
3 Delicious Pumpkin Recipes for Your Halloween Leftovers
Halloween is around the corner, once the candles are blown out in your jack o’lanterns, frugal minded parents may wonder what to do with all of that leftover pumpkin?
Did you know that pumpkin packs a substantial punch in terms of health benefits?
Pumpkin is high in vitamins A, C, B6, and K, has important dietary fiber, manganese, potassium, folate, tryptophan, copper, riboflavin, omega 3 fatty acids, and magnesium.
Instead of throwing out all that delicious goodness, here are 3 unique recipes that go beyond the standard roasting of the seeds.
The Best Pumpkin Banana Bread Ever
Just try it!
Ingredients
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 cup of sugar
- 3 tbsp molasses
- 2 bananas
- 1/2 a pie pumpkin
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 c sour cream or yogurt
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 1.25 cup spelt flour (or 4 cup white flour)
- 5 tsp baking powder
- 3 tsp baking soda
- 4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp salt
- ground ginger, nutmeg, allspice, mace, cloves if you like, and/or raisins, chocolate chips, nuts
Directions
- Preheat over to 360
- Roast pie pumpkin for 35 mins and mush up
- Grease 2 loaf pans.
- You’ll need 2 bowls.
Wet Bowl
- Mix butter, sugar, molasses, bananas, roasted mushed up pie pumpkin, eggs, sour cream or yogurt.
Dry Bowl
- In the other bowl mix 1 cup white flour, 1 cup buckwheat flour, 1.25 cup spelt flour, 5 tsp baking powder, 3 tsp baking soda, 4 tsp cinnamon, 2 tsp salt
- add a mix of ground ginger,nutmeg, allspice, mace, cloves if you like, and/or raisins, choc chips, nuts.
Combine wet bowl with the dry bowl and mix by hand until somewhat smooth, 3 mins.
- Pour into prepared loaf pans, and place in oven.
- Bake for 70 mins or until toothpick comes clean.
Enjoy!
For something more savoury, try your hand at these
Pumpkin Cheddar Crackers
I made these last year, and my 3 kids could not get enough of them.
It is essentially a flavoured, savoury shortbread recipe.
Ingredients
4 ingredients as a base: Flour, Butter, Cheddar Cheese and Mashed Pumpkin.
Additions could include 1 teaspoon crushed rosemary, 1 teaspoon of chilli powder, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, even a sprinkle of chia seeds would make a great addition. To make even healthier- use rye, buckwheat or spelt flour, just use less.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper
- ½ cup butter, softened, mixed well with 1 cup cooked mashed pumpkin.
- Add1 ½ cup (old) cheddar cheese.
- Add 2.5-3 cups flour
- Mix cheddar in with pumpkin butter mixture.
- Add enough flour until dough forms a cohesive ball.
- Wrap in cling film and place in fridge for 20 minutes to rest.
- Scatter flour down, and roll out to ⅛ inch to ¼ inch thickness.
- Using a pizza cutter or knife (if you want to get fancy, use a small cookie cutter!) cut to 1 inch x 1 inch squares.
- Place on cookie sheets and cook for 12- 18 mins
Pumpkin Leather
I have yet to meet a kid who doesn’t like fruit leather. It’s a great snack for parents too. This recipe satisfies any sweet tooth and also delivers some great immunity boosting goodness.
Ingredients
- 3 cups pumpkin puree
- about 1/2 cup water
- 2 tsp cinnamon (you can also use pumpkin pie spice if desired)
- about 5 tbsp sugar, honey, maple syrup works too!
- *2 tbsp shredded coconut (optional)
Directions
- Turn oven to lowest temperature setting. Mine is at 185F.
- Mix pumpkin, water, cinnamon and sugar in blender until smooth.
Taste to decide if you need more sugar. The consistency should be thick, but you should be able to pour it out and spread across silpat mat (non stick backing mat). If your mixture is too thick, add a little more water and blend again.
- Stir in shredded coconut (optional).
- Pour mixture onto silpat mat or cookie sheet lined with parchment and spread evenly across so that it’s a thin layer laying on top of the silpat sheet (a little more than 1/8 inch thick but less than 1/4 inch) lightly tap pan on counter if it doesn’t spread easily, or use an offset spatula.
- Bake for about 6 hours - or more until fruit leather is dry.
- After it cools, you can cut and roll up with sheets of parchment paper, or sprinkle with cornstarch or arrowroot and roll up.
- Wrap tightly in plastic and store in glass jar in fridge or on counter.
Enjoy and Have a Happy Halloween!!
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