing the Internet for all the different things you can do with canned pumpkin (besides pie, I mean), and the list is amazing.
There’s the canned pumpkin smoothie—delicious! There’s a pumpkin/squash soup that’s hearty and easy. There’s the proverbial pumpkin bread, and pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies, too. And I saw the other day that the International House of Pancakes has come up with a pumpkin pancake. You probably have your favorite pumpkin recipes as well.
But I found a delectable and maybe unusual pumpkin recipe in my Aunt Annie’s collection of saved Cook’s Country magazines. (It’s too bad Cook’n Recipe Organizer wasn’t around back when this adorable little cook was well and cooking—she would have had all her favorite recipe clippings organized and in one spot!)
This recipe is called Maple-Pumpkin Stack Cake, and it sounds and looks gorgeous. The blurb beside the recipe says “Tender pumpkin cake sandwiched with maple cream.”
I will be making this for Sunday dinner. You make it too, and we can compare notes. When you think about it, there’s a lot of inspiration in that humble can of pumpkin!
Maple-Pumpkin Stack Cake
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
3 large eggs
1 (15-ounce) can unsweetend pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups heavy cream chilled
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup pecans toasted and chopped
Directions:
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°F. Grease two 8-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, butter parchment, then flour the pans. Whisk flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in bowl. Mix sugar, butter, and eggs on medium-high speed with mixer until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low, add pumpkin, and mix until incorporated. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until only few small flour streaks remain, about 30 seconds.
Spread one-fourth of batter (about 1 cup) in even layer in each prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 12 t o14 minutes. Let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert each cake onto large plate, peel off parchment, and re-invert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely. Re-prep pans and repeat baking, etc., with remaining batter.
To assemble cake: Using dry, clean bowl, whip cream and maple syrup together on medium speed until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Place 1 cake layer on cake plate or pedestal, then spread one-fourth of whipped cream (scant cup) evenly over top. Repeat with remaining cake layers and whipped cream. Sprinkle pecans on top and serve.
Spread one-fourth of batter (about 1 cup) in even layer in each prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 12 t o14 minutes. Let cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert each cake onto large plate, peel off parchment, and re-invert onto lightly greased rack. Cool completely. Re-prep pans and repeat baking, etc., with remaining batter.
To assemble cake: Using dry, clean bowl, whip cream and maple syrup together on medium speed until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Place 1 cake layer on cake plate or pedestal, then spread one-fourth of whipped cream (scant cup) evenly over top. Repeat with remaining cake layers and whipped cream. Sprinkle pecans on top and serve.
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
Email the author! alice@dvo.com
Sources:
- www.cnbc.com
- www.pennlive.com
- www.perky-pet.com
- www.bbcgoodfood.com
- www.cookn.com
- www.thesplendidtable.com
