We made lots of cookies in my house growing up, but the cookie that heralded the arrival of fall was pumpkin. When I walked in the door after school to that richly spiced air, I knew my favorite season was officially in full swing.
My mom snagged her pumpkin cookie recipe from another wife at an office party in the early 70s and has been making it ever since. That’s nearly 40 years of pumpkin cookies. It’s also one of the recipes I wrote home for when I lived in Yemen.
The passing of seasons was something I missed the most while living abroad. Yemen has dry and rainy seasons as opposed to our four distinct seasons in Arkansas. I wanted a way to help me feel like it was fall while the temperature was still in the 80s and the leaves still green and firmly attached to the trees.
My mom and sisters responded to my appeal and I soon had that coveted recipe. Now I needed pumpkin. More specifically, a pumpkin, since canned pumpkin was nowhere to be found in Yemen. Pumpkins grew in the north of the country, but they arrived by the truckload to the markets in Taiz and Aden where I lived. I purchased one and proudly carried it home.
I’d never used a real pumpkin to make pumpkin cookies. It seemed a daunting task, but when you’re away from home, you go to great lengths to reproduce something similar to home-cooking. I cut into my pumpkin, scooped out the seeds and goopy insides and sliced it up. After baking it in the oven, I peeled the skin away, chopped it again and finally pureed the pumpkin in a blender. After hours working with this pumpkin, I knew I’d never again undervalue the ease of canned pumpkin.
Finally, I had pumpkin puree and I was able to turn it into pumpkin cookies and share them with an international crowd in Yemen. They were well received and I had a food to remind me of fall and my family. I savored each bite.
The recipes we carry with us through life are important, aren’t they? Keeping those recipes alive, making them year after year, bring us closer to the loved ones who passed them to us in the first place, even if they’re no longer with us.
This fall I’m an ambassador for Project Stir. Project STIR is a series of documentary films launching this fall on Kickstarter. The films will follow Abuelitas, Nans & Mamaws passing down heirloom recipes in kitchens around the globe including countries like: Panama, New Zealand, Turkey, Croatia & England.
Fellow blogger Sarah Shotts is pioneering this amazing project. I invite you to check out Project Stir and all that Sarah is cooking up. Learn more about how to get involved at http://www.sarahshotts.com/projectstir
Follow Project Stir Mixing Bowl on Facebook and share your own recipes on Instagram using #ProjectStir.
I’ll never forget cooking that pumpkin half a world away from home. Preserving our family stories and recipes is a way to bring our pasts and our families with us into the future. Join Sarah as she brings family recipes to life from around the world.
Now for those who love pumpkin as much as I do, here’s that pumpkin cookie recipe made every fall in my family for so many years. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Mourton Family Pumpkin Cookies
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. shortening/butter/or margarine
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 c. pumpkin
Cream sugar, shortening and egg – Blend in vanilla and
pumpkin.
Add flour/soda/salt/baking powder/cinnamon.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Frosting: (I hardly ever make the frosting. The cookies don’t last long enough.)
3 tbsp butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. milk
powdered sugar
Mix brown sugar/milk/butter and boil for 3 minutes Remove
from heat and add powdered sugar to thicken frosting to your preference. Spread frosting on cookies or spoon generously into mouth.
I LOVE this story. When I studied abroad in London one of my American classmates hosted Thanksgiving and took it upon herself to make us a pumpkin pie from scratch. It’s amazing the things we can take for granted that we don’t even know are regional. She had a hard time finding the other ingredients needed for the pie too and had to track down a specialty store. But digging into something that tastes like home makes it all worthwhile. And I love the chance to share that experience with people of another culture as well. Thanks so much for sharing your Project STIR story and spreading the word about the Kickstarter. 🙂
Thanks, Sarah! I’m excited to see what happens with Project Stir. I’ve got a Thanksgiving story I’ll share in November about how we celebrated in Yemen. Such memories.
Hi, Kim!
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post, you are such a good story teller, Kim!
I’m a part of Sarah’s awesome Project Stir too. It’s such brilliant endeavor! ♡
Oh, and thanks for the recipe . . . it looks amazing! I can almost smell them! 😉
xoxoxo
Nancy
Nice to meet you, Nancy! I’m glad I was able to share the story and be a part of Project Stir, too!
Aww, what a great story! I’m American but live in Scotland, so canned pumpkin, cranberries, and graham crackers are all baking needs that I’m still learning to work my way around. 🙂 I’ll definitely add this to my list to make next time I find canned pumpkin at the international grocery store!
All my relatives hated to cook, so the recipes I learned were from some of the great cooks that came to work for us! I will have to get out some of them and talk with Sarah! Great story about your journey to Yemen, and good for you that you had that much tenacity! I have tried to cook with real pumpkin as well. Never again.
My experience had me saying never again, too. Now that I’m years away from it, I’m turning over the idea of cooking pumpkin from scratch again. I must be crazy!
Love Project Stir and Pumpkin Cookies! I can’t wait to make some!
Loved your story, and your cookies sound delicious. I’m also part of Project S.T.I.R.
I’ll be sharing a pie recipe from my husband’s family introduced to me when I met him in the early ’70s. It’s still the pie of choice instead of cake for birthdays. I made two for a family birthday dinner last night and gave one of my sons the recipe, along with this history behind it.
Pie for birthdays sounds great! I’m glad we’re connected through Project Stir!