Written by Caisi Calandra
Tis the season — to carve pumpkins! I think it’s safe to say we all have that fond memory of carving pumpkins as a child, and, when we stuck our hands into them to get that goop out, we’d all squeal and squish it between our fingers. Very satisfying, but oh-so disgusting.
Every year, the pumpkin goop became nothing more than an obstacle when carving, but there’s a lot of cool ways you can use pumpkin goop and pumpkin seeds in recipes. It’s a cool way to eliminate waste, if you’re concerned about that sort of thing, and they’re wicked festive.
Good luck with baking! (Also — thanks go to my nana for sending me these. Thanks Nana!)
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- pumpkin seeds from 1 pumpkin
- 3 Tbsp. butter
- ¼ tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Clean seeds in a bowl of warm water, removing the pumpkin ‘strings’ as much as possible. Spread on a dry towel. Cover with a 2nd dry towel and press the seeds until they are dry. Toss in a bowl with butter and salt. Spread on a cookie sheet (with sides). Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown.
Pumpkin Muffins
Servings: 12
- 1 ½ cups (212g) of all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¾ tsp. salt
- 1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp. ground ginger
- 1 ¼ cups (255g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (120ml) vegetable oil
- 1 cup (244g) canned pumpkin (244g of fresh pumpkin goop)
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup apple juice or water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tins with Pam.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
In a separate mixing bowl whisk together sugar, oil, pumpkin, eggs, and apple juice until blended well.
Pour pumpkin mixture into flour mixture and fold with a rubber spatula just until combined.
Fill prepared muffin cups evenly, filling each nearly full.
Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 – 25 minutes.
Let cool in muffin pan several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
