Homemade Pumpkin Puree

 

 

An over achiever…that’s what I was this year. I may have went a little overboard with pumpkins before Halloween. You see, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we’re finally in a house, a nice house that I can decorate and well…I am decorating! haha.

So before Halloween, I bought two pumpkin for us to carve for the front porch. Then I bought two pumpkins when I went to the Pumpkin Patch with my dog-daughter’s class and then I bought more pumpkins to decorate the front porch and the living room. We did carve our two Jack-O-Lanterns but I just set the other pumpkins around  the house and on the porch.

 

Halloween came and left and we tossed our pitiful Jack-O-Lanterns into the trash and I left the other pumpkins out for “Fall Decorations”. After all, they hadn’t been cut and looked the same as they did the day I bought them.

 

But what to do with these pumpkins? I kind of felt bad about just leaving them for decorations. After all Pumpkin = Food. Would you let a bunch of apples just sit on the porch and rot? Probably not. (well you might, I don’t know)

So I hauled one of the huge “Jack-O-Lantern” style pumpkins into the kitchen on evening and set it up on a date with my oven. 😉 I’ve heard time and time again that you just “can’t make pumpkin pies or pumpkin bread from “Jack-O-Lantern” style pumpkins” but I say it’s all LIES! I never buy “pie pumpkins” and always make my pumpkin puree and pumpkin pies from “Jack-O-Lantern” style pumpkins!

I first started making my own pumpkin puree a few years ago when I was again being an over achiever and wanted to make my own pumpkin pie from scratch. haha. It’s not that hard to make and 1 large “Jack-O-Lantern” style pumpkin normally gives me about 7-8 cups of Pumpkin Puree. (Which makes about 6 or so pumpkin pies haha) Freeze it if you’re not going to use it all at once!

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

 

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Yield: 1 LARGE PUMPKIN NORMALLY MAKES 7-8 CUPS OF PUREE

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

Want to make some homemade Pumpkin Desserts? Turn those un-carved pumpkins into homemade pumpkin puree! Perfect for Pumpkin Pies, Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Cookies and more!  

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Ingredients

• 1 large Jack-O-Lantern style pumpkin
• 3/4 cup water

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Cut the top off of the pumpkin. Slice the pumpkin into large wedges. Using a sharp knife, carefully slice off a thin layer from each pumpkin wedge to remove the seeds.

Put the pumpkin wedges into a large oven safe dish (I split mine into two large oven safe dishes)

Pour in the water, cover and bake at 350F for 2 hours.

Remove from oven. Carefully remove lids and watch for steam!

Pumpkins should be fork tender.

Carefully remove from dishes and lay on a flat surface. Let cool for 1-2 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

Use a spoon to scrape the pumpkin "meat" from the skin.

Put the pumpkin into a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

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