Pumpkin White Chocolate Cookies

My Dad was a generous host who treated Halloween like a well-orchestrated dinner party. The candy he handed out had to meet a certain standard much like the imported cheese and crackers that he carefully assembled for dinner guests. In southern Illinois, mini candy bars were considered top of the line and a few weeks before Halloween, he and my Mom would drive to a wholesale store to buy them in bulk.  

My Dad would pile bags of the bars into a shopping cart to ensure that every witch, ghost, and goblin that rang the doorbell left with a generous handout. My Mom would tell him to cut back by a bag or two knowing that he cushioned the count to accommodate his sweet tooth. But my Dad would insist that they also take part in the celebration.

On Halloween, my Dad would leave his medical practice early to ensure that the yard was presentable. He brought out the blower to clear leaves from the driveway and the front walk. Afterwards, he would put on a well-pressed shirt, pair of slacks, and a sweater vest to guard against the cold each time he popped open the screen door. Before my parents sat down for an early dinner, my Dad would transfer the bars into wide-mouthed wicker baskets, making it easy to dole them out. He also loaded his camera with film to document the parade of costumed guests.

PUMPKIN WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES
 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom

1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

3/4 cup chopped pecans

2 cups white chocolate, finely chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well blended. 

Add the vanilla extract, cardamom, cinnamon, ground ginger, and cloves and beat until combined.

Add the pumpkin puree and egg. Beat until well combined.

Add half of the dry mixture and beat until the dry ingredients are just combined. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients.

Gently fold in the pecans and white chocolate.

Drop teaspoons full of cookie dough two inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake until edges brown, about 10 to 12 minutes.



   

When I was seven, I received a copy of Cricket’s Cookery from my Uncle Matthew. Inside the front cover, he penned the following directive in a curly-cued script that tangoed across the page:

“To Susan, help your Momie in need. Here is a good cookbook for you. Hope you will make some of the recipes.

Love,
Machayan
Christmas 1977”

Cricket's Cookery turned out to be the perfect gift for a child enthralled by her mom's sorcery in the kitchen and eager to enter its fold. At a half inch thick, it was easier to hold than the culinary tomes that anchored our book shelf. Inside it offered recipes for Roly-Poly Pancakes, Mighty Meatballs, Yum-Yum Stew, and other silly sounding dishes. 

The instructions for many of the recipes were meant to be sung out loud, a bonus for someone already apt to break into song. 

The Rainy Day Popcorn, for example, was to be prepared “…to the tune of Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” 

Its instructions begin like this:

“Put oil and corn into the pot.
E-I-E-I-O!
Cover pot and heat till hot.
E-I-E-I-O!
With a Pop! Pop! here and a Pop! Pop! there.
Here a Pop! There a Pop! Everywhere a Pop! Pop!”

For me, the underlying message was cooking could be loads of fun. 

With my mom's help, I baked Oh, My Darling Sugar Cookies, Sugar Crumb Pies, Apple Doodle, and the other desserts, greasing pans and packing brown sugar along the way. I cracked open eggs and fished out shards of shells from whirly waves of butter, again and again.

Over time, I became the family baker and my mom focused on dishes prepared with palm fulls and pinches versus carefully measured ingredients. 

I have rolled out thousands of cookies and baked hundreds of cakes since unwrapping Cricket's Cookery's beneath a tinsel-laden tree. Its cover is bandaged with scotch tape and its back pages are wrinkled from water spills. Even so, it continues to be one of my most cherished culinary companions.

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 12

If you're looking for a delicious holiday dessert, try making these moist, perfectly spiced little cakes! This recipe calls for many of the basic techniques I learned while cooking from Cricket's Cookery. Trader Joe’s carries candied pumpkin seeds, which add a lovely bit of crunch. If you can't track them down, use salted pumpkin seeds instead. 

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup butter
4 ounces cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
Candied pumpkin seeds

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the eggs in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle. Blend until eggs are fluffy. 

Add the pumpkin puree, oil, and vanilla. Blend until thoroughly combined.

Place the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cloves in a medium bowl.

Spoon half of the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl. Blend until just combined. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients.

Fill 12 cupcake liners 3/4 way full. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely. 

Place 1 teaspoon vanilla, butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar in a standing mixer and beat until fluffy. 

Frost cupcakes and top with candied pumpkin seeds.

Plantains with Coconut Milk (Banana Stew)

When I traveled to India, my paternal grandmother, Amachi, always served plantains as a mid-day snack. By late afternoon, everyone would gather in the dining room for a dose of milky tea generously sweetened with raw sugar. A steel platter sat in the middle of the table stacked with steamed plantains. Each one had been sliced in half. Peeling back their blackish-yellow jackets set off a stream of steam and revealed the fruit’s saffron-colored flesh.  

The plantains were as local as it gets having been plucked from plants in Amachi’s yard. They offered a sweet complexity in every bite and had a heartier texture than the wide variety of bananas we consumed over the course of our stay. We were treated with chunks of fresh jackfruit, tender coconuts, juicy mangoes, and plump papayas all the while. But they never gave me the comfort of Amachi's steamed plantains.

It's been 20 plus years since Amachi passed away, and yet, whenever I bite into a perfectly cooked ripe plantain, I picture her moving about in the kitchen.  

 

BANANA STEW

Serves 2

Banana Stew and banana chips are both made with plantains not bananas. Don’t ask me to explain why that isn’t spelled out! What I can tell you is that this delicately flavored dish makes for a lovely, filling breakfast or dessert, particularly if you’re a fan of plantains, coconut, and/or cardamom. My suggestion? Cook some up and dig right in.

INGREDIENTS

2 medium ripe plantains
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup water
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
Pinch salt
1/2 cup coconut milk


INSTRUCTIONS

Slice the plantains into 1/2-inch discs. 

Place in a sauté pan. Add the butter, water, sugar, vanilla, cardamom, salt, and coconut milk. Stir.

Heat over medium-low heat. 

Cook, stirring occasionally until the plantains are soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Gulab Jamun

At age 23, I ventured to Japan to teach English. I was scheduled to lead a full load of classes on Christmas day. Alone on what had always been a sacred and celebratory family holiday, I promised myself dinner at a feisty Szechuan spot where the soup arrived crowned with a domed lid layered with  chrysanthemums. Intensely flavored, it was the best substitute I had found for South Indian food in Japan.                        

Near the end of my first class that day, a student inquired about my meal plans for Christmas. More specifically, would I be going to Kentucky Fried Chicken for dinner? The other students leaned in, curious to hear my reply. 

 

The thought of consuming a highly commoditized meal on a day rife with meaning was odd. Chili-infused soup served at a ma-and-pa restaurant was one thing. Highly processed chicken was another. I explained I would not be traveling to Tokyo for KFC.

By the end of my 8-hour day, I had fielded that same question numerous times. Would I be having Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas? Clearly Colonel Sanders was running a very successful marketing campaign.

That day, I realized that the true beauty is that there is really no one Christmas meal in the U.S. Some people eat ham, others eat fish, and in our family dinner starts with mom's Chicken Biryani and ends with a warm bowl of Gulab Jamun (donuts in cardamom-infused syrup). 

GULAB JAMUN

Makes 15

 

Made with milk powder and a trace of cardamom and rose water, Gulab Jamun are a donut lover's dream dessert. For the best results, serve them warm.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup nonfat milk powder

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 pound trans-fat-free vegetable oil

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

6 cardamom pods

1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon rose water

INSTRUCTIONS

In a medium sized bowl, combine the milk powder, all-purpose flour, and baking soda. Using a large spoon, stir in the cream. All the dough to rest for 15 minutes.

Knead the dough until smooth.

Form the dough into 15 balls.

Heat the vegetable shortening in a frying pan on medium low heat.

Carefully lower 5 of the balls into the shortening. Cook, rotating the ball continuously with a heat-proof, slotted spoon to ensure even browning.

Remove when dough turns reddish-brown and cool on paper towels.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

Place the sugar, water, and cardamom pods in a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until all of the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and rose water.

Soak the donuts in the flavored syrup.

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Mango Lassi Pops

As a child, I remember watching incredulously as my mom waved off Oreos and ice cream in favor of fresh mangoes from the international grocery store. She would walk into the house giddy after shopping. It was a sure sign that the aromatic fruit was in season as my mom loathes shopping. 

While we kids munched on packaged desserts, she would prep the plump pods. In the time it took us to scarf down two cookies, she would remove the green-red skin and oust the seed. Then, she would hold the saffron-colored flesh in her palm, and, with the deft of a seasoned surgeon, chop it into bite-sized chunks. (Really, why use a cutting board?)

Afterwards, my mom would pass the bounty around the table. It was the kindest of gestures considering that both she and my father coveted the fruit of their youth (which grows alongside papaya, jackfruit, and plantains in Kerala). Between bites, they would recount jockeying with their siblings for any fruit that had been left clinging to the seed. 

I always took a pass when the plate reached me as the manga had a perfumy scent that seemed more suitable for wearing than consuming. (It’s an aversion that I outgrew as an adult.) Thankfully, that left more for my parents to devour, which they did, in a matter of minutes. 

MANGO LASSI POPS

Serves 6

If you like mango lassi, you will love these popsicles. The combination of mango and cardamom creates an elegant, ethereal  flavor. I use canned mango pulp rather than fresh mangoes as it can be hard to find well-ripened fruit throughout the summer. Check the ingredients on the can or taste the pulp to figure out if it has added sugar. Then sweeten accordingly. 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups mango pulp
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons honey

INSTRUCTIONS

Place all of the ingredients in a blender. Process until thoroughly combined. 

Pour into popsicles molds.

Freeze until solid.

Pan-Fried Plantains with Cardamom

A few years ago, my Aunt Regina returned from India with a weathered notebook. A curly script on the cover identifies it as “Mrs. Chachyamma Peter Cooking Book.” Inside, the lettering is clear and controlled, and the evenly spaced sentences flow straight across the aged, unlined paper. The passages ebb and flow between English and Malayalam, which I hope to have deciphered. A few entries bring the two together into a Mala-English of sorts. 

My maternal grandmother, who everyone refers to as Mummi, started keeping the journal on January 1, 1937. Her earliest entries focused on childrearing and nutrition. “Teach the children dental hygiene at the earliest possible age.” “Bananas contain calcium, iron, phosphorous, magnesium and copper in abundance.”

 

Later, she fills a page with her Grandma’s beauty hints, which includes tips for a good complexion. “Take the skin of an orange and grind it to a smooth paste with a little milk or cream. Then rub it thoroughly on your face…”

But it’s the carefully printed recipes, peppered throughout the book, that draw me in. Mummi has instructions for American Breakfast Biscuits, Creamy Pudding Sauce, and Pineapple Punch. She documents steps for making Toffee Everton, Sponge Cake, and Sweet Potato Surprise. And, more importantly, she offers detailed instructions for some of my favorite Malayalee dishes, including Muton Cutlets and Uppu Mavu (spicy semolina). “Place the ghee in a kadai on the fire and when it gets firmly heated add the black gram dhal and fry until light brown then pour in the mustard …”

Mummi died five years before I was born. Over the years, I’ve sought to understand the lean, wavy-haired woman whose name I bear. Fortunately, the recipe-filled notebook provides me with that much needed connection. 

PAN-FRIED PLANTAINS

Serves 4

In Kerala, plantains are used in both sweet and savory dishes. The unripe, green-skinned fruit is thinly sliced for bananas chips or whittled into small chunks for stir-fries. Ripe plantains are steamed for a sweet mid-day snack or dipped in batter and deep-fried. This recipe for Pan-Fried Plantains with Cardamom is a dish my maternal grandmother, Mummi, used to make. For the best flavor (and texture), use plantains that are soft but not mushy. Their skins should be yellow with patches of black. When gently squeezed, their flesh should give just a little more than a ripe banana. 

INGREDIENTS

2 pounds ripe plantains
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cardamom pods or ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1½ tablespoons unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

Wash the plantains. Slice off the ends and cut them in half widthwise. 

Using the tip of a knife, slit the skin lengthwise without piercing the flesh. Carefully pull back the skin, beginning at the slit, and then remove the skin. 

Cut the plantains into three long pieces lengthwise.

Crush the cardamom pods with a mortar and pestle. Remove the papery husks and powder the seeds. In a small bowl, mix the ground cardamom and sugar. 

Melt the butter on a large skillet over medium-low heat. Layer the plantains on the skillet, placing the thickest pieces in the center. 

Cook the plantains until they begin to brown, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. 

Sprinkle the plantains with a layer of the sugar mixture and cook for 1 minute. 

Flip and continue to cook until the sugar melts and forms a thin crust. Sprinkle the other side of the plantains with the remaining sugar. Cook for a minute and flip. When the sugar has browned on both sides, remove from heat. 

Serve immediately.

Berries and Cream

BERRIES AND CREAM

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 cup fresh strawberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon water

3 tablespoons, plus 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1) Mix strawberries, 1 1/2 teaspoons water and 1 1/2 tablespoons powdered sugar in a saucepan. Stir on medium heat until berries begin to soften. Cool.

2) Repeat with blueberries. (Mix blueberries, 1 1/2 teaspoons water and 1 1/2 tablespoons powdered sugar in a saucepan. Stir on medium heat until berries begin to soften. Cool.)

2) Pour whipping cream into a chilled steel bowl. Stir in remaining powdered sugar. Beat with a hand mixer or whisk until cream develops soft peaks.

3) Divide berries between four dessert bowls. Top with whipped cream.