Thursday, October 30, 2008

P-p-p-Pumpkin!

Last week I snagged a pumpkin at Save-On, where they were on sale for $4 each. I could buy canned, but fresh and home-processed is way better, and much cheaper.

I began by cutting up the pumpkin and removing the seeds, which I rinsed well, salted and roasted. I put the pumpkin, skin up, on a baking sheet lined with one of my trusty silicone baking mats. I put the oven at 375F and just under an hour later, I had a whole bunch of pumpkiny goodness.

After letting the pumpkin cool slightly, I scraped the flesh from the skin and put the flesh in a sieve over a bowl, because you need to get as much of the water out of the pumpkin as possible. Every so often, as the pumpkin cooled, I mashed it against the side of the sieve to press out more water. When it was completely cool and didn't look like there was much water left in it, I packaged it up into 1 cup bundles and froze them. I got nearly 5 cups, which is great! I also got a great couple of snacks from the roasted pumpkin seeds.

Today I made some cookies with the pumpkin, and they were fantastic. I've really been fancying some pumpkin baking and I had a taste for pumpkin combined with chocolate.

Pumpkin, Chocolate Chip, and Cranberry Cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each allspice and cloves
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp each salt and baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 can/15oz/1 3/4 cups pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Beat together butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and pumpkin. Combine well. Sift together dry ingredients and combine with the butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chips & cranberries.
3. Bake for 12 - 15 m or until golden brown and edges are slightly browned. Remove to wire racks and cool completely.

Enjoy!

7 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

I'm addicted to pumpkins! Those cookies look delicious!

Cheers,

Rosa

Meg said...

I really love this. The flavors remind me of Thanksgiving! Fantastic!

Emily Rose said...

good for you- roasting your own pumpkin! I keep promising myself that I'm going to get around to doing it because I hear that the taste is so much fresher than canned but I can't seem to find the time!

Tamara (TC) Staples said...

These cookies look so great that I think I will make some today. Thanks for the recipe.

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

I froze pumpkin to make treat during the winter. I like it a lot in baking or cooking. Looks great.

Cherie said...

Uh huh, I'm loving this recipe. I've got two pumpkins that are going to be cooked up and frozen today. We'll have to keep some out to try these cookies. Yum!

I always use home-preserved pumpkin for Thanksgiving and Christmas pies, cookies, and muffins. Lots of compliments. Makes a difference, though store-canned makes a pretty good pie, too.

Thanks for the recipe!

Cherie said...

Cassie wanted me to let you know that we are finally doing our pumpkins. They are cooking now and soon will be in the cheesecloth to drip.

We even salvaged all the seeds to roast up later.

You are a good influence on us.

I'm looking at the cheesy/buttermilk biscuits now.

Yum!

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