More Pumpkin Goodness: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you scroll down to the bottom of my post about processing pumpkin goodness you'll find a similar begging look on my dog's face. 

My children recognized that pumpkin goodness requires several more steps to be considered true pumpkin goodness so they requested pumpkin cookies.  (Trixie requested chicken but we'll get to that later.)

Because I'm an amazing mother, I granted their request. 

 Here's the recipe we use for this batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

This is another recipe for chocolate chip pumpkin cookies that we really enjoyed.

At The White House Farm a plate of soft, warm pumpkin chocolate chip cookies is a sign that fall has arrived.

Wordless Wednesday: Autumn Day

How To Process Pumpkin Goodness

Yesterday I made another trip to the produce auction.  I returned with four wart pumpkins to replace the pie pumpkins I'd been using for decorations.  The wart pumpkins are cooler looking and my entire family has been asking for pumpkin cookies so the pie pumpkins needed to be used for a higher purpose.

This morning I got started with processing the pie pumpkins.  Honestly, preparing pumpkin is almost as easy as opening a can of pumpkin.  To make your own pumpkin for pies and cookies you begin by washing the outside of the pumpkins.  Set your oven to 350.  Break the stems off the pumpkins then slice through from top to bottom. 

If you like you can scrape out the seeds before you bake the pumpkins or you can bake first then scoop out the seeds when the pumpkin is soft.  I use my seeds later so I scrape them out before I cook. 

Place the pumpkins, cut side down in a baking dish.  

 Bake for about an hour, until the pumpkin is soft to a fork.  As they bake the pumpkins will get softer and darker in color.  Aren't they beautiful?

Let the pumpkins cool for about ten minutes then scoop out the insides.  Really if they are done enough, the shell of the pumpkin will peel right off. 

 Look at all the pumpkin goodness that came from four small pie pumpkins.  I froze 11 cups of pumpkin, used two cups to make cookies and put three cups of pumpkin in the refrigerator where it will be transformed into a pie before the weekend.

This is Trixie.  She's waiting for something besides pumpkin seeds to hit the floor.  Don't worry about her.  I processed chickens today too so she got plenty of delicious treats.

Can I Do It?

If you have been following my family blog you'll know that had an unfortunate beginning to my most recent canning project.  You can catch up here if you are interested.  As a result of my jalapeno happenings, I put the jalapenos away for a few days.  Honestly, I was more than wary of what was going to happen as I pureed and cooked the infamous peppers.

Yesterday morning I summoned the courage to complete my pepper jelly.  I used an easy recipe from the Ball cookbook.

 I had no problem with blending a cup and a half of peppers and a cup of apple cider vinegar in my blender.  There were just enough flecks of color from the red and green jalapenos to make it look pretty.

Here is were things got spicy.  In my pot I mixed another cup of apple cider vinegar, six cups of sugar and the puree from the blender.  I boiled for 10 minutes then added two packages of liquid pectin.  Everyone agreed that the whole house felt spicy for a few hours but it wasn't unbearable.

My hot jars were waiting to be filled.  If I do this again I will use smaller jars.  This time I used what I had on hand.

I'm hoping that the pepper jelly is as tasty as it is pretty.  We haven't tasted the jelly yet because it's still resting but plan to enjoy it tonight at dinner.

Wordless Wednesdays: Fall on the Farm

No Such Thing as Too Many Tomatoes

Processing tomatoes became a family affair as we took out the stems and cut the tomatoes into quarters, strained the seeds and peels out, cooked the sauce, and canned the sauce in the pressure canner.  This is something we'd never done before.  We are constantly learning new skills on the farm.

Green Bean Goodness

I was much more successful at attending the local produce auction and purchasing my vegetables than I was at growing them myself.  I will be sure to take this preference into account as I plan my garden next year.The good news is that in spite of my spotty gardening efforts I now have 35 quarts of green beans in my cellar.