Fresh Pumpkin

So, yesterday I made some VERY yummy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies! I got the recipe from my friend Kate’s blog!!! SOOO yummy! Here’s the recipe again:

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS
Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts(optional)
Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.
**Making mine with fresh pumpkin, they were more soft and cake like – might of had too much pumpkin – yet so yummy!

 

Yesterday, I used the last of the fresh pumpkin I had made from last year and froze it. I was actually really surprised that after being the freezer for a whole year, how wonderfully delicious and very pumpkin-y it still tasted!

Have you ever bought a pumpkin that is grown for actually eating (not a carving pumpkin). I thought I’d try it last year. I asked the lady at the Pumpkin Patch what kind was good, and she set me up.

She said, once you try Fresh Pumpkin, you’ll never use Canned Pumpkin again. I have to agree!

This year, I tried a different variety than last year, to see if one was better than the other – I am not sure I really will be able to tell the difference, but we’ll see.

This year’s cooking pumpkin looked like a Giant Pickle (said Araya) but it was light orange, slightly pinkish. Note: Cooking pumpkins arn’t always in a traditional “pumpkin” shape – It’s okay! And makes it easier to cook it.

How to cook Fresh Cooking Pumpkin:

Cut the pumpkin into big chunks, either just in half, or in quarters.

Scoop out the seeds and ‘guts’. Then place in a baking dish. Add about an inch or so of water. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes. You should be able to pierce with a fork very easily.
In the photo above I needed extra space so put two pieces in a ceramic baking dish, and those pieces took about 20 – 30 mins longer to bake than in the glass dishes.

Once it is cooled enough to handle (it will still be hot, but you’re not going to be burning your fingers.) Use a spoon to scoop the ‘meat’ out of the pumpkin, away from the skin.

 

Just put it in the food processor and blend until smooth.

 

Then I get freezer bags, either the kind you suck out the air, or just normal freezer bags. Weigh it on a scale. Put 15 oz in each freezer bag, so it matches the amount of a can of pumpkin, so it will work for your recipes. 
 

Simple huh? =o) And from experience, it lasts at least a year in the freezer!

Also, and this is the kicker… The Pumpkin I bought cost me $3, and made 8 ‘can-sizes’ of pumpkin! With this years’
 ‘can pumpkin’ shortage from last year’s poor crops, I am set and saved a pretty penny when Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around, and I want to make Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Muffins, Bread, Pumpkin Rolls and of course more Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!