I hope my friends aren't reading this post because then they won't be surprised when they receive a mini loaf of this Platte County Pumpkin Bread. I guess I will have to give it to them when they least expect it. Then they will be surprised.
I made this bread Monday evening to take to the volunteers at the thrift shop. It makes two large loaves so that's the good news...we have a whole loaf for us to enjoy. That's unusual, because we usually only have one serving of whatever I take there for them. Several of the volunteers made a point to come by Register 3 to let me know they loved the bread. I told Volunteer Laura she could make it without the nuts since she can't have nuts in her food. She said she would.
I found the recipe in a cookbook I got for 50 cents at an estate sale last Friday. It is called Jesse James Cookbook by Leon Howell. Mr. Howell writes a lengthy biography of Jesse and Frank James and family. He doesn't actually state how he collected the recipes. The James Farm in Kearney, MO isn't too far from us here. We visited it a couple of years ago. Very interesting. (The farm is in Clay County but we live in Platte County.)
Click here for a printable copy of just the recipe.
PLATTE COUNTY PUMPKIN BREAD
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup oil
3-1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons soda
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup hot water
2 cups pumpkin (1 - 15 oz can is slightly less 2 cups)
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven t 350 degrees F. Spray or grease two 9 x 5 - inch loaf pans or six mini-loaf pans. Set aside.
Add eggs to a large (batter) bowl and beat with a whisk.
Add sugar and whisk well until blended.
Add oil and whisk until all ingredients are well blended.
Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, salt, soda, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon).
Add the dry ingredients alternately to the wet mixture with
the hot water beginning and ending with flour mixture. (3 times dry...2 times wet ingredients).
Stir with a wooden spoon.
Add pumpkin and nuts last. (Raisins may be added if desired.)
Divide batter evenly between pans.
Bake one hour at 350 degrees F. I had to bake mine 70 minutes. Cool 10 to 15 minutes before removing loaves from pan.
Finish cooling on wire rack and then wrap in foil. Bake the day before serving for extra moistness.
When we visited with my cousin Tom and his family last weekend, I had fun shadowing his wife Marilyn around in the kitchen taking pictures of her cooking in her kitchen. She's a great cook and I ate way too much, but it was worth that pound I gained.
Tom and Marilyn's granddaughter has an autoimmune disease and can't have gluten. Marilyn being a devoted grandmother doesn't want Olivia to miss out though and makes sure she has food she can eat when she comes over. One of the things she made for her was some gluten-free cookies from dough Marilyn had frozen. The recipe makes like 3-1/2 dozen cookies so Marilyn makes the dough up and then freezes the balls. Then whenever she wants to bake a pan of cookies, she just takes out however many she wants to bake, and bakes them for Olivia. I should really do that and then wouldn't have to make so many at a time for just the two of us. Often I will just chose recipes that make 3 dozen or less cookies for that reason. Then if I needed something quickly, I could just take them out of the freezer and bake them.
If you didn't want or need to make the cookies gluten-free, just use the flour you wish. I didn't eat one, but I asked Olivia later if the cookies were good and she smiled and said "they were".
Click here for a printable version of just the recipe.
GLUTEN - FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
2-1/4 cups gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add flour mixture and beat until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if you are using them.
Roll dough into balls, a heaping tablespoon each. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 11 - 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes.
Remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Marilyn prepares the dough and forms all of it into balls. She bakes 9 or so at a time for her granddaughter. She freezes the rest and separates them with wax paper in a freezer container. When she wants to make some more for Olivia, she takes out the number she wants to bake and bakes them frozen.
I would be sharing a Cream Cheese Coffee Cake with you that I had taken to Hillcrest Thrift Shop yesterday for the volunteers, if only I had taken it. Everyone was understanding when I explained the reason I was empty handed was that I forgot to add the sugar. I didn't realize it until I was getting ready to take it out of the oven and saw the measuring cup with the sugar in it. I couldn't believe it. I was so disgusted with myself. Anyway, you'll just have to wait until next week when I will try it again.
So instead, you are in for another treat from Marilyn, my cousin Tom's wife. She intended to make this for us for Saturday, but we had a delay in our trip when Wayne ran over a curb turning into a gas station and popped a tire. By the time we got back to their house after visiting with an 88 - yr - old man who knew our grandfather when he was young, she decided she would just wait and serve it on Sunday morning.
She normally make it for her granddaughter who has a gluten problem, but just used different bread for us. The recipe calls for a loaf of bread, but you won't use that much. You just need twice however many slices will fit in the bottom of the pan you are using. She says sometimes she breaks the bread up into chunks. If you did that, you might use more bread. (I didn't ask her.) Anyway, she used 12 slices for us. Wayne ate the leftover pieces later. It is sweet with the brown sugar that you have under the slices, so personally you can get by without any syrup.
I almost forgot to mention that you make this up the night before and just have to bake it the next morning. Great if you are having company.
Click here for a printable copy of just the recipe.
GLUTEN-FREE FRENCH TOAST BAKE
Slices of gluten-free bread or other bread slices if you prefer
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
cinnamon
powdered sugar, fruit, etc for topping
Melt the butter in a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish (or whatever size you are using as you can choose the size that your bread slices will fit in perfectly). Add the brown sugar and stir until butter is melted. Using a fork, spread it out so that it covers the bottom of the dish.
Beat eggs, butter, milk, and vanilla in a bowl. Set aside.
Place one layer of bread slices in bottom of the pan on top of brown sugar/butter.
Pour half of the egg mixture over the bread to coat. Sprinkle with cinnamon (I noticed Marilyn forgot to sprinkle the cinnamon on top.)
Lay another slice of bread on top of each of the other slices. (Makes like a sandwich.)
Pour the rest of the egg mixture over the bread coating well.
Sprinkle with a little sugar and then cinnamon.
Cover and refrigerate overnight. (Marilyn covered her dish with plastic wrap; I just didn't take a picture of it.)
Next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. (She didn't let me know she was baking it so I didn't get a picture.)
Uncover dish and bake 15 more minutes.
Cool slightly before eating.
Top with fruit, powdered sugar, etc.
We each ate two slices (like a sandwich) so doing that, you could serve 6 people each eating 2 pieces of French toast.
We have been spending a long-needed visit with family in south central Missouri. One of the reasons I wanted to move to Kansas City was so I could see my paternal cousins who live in MO. Well in the 11 years we have lived here this is the third time we have seen them.
Our visit is almost over and it has been a great weekend. We spent several hours talking with an 88 yr-old man who knew my paternal grandfather (he called him "Uncle Jim" even though they weren't related). That was fun hearing stories about my granddaddy. He inspired me to do some more geneology work on Ancestry and after being "stuck" for a couple of years, had a break through when I met a "cousin" who knew the information I had not been to uncover and have now traced my paternal line back to Ireland. So exciting. We also visited with a frat brother of Wayne's who inherited his grandfather's house and he and his wife have been renovating it and hope to rent it out as a vacation home. The house is right on Meramec River, a popular spot for canoeing.
We have also had fun family time and great food. My cousin Tom's wife Marilyn is a fabulous cook and I plan to wait a week before I weigh myself when we get back home. It was fun taking pictures of HER cooking so that I could share her recipes with you here. (I don't think I will need to cook for a week - but of course I will.)
The first recipe I am sharing I decided to call Double Devil's Food Pumpkin Cake as it didn't have a name. One of her friends had told her how to make it. It is so good and oh-so-o-o-o moist. Since I have been sharing pumpkin recipes with you lately, I thought I would share it with you first. She didn't, but I told her I would use a sugar-free Devil's Food cake mix to reduce the sugar. I would also use fat-free cream cheese in the frosting.
DOUBLE DEVIL'S FOOD PUMPKIN CAKE
1 Devil's Food cake mix (a sugar-free one would work)
1 can (15 - oz) pumpkin
1 cup (6 - oz) mini chocolate chips
1 (8 - oz) package cream cheese (fat - free would work)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 stick of butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish. Set aside.
Combine cake mix and pumpkin in a large mixing bowl and then beat for 2 minutes.
Batter will be thick.
Add about 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips and
stir to distribute.
Spread batter in baking dish.
Bake for 20 minutes and then check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in center of cake. If not done, cook a little bit longer.
Cool cake completely in pan on wire rack.
Beat cream cheese and butter til creamy. Add powdered sugar and stir til spreading consistency. Ice the cooled cake with frosting. Can sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top.
Marilyn feels she doesn't have a lot of cabinet space in her kitchen so she is proud of her storage she made above her oven for her cooking pans.
It is a good use of her cabinet and makes it easy to pull out what she needs when she is baking.
I love my Amish cookbooks. I have found so many outstanding recipes in them. I have found so many what sounds like outstanding recipes in them that list the ingredients but not much directions. Looking for something to make to take to the volunteers at Hillcrest Thrift Shop yesterday, I finally decided to take a chance on what I thought would be the directions. Actually this one did give the oven temperature and how long to cook it, but that was it.
Miss Nettie Weaver's recipe for Pumpkin Nut Cake was in my Dutch Country Cooking, Recipes compiled from Dutch Country Kitchens cookbook. She said to bake it for an hour. That and the fact that it used 3 cups of flour plus other ingredients, I decided to make it in a tube pan, specifically a fancy Bundlt-like pan. She also said to just mix together but I have made too many cakes not to follow a certain process. Well, it worked out perfectly and the volunteers gave me several thumbs up.
PUMPKIN NUT CAKE
1 cup shortening
2 cups brown sugar
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup nuts (I used pecans)
2 eggs - beaten
1 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 cup milk
1 cup mashed pumpkin (I used canned pumpkin)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour a tube pan. Set aside.
Beat shortening and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl til light and fluffy. (I let the mixer run while I measured out the flour and other dry ingredients.)
Beat eggs and then add them to the shortening mixture. Beat til well blended.
Add maple extract.
Combine flour, soda, baking powder, and nuts in a bowl and whisk.
Add flour mixture alternately with the
milk to the batter beginning and ending with the flour (3 times flour and 2 times milk).
Scrape the sides of the bowl often.
Stir in pumpkin.
Spread batter in pan and bake for one hour.
Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes and
then invert on cake platter to finish cooling.
Can make a powdered sugar glaze to drizzle on it or just sprinkle powdered sugar on top.
Add sugar and whisk well until blended.
Add oil and whisk until all ingredients are well blended.
the hot water beginning and ending with flour mixture. (3 times dry...2 times wet ingredients).
Stir with a wooden spoon.
Add pumpkin and nuts last. (Raisins may be added if desired.)
Divide batter evenly between pans.
Bake one hour at 350 degrees F. I had to bake mine 70 minutes. Cool 10 to 15 minutes before removing loaves from pan. 
Finish cooling on wire rack and then wrap in foil. Bake the day before serving for extra moistness.
