Fresh Pumpkin Puree

Making my own pumpkin puree is something that I've always wanted to do. Now I can check that off of my list because BABY I DID IT! Woo hoooo! While browsing the lovely produce section of our local QFC, I saw some lovely looking sugar pumpkins aka pie pumpkins. I said to myself 'Self, it's about time you made some fresh pumpkin puree' and after agreeing with myself I picked up 3 of the little suckers and headed on home.





I knew that it wasn't going to be a difficult task, just bake, scoop, store, get your party hat on and bask in all your puree glory. The hardest part was waiting for the pumpkins to cool, and figuring out how to store it once it was cooled, strained, and pureed. I found a great article HERE. If you have the time I highly suggest taking a look at it. It really helped me a lot! I only followed their freezing instructions. The preparation I took into my own hands.



First thing's first, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the stems off of your sugar pumpkins, as you can see I got a little carried away and cut a bit too much but that's okay. No biggie! Discard pumpkin tops/stems, cut the pumpkins into quarters, and then using an ice cream scoop or large heavy spoon scoop out pumpkin seeds and strings. You can also discard that or keep the seeds and use them in tomorrows recipe :) So stay tuned! In a large baking dish, place the pumpkins in flesh side down,and add about 3/4 C worth of water. Bake for 70-90 minutes or until skin of pumpkin is deep orange and you're able to indent it easily with the back of a wooden spoon. Remove, and let cool completely!




Once cooled, scoop the soft pumpkin into a large bowl, I like to use my 8 C Pyrex batter bowl. It sure does come in handy! Once you have done that, using your electric hand mixer, beat until the mixture is no longer lumpy and has a smooth consistency. I don't have a food processor, but this really worked well. I love the texture of my pumpkin!


Oh wee I sure am messy ;)

Once you have reached your desired texture, pour into a strainer/sieve covered large bowl and let drain for about an hour. I had a little over one cup of water in my draining bowl. You can the freeze however you like. I separated mine into one cup parts and got 5 cups out of my three pumpkins. I wasn't expecting that much, and I'm not sure why. I put mine in Ziploc freezer bags, for easier storage. That you can read at the article I linked to. I can't wait to bake with my very own home made puree. It was definitely one of those 'Why didn't I ever do this before' kinda days. I've been having those a lot lately, I like it :)




Oh pumpkin, how I love you..