♥
Wishing you and your loved ones a joyous day of
giving thanks
for those who are near and those in our hearts.
♥
I searched far and wide (not really, they were at the second store I phoned) for
Sugar Pie Pumpkins
{ I ♥ their name! }
and found some at Planet Organic Market
I wanted to make a { real } pumpkin pie this year..
which led to a roasted pumpkin purée (as easy as roasting any other squash)
which led me to a Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie Muffin Recipe (for the fam)
which then ended up in a decadent Maple Frosted Pumpkin Sugar-Pie Cookie for volunteering.
♥
Pumpkin Purée
First things first.. the sweetest pumpkin are these cute little “Sugar Pie” Pumpkins,
although I’ve read that any old pumpkin will do..
preheat the oven to 350° F and whack off the tops
split down the middle
scoop
slice
lay in a roasting pan, up or down or sideways
don’t add a thing, just seal with foil
bake at 350° F for 35-45 minutes (mine took 45) until the flesh pierces easily
allow to cool, then slice or peel off the skin, pop into a food processor or blender
or use your immersion hand-held blender (that’s what I used) and blast away.
Several sites recommended storing them in 1 cup quantities in plastic zip-loc bags, then they can be labelled and frozen.
Simply thaw the amount you need before using.. you can drain the purée in a cheesecloth if it seems a little runny.
3 Sugar Pie Pumpkins yielded 10 1/2 cups of purée
This purée is heavenly and no comparison to the stuff in a tin.
♥
Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie Muffins
2013-03-18 18:27:07
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 pinch cloves
2 tbsp grape seed oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 cup pumpkin purée
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.
In a food processor, blend together the oil, maple syrup, eggs and pumpkin until smooth.
Stir the wet ingredients gently into the dry ingredients.
Scoop batter into silpat or paper lined muffin tins. This makes about 12 muffins.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the tops are quite browned and the center is baked. (Let them cook for this length of time, I pulled mine out early and, although the tops were browned, the centers weren’t quite cooked through.)
Adapted from Elana's Pantry
Adapted from Elana's Pantry
Just a Smidgen http://justasmidgen.com/
♥
Maple Frosted Sugar-Pie Cookies
2013-03-18 18:28:14
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin purée
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
4 tsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/4 – 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream shortening, sugar, and pumpkin together. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients. Blend only until smooth.
Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet, the batter will be quite soft. Makes about 34 cookies.
Bake for 12-15 minutes and allow cookies to cool completely. Beat frosting ingredients until smooth and frost the cooled cookies.
In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, butter over low heat, allowing the butter and sugar to melt. Whisk in the milk and stir until the mixture is runny and sugar has completely melted. Remove from heat and allow to cool somewhat.Whisk in powdered sugar until smooth. Then, working quickly before the frosting sets, spread about a teaspoon of icing over each cookie. Immediately garnish with chopped walnuts by pressing them into the top of the frosting while it is still warm.
If the icing sets and becomes less spreadable, heat gently for only about 30 seconds on the stove until the mixture becomes smooth again.
Just a Smidgen http://justasmidgen.com/
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by Barbara Bamber | justasmidgen
Looks like heaven! mmmm. I can smell them through your pictures.
These looks so seasonal and wonderful, warming and full of the good thoughts you put into them, Smidge! x
What touching words! I love the name of those pumpkins
Beautiful!
Mandy
Thank you for sharing your words of thanksgiving wisdom. They remind me to live, to love and to thank.
Thanks for sharing! These look great!
They did smell like “autumn”!
Thanks!!
Me too.. just says it all:D
Those cookies look adorable! Thanks so much for this triple-recipe post! : )
There sits a draft
On my heart
Where your head
Once lay.
Just too beautiful, I had a hard time going back to a cooking mode and pay attention to the recipe…
Thank you for another beautiful post!
So sweet! I love the cookie idea, mmm.
Happy thanksgiving to you to my friend (has it snowed there yet?) he he he! We’re getting to the single digits at night this weekend in cottage country which is where I will be. Someone else is baking the pumpkin pie otherwise I would have been all over this recipe. I’ll be backing up a storm tonight to take to my brothers…no rest for the wicked!
These look heavenly my friend, what a other gorgeous post
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Yum!
OMG – mouth is watering reading your post – loving your post – great photos – thanks for sharing! Happy Friday:)
Lovely poem – very poignant last line. Happy Thanksgiving – I am not sure exactly what day it’s on in Canada but enjoy your time with your family. xx
Can’t decide which I want to try first — they both look beautiful!
I love the look of your organic pumpkins. I wish that variety was available here. I’m always so aware of Fall in your part of the world as I start to see so many pumpkin recipes. I’ve never heard of pumpkin cookies! It all looks so beautiful as always. (I just had to google the date of your Thanksgiving and found out it’s always the 2nd Monday in October). So have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and it seems such a wonderful holiday I wish we had it here xx
Pumpkins say fall, don’t they? I love them. Your cookies look chompable. Your poem is heartbreaking.
Happy Thanksgiving! Your poem was poignant and your recipes sublime – particularly the muffins! YUM!!
Well this really has moved me to get some pumpkins. Fortunately, there is a farmer down the street…I’ve heard he’s got beauties for carving and cooking. I’m calling him tomorrow!
gorgeous, Barbara – love the photos!
Another great post. I’ve never made pumpkin puree as I always thought it was a lot of work but actually it’s not. Will have to give it a try. Thanks for the lovely recipes too
Oh, what a golden post, Barbara! I have never cooked pumpkins. Those cookies look really inviting though….
I hadn’t either.. it was so simple I wish I’d tried before. The taste is much more subtle as well:) Thanks!
I hope you give it a try:)
Thanks!
I think straight from a farmer would mean that your pumpkins would have the most flavor possible! Good luck!
I’m glad you enjoyed all of it:D Happy Thanksgiving to you!
It was a tough one to write.. but it speaks of the loss we feel at celebrations like Thanksgiving when not everyone is at the table with us as we’d wish it. Have an awesome weekend!!
I’m surprised you don’t since we share so much in common? I saw a princess pumpkin that was just like cinderella’s.. I almost bought it just because;) xx
The cookies were the show stopper for sure.. but the muffins were the healthy ones:D
Thanks.. We are celebrating it tomorrow! So I have to get cooking today:D
You’re welcome
xx
Thanks CCU
Hahaha.. laugh away, it did snow but thankfully it has melted. Even with single digits, I’d love to be in cottage country for Thanksgiving. Have a wonderful celebration!!
My mum thought they were muffins;D
It was a bit tough to combine poignant with happy.. I’m glad you liked it Sally! xx
It’s hard to get writing often enough these days.. so I figured the only solution is to combine recipes on one post. Thanks for stopping in! xx
I’m glad to have reminded you.. I’m always trying to remind myself when I’m running around baking and cooking:) xx
Thanks, Mandy! xx
This has Autumn written all over it and I thorough enjoy it!!
Have a wonderful weekend!
http://TheSquishyMonster.com
Thanks:D
Lovely Barbara. Teamed up with a little espresso, I’d happily have 2-5 of your little pumpkin cookies
Those pie pumpkins are just too adorable for words! We went to a local pumpkin farm this morning, and bought 6 of them. So, according to your calculations, I’m going to have LOTS of pumpkin puree (I plan to freeze mine). That’s a good thing, because pumpkin is the only pie all my offspring can agree on. I am REQUIRED to provide pumpkin pies for holiday meals. My daughter made pumpkin cookies last night, and I’m going to try a variation of them soon. I’ll probably look at her recipe and yours, and then cobble together something of my own. Part of the fun of cooking, isn’t it? Happy Thanksgiving!
Love pumpkins and I share the love alone in our household
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your near and dear ones Barbara! I hope your home and your heart is filled with the blessings of Thanksgiving.
That does sound good right about now!! Well.. maybe decaf;)
Awesome.. if ours are about the same size you should have twice as much as I.. perfect for freezing! I love pumpkin pie but may not get to make it this year. But there’s always next week:D I’d love to see your version.. there were several online to choose from! xx That is the best part of cooking/baking! Happy Thanksgiving to you!
You’ll just have to share it online with us:) Happy Thanksgiving to you.. love and blessings!!! xxx
You spoil us, Barb. The verse and recipes are perfect for the Thanksgiving Holiday and time of year. As you can tell, I’m a bit behind in my reading but I wish I had seen this before I went to the market this morning. I really like your idea of using roasted pumpkin for pies, muffins, and cookies. It’s a real improvement. Next week, pumpkins are on my shopping list.
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving, Barb, the memories of which you’ll all cherish for years to come.
Looks like you and yours are going to have a yummy thanksgiving. Lucky people. I won’t be making thanksgiving dinner this year but will be making the gluten free muffins on my return home.
I could just eat that roasted pumpkin!
That sugar pie pumpkins look amazing!
Fabulous – I shall enjoy punmpkin pie vicarioulsy through your blog!
What a beautiful post all around!
I’m so glad to see your technique in baking the pumpkins! You even do pumpkin baking with style, Barb!
And the recipes are lovely, too. You’ve been busy. The verse is wonderful, and i’m back to encouraging you to continue with your beautiful poetry. I wonder if you have any opportunities for public readings? I think you’re so talented! Debra
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Love the words and photographs as always. So incredibly inviting and lovely.
Lovely pensive verse. Love the simplicity of the roasted pumpkin!
Those sugar-pie cookies look positively divine… with a big mug of hot tea, they look like just the thing I need to ward off the early autumn chill!
I tip my hat to you for taking the extra time to hunt down some sugar pie pumpkins to make your own puree. I’ve been meaning to do that for a while, though I fully admit to cheating with the canned stuff in the meantime… it’s just all too convenient.
those sugar pie pumpkins look adorable!! thanks so much for the tip to make homemade pumpkin puree
i’ll be sure to try it!
[...] end of October. And then it happened…. I received an email update from Barbara Bamber from Just A Smidgen with a recipe on how to roast and puree a pumpkin. Thanks to Barbara, I got a big chunk of my [...]
I know what I will be doing this weekend
. I have three sugar pie pumpkins sitting on my counter. The cookies look really good and I think I will start with that. So true the flavor is so much better than canned. I don’t know why I keep picking up the cans! But no more now!
These look awesome!
Mmmm….looks delicious! I bet your house smelled just like Fall. And who can resist something called a “Sugar Pie Pumpkin”.
I utterly love your blog. I am about to put my adorable little pumpkins in the oven. <3
[...] need of sugar pie pumpkin recipes, I’ve got just the blog for you. My friend Smidge, from Just a Smidgen, posted several most delicious sugar pie pumpkin recipes recently, and as well, gives a lovely [...]
Beautiful poem!!
Both the muffins and the cookies sound gorgeous. Sugar pie pumpkins are wonderful! I can’t get them in the UK, but I remember them from when I lived in Canada.
[...] around Just a Smidgen the other day and saw her lovely way of roasting pumpkins and I knew I had to try [...]
[...] was just too tempting to resist! And why would I anyway? I had wonderful little frozen packets of roasted sugar pie pumpkin at my fingertips.. all I needed was some time and a bottle of white wine.. oh, and to be sure.. a [...]
I have never roasted a pumpkin for pumpkin puree. Have been scared of it. But you had me at “it’s as easy as roasting any squash”! Now, I am inspired. And 10 1/2 cups of puree from 3 pumpking? I am sold. All of these dishes look amazing and Iove how you shared various ways to use the puree!