Do yourself a favor and pick up a small baking pumpkin to make your own homemade pumpkin puree and honey roasted pumpkin seeds. It’s the best pie you’ll every bake!
Homemade Pumpkin Puree and Sweet Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Are you already thinking about your Thanksgiving dinner plans? I know what we are doing. We’ve got our plans and I just received my requested contribution from my Mother-in-Law. I am to bring this Pumpkin Pie made with homemade pumpkin puree, lard based crust, and topped with a sweetened mascarpone whipped cream and sweet roasted pumpkin seed toffee! That’s a mouthful.
It’s a good thing that my little five pound pumpkin made enough filling for me to make a second pie.
Making a pumpkin pie from scratch has been in my bucket list for some time. For a long time, roasting a pumpkin seemed like such a huge undertaking to me. I don’t know why I was so overwhelmed at the idea of cutting a pumpkin in half and cooking it for an hour.
How much easier can you get?
While I was in the thought process of “designing” my pie, the seeds never factored into it.
It wasn’t until I was scooping them out that decided to keep them instead of discarding them. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them at the time, but thank goodness for google searches. You don’t have to just have salty roasted seeds.
Honey, brown sugar and cinnamon sweeten up these babies to make more of a candy snack.
Get yourself a small-ish pumpkin. They are still around.
Take the time to roast your pumpkin. It really is the easiest and makes the tastiest pie filling. Don’t believe me? There are many, many other bloggers out there that agree. Also, do you really know what’s in your can of pumpkin puree?
At least this way you know that you really do have 100% real pumpkin.
This recipe is part one of a three part series including a Basic Pumpkin Pie and Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie.
Pumpkin Puree and Sweet Baked Seeds
Roasting a Pumpkin is easy. Why buy canned pumpkin that's filled with squash?
Ingredients
- 1 3 - 5 pound Sugar Pumpkin
- 1/4 C sugar
- 1/4 C brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp honey
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Cut the pumpkin in half and remove all the seeds and fibers. Save the seeds, discard the fibers.
For the Pumpkin Puree
- Place the pumpkin halves cut side down on a cookie sheet and roast for 45 minutes - 1 hour. The skin should darken and pierce easily with a fork.
- Let them cool for 30 minutes, then scoop out the inside. Place it into a food processor and mix until smooth.
- Place two pieces of cheesecloth (or paper towels) perpendicular to each other inside a fine mesh colander and strain off the excess moisture. Place the colander over a larger bowl and refrigerate overnight for all of the water to drain off.
- Your pumpkin puree is ready to be stored in jars or used in your favorite pumpkin recipe.
For the Pumpkin Seeds
- Wash off the seeds and dry them as best as possible.
- Place the sugars and cinnamon into a gallon bag and add in the seeds. Toss to coat then add the honey and rub around.
- Place the pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet coated with non-stick spray and cook for 1 hour.
- Once done, the seeds may still be sticky. Crack open the oven door leaving them inside for another hour to dry.
- Transfer to an airtight container until ready to eat.
Images, text and all other content Copyrighted©Karyn Granrud, Susanne Queck and Wunderlander Verlag LLC, or ©Pro Stock Media via Canva.com. Unlicensed republishing permitted. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn on qualified purchases.
This has been on my bucket list of ‘real food’ pies to try for years also! Thanks for making it sound so easy! Now to go find the perfect pumpkin:-)
Just do it!! You won’t regret it.