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As the leaves turn to red, yellow and orange, an overwhelming number of pumpkins show up in big huge cardboard boxes and on the shelves of grocery stores.  Pumpkin sweets including pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin ice cream are frequently found in restaurants and bakeries at this time of the year, from October until December.

Pumpkins are so popular not only because it is simply the autumn season, but also because in the US, we celebrate Halloween in October and Thanksgiving in November.  Halloween is just simply a “Hallmark” holiday.  In other words, it’s a holiday that helps the economy thrive as people purchase candy for trick-or-treaters, costumes to wear to parties and trick-or-treating nights, and pumpkins to carve.

Then in November, we have Thanksgiving which is a national holiday in the US.  All schools and most businesses and workplaces are closed.  It is a day not only to enjoy our time with our families and friends, it is also a moment to think about for what we are thankful and of course have a grand feast with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin!  My family and I traditionally celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom’s parents in our home.  This Thanksgiving was actually the first time in four years I was home with family because I was out of the country in the past four years – I was in Australia in 2008, in France in 2009, and in London in 2010.

So, I’ve been busy baking pumpkin goodies!  Since I was a little kid, I have been baking pumpkin bread by using the recipe that was passed down from my grandmother.  It is the most scrumptious bread I have ever tasted, and of course, I am biased!

Here is the recipe for pumpkin bread:

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 2/3 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 pound can of pumpkin
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking power
• 1 1/2 cup raisons

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F or 177 degrees C.
2. Grease 2 loaf pans well with butter.
3. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with the electric mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Beat the eggs with the butter and sugar until well blended.
5. Stir in pumpkin and water.
6. Add flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and baking powder and mix them until well blended.
7. Add pumpkin and mix it until well blended.
8. Add raisins and mix the raison.
9. Pour the batter into both pans.
10. Put in the oven for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
11. Let the bread cool completely before serving.

Then I tried a new recipe this year, and it is pumpkin cheesecake!!!!  Because you and I both love cheesecake, I though why not try making a pumpkin cheesecake?  I am not going to deny that the cheesecake was so good that I made it twice in one month!  In fact, I gave my family’s contracter a taste, and he said, “Mmmmm…this is delicious!”

The recipe for the pumpkin cheese cake is from Bakers’ Royal, but I made some modifications because I am not a fan of chocolate (I know I’m a retard!) and I prefer graham crackers rather than ginger snaps.

Ingredients

Crust

• 1-1/4  cups  graham crackers
• 1/4  cup  sugar
• 1/3  cup  butter, melted

Cheesecake

• 1  8-ounce package  cream cheese, softened
• 1  cups  sugar
• 2   eggs
• 3/4 cup  canned pumpkin
• 1/2  teaspoon  pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4  nutmeg
• 1/2   teaspoon of candied ginger
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 4 ounces  semisweet chocolate, cut up,
• 1  tablespoons  butter

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F or 163 degrees C.
2. Grease the pan very well with butter.
3. Prepare the crust by combining graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl.
4. Stir in the melted butter.
5. Press mixture evenly into bottom of the prepared baking pan.
6. Put the pan with crust aside.
7. Get a new bowl to make the cheesecake mix!
8. Add cream cheese and sugar into the bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth.
9. Add eggs.
10. Beat on low speed after each addition just until combined.
11. Add pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, candied ginger, vanilla, and salt to the bowl and beat until combined.
12. Get the pan with the crust.
13. Pour the pumpkin mixture over the crust, spreading evenly.
14. Put the cheesecake in the oven.
15. Bake for 1 hour  or until filling is puffed.
16. When the cheesecake is done cooking, take it out of the oven.
17. Let the cheesecake cool for 30 minutes before you begin eating.
18. Enjoy!

We now have more holidays coming up! While majority of the Americans celebrate Christmas, I will be celebrating Hanukkah, a Jewish festivity, in December.

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