‘Tis The Season for All Things Pumpkin
Written by GRP Skier Michaela Keller-Miller
Winter brings snow and hot chocolate, and fall brings changing leaves and PSLs (aka pumpkin spice lattes, for those not up on the latest fall lingo). And not just PSLs, but all things pumpkin. Personally, I’ve been going a bit overboard on the pumpkin this fall. Maybe it’s because this is my first fall in the Northeast Kingdom or maybe it’s because the GRP has been growing some next-level pumpkins. No matter the reason, I’ve been learning that it’s hard to go wrong with pumpkin in the fall. Some of my personal favorites so far include pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin oatmeal, and PSLs.
Before I get into any recipes, I want to give a quick tutorial on making your own pumpkin puree. A few weeks ago, I put canned pumpkin puree on our grocery list, but Caitlin promptly crossed it off and mentioned that we already had pumpkins in our garden. She claimed that all I had to do was roast the pumpkins, scrape out the flesh, and turn that into puree. Easy enough! So, I tried my hand at DIY pumpkin puree, which was just as easy as Caitlin had promised.
Pumpkin Puree
Ingredients: pumpkins (yep, that’s all)
Note: Look for pumpkin pie varieties or smaller pumpkins, rather than jack-o-lantern pumpkins.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut pumpkins in half, vertically from top to bottom. Next, scrape out all the seeds and stringy flesh in the middle of the pumpkin. (Compost these pumpkin guts or save the seeds for roasting later!)
Place pumpkins on sheet pan and roast until flesh is soft, about 45 minutes.
Once pumpkins have cooled slightly, scrape the flesh off the skin with a spoon and place in food processor. Process until smooth. All done!
Now that everyone’s up to speed on how to make their own pumpkin puree, it’s time to go through a full day of pumpkin. Picture this, you wake up to yet another incredible fall day; the sky is blue, the air is crisp, the leaves are red. The only thing that could make this fall day better would be the consumption of too much pumpkin, starting with pumpkin oats and a PSL.
Pumpkin Spice Latte
Ingredients (makes 2-3 lattes):
2 cups milk (almond, soy, cow’s, etc.)
2 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
½ tsp cinnamon
Dash of ground cloves
1/8 tsp dried ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1-1 ½ cups hot coffee
Directions:
Add milk, pumpkin puree, and maple syrup to a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat until hot, but do not boil. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla. Strain through mesh strainer to remove any pumpkin chunks. Whisk in the spices. Divide the milk mixture between two to three mugs. Fill the remaining space in each mug with hot coffee. Drink and enjoy!
Note: For a stronger coffee flavor, split milk mixture between three mugs. If you prefer more of the milk/spice mixture, you can choose to split between two mugs instead.
Pumpkin Oatmeal
Ingredients (makes 1 serving):
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup water
¼ cup milk (almond, soy, cow’s, etc.)
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
Dash salt
½ tsp cinnamon
Dash dried powdered ginger
Dash ground cloves
Dash nutmeg
Toppings: chopped pecans, pumpkin seeds, slivered almonds, sliced bananas, maple syrup, dried cranberries, diced apples, flaked coconut, milk
Directions:
Place oats, water, milk, salt, spices, and pumpkin puree into a cereal bowl. Stir to combine. Microwave on high for 1 minute and 30 seconds, or until liquid is mostly gone. Stir oats again, with a splash of milk if desired. Top with nuts and fruit; topping suggestions included under ingredients above!
Note: These would probably be excellent with stove-top steel cut oats, but for the sake of efficiency I usually microwave rolled oats.
Fresh out of the microwave!
Final Product
I promise that a warm PSL and oats will be enough to fuel you through the morning, whether that be at the office or on the trails. If you’re looking for the full pumpkin experience, then I’d recommend giving a pumpkin smoothie and pumpkin muffins a go. Although pumpkin muffins are already a tried and true classic, pumpkin smoothies may be the next big thing. You heard it here first. But seriously, they’re creamy and packed with flavor and I’m not sure why more people don’t drink them. Try one and thank me later.
Pumpkin Smoothie
Ingredients (makes 1 serving):
1 frozen banana, sliced
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
½ cup milk (almond, soy, cow’s, etc.)
½ tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Dash of cloves
1/8 tsp dried ginger
Optional: maple syrup, to taste (~1 Tbsp)
Optional: Small splash of vanilla extract
Directions:
Place all ingredients in blender and blend on high speed until smooth. Feel free to add more or less pumpkin puree and yogurt, as desired. If smoothie consistency is too thick or you are having trouble blending, add more milk.
Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients (makes 14-15 muffins):
1 cup packed brown sugar*
1/3 cup olive oil
15 oz pumpkin puree (1 can)
2 large eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour**
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
Cinnamon-sugar
Optional: pepitas or granola, to top
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pans.
Combine flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Beat together sugar and oil until blended. Add pumpkin and eggs; beat well. Gradually stir in flour and spice mixture. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Sprinkle each muffin with cinnamon-sugar mixture and pepitas/granola. Press pepitas/granola lightly into batter.
Bake for 20-21 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the muffin center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Wap! Enjoy!
*Can substitute some of the brown sugar with maple syrup. Instead, use ½ cup maple syrup and 1/3 cup brown sugar.
**Can substitute some of the flour with rolled oats. Use ¾ cup flour and 1/3 cup rolled oats.
Note: These pumpkin muffins are not quite like your typical coffee shop pumpkin spice bread. Instead, they’re a lot moister which makes them less bread-y. I think this allows the pumpkin to truly be the star of these muffins. Personal opinion though, so again, try them out and comment your thoughts :)
Thanks for following along with this blast of pumpkin recipes! I hope you learned some new ways to use pumpkin puree and that you can now take your fall game to the next level. Happy pumpkin baking… ‘tis the season!