Baking with Fresh Pumpkin

This summer, we grew a small crop of sugar pumpkins so that we would have plenty for baking once fall rolled around. Here’s our basic steps for creating the pumpkin puree:

1. Saw pumpkin in half. Scoop out seeds, scrape along sides to remove as much of the stringy guts as possible.

2. Place cut sides down on aluminum foil-covered baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until the pumpkin flesh is very soft and the skins are easy to pull away from the flesh

3. Peel off the skins and compost.

4. Place pumpkin flesh in food processor and puree until smooth.

5. Store in the fridge for up to a week, or you can freeze it.  One sugar pumpkin makes approximately 3 cups of puree.

The puree works perfectly for Thanksgiving pumpkin pie - especially when coupled with the all-butter pie crust recipe from Grand Central Bakery’s cookbook.