Shelley Salsburey is one of the photographers and designers here at Lehman‘s, and most of the year, she’s pretty great to work with. But then autumn hits, and everything changes! This normally quiet and hard-working person goes crazy for pumpkin!
Shelley’s so fond of pumpkin that in the autumn she only brings in pumpkin-centric snacks to share and suggests pumpkin-based color schemes for projects (only partly in fun, we suspect). She’s even started collecting pumpkins. “My birthday is during October, and I really love fall.” The pumpkins followed along, gifts from friends and family members.
“I’ve never really collected anything before,” she says, “but now I’ve got the start of a really good collection of pumpkins.” One of her latest pumpkins is a textile one, made from chenille, which she found at a small craft show near Zoar, Ohio, on the eastern edge of Amish country. (That pumpkin is on the far left.) She’s got some rules about her pumpkins, though.
“They have to be happy. No sad faces, or scary faces, or creepy faces. I like them all to smile.” She found the pumpkin candle and the tin holder that it sits on (just to the right of center) at Lehman’s in Kidron, Ohio. When she was asked if she had any antique or vintage pumpkins, her face lit up. “Oh, no, you know, I don’t. I hadn’t even thought about looking for vintage ones. What a great idea!”
She loves pumpkin-based recipes too, and she’s sharing one of her favorites below.
PUMPKIN ROLL
3/4 c. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 t. salt
3 large eggs
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. chopped pecans
FILLING
1-8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
1 c. sifted powdered sugar
6 T. butter, softened
1 t. vanilla
extra powered sugar for topping
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 15×10 jelly-roll pan, line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a bowl. Beat eggs and sugar together in large bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with pecans. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool completely.
Filling: Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla in small bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake, remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake over cream cheese mixture. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powered sugar and some extra pecans before serving.
“Pumpkin-centric.” It’s a pumpkin shaped world.