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Awe your Thanksgiving guests with this delectable recipe. Can be made up ahead of time, placed in the pan for rising and freeze. Then take them out late Wednesday night and let them rise in a safe place such as your oven or microwave.

View the bottom of this recipe for frozen pumpkin instructions:

http://www.debbieducker.com/cooking/cook-up-some-home-made-pumpkin-apple-butter

1 Cup of frozen pumpkin (thawed)

1 Small onion (chopped)

1/2 to 1 Teaspoon of dried oregano and basil (according to taste)

1/8 Cup + 1 Tablespoon of quality vegetable oil

1/2 Teaspoon of salt

1 Tablespoon of sugar

1 Large egg (optional – but replace with 1/4 cup of water or egg replacer if left out)

2-1/4 Teaspoons of fast rising yeast (1 package)

1 Cup of whole wheat flour

Up to 3 – 1/2 cups of unbleached white flour

Saute onion in the tablespoon of oil. Almost to carmelized but not quite. Add oregano and basil. Saute about a of couple minutes more. Add pumpkin. Heat another couple of minutes to warm the pumpkin good, but not too hot. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, mix well the salt, sugar, yeast, oil and egg. Add the warm pumpkin mixture (not over 110 degrees).  Mix well. Add the 1 cup of whole wheat flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Mix in up to 3-1/2 cups of unbleached flour half a cup at a time until you have a smooth workable dough.

Divide into 12 equal portions. Shape each portion into a round roll shape. Place in a 9×13 inch metal cake pan that has been greased or sprayed with cooking spray. Let rise 30 to 40 minutes. Bake in 375 degree oven for 18-20 minutes. Enjoy and remember if you are making these ahead of time, put them in the freezer or refigerator before they rise.

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My first entry for cooking will be a recipe of mine I made recently. Pumpkin Apple Butter. We enjoy it spread on cinnamon graham crackers for a healthy snack and also on whole wheat toast for breakfast. I make this from apples from our orchard and pumpkin we have grown and frozen for winter. But you can use store bought fresh pumpkin if needed. (Freezing it is not necessary). It won’t work with canned pumpkin that I know of. Possibly if you add some water or apple juice to moisten it a little. If any one wants to experiment with that please let all interested know your results in the comments section. (See below the recipe on how we prepare and freeze our pumpkin.)

Ok so here are the ingredients:

– 4 cups of fresh cooked pumpkin (or frozen if you have put it up previously)
– 1-2 fresh apples either chopped finely or shredded
– 2 cups of light brown sugar (packed while measuring) Some may want it a little sweeter and can add about a 1/2 to a cup more.
– 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon (to your own taste)

Mix this all together and cook down until apples are good and soft and the mixture thickens slightly. Going for a apple butter consistency, but you don’t want it too thick or dry. I cook mine, at a low simmer, for about an hour to an hour and a half .  Stir often. This will make 4-6 half pint jars depending on if you added more sugar and how many apples and their size.  This can be packed and canned in jars but because it is pumpkin  it will need to be pressure canned for sealing or you can also freeze it in freezer containers.

Use this simple method to easily freeze fresh pumpkin:

Cut the pumpkin in half dividing top and bottom halves, scrape out the seeds. Turn each half cut side down on a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Cook at 325 degrees oven for 45 minutes. Remove (turning over if possible to let the steam escape) and let stand until completely cool. Scrape the cooked pumpkin into large bowl and measure in 2-4 cup measurements and freeze. You can use freezer bags or containers either one.