An easy-easy recipe for pumpkin dip, just cream cheese, pumpkin and spices. As dips go, unusually healthy with a high proportion of pumpkin to cream cheese and sugar. Low carb.
~recipe & photo updated 2010~
October 1, my hometown farmers market makes a magical transformation: the row of farmstands becomes a pumpkin patch playground, the perimeter lined with hay bales. Little ones play bumper tractors as the moms and grandparents look on, often recording the squeals of delight. Out front is a pile -- more of an engineering feat, really -- of many-sized pumpkins, minis to mammoths. When my Lady Dog was a puppy and teaching me to heel, the farmers market water spigot was a frequent destination. During that first October, as we approached, she would warily eye the pumpkin pile, the bulbous shapes, the alarming color, sensing I always figured, the frightening faces of the pumpkins' inner jack o' lanterns. Mustering bravery, she would bark -- furiously, wildly -- pulling at the leash to attack the vicious orange creatures. Isn't October grand?
I thought about Lady's fear of pumpkins while throwing the ingredients for this easy-easy pumpkin dip into the food processor -- wishing I'd taken the time to roast a whole pumpkin. But then, tasting the dip -- it's delicious! -- I was just as happy to use the oh-so-convenient canned pumpkin.
The recipe comes from Margie, one of my OCHER-Yaya friends, who suggests serving it with Granny Smith apples and ginger cookies. Me, I'd love it schmeared onto a bagel or a slice of my forever-favorite recipe for pumpkin bread. I even stirred a spoonful into my morning oatmeal: excellent! Unlike some pumpkin spreads I've tasted, this one really tastes like pumpkin, that's a good thing!
PUMPKIN DIP
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 3 cups
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 3 cups
16 ounces canned pumpkin
8 ounces cream cheese
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Powdered sugar (or another sweetener, see NOTES) to taste
In a food processor, mix the pumpkin, cream cheese and pumpkin pie spice until smooth. Add sugar to taste until desired sweetness is reached.
ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
Be sure to get 100% pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix which is already spiced and sugared. For cream cheese, I nearly always choose the lower-fat neufchatel (how to pronounce neufchatel). It's a winner, there's no telling the difference. (To my taste, the no-fat cream cheese is gummy and vile and is to be avoided at all cost!) Pumpkin pie spice is a common spice blend but it's so easy to mix your own, there's really no reason to shell out the money. For this recipe, I used 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ginger. The original recipe called for 2 whole cups of sugar, which would have made this sweet-sweet-sweet and almost an icing; it also explains why the original recipe also called for thinning the dip a bit with orange juice. Margie recommended using less sugar so I started with just 1/4 cup of sugar. I'd have been happy to stop here but my taste testers asked for another 1/4 cup -- this makes it slightly sweet but lets the pumpkin flavor itself come through. 2010 Update: I used sorghum as the sweetener, maple syrup would work too.
IT's PUMPKIN PATCH TIME!
~ Pumpkin Bars ~
~ Stuffed Pumpkin with Apple & Cranberry ~
~ Whole Pumpkin Baked with Custard ~
~ more pumpkin recipes ~
~ more recipes for dips & spreads ~
from A Veggie Venture
~ Autumn Pumpkin Bread ~
~ Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars ~
~ Pumpkin Bread Pudding ~
~ more pumpkin recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade
~ Pumpkin Bars ~
~ Stuffed Pumpkin with Apple & Cranberry ~
~ Whole Pumpkin Baked with Custard ~
~ more pumpkin recipes ~
~ more recipes for dips & spreads ~
from A Veggie Venture
~ Autumn Pumpkin Bread ~
~ Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars ~
~ Pumpkin Bread Pudding ~
~ more pumpkin recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade
NEVER MISS A RECIPE! For 'home delivery' of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here. Once you do, new recipes will be delivered, automatically, straight to your e-mail In Box.
Looking for healthy ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Alphabet of Vegetables. Healthy eaters will love the low carb recipes and the Weight Watchers recipes.
© Copyright 2008
© Copyright 2008
Posts
0 comments:
Post a comment to: Pumpkin Dip Recipe ♥