Thanksgiving Desserts

We are not doing  a traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year as it will only be the three of us and neither S and I are big fans of turkey. But with that said there are some desserts that are a must serve for Thanksgiving. The first being my Mom's Pumpkin Roll, she was the only one in our family to master this recipe and I have tried to follow in her footsteps. It is my favorite dessert ever and I always enjoy the opportunity to make it even if it causes me a bit of stress. (My Mom was a perfectionist in the kitchen and she handed that trait down to me too). The second with be S's favorite Pumpkin Pie. In recent years I have learned to make my own Pie crusts, much thanks to my Grandma and S's Mom for helping me learn!

The recipe I started with this morning was the Pumpkin Pie as it was a recipe that H could "help" with. I used my mother in law's recipe for the pie crust and then used this recipe for the pumpkin filling. I found the pie crust was a bit more than I needed for my pie plate so I let H roll his only little pie crust while I prepared the pie for baking. Everyone always talks about how hard pie crusts are to make and I have to disagree. I find them to be pretty easy, though I will admit my crusts aren't always the prettiest. Since learning to make a pie crust I really do enjoy making them. I also like the fact that I can control what goes into my pie crusts, though not the healthiest ingredients I know there aren't a ton of unpronounceable ingredients and preservatives in my homemade crusts.

Joyce's Pie Crust

2/3 cups lard (Crisco)

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

5-6 tablespoons cold water

Mix lard, flour and salt together and add water as needed. Once mixed roll out on a floured service until thin or the desired thickness. Then transfer to a pie pan. 

Next I worked on my Mom's Pumpkin Roll. This is my favorite dessert as I mentioned but it can also be a bit challenging too. The cake itself has a bad habit of sticking to the pan and rolling it can cause it to crack...which makes for a not so pretty dessert. My Mom always made 2 just in case one cracked. 

Lori's Pumpkin Roll

3 Eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Shifted powdered sugar (for the towel during inverting)

1 cup shifted powdered sugar 

6 oz. cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a larger mixing bowl beat eggs on high for 5 minutes, gradually beat in sugar. Stir in pumpkin and lemon juice. 

In a small bowl stir flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, salt, nutmeg. Fold into pumpkin mixture. Spread batter in a greased and floured jelly roll pan. (IMPORTANT: Use shortening and flour to grease pan). Sprinkle with walnuts. Bake at 375* for 15 minutes. Immediately invert cake onto a towel sprinkled with powdered sugar. Roll up cake with towel jelly roll style starting form the short side. Cool completely and then unroll the cake. 

For the filling in a small bowl beat 1 cup powdered sugar, cream cheese, butter and vanilla on medium until smooth. Spread over unrolled cake. Reroll, cover, and chill. To serve cut cake crosswise into slices. 

Both of these desserts are so yummy and great for the holidays. Since we can't be home with our family for the holidays it is nice to be able to bring a small piece of home to us and I am able to do that with our desserts for Thanksgiving. I am not the best at taking photos of food or photos in general so please ignore the photo quality. :) Happy Thanksgiving to each of you! I hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving and a Blessed holiday season.