Answering a Question About Pumpkin Cake

Here is a question that I recently received about the Pumpkin Raisin Cake.

"Do you think reducing the amount of oil, would make it drier?"

You know, I really do not know. I have never reduced the amount because I like a really moist cake. If I was going to reduce the amount of oil, I would maybe try 1/2 cup and see how that went. It is possible it would be drier but I really do not know as I have never tried it. I am sorry I cannot answer this question fully, but I would just say try it and let me know how it goes.

Another suggestion that I just got from a friend who knows about my pumpkin cake is that she would reduce the oil to 1/2 cup and the eggs from 4 to 2 eggs and maybe that would make it more like a regular cake rather than so moist like this cake. Worth a try. Let me know how it goes if you decide to try it.

Spinach Dip in a Sourdough Bread Bowl

This is a dip or spread that is great for any occasion and we love it! It is Knorr's Spinach Dip and I have prepared it and put it into a sourdough bread bowl. You can also go to their site at Let's Make Knorr Recipes for more great recipes with their soup and dip mixes. We had this on Sunday for the football game with crackers and sourdough bread slices. (we will not discuss the beating the Seahawks got from the Giants...). So without further ado, let's make some spinach dip.



Knorr Spinach Dip

1 package (10 oz) baby spinach, chopped OR 1 package (10 oz) frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 container (16 oz) sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 package Knorr Vegetable recipe mix
1 can (8 oz) water chestnuts, drained and chopped (optional)
3 green onions, chopped (optional)

Combine all ingredients and chill about 2 hours. Serve with your favorite dippers.

Notes:
- You can hollow out a unsliced sourdough round to make a lovely bread bowl that is yummy to eat but also makes a nice serving idea for parties.
- This can also be used as a spread on sandwiches with your favorite luncheon meats and cheeses to give a little extra zip along with getting a serving of vegetables with the spinach in the dip.
- Water chestnuts give the dip an extra crunch against the creamy texture which makes it even better, but if you do not like water chestnuts you can omit them.

Other add ins:
1. Shredded cheddar cheese
2. Chopped olives
3. Chopped sweet red pepper

Favorite Dippers:
1. We used Ritz crackers, but you can also use basically any favorite cracker
2. Crostini
3. Sourdough bread from the hollowed out bread bowl
4. Assorted fresh raw vegetables

Pumpkin Raisin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here is a great dessert for fall when pumpkin recipes are getting into full swing. I love this cake since it is so moist and yummy! You will notice in the picture that it is falling apart when I cut it; that is because it is so moist and a good part of that is because of the vegetable oil and the fact that you will not forget to sift the dry ingredients as that makes your cake lighter, fluffier, and more moist.



Pumpkin Raisin Cake

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup raisins
nutmeg sprinkle for the top if desired
(cream cheese frosting recipe follows after cake directions)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13x8 long baking dish. Beat eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin in a large bowl. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cloves into pumpkin mixture. Mix well; stir in raisins.

Pour batter into the baking dish. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. Frost with cream cheese frosting, recipe follows. After frosting, lightly sprinkle nutmeg on top if desired.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese, margarine, and vanilla in medium bowl on low speed until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until smooth and good spreading consistency. Frost pumpkin cake when cake is cooled completely.

Notes:
Make sure you sift the dry ingredients with either a dry ingredient sifter or you can use a fine mesh strainer. As you can see by the blue product links, I recommend the Oxo brand for kitchen gadgets because they are one of the best quality products I own, my store has many other brands but I recommend what I use myself at home.

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Last weekend I made applesauce, and it is so good! I made a cinnamon applesauce that my family loves. My daughter and I went to Farmer's Market and bought 3 boxes of apples which turned out to be about 63 lbs (we went a tad over the 20 lb a box weight) and this many apples made me 8 pints of apple butter, 1 large bag of frozen apple pie slices (of which I am making apple pie soon), 14 quarts and 4 pints of applesauce. We have enough for quite a while and it will save me money at the store from not having to buy jars of commercial applesauce and this is better for my family anyway.

The apples I used is a combination of McIntosh and Cortland apples locally grown here. The McIntosh gives the sweetness while the Cortland gives the tart tang and it is a great cooking apple, that is what I used for pie slices that I froze. Apples that are not recommended for making applesauce is Red Delicious and Golden Delicious because they are just too grainy for applesauce. You want a firm apple that is crispy and sort of tart. Granny Smiths are also great for applesauce and especially pies.

With this recipe, it is the basic recipe and depending on how many pounds of apples you have, you want to adjust the amounts of the other ingredients of course. I ended up using about 40 lbs of apples for applesauce so adjusted accordingly. So, basically to make this recipe with 40 lbs of apples, I just used 5 times the amounts listed here. This is also a great recipe if you just want to freeze it in plastic freezer containers, the freezing instructions are at the bottom.

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

8 lbs of cooking apples, cored and quartered (about 24 cups)
2 cups water or apple juice
4 Tbsp cinnamon
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar

In a 8-10 quart kettle, combine apples, water or apple juice, and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Simmer, covered for about 15-20 minutes, stirring often. Press apples through a food mill or sieve. Return pulp to kettle and stir in sugar. If necessary, add 1/2 to 1 cup water for desired consistency. Bring to a boil. Makes 6 pints. (24 half cup servings). {This is what it should look like in the steps. The first picture is when I first put the apple pieces on the stove and the second picture is the applesauce after I used the potato masher to mash it to my favorite chunky consistency. Note the difference in a short amount of time, apples cook down quite a bit which is why you need a lot of apples to make applesauce for the whole year}.




Boiling Water Canning Method: Ladle hot sauce into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Adjust lids. Process in boiling water bath for 15 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for quarts.

Freezing: Cool applesauce. Spoon into freezer containers, leaving about 1/2 inch to 1 inch headspace to allow for expanding of applesauce when freezing. Seal, label, and freeze.

Notes:
1. You can substitute 1/3 cup of red hot candies for the cinnamon per batch and it gives it a nice rosey color and the cinnamon flavor.
2. You can use a potato masher instead of a food mill to get the applesauce to desired consistency, I like chunky applesauce so I use the potato masher method instead of a food mill. The food mill leaves the applesauce smooth.
3. You can put the cut and cored apples into a solution of 1 gallon of water, 2 Tbsp vinegar or apple cider vinegar, and 2 Tbsp salt to prevent browning but for applesauce this is not necessary, but you would do it for freezing apple slices.