Pumpkins and Baking

Carved a pumpkin last night just in time for Halloween—well, 2 weeks early but I like to get ahead of things and I had some free time…

Anyway, I have always liked making jack o lantern’s, and prefer to make my pumpkins especially scary. I won’t offer any step by step instructions because I’m sure you all know how to carve a pumpkin BUT here are some pictures of the process:

Since, we are on the subject of pumpkins, I thought I should also share offer recipes for roasting pumpkin seeds, and baking pumpkin (or butternut squash) pies.

I’m not one to waste food—which I am sure you already gathered from my banana bread post—so I definitely wanted to utilise my pumpkin in a few ways. I know the recipe is called pumpkin pie, but you can use any kind of squash. I used Butternut Squash because that's what I had laying around.

I was always under the impression that one should make a pumpkin pie with sugar pumpkins only. We don’t have them here in the UK (or at least to my knowledge), so I went with butternut squash instead. Tasted just as good as pumpkin and I was even able to make 2 pies with just one medium sized squash.

Recipes after the JUMP

Recipe 1: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

recipe from Jamie Oliver

Supplies and Ingredients

Pumpkin seeds

Olive Oil

Spices (I used Salt and Chilli Flakes)

Baking tray

Aluminium Foil

Sieve

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180C/350F
• Assuming you have all carved your pumpkin already, separate seeds from pumpkin flesh and put them in a sieve

• Thoroughly rinse and drain the seeds
• Spread your seeds on a baking tray (I prefer to use aluminium foil because it is easier to wash your tray afterwards). In any case, sprinkle with olive oil and add your spices

• Mix together so the seeds are well coated. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until seeds are golden.
• Let cool, and store in a tupperware or any airtight container.

I pretty much ate the whole batch-they were delicious

Recipe 2: Pumpkin Pie

recipe from BBC Good Food

Makes 2, 9 inch pies

Supplies

1 9 Inch pie pan

1 Pot

Pie Weights (or dried beans)

Measuring Spoons

Big bowl

Wax paper

Fork

Ingredients

1 Jus Rol Short crust sheet (leave to stand in room temperature 45 minutes before using)

1 medium Sugar Pumpkin or Butternut Squash

plain flour, for dusting

140g sugar (about ½ cup)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp fresh nutmeg, grated

1 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs, beaten

25g butter, melted (about 1/8 cup)

175ml milk (about ¾ cup)

Method

• Peal, de-seed, and roughly chop your pumpkin or butternut squash.
• Place the pumpkin/squash in a large pot, cover with water and bring to the boil. Remove when pieces are tender—about 15-20 minutes. Drain and let cool.
• Preheat oven to 180C/365F
• For simplicity’s sake I will not include a step by step guide of blind baking the crust, because I explain it in detail in my Apple Crumble recipe. Roll out the pastry, place it in pie pan and blind bake. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
• Increase oven to 220C/428F
• Mash the cooled pumpkin/squash, and then push through a sieve into a large bowl. I’m not going to lie, this part was VERY time consuming and annoying, BUT it’s worth it if you want a smooth and creamy filling.
• In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, salt, nutmeg and half of the cinnamon.
• Then add both of your eggs, melted butter, and milk. Beat until everything is thoroughly combined.
• Add your pumpkin/squash purée and stir to combine.
• Pour into the tart shell and cook for 10 mins. Reduce the temperature to 180C/365F, and continue to bake for 35-40 minutes, or until your filling has set.
• Leave to cool. Finally, remove the pie from the tin, and dust over remaining cinnamon (and powdered sugar) over the pie. Serve chilled.

I hope you guys enjoyed the recipes! Be sure to let me know if you have tried any of them out. Also, let me know if there is a specific one you want me to try out next time.

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