Growing up in San Diego, Thanksgiving was my mother’s holiday.

Our grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins came down from Los Angeles, also at our table might be friends and international visitors too. In our dining room, we put in every leaf to extend our dining table to the maximum. When all the dishes were spread out, it was quite a feast.

My mother was a wonderful cook, and her menu was extensive – roast turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, fresh baked dinner rolls, fresh vegetable, green salad, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.

The cranberry sauce was always served in a sparkling cut glass bowl (photo above), an heirloom from my great grandmother.

My mother wrote, ”This recipe has been customary in the family for a long time. It was used by my grandmother Mary Matilda Gray Cross, who gave it to my mother Florence Stratton Cross, who also served it at Thanksgiving. And I make it this way also.”

Today at our family Thanksgivings, cranberry sauce tradition continues, and our sons (great cooks) use their great-great grandmother’s recipe and bake the dinner rolls.

Our Thanksgiving has evolved, keeping our heritage, changing and adding new dishes.

One year I decided to make a Brussel sprouts recipe where you take off each leaf, then cook the fluffy leaves with pancetta. I thought “de-leafing” was a fun, social activity, but it does take time. Now we have a simpler Brussel sprouts recipe with brown butter and walnuts.

For thousands of years in the New World, pumpkins have been eaten by Native Americans, from South America all the way up to the eastern United States.

Today pumpkin is a beloved ingredient worldwide – Indian pumpkin curries, Brazilian shrimp stuffed pumpkin, Italian pumpkin risotto, Portuguese pumpkin verde soup, West African pumpkin stew with peanuts, Moroccan pumpkin tagine, French pumpkin crème brulee, Spanish pumpkin flan, and many cakes, cookies, breads, and cupcakes.

For Thanksgiving 2025, our new pumpkin dessert is – Pumpkin cake with pepitas (pumpkin seeds).

Heritage Cranberry Sauce

2 lbs fresh cranberries
4 cups of sugar

Wash and dry cranberries on paper towels so sauce will not be too juicy.

In a large saucepan, mix sugar and 2/3 cup water, heat and boil 2 – 3 minutes.

Add cranberries, reduce heat to medium, stirring as necessary, cook 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to medium-low, cook another 5 minutes until cranberries pop and are soft.

Put cranberry sauce in a decorative bowl, refrigerate until needed.

Cranberry sauce can also be made in advance and frozen.

Pumpkin Cake with Pepitas

For the cake:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (9 ounces) pumpkin purée
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 1/3 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated

For the frosting and caramelized pumpkin seeds:
9 tablespoons butter, divided, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of cinnamon

1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (raw or toasted) – pepitas

FOR THE CAKE: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and position a rack in the center. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and butter that too.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves into a bowl and set aside.

In stand mixer, use whisk attachment to combine pumpkin puree, oil, sugar and salt.

With mixer on medium speed, add the egg yolks one at a time, waiting for one yolk to be fully incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture is just incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Whisk the egg whites until they are frothy and white. Fold them into the batter using a rubber spatula until they are no longer visible, but don’t overmix. Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake on the center rack in the oven.

Begin checking the cake after 40 minutes, removing it when a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in its pan on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes, or until the cake is pulling away from the pan, before inverting it onto a wire rack.

FOR THE FROSTING: Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, beat together 8 tablespoons of the butter and the cream cheese until smooth and creamy.

Gradually add the powdered sugar and beat until the frosting is smooth with no dry traces of sugar.

Add a pinch of cinnamon, and beat the frosting until incorporated. Frost top of the cake (will be extra frosting).

FOR THE PUMPKIN SEEDS: In a small saucepan over medium heat, caramelize tablespoon of sugar until it is a rich reddish-brown color.

Once the sugar is dark and fragrant, add the last tablespoon of butter and stir quickly until it has melted and the sauce is smooth. Add the pumpkin seeds and stir until they’re evenly coated in caramel sauce

Transfer the seeds to a plate lined with parchment paper so that they cool and harden. Decorate frosted cake with the pepitas.

Recipe adapted from Food52.com

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