To The Cauldron! My Fave Pumpkin Pie

Happy Halloween everyone!! I love this holiday it’s an excuse to be a kid again! You can dress up in some crazy ass costumes; eat left over sweets and carve funny looking, spooky faces into pumpkins.

Speaking of which, don’t throw away the innards! I’ve got a couple of yummy recipes for you so you don’t have to waste a morsel. The first is a deliciously sweet pumpkin pie; like lemon meringue but suitably autumnal, and the second, roasted pumpkin seeds; a very moreish, popcorn-esqe snack.

PS. I’m not exactly the best cook so don’t worry, these recipes are really quite simple. If I can do it, you definitely can!

 

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

Pumpkin, cooked and pureed (I used the insides of 3, they boil down into practically nothing)

1 ½ Jus Rol short crust pastry sheets

1 (410g) tin evaporated milk

2 eggs, beaten

175g dark brown soft sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

Double Cream/ Whipped Cream

 

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200c / Gas Mark 6.
2. Put all your bits of pumpkin (minus the seeds) in a saucepan over a medium heat. Cover with water and bring to the boil before reducing the heat, covering the pan and allowing to simmer for 30 minutes, or until soft.
3. Drain, allow it to cool, then return to the pan.
4. Using a potato masher, mash well and drain again.
5. Unroll your pastry and lay it out on greaseproof paper around your tin. (Make sure your edges are quite high as everything will rise.)
6. In a large bowl mix the pumpkin with the evaporated milk, beaten eggs, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix well with a hand blender.
7. Pour the silky liquid into the prepared pastry and bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until a knife is inserted in the centre and comes out clean.
8. Slice up and serve with either double or whipped cream. Yum!

 

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:

Pumpkin seeds

Salt

Paprika

Olive Oil

 

Method:

1. Preheat youroven to 200c / Gas Mark 6.
2. Put all your pumpkin seeds into a colander and rinse under water to and separate the seeds from everything else.
3. Boil the pumpkin seeds in salted water for 10 minutes. Its up to you if you want to use a lot of salt or just a tablespoon. Turn down to a simmer once the water has been brought to the boil.
4. Remove from the heat and drain.
5. Lay a baking sheet on your tray and cover with olive oil.
6. Spread the seeds out on the tray and toss them a bit to coat them with the oil. Add paprika here to give them extra flavour.
7. Bake until the seeds begin to brown. It can take between 5 and 20 minutes depending on the size of the seeds.
8. Remove them from the oven and let cool before digging in!