Tesuque Pueblo is located very near Santa Fe; it is a Tewa speaking Pueblo. A very enterprising community, they take full advantage of Santa Fe's proximity by running their own flea market. They are also an intensely agricultural community. The following recipe is from Lois Ellen Frank and her Foods Of The Southwestern Indian Nations, an expanded and revised edition of an earlier cookbook. I've made these many times and people love them; Frank is right when she says "they will disappear faster than you can imagine." Pumpkins are one of those native gifts to the rest of the world; these are great for Halloween countdown mornings with some Pumpkin Spice Coffee! The really creepy rock formation below is very near Tesuque.
Tesuque Pumpkin Cookies
2 cups home cooked pumpkin (my note: or canned unsweetened pumpkin)
2 cups sugar
2 cups all vegetable shortening
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. real vanilla
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg (my note: or the ground stuff)
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
2 cups raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and shortening, add the pumpkin and cream again (my note: this is easiest done the an electric hand mixer, and I find it easier to cream the pumpkin before adding the eggs). Add eggs and vanilla, beat again.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and allspice.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the to the egg mixtures in small amounts, until completely mixed and all the flour is wet (my note: be sure to scrape around the bowl with spatula to get flour on the bottom up).
5. With that same spatula, fold in the raisins and then the walnuts.
6. Drop tbsp. size dollops of the mixture onto cookie pan roughly 2 inches apart. Make for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Makes about 7 dozen cookies (so feel free to share!)
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