pumpkin recipe – My Chicago Botanic Garden

If you’re ready to start a new tradition (enough already with the pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cookies), consider this recipe for bourbon pumpkin-pecan fudge. The bourbon gives the fudge a bit of a kick (and who doesn’t need a little jump-start during the holidays?).

The recipe is simple enough to get the whole family involved. Think butter…pumpkin…toasted pecans—what’s not to like? And what better way to celebrate the season than to spend time together, break fudge together, and give thanks that you’re able to do so?

Pull out your candy thermometer, 4-quart sauce pan, wooden spoon, measuring cups and spoons, 13-by-9-inch pan, aluminum foil, nonstick cooking spray, and seasonal cookie cutters (and get the camera ready—not that anyone is going to lick the spoon…). This is going to be delicious.

Bourbon Pumpkin-Pecan Fudge

1¾ cups sugar
1¼ cups brown sugar
¾ cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk (5-ounce can)
½ cup canned pumpkin purée (no added sugar)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon allspice
2¼ cups white chocolate chips
7 ounces marshmallow fluff (any brand)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bourbon (optional, but worth it!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Start by covering a 13-by-9-inch pan with aluminum foil. Spray the covered pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle the chopped pecans evenly over the bottom of the pan. (They do not have to completely cover it.) Set aside.

Combine the sugar, brown sugar, butter, evaporated milk, pumpkin purée, spices, and salt in a pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil until the temperature reaches 236 degrees Fahrenheit on your candy thermometer. Remove from heat.

Working quickly, add the white chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff, bourbon, and vanilla to the pan. Be careful, as this may spatter and will be very hot! Fold ingredients in until completely incorporated. Pour the hot fudge mixture over the chopped pecans and quickly spread evenly; it will immediately start to set up as it cools.

Place the pan uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Your mouth is probably watering already, but unfortunately, it will take this long to set up completely.

After cooling the pan completely for 3 hours, remove the pan from the refrigerator, and turn it upside down on a cutting board. The fudge should pop right out. Peel off the aluminum foil and discard. Want to make your treats extra special? Use cookie cutters to cut your fudge into festive autumn shapes—or maybe dinosaurs if you’re that kind of person—and enjoy!

Note: If you have it in your spice rack, you can substitute 3½ teaspoons of “pumpkin pie spice” for the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice.

Parents! Here’s a kid-friendly, fun-to-make idea from Kasey Bersett Eaves, who “talked squash” with fall-minded visitors at the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden on a gorgeous fall weekend.

With winter squash and pumpkins readily available at grocery stores and farmers’ markets, a nicely spiced fruit leather is a great way to use a post-Halloween pumpkin (uncarved) or extra can of purée—and to get kids to eat their vegetables in a new and tasty way. Super simple to assemble, it’s a whole lot healthier than candy!

Kids AND adults love the cinnamon-y pumpkin flavor. — Kids and adults love the cinnamon-y pumpkin flavor.

Pumpkin-spiced Snack Leather

1 can of plain pumpkin or 3½ cups of cooked pumpkin pulp*
1 cup of unsweetened applesauce
Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and honey according to taste

Purée all ingredients together by hand or in a blender or food processor.

Spread purée on a foil-lined or greased cookie sheet, and smooth until just a little more than ¼-inch thick. Bake on your oven’s lowest setting (around 150 degrees) until no longer sticky to the touch (this takes close to eight hours).

Remove and cool until you can lift the edges and corners of the pumpkin leather off the foil or cookie sheet. Peel off and cut into strips. Roll each strip into plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to eat.

If you have a food dehydrator, it’s even simpler. Spread the purée on the plastic sheeting provided with your dehydrator—or wax paper—and dehydrate until no longer sticky. Roll, refrigerate, and snack away!

It's a kid-friendly process: first, blend puree with applesauce and spices to taste. — It’s a kid-friendly process: first, blend purée with applesauce and spices to taste.

A tin foil base rolls up easily. — A tin foil lining makes cleanup easy.

*Basic Technique for Cooked Squash

Fresh-cut pumpkin (which is actually a squash) has a much higher water content than canned pumpkin. You will need to cook your pumpkin first, and use more fresh pulp. Cut your squash in half and remove the seeds. Place the squash skinside down on a baking dish, and bake at 350 degrees until the flesh is tender and the cut edges have caramelized. Remove the squash from the oven and let it rest until cool. Scoop out the pulp and discard the cooked skins.

See Kasey’s summer post, too — “Herbal Mixology“

Tag: pumpkin recipe

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