Green Pumpkin Crisp

With snow on the ground, we were forced to pick our pumpkins while they were still green. This is not the first year this has happened to us, so I know from experience, that left on a sunny windowsill, they will continue to ripen. However, it takes quite a while, and there's always that fear they will go soft, before they turn orange.

I read that putting a green pumpkin in a sack with apples will speed up the ripening process. We're trying that with one of the pumpkins, so I'll let you know how it turns out. But, with the other, we decided to try out a recipe inspired by the green pumpkin pie found in The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

After googling the recipe from the book, we decided to modify it into a crisp, since the pumpkin is supposed to imitate the apples it's replacing. We would have made the pie, but if you recall, I'm in the middle of a very pressing knitting project, and did not want to take the time to make pie crust.

So, we started by quartering the pumpkin, and removing the seeds and stringy bits (we saved the seeds to make into pumpkin seed brittle, but that's a matter for another post).

We cut away the skin, and sliced the pumpkin thinly, to resemble apple slices.

We placed the pumpkin slices into a casserole dish, and poured 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar over them. We chose the vinegar, because vinegar, or hard cider was called for in the pie recipe. However, I would strongly suggest just using regular apple cider - the vinegar does nothing to improve the flavor, and it's smell takes away some of the enjoyment of the dessert.

Finally, we covered the slices in a mixture of:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar


• 1/2 cup flour


• 1/2 cup oats


• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon


• 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg


• 1/3 cup softened butter
  

We baked the crisp at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes, then turned off the oven, and let it sit in the heat for another 30 minutes.

I served it warm with whipped cream. And, despite the vinegar, my oldest son asked for seconds. It doesn't taste exactly like apple, and it doesn't taste like pumpkin pie - just sweet, and spicy, with a hint of squashy richness. Take away the vinegar, and it would be pretty perfect.

I put The Long Winter on hold at the library too. Now that we've eaten the pie ,or a close relative to it, we can sit and listen to the story, enjoying our own long winter, and hoping the forecast is correct, and fall is returning, for at least a short appearance, next week.

It's great to be a homeschooler.