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Home
 Spiked Pumpkin Soup
The Legend of Stingy Jack
& Stingy Jack's Spiked Pumpkin Soup
Plus, Pumpkin-maple Whoopie Pies!
There's nothing like a good pumpkin soup during October and November. There's just something about it. Again this year we would like to suggest a delicious
recipe that we think is exceptional, made with grade A medium amber Vermont maple syrup and Jack Daniel's Old Time Sour Mash
Tennessee whiskey. We use Jack because of the smoky flavor. Plus, Jack seems fitting for Halloween -
considering the Legend of Stingy Jack and all (see below). We hope you like the recipe and Happy Halloween!
Ingredients
- 1/2 tsp. peeled & minced ginger (fresh)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced (to get the vampires away!)
- 1/2 cup of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey
- 1 (29 ounce) can of pumpkin
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 9 Tsp. low fat sour cream
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 tsp. grounD cumin
- 1-1/2 cups apple cider (preferable Vermont apple cider)
- 1/4 cup Grade A Medium Amber Vermont maple syrup
- 1 (14 ounce) can fat free, low sodium chicken broth
- 1 tsp. all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 3 Tsp. chopped parsley
Recipe
Heat a large witch's kettle (Dutch oven pot) over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, ginger, cumin, and garlic cloves
and saute for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in cider, Jack Daniels whiskey, Vermont maple syrup, pumpkin, and broth, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat
and simmer for 10 minutes.
Place half of pumpkin mixture in a blender and process until smooth. Pour pureed mixture into a large mixing bowl.
Repeat process with remaining pumpkin mixture. Return pureed mixture to pan. Stir in milk, flour, salt, and pepper,
cook until thoroughly heated, but DO NOT boil. Stir frequently. Serve with sour cream and hot mulled cider. Garnish with parsley.
Yields: 9 servings. 1 cup = 165 calories.
Who was Stingy Jack?
Here's the History of Jack O'Lanterns
and the Legend of Stingy Jack
People have been carving Jack O'Lanterns, or Jack-O-Lanterns, for centuries, and most recently as a modern
day Halloween tradition. The practice began with an Irish myth about a man who was nicknamed "Stingy Jack."
According to the myth, Stingy Jack tricked the Devil, not once, but twice. He first invited the
Devil to have a drink with him, and true to his nickname, Stingy Jack didn't want to pay for the drink, so
he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. The Devil agreed,
but once he changed into the coin, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a
silver cross which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form.
Stingy Jack eventually did free the Devil, but under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one
year and that, should Jack die, he wouldn't claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tempted the Devil
into another trick by convincing him to climb a tree and pick a piece of fruit. While the Devil was up in
the tree, Jack carved a cross into the tree trunk so that the Devil could not come down until he promised
Jack not to bother him for ten more years. Unfortunately Jack didn't live ten more years and died. As the legend
does, God wouldn't let Jack into Heaven because he was such an unsavory character. The Devil, upset by
the tricks Jack had played on him, especially not being able to claim Jack's soul, wouldn't allow Jack into Hell either.
Instead, the Devil gave Jack a burning coal for light and sent him off into the dark night. Jack, being
just as resourceful in spirit as in life, put the coal into a carved turnip and has been roaming the Earth
with it ever since. The Irish eventually referred to the ghost of Stingy Jack as "Jack of the Lantern,"
and then, simply "Jack O'Lantern."
Jack's lanterns took hold in Ireland and Scotland as people began to make their own versions by carving
scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into their windows or near entryways to frighten
away Stingy Jack or any other wandering evil spirits. As time passed the legend of Stingy Jack made it's way
to America and immigrants soon found that pumpkins made perfect Jack O'Lanterns. The carving of
pumpkins soon became a New England All Hallows' Eve tradition.
Delicious Pumpkin-maple Whoopie Pies
Halloween/Thanksgiving Dessert
This variation on pumpkin whoopie pies which adds maple flavor to the cream cheese filling has been a family favorite since 2000,
coming to us from a resident of Wilmington Vermont who wishes to remain anonymous. Not
sure why, because we've tried her Pumpkin-maple Whoopie Pies and they're beyond DELICIOUS! They're so good, it's hard to stop at just one.
Perfect for breakfast with a strong cup of coffee, as a treat All Hallows' Eve, or as a Thanksgiving dessert. Halloween and Thanksgiving are such
fun holidays and a great time to bring out the family recipe book. We hope you'll add this recipe to your pumpkin recipe favorites!
Cake Tops/Bottoms Ingredients
- 2-1/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 8 Tbsp. soft butter (we use 1 stick of Cabot butter of course!)
- 1-1/4 cups sugar or Sweet & Low
- 2 large eggs, preferably Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup canned plain pumpkin (not pumpkin filling)
Filling Ingredients
- 6 Tbsp. soft butter
- 4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp. McCormick maple flavor extract - this is the key!
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
Recipe Instructions:
Cake Tops/Bottoms - Line the bottom of your baking sheet with buttered parchment paper. Combine and whisk first five cake ingredients in a
Large Bowl. In a Medium Bowl with hand mixer (or in an electric mixer) beat on medium speed
butter and sugar until smooth (about 1 minute), then add eggs and vanilla and beat an additional 30 seconds.
Next, add sour cream and pumpkin to wet mixture just until combined. Gradually add wet mixture to the flour mixture and blend by hand just until it is evenly combined.
Now you're ready to drop rounded tablespoons of batter onto your baking sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart. Batter should be thick enough to clump and hold its shape.
Bake for about 10-15 minutes at 300 degrees F or until cakes are firm and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the cakes for 5 minutes.
To prepare filling, beat butter, cream cheese and maple flavor extract in a large bowl with hand mixer about 1 minute on medium speed.
Decrease speed to low and add confectioners sugar. Beat until ingredients are combined and filling is smooth. As an alternative, you can also use
Pure Maple Cream as the filling, which wouldn't require any preparation and is just as tasty.
Once cakes are cool, put about a tablespoon of filling between cake tops and bottoms and refrigerate until frosting is firm,
generally for 30 minutes to an hour.
Your Pumpkin-maple Whoopie Pies should have a robust maple flavor. If not, use a bit more maple flavor in your next batch. The whoopie pies
may also be moist and sticky. This is normal. Napkins required. A YUMMY Thanksgiving dessert!
Yield: 1 dozen whoopie pies
**Be sure to also check out our Pumpkin Muffins with Maple Cream recipe.
Original recipe modified from: Post-Gazette.com Magazine, In the Kitchen.
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