HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN TREATS
It’s that time of year again, when we get terribly enthusiastic about Pumpkin carving (lets face it, its a competition against our friends and family to have the best scary pumpkin face!). Now be honest, how many of you throw away the full fleshy contents of your pumpkin? Yes? I thought so! Well not this year – to encourage a little less waste we have two delicious pumpkin recipes to tickle your tastebuds; one sweet, one savoury, there is something to suit everyone, so no excuses! We hope you enjoy, so lets get cooking…
Pumpkin Cupcakes – Courtesy of The Hummingbird Bakery
What you’ll need:
120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus a little extra to decorate
A pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120ml whole milk
2 eggs
200g pumpkin puree
A 12 cup cupcake pan lined with paper cases
Cream Cheese Frosting:
300g icing sugar sifted
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g cream cheese, cold
Preheat the oven to 170°C, Gas 3
Put the flour sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use an electric hand whisk) and beat on slow until you get a sandy consistentcy and eveyrthing is combined. Gradually pour in the milk and beat until well mixed.
Add the eggs to the mix and beat well (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Separate the fleshy pumpkin from the seeds and blend with an electric mixer or electric hand whisk, until the consistency is smooth and pureed. Stir in the pumpkin puree to the mixture by hand until evenly dispersed.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden and the cake bounces back when touched. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto the wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting:
Beat the icing sugar and butter in a freestanding electric mixer of use a handheld electric whisk, on a medium-slow speed, until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer upto medium-high speed. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.
When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the cream cheese frosting on top and finish with a light sprinkling of cinnamon.
Pumpkin Soup with Toasted Sweetcorn – A Delia Smith recipe
What you’ll need:
700g pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and chopped into 1 inch dice
570g sweetcorn (off the cob weight), can be tinned
25g butter
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
275ml whole milk
725ml made up Marigold Swiss Bouillon stock
1 teaspoon melted butter, for the sweetcorn
Salt and freshly milled black pepper
You will also need a lidded saucepan with a capacity of 1.75 litres
Begin by melting the butter in the saucepan, then add the onion and soften it for about 8 minutes. After that add the chopped pumpkin, along with half the sweetcorn, then give everything a good stir and season with salt and pepper.
Put the lid on and, keeping the heat low, allow the vegetables to sweat gently and release their juices – this should take about 10 minutes. Next, pour in the milk and stock and simmer gently for about 20 minutes. Put the lid on for this but leave a little gap (so it’s not quite on) because, with the presence of the milk, it could boil over. Keep a close eye on it anyway.
While that’s happening, pre-heat the grill to its highest setting for 10 minutes. Mix the rest of the sweetcorn with the melted butter, spread it out on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper and pop it under the hot grill about 3 inches (7.5 cm) from the heat – it will take about 8 minutes to become nicely toasted and golden, but remember to move the sweetcorn around on the baking tray halfway through.
When the soup is ready, pour it into a food processor or blender and blend it to a purée, leaving a little bit of texture – it doesn’t need to be absolutely smooth. You will probably need to do this in 2 batches.
Serve the soup in warm bowls with the toasted sweetcorn sprinkled over.
The Chic Seeker 
2 Responses to “HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN TREATS”
DELICIOUS! I didnt bake with my pumpkin when I carved it, but I definitely will with the next one. I did bake some cupcakes a while back though, love to know what you think
http://laughteriscatching.com/2011/10/29/let-the-bake-off-begin-halloween-special/
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your weblog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again very soon!