Hands up, when the leaves start to change colour and the crisp wind settles in, do you pop in your local supermarket on the hunt for pumpkins? And do you now have a pumpkin or several left over from Halloween celebrations or your table centrepiece? I sure have and I can’t bear to see them go in the bin. At These Three Rooms, we’re all for reducing food waste, so using up your pumpkins using these recipes is a great way to stop them going to landfill. Here are five mouth-watering pumpkin recipes, from creamy soups to crunchy cookies. Question is: which one will you try?
Miele Del Kern’s pumpkin cookies
Ingredients:
- 300g plain flour
- 1tsp. bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp. baking powder
- 1tsp. cinnamon
- 1tsp. mixed spice
- ½ tsp. sea salt
- 250g caster sugar
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 250 pumpkin puree or steamed pumpkin
- 1 egg
- 1tsp. vanilla extract
- 150g icing sugar
- 50g pumpkin seeds, chopped
Method:
- Combine flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a medium bowl.
- Using an electric hand whisk, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy and then add the puree, egg and vanilla and whisk until incorporated.
- Fold in the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. When ready, chill the dough for 3 – 4 hours.
- Preheat an oven at 180C on a fan setting.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and scoop a tablespoonful of the dough and shape into balls. Roll them in the icing sugar and decorate with some of the pumpkin seeds.
- Place the cookies on a baking tray leaving some space in between them and bake for 12 – 14 minutes.
- When ready, remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. These cookies will keep in an airtight container for 5 days.
Staub’s pumpkin pecan cake
Ingredients:
- 130 g pecan nuts
- 200 g flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 100 ml rapeseed oil
- 200 g brown sugar
- 8 g Bourbon vanilla sugar
- 1 tsp. 5-spice powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground ginger
- 200 g sugar syrup
- 300 g cooked pumpkin cubes or pumpkin purée
- 150 g chocolate drops for baking
- Butter for greasing
- Flour for dusting
Method:
- Preheat an oven to 200 °C (upper/lower heat) (180 °C fan). Grease a loaf pan (25 cm) with butter and dust with flour.
- Coarsely chop the pecan nuts and pulse 2-3 times in a blender jar for 1-2 seconds each time, remove and put to one side. Mix the flour, baking soda and baking powder and put to one side.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the blender jar in the following order: Eggs, rapeseed oil, brown sugar, vanilla sugar, spices, syrup, pumpkin. Close the blender jar with the lid.
- Select a Cocktail setting and press the button to run the program. During the mixing process, gradually add the flour mixture through the opening in the lid.
- Once the blending is finished, remove the lid. Briefly mix in the pecan nuts and chocolate drops manually or fold in with a spatula. Pour the dough evenly into the prepared loaf tin.
- Bake in the centre of an oven for approx. 50-60 minutes. To check whether the cake has cooked, simply insert a wooden stick into the thickest part of the cake. If the stick is dry and free from dough residues, the cake is cooked. If there are still dough residues on the stick, bake for a few more minutes and insert the stick again.
- When baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool before serving.
Ingredients:
For the cake
- 425g pumpkin puree (can be tinned)
- 200g soft dark brown sugar
- 300g caster sugar
- 240ml sunflower oil
- 150ml water
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- Zest of 1 orange
- 375g self raising flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
For the praline
- 50g pecans
- 150g caster sugar
For the frosting
- 250g butter, softened
- 500g icing sugar, sifted
- 2 – 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 x 18cm cake tins, greased and base lined
Method:
- Preheat your oven on a fan setting at 160°C. For the cake, in a large mixing bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, sugars, sunflower oil, water, eggs and orange zest. Mix well until incorporated together. In another bowl, sift together the flour, salt and spices.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold in until just combined.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the three cake tins. Place the tins on the oven baking tray and put in the pre-heated oven. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Turn out of the cake tins and leave on wire racks to cool completely.
- To make the praline, place the pecans on a baking tray and toast in the oven on a fan setting at 170°C for 5 – 6 minutes. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, place the caster sugar in an even layer across the base of a clean frying pan. Using a medium high heat, allow the sugar to melt and caramelise to become a rich golden colour.
- Reserve five to seven nicely shaped pecans, then place the rest on non-stick paper on a baking tray. When the sugar has caramelised, very carefully pour the caramel over the pecans but reserve a little of the caramel in the pan. Allow this to cool slightly, insert a cocktail stick into each of the five reserved pecans. Using the cocktail stick as a handle, dip the pecans one by one into the cooling caramel. Sellotape the cocktail sticks to the edge of a works surface, allowing the caramel to run off the pecans to make sugar spikes. Leave to cool completely.
- Return to the cooled, set pecan praline and break it up into pieces. Place in a food processor and blitz to a rough powder. Set aside.
- To make the frosting, place the softened butter in a large mixing bowl and add in the icing sugar, maple syrup and ground cinnamon. Mix together with an electric hand whisk to make a very light and fluffy frosting – this will take seven to eight minutes of continual whisking depending on the softness of the butter.
- To assemble, place one of the cakes on a plate or cake stand and spread just over a quarter of the frosting over the surface. Place the second cake on top and spread with another quarter of frosting. Finish with the final cake and cover the top with a more generous amount of frosting leaving some frosting to cover the sides. Roughly spread the remaining frosting around the sides of the cake. Run a palette knife under hot water, then use the warmed knife to thinly and evenly spread the frosting round the sides of the cake to create a naked finish.
- Sprinkle a rim of powdered praline around the top of the cake. Carefully remove the pecan spikes from their cocktail sticks and arrange upright on the centre of the cake. Slice to serve. The cake will keep in an airtight container for three to four days.
Morphy Richards’ spicy pumpkin and carrot soup
Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 carrots finely chopped
- 1 medium pumpkin chopped
- 2 tsp mild curry powder
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 2 tsp fresh grated ginger
- Pinch of grated nutmeg
- 700ml vegetable stock
Method:
- Add the chopped onion, carrots, pumpkin, curry powder, cumin, coriander, ginger and nutmeg in your soup maker.
- Then add the vegetable stock.
- Place the lid on the jug.
- Using the ‘Mode’ button, select the ‘smooth’ setting.
- The Soup Maker will beep to indicate when the soup is ready.
Easy pumpkin pie recipe from AO.com
Ingredients:
For pie dough
- 350g Plain Flour
- 1 Egg + 1 Yolk
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 185g Unsalted Butter, cubed
For filling
- 2 small pumpkins
- 1 cup of evaporated milk
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs whisked
- 1 tsp. cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Toppings
- Maple tossed pumpkin seeds
- Whipped cream
Method:
For the pie pastry…
- Add the flour, salt and butter cubes to a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse about 12 times.
- Add the egg and yolk and pulse again 5 times until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Be careful not to allow dough to form in the machine.
- Remove the mixture from the mixing bowl onto cling film and form a dough by hand. Finish the dough by wrapping it in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes minimum.
- Gently dust flour on the surface and roll the dough out to a 1/4 inch thickness on a 27cm disc. Transfer the rolled dough into the pie pan, trim the edges and flute them as desired. Freeze the case for 20 minutes.
- Crunch the parchment paper and place it on the prepared pastry case. Fill with lentils of your choice and bake for 30 minutes.
- Cool on the rack.
For the filling…
- Halve the pumpkin and scoop out the pulp and seeds from the centre. Save the pumpkin seeds for roasting later on. Cut rough pumpkin wedges on a baking sheet and roast at 190C for 30-40 minutes or until tender. Allow the pumpkin to cool down and peel the skin off.
- Measure out the pumpkin flesh to 425g and puree in a food processor.
- Add rest of the ingredients and puree until smooth.
- Return the pastry case to the baking sheet and pour in the filling. Bake on the lower rack of the oven for 45-50 minutes. Cool on the rack for at least 1 hour.
- Top up the pumpkin pie with maple toasted pumpkin seeds and serve with whipped cream.
Which of these delicious recipes will you try? Comment below…
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Featured image: iStock/ bhofack2
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