Introduction: Hom-made Pumpkin Puree & a Recipe Using It!

About: I am Sophie & have a foodblog: Sophie's Foodie Files! I cook mostly tasty healthy & colorful dishes with Sophie's twist! I also cook a lot of vegan dishes! I also bake & eat sometimes gluten-fre…

Hello everyone,

You all know that we grew 3 different types of pumpkins last year, yes? We grew 3 big Musque de Provence pumpkins (Cucurbita Moschata) & the tiniest one, was 5,2 kg! One of the bigger one’s we cut up open yesterday. This one was: 7,8 kg! That is right! We picked it from the plant on October the 10th before the frost so it was exactly, just over 3 months old! This is how it looked now, see 1st picture above!

You really can’t find eas sugar pumpkins in our tiny country so I use home-grown pumpkins to make my purées. I also do it another way like most of you. This is how I do it:

Recipe: For 2250 ml of Vitamix roasted pumpkin purée
Ingredients:

about 1/2 Musque de Provence pumpkin = I used 2910 gr pure pumpkin flesh (no skin, no seeds, no threads & no mushy interior)

Step 1: Method: Roast Your Peeled Pumpkin Pieces & Blend It Into Your Vitamix!

Preheat your oven to 200°C ( 400 F ) for 10 minutes. I cut the pumpkin open into large wedges, scooped the seeds & threads out with help of a spoon,…it is easy this way. Then, I removed the skin with a knife. The skin has ribs & so you must cut out carefully all the flesh from the pumpkin. Cut away the hard stuff on the outside where the skin was. You won’t need that. I cut my pumpkin flesh into wedges, pieces, about 1 cm-1.5 cm thick. This way, it only needs 15 minutes of roasting into the hot preheated oven.I placed my pumpkin pieces all in 1 layer into 2 non-stick oven roasting tins. Place into the hot oven & roast for about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the pumpkin slices. Check after 15 minutes with a fork. It should be tender.Place the roasted pumpkin pieces all into your Vitamix & place fitted lid & tamper in. Blend onto high-speed & push ingredients using the tamper ingot he running blades. It took me only 10 seconds.

Pour into a container with fitted lid & place into the freezer or into the fridge for later use. When I freeze the purée,..I freeze it how I like to use it , like 1/2 cup, 2 cups, 1 + 1/2 cup, etc! It is easy this way! I repeated the process all over again. So, I ended up with Vitamixed home-made roasted pumpkin purée. I got out of it: 2250 ml!

So, it is THAT EASY!! And it is also so rewarding.This pumpkin purée is the best, I believe! :) And now a lovely recipe using it: This is what I created: A delicious Chocolate Pumpkin Pudding! This lovely dessert is also vegan & gluten-free & so easy to make.

Step 2: A Recipe Using It: Chocolate Spiced Pumpkin Puddings!

Recipe: For 2 lovely puddings

Ingredients:

1 cup + 1/2 cup (378 gr) home-made pumpkin purée

100 gr vegan dark chocolate at least 72% or darker, if you prefer

4 pitted soft dates

1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice ( koekkruiden in Dutch)

Step 3: Melt Chocolate Au-bain-marie

Break chocolate into smaller pieces. Put them into a metallic bowl that you place on top of a small cooking pot filled with a bottom of boiling water. Turn heat up on low. Let the chocolate melt completely. The hot water mustn’t touch the metallic bowl. This is called au-bain-marie. This will take a few minutes on low fire. Turn heat off.

Step 4: Blend Into Your Vitamix & Enjoy! :)

Grab your Vitamix container & add pumpkin purée, mixed spice, 4 soft dates & pour your melted chocolate to this. Scrape everything of the last melted chocolate out of the bowl & into your Vitamix container. Place fitted lid & tamper on. Turn on high-speed until it is fully mixed. This will take about 10 seconds. Turn machine off & scrape the sides down & remix onto high-speed, pushing ingredients into the running blades while using your tamper. Then, pour into 2 lovely dessert cups So, the flavors are just best as you just made it. Don't put it in the fridge otherwise you will end up with a mousse & with a strong flavor of the mixed spice & you don't want that!!! xxx You can really taste the yummy chocolate, the mixed spice & pumpkin! Yummmm! Enjoy, sweeties! xxx

You can also find this lovely recipe here on my blog: http://sophiesfoodiefiles.wordpress.com/2016/01/18/home-made-pumpkin-puree-a-recipe-using-it/