Tag: Pumpkin

Five small round pumpkins fill a wooden basket in front of a white picket fence.

Pumpkin Bread

Servings:
18 Large Muffins or 5 Mini Loaves

Prep Time:
15 minutes

Cook Time:
45 minutes

Home-grown pumpkins are great for a variety of uses. Pumpkin bread is a moist pastry that goes well with morning coffee. This recipe emphasizes the pumpkin-to-bread ratio and features a warm blend of complimentary spices. The resulting bread is light and fluffy.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (fresh pumpkin instructions)
  • 3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Spice blend:
    • 2 tsp cinnamon
    • 1 tsp allspice
    • 1/2 tsp cloves
    • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions

  1. Whisk sugar, eggs, and oil together. Add pumpkin and beat until monolithic.
  2. In a separate bowl, mix all remaining (dry) ingredients with a fork.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix gradually, whisking constantly until the batter reaches a mouse-like consistency.
  4. Distribute to buttered baking vessels as desired. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes for large muffins, 45 minutes for mini loaves, or 60 minutes for a full loaf, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
A sunlit golden brown pumpkin bread muffin sits on a small blue and white plate on a weathered cedar deck.
Three freshly-harvested pumpkins sit on a concrete curb between a gravel pathway and a backdrop of green plants.

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Servings:
8 Slices

Prep Time:
15 minutes

Cook Time:
45 minutes

Pumpkin pie is a delicious and easy-to-make treat. Home-grown pumpkins lend a surprising freshness to the pie. Play with a variety of spices to enhance the pumpkin pie flavor.

Ingredients

  • 9″ Single Pie Crust (recommended recipe)
  • 20 oz (about 2 1/2 cups) Pumpkin Puree (fresh pumpkin instructions below)
  • One 14-oz Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
  • 2 eggs
  • Spices

Directions

  1. For garden-fresh pumpkins, start by making the pumpkin puree. This puree can be frozen, thawed, and used to make fresh pumpkin pies throughout the year. Volume yield depends heavily on the size and variety of pumpkins. Leftovers are easily made into a flexible-ratio pumpkin soup.
    1. Cut the top and bottom off of the pumpkin and remove the seeds and guts. Rinse the seeds, then salt and oven-roast until golden-brown.
    2. Cut the pumpkin into large slices and place them in a glass baking dish with the skin on. Roast at 350 degrees for about 90 minutes, until soft when pressed with a fork. Longer roasting will induce caramelization, providing a deeper, richer flavor and resulting in a color closer to the traditional orange for the pie filling. Roasting until just soft offers a fresher flavor and an unusually-yellow pie color.
    3. Allow the pumpkin slices to cool, and peel off the skin. Also remove any portions of the flesh that became hard when roasting.
    4. Puree the roasted pumpkin until very smooth.
  2. Roll out the single pie crust and place into the pie pan. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  3. Whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and spices until uniform and slightly foamy. Pour into the prepared crust.
  4. Bake for about 60 minutes until pumpkin custard is set and lightly browned. Rotate as required to evenly brown the crust.
  5. Serve at room temperature or chilled with freshly-whipped cream.
A slice of fresh pumpkin pie on a navy blue plate on a vertical-grain Douglas Fir table with a view of a white picket fence out the window.

A sea of freshly-roasted pumpkin seeds