last week, i didn’t have a single pumpkin to cook with…and then suddenly this week i was given five. i love this time of year and pumpkin baked goods, but i am not quite sure what to do with all my pumpkin i acquired. typically, i would can the extra, but since we move (again) in less than 2 weeks, i am busy prepping freezer meals for the move week and just don’t have time to can it. i am thinking about freezing it…Anybody have any good experiences with frozen pumpkin puree?
last night i roasted 2 of the pumpkins and from that, i got over 2 cups of roasted pumpkin seeds (my kids love them…see what we do below) and a half-gallon of fresh pumpkin puree. so today, i have been busy baking with some of my fresh puree. i tried 2 recipes that my friend lindsey at enjoying healthy foods created recently. {here are the 2 recipes for her pumpkin chocolate chip & pumpkin banana cookies} both of the cookie variations are gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free (depending if you use chocolate chips or not). i did make a little variation to both cookies. for the first ones, i only used 1/4 cup maple syrup (instead of a 1/2)…not because i thought they would be too sweet, but because literally, i used the last maple syrup i had in the house. i also, added 2 Tbsp. of ground flax seeds to the cookies. i have gotten into the habit of adding flax to all my egg-free baking and am typically happy with the results. oh, and i also didn’t have pumpkin pie spice, so i just used a little cinnamon and fresh nutmeg.
the results, we loved the first recipe…and even with only half of the maple syrup in the first batch, i thought that they were plenty sweet. i am glad i added to flax seed as i feel like it helped bind the cookies better. the second version with the banana were good, i undercooked them a little, but i have to say i liked the purer pumpkin flavor of the first recipe better. my little boys helped make both batches and while i was getting one batch out of the oven, my 3.5 year old started feeding my 2 year old huge spoonfuls of the batter. definitely recipes worth trying.
i thought would share what we do when we roast pumpkin seeds. it is super easy, nothing fancy.
| roasted pumpkin seeds |
- seeds of fresh pumpkin (approx. 2 cups)
- 1 Tbsp melted coconut oil
- celtic sea salt
- any other desired spices
- rinse and clean pumpkin seeds after pulling them out of the pumpkin.
- lay them out on a towel to dry
- when seeds are dry, toss with 1 Tbsp of coconut oil and sea salt to taste
- add any additional spices (we like plain sea salt best)
- on a baking sheet roast in the oven at 350 degrees stirring occasionally until they start to brown. approx. 30 minutes
