The season changed for me a few days before today’s equinox, when I sliced into my first pumpkin of the year. The perfectly round and orange pie pumpkin was extra special because I grew it — my first year growing pie pumpkins.
To me, pie pumpkins are the perfect size. One roasted can make several tasty recipes. The first recipe I made with my first pumpkin was pumpkin and oatmeal cookies.
I modified the recipe for these fall flavored soft and chewy cookies slightly by cutting the sugar (so many recipes I find are sweeter than I care for). I creamed together half a cup of butter with a third cup brown sugar and a tad under a quarter cup granulated sugar. I added one egg yolk and vanilla extract.
After the butter and sugars, I added a generous third cup of fresh pumpkin puree (I was too lazy to actually puree it, so I just mushed it after roasting).
Then I mixed in previously combined one cup of flour, pumpkin spice, extra cinnamon, half a teaspoon baking soda and a pinch of salt. Finally, in went the one and a half cups of rolled oats.
The recipe called for chilling the dough, but, doing late night baking I popped these unchilled right into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. The cookies turned out tasty and definitely a recipe worth keeping — next time I might add some pecans or walnuts, and maybe try swapping some of the sugar for maple syrup.
A great way to kick off pumpkin season, cookies were by no means the seasonal high point for me. I still have several pumpkin pies to make. I won’t write up my recipe here, but let’s just say it converted some family members, who spent their lives disliking pumpkin pie, into loving the dessert.
Another seasonal staple I try to incorporate into my autumnal diet multiple times is pumpkin pasta sauce. Hear me out — I know it sounds a little strange, but it’s absolutely delicious.
First, make a white sauce by sautéing onions and garlic, stirring in a handful of flour and adding milk, then simmer until the sauce thickens.
As the sauce is cooking add grated nutmeg. Once it is thick, add several scoops of pumpkin puree (fresh, not canned, is obviously my preference). You can also season this sauce with a little sage or thyme if you like those flavors.
Add a pinch of salt, scoop it over your favorite pasta and top with a little parmesan. This recipe passed the picky eater test in my family.
While coffee corporations have used pumpkin flavor in sweet drinks, my other favorite pumpkin recipe is also savory — stuffed pumpkin. Simple cut a hole in the top and scoop out the seeds and center of a whole pumpkin, then fill it with sautéed onions, mushrooms, celery, carrots, whatever other veggies you have on hand and some bread. Cover it all in white sauce and roast in the oven until the pumpkin is soft.
For sweet or savory pumpkin dishes and treats, pumpkin spice can be key. I’ve blended my own with good results, but found that I really like the blend available at the Mountain People’s Co-op, so that is a shortcut I take regularly in my fall cooking and baking.
Although pumpkin spice flavored sweets and drinks have been exploited by commercial industries, and now conjure a stereotype (I think unfairly), there is a world of this squash beyond sugary lattes.
