I was in about 10 years old when a cousin asked me to help at her wedding. I wore a double-knit outfit that had a red bolero jacket over a dress with a cream top and red skirt and I'm pretty sure I wore a red velvet bow clipped to the middle of my head, just at the spot where my bangs separated from the short fluff that made me look older. Very grown-up.
My assignment also felt very grown up. I was to greet guests as they walked into the church, direct them up the stairs to the sanctuary, and carry their gifts to the basement reception hall. It was a grand affair, with the punch bowl seeming to float on a cloud of dry ice and stacks of boxed groom's cake to take home. I followed instructions, taking a packet of groom's cake home to help savor the memory. I placed it carefully under my pillow late that night, hoping to dream of my own future groom.
Weddings are magic when you're a girl hoping for such a dream.
The magic came back to me when Husband and I planned our ceremony years later. I wanted some other girl to dream of her match made in heaven, so I made sure to include the groom's cake tradition.
Although groom's cake is often a spice cake, we opted instead for this pumpkin bar recipe. Brother #2 baked it in jelly roll pans and spent an afternoon with me, my sister and my mother, cutting it (unfrosted) into squares, wrapping them in plastic and then tulle, finished with a flourish of curly ribbon. Perfect party favors.
You can enjoy the same treat in a less formal setting. Cream cheese frosting would finish it perfectly without the tulle or ribbon! Here's the recipe, credited to both Linda Benson and Paula Cable in The Ultimate Absolute Irresistible Church Cookbook, known in our family as "the silver cookbook from St. Philip's." Circa 1983.
Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
2 C. sugar
2 C. pumpkin
1 C. oil
2 C. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg (variation: you could also add 1/2 tsp. ginger and/or 1/2 tsp. cloves)
Beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil. Mix dry ingredients and add to others. Bake in an ungreased jelly roll pan (15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1") at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. As a final touch, spread bars with this delicious Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 oz. softened cream cheese
1 Tbs. cream
1/3 C. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 of a pound box of powdered sugar
Mix well and spread on cooled pumpkin bars.
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Some other pumpkin pleasures:
Ree, The Pioneer Woman's, Pumpkin Butter.
These Pumpkin Pancakes have yummy vanilla yogurt topping.
Even Big T likes to help make Cheese Ravioli with Pumpkin Sauce.
And don't forget to roast your pumpkin seeds! I like to use coarsely ground sea salt. Shell them to use as a great garnish for soups or salads, or snack by the fist-full.
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