Roasted Pumpkin Gratin

The perfect post-Halloween use of the little pie pumpkins I use as indoor decorations, this roasted pumpkin gratin is flavorful, super rich and cheesy. 

Every year I buy the little mini pumpkins at the supermarket, mostly for a pop of Autumn color in the house but also because we love to eat them. When left whole, the little pumpkins last for ages in a cool house but once Halloween is past, I start thinking about cooking them. 

One of our favorite recipes is luscious creamy coconut curry baked right inside scooped-out pumpkins.  Another is a Thai-inspired pumpkin stir-fry with shrimp.  

And, of course, a third is this roasted pumpkin gratin featuring a French seasonal cheese called Mont D’Or, which is made with unpasteurized cow’s milk. It is produced in the cooler months only and is shaped by circling it with spruce bark. As it ages, it becomes runny and full of flavor. We adore it. 

Roasted Pumpkin Gratin

‘Tis the season but if you can’t find a Mont d’Or cheese, substitute your favorite soft rind cheese like Brie or Camembert, preferably made with unpasteurized milk, if possible. The stronger the flavor, the better is my attitude.

Ingredients 

2 mini pumpkins, about 1 lb or 450g each, seeded and cut in wedges

Olive oil

Fine sea salt

Red pepper flakes

1 Mont d’Or, chilled – weight 8.8 oz or 250g (See note above for substitutes)

Fresh ground black pepper

Cayenne

2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas) for garnish

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and lightly oil a large iron skillet or another baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil. 

Arrange the pumpkin wedges in your prepared baking vessel. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with salt and red pepper flakes.

Roast the pumpkin wedges for 35-40 minutes or until they are fork tender. The skin on the smaller pumpkins is absolutely edible. In fact, it’s my favorite part. 

Slice the chilled cheese and cover the pumpkin with the slices. Add a few generous grinds of black pepper and a sprinkle of cayenne.

Return the pan to the oven and roast for a further 10-15 minutes. 

Take it out briefly to sprinkle on the pepitas and put it back in the oven. 

Roast for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is golden on top. If you’d like it a bit darker, you can put the oven on broil/grill for a few minutes but watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for at least five minutes before serving or that molten cheese might burn your mouth. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today our group is sharing recipes to trick or treat you for Halloween. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the links below.

• Sneha's Recipe: Keto Halloween Eggy Spiders
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pumpkin Deviled Eggs
• Food Lust People Love: Roasted Pumpkin Gratin 
• Culinary Cam: Shrunken Head Apple Tart 
• Amy's Cooking Adventures: Spaghetti & Eyeballs
• Our Good Life: Witches Brew Vodka Cocktail

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Buns

These sweet sourdough pumpkin buns are soft, fluffy and flavorful. Sweetened with brown sugar, they are the perfect bread to serve with to your Thanksgiving feast. 

I am here to tell you that my sourdough starter, John Dough, is a survivor! I abandoned him in my Houston refrigerator in May and when I got back in September, I fed him a couple of times and he is back to normal. Go, John, go! 

I had a back up plan, though. In her fabulous book, The Sourdough Whisperer, Elaine Boddy gives useful and easy to follow instructions on how to dry out a sourdough starter for foolproof transport. I tried it with Jane Dough (my Jersey, CI starter) before I headed back here to Houston but then I didn’t need to use it when John revived.

What that means though is that I have dried sourdough starter to share, if a friend happens to need some or if John Dough gets into a slump. I can highly recommend connecting with Elaine if you love baking with sourdough and/or want to get started. Her books are great for experienced bakers and beginners alike. Plus she’s a really nice person. Tell her Stacy from the delicious. group sent you!

Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Buns 

The dough for these sweet buns uses a fed sourdough starter. Your dough will rise nicely but there isn’t a pronounced sharpness from the starter. This recipe was adapted from one on Aberle Home.

Ingredients for 12 buns

1/2 cup or 113g FED sourdough starter (100% hydration)

1/4 cup or 60ml milk, lukewarm

1/2 cup or 120g canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling!)

2/3 cup or 132g dark brown sugar

1 large egg

2 3/4 cup or 344g unbleached bread flour

1/4 cup or 56g butter, softened

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Optional to finish: 2 tablespoons melted butter

Method

In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the fed starter, milk, canned pumpkin, brown sugar and egg until well combined. 

Sift in the flour and mix again until there is no dry flour showing. 

Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Mix in the butter and salt until thoroughly combined. 

Knead on medium speed (or in the bowl by hand) for an additional 8-10 minutes or until the dough becomes very smooth and elastic. You might need to scrape the bowl down a time or two at the beginning to incorporate butter that has stuck to the sides. I did. 

This is a really soft dough. Form it into a ball as best you can in the bowl, and cover. Allow to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in volume or overnight in the refrigerator. (If you do an overnight cold prove, allow time for the dough to come back to room temperature before continuing with the next steps.) 

I did a slow overnight rise for this batch of buns because I believe that the extra time also makes the dough more manageable. 

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and divide it into 12 pieces (weigh dough for uniform buns - my whole dough ball weighed 864g/12 = 72g for each bun.) 

Dampen your hands with a little water so the dough doesn’t stick to them then form the dough into a tight ball by pinching the sides to the bottom. Cup your hand around the dough ball and push it around gently to create a nice round ball. 

Repeat to shape remaining pieces of dough. 

Place the balls in a baking pan lined with baking parchment, leaving room for them to rise. Ideally, they will touch once they have risen. For these buns, I used a 9x13 in or 23x33cm pan. Cover them with cling film and leave to rise for about 45-55 minutes.

If it’s cold in your kitchen and you have a microwave, put water in a microwavable bowl and heat it to almost boiling. Set the pan of buns on top of the bowl and leave the microwave closed for the rising time. Works like a charm. 

Near the end of your rising time, preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C.

Bake the buns on the center rack for 12-15 minutes or until they are lightly golden on the edges. (The centers should read 185°F or on an instant-read thermometer when done.) Cool in the baking pan on a cooling rack. 

These are divine served warm. I like to brush them with some melted butter. You might like to as well. 

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my fellow Bread Bakers to share their recipes. Since Thanksgiving is nigh, we are sharing breads that would be excellent additions to your Thanksgiving feast. Check out the list below. Many thanks to our host Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

• Crispy Sage and Garlic Parmesan Rolls by A Messy Kitchen
• Easy Sourdough Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Keto Coconut Flour Sandwich Thins by Sneha’s Recipe
• Sourdough Cloverloaf Rolls by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sweet Sourdough Pumpkin Buns by Food Lust People Love
• Thanksgiving Stuffing Rolls by Karen’s Kitchen stories

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

These dark chocolate pumpkin cupcakes are made with special dark cocoa and canned pumpkin, then topped with buttercream frosting and pumpkin candy for a delightful seasonal treat.

Who remembers Pick-A-Mix? Back in the good old days, Brach’s candies were displayed in an open case in many stores with a big Pick-A-Mix sign. You helped yourself to a bag and filled it with your choice of candies, paying by the weight. Often these candy cases were near the front of the store, just by the lines for the cashiers. 

My grandmother was a real character and, while she had a generous heart where her grandchildren were concerned, she did not tolerate laziness or ineptitude well, even in us. If the store had long lines at the cashier and only one or two lanes open, Gram would instruct us each to choose a candy from the Pick-A-Mix. 

She considered that well-deserved compensation for a lengthy wait in line. As a child I was mortified to comply, but one did not argue with my grandmother! My favorites were the cinnamon or the butterscotch hard candies. 

Nowadays it’s a rare store that still has a Pick-A-Mix case, but one can buy those Brach’s candies in bags, some with seasonal variations like the autumn mix, the party mix and the old-fashioned holiday mix with red, white and green hard candies.

Can I confess that I’m not a huge fan of the autumn candy mix for eating? I do love them for decorating though! Nothing cheers up a cake, cookie or cupcake like a few candy corns or tiny pumpkins scattered about. Those instantly say autumn to me. Halloween is not far off AND Thanksgiving is coming just behind it! 

With that in mind, I’ve baked you some chocolate pumpkin cupcakes, topped with the little Autumn mix pumpkins I have on hand. Wouldn’t they be perfect as one of the desserts for your Halloween party or Thanksgiving table? 

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes 

This recipe makes 18 cupcakes and plenty of buttercream frosting.  Using special dark cocoa ensures maximum chocolate flavor but if you don't have it, normal cocoa can be substituted. The addition of pumpkin adds a very subtle background taste even pumpkin haters might not discern, but it gives 

these cupcakes super moisture and creates a tender crumb. 

Ingredients

For the cupcake batter – makes 18:

2 1/2 cups or 315g all-purpose flour

1/4 cup or 30g extra dark special cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups or 355g canned pumpkin – not pie filling

1 1/2 cups or 300g granulated sugar

1/2 cup or 120ml whole milk

1/4 cup or 57g butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

For the vanilla buttercream frosting - makes about 3-3/4 cups:

1 1/2 lbs or 675g confectioners’ sugar

1 cup or 226g butter, softened

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

6-8 tablespoons milk

To decorate – optional 

Ground cinnamon

Sparkly sugar

Candy pumpkins or candy corn

Shavings of chocolate candy

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your cupcakes pans by greasing them with butter or lining them with paper cupcake liners. 

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and baking soda in a large bowl. Set aside. 

Using your stand mixer or electric beaters, beat together the pumpkin, sugar, milk and butter. 

Add eggs in one by one, mixing well with each addition. 

Slowly add dry ingredients to wet as you mix. Mix until well combined. 

Spoon batter into your prepared cupcake cups.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

Let cool completely before you top them with frosting. 

To make the frosting:

In large bowl, with mixer at medium-low speed, beat confectioners’ sugar, butter, vanilla, and 6 tablespoons milk until smooth and blended. 

Increase speed to medium-high; beat until frosting is light and fluffy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in additional milk as needed for easy spreading consistency.

Use a piping bag and a large tip to decorate the cooled cupcakes with frosting. 

From high above the cupcakes, sprinkle a small pinch of cinnamon on each cupcake, along with some sparkly sugar, if desired. Top each with a tiny pumpkin or other seasonal candy.

Enjoy!  

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with pumpkin! Many thanks to our host, Renu of Renu Cooks. Check out all the pumpkin recipes below. 

• Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes from Food Lust People Love
• Pumpkin and Black Bean Quesadillas from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pumpkin Crème Brûlée from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Pumpkin Prune Quick Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Pumpkin Sweet Potato and Amaranth Patties from Cook with Renu
• Quick Pumpkin And Other Veggies Sabzi from Sneha’s Recipe

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join. 

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Spiked Pumpkin Gingerbread Bundt #BundtBakers

This spiked pumpkin gingerbread Bundt combines your favorite pumpkin cake with your favorite gingerbread, brushed with a rum butter glaze, a fabulous treat for autumn. 

This month I’m hosting our Bundt Bakers event and I chose the ingredient/theme pumpkin because as much as I object to pumpkin flavored things while it’s still summer, come October, I’m ready! 

As I mentioned many moons ago, when I shared my gingerbread muffins with honey ginger glaze (topped with crystallized ginger because why do things halfway?) gingerbread is a seasonal favorite at our house. It is the harbinger of fall, even as the air is still way too hot and the orange- and red-hued leaves are yet to make an appearance.

Spiked Pumpkin Gingerbread Bundt

This recipe is adapted from a spice cake on the NordicWare website to fit a 9-cup Bundt pan. You can certainly use a 10-cup Bundt pan also. 

Ingredients

For the batter:

2 cups or 250g flour, plus extra for the pan

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup or 200g brown sugar

1 cup or 200g sugar

1 (15 oz or 425g) can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!)

1/2 cup or 120ml molasses

3 eggs

1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for the pan

For the rum butter glaze:

1/2 cup or 113g butter

1 cup or 200g sugar

1/4 cup or 60ml dark rum

1/4 cup or 60ml water

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare your 9-cup Bundt pan by greasing it liberally with butter and then coating it with flour. In case you are curious, mine is the NordicWare pan Harvest Leaves. <affiliate link.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the sugars, pumpkin puree, molasses, butter and eggs.

Using a spatula, fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture until the mixture is nearly combined. Do not overmix!

Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan and smooth out the top. 

Bake the Bundt for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean. 

Meanwhile, make the rum butter glaze. In a small saucepan combine butter, sugar, rum and water over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 5-7 minutes stirring constantly. 

Remove from heat and cool slightly.

When the Bundt is done, remove it from the oven and leave in the pan to cool for about 5-7 minutes. Loosen the edges with a toothpick and turn the cake out onto a serving platter. 

Generously brush cake with the rum butter glaze. 

Put the rest of the glaze in a tiny pitcher so people can add more to their slices as desired. 

Enjoy! 

Check out all the other pumpkin Bundts my fellow Bundt Bakers are sharing today! 

• Buttermilk Pumpkin Bundt + a Browned Butter Glaze from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bundt from Passion Kneaded
• Pumpkin Bundt with Caramel Icing from Palatable Pastime
• Pumpkin Chai Spiced Bundt Cake from Tartacadabra
• Pumpkin Chocolate Bundt from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pumpkin Studded Bundt from Sneha's Recipe
• Sour Cream Mini Pumpkin Bundt Cakes from Making Miracles
• Spiked Pumpkin Gingerbread Bundt from Food Lust People Love
• The Perfect Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze from Patyco Candybar
• White Chocolate Pumpkin Cake with Chai and Cardamom from Sweet Sensations

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our home page.

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Coconut Curry Roast Mini Pumpkins #FoodieExtravaganza

Just a few ingredients but I promise you that these coconut curry roast mini pumpkins are going to wow your family and friends. The hardest part is cleaning the pumpkins but these are so worth the time and trouble.

I’ve been mulling over this idea for quite a while just biding my time until the little pumpkins started showing up in my local supermarket. I love cutting larger pumpkins or butternut squash in wedges, seasoning them with spices, syrups and/or balsamic and roasting them, but it seems like a lot of the toppings just drip off without soaking in. Especially from the pumpkin wedges.

So I got to thinking. What if I filled small pumpkins and baked them whole? As you’ll see from the photos, a little bit of the coconut curry sauce did boil out and over, but plenty enough was left inside to make these guys absolutely delicious!

Coconut Curry Roast Mini Pumpkins

If your mini pumpkins have tender enough skin, you can eat the whole thing! Just cut them apart with a knife and fork. If not, serve with a spoon, for scooping out the tender coconut curry flavored pumpkin and sauce inside.

Ingredients to serve 2 – easily doubled or trebled, if you’ve got a pan and oven big enough!
2 mini pumpkins, about 1 lb or 450g each
1 (13.66 oz or 400ml) can coconut cream
2-3 tablespoons red Thai curry paste
Freshly ground black pepper

Optional for serving:
fried curry leaves
slices of fresh red chili peppers

Method
Scrub your mini pumpkins clean. Dry them off and then, using a sharp knife at an angle, cut the tops off. Remove any seeds or fibers from the tops and set aside.

Use a spoon to scrape all of the seeds and fibers from the inside of the mini pumpkins, making sure to get it all out, even from up around the top. I start with a normal spoon and then use a grapefruit spoon for a final thorough scrape.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Put your clean pumpkins in a baking pan. If you need to shave a tiny bit off the bottoms so they stand upright, please do, just be careful not to make a hole.

Pour your coconut cream into a large measuring cup so you have room to whisk. Add the Thai red curry paste. We like things spicy, so I add three tablespoons. Whisk briskly until the paste is completely dissolved in the coconut cream.

Pour half of the coconut curry sauce in each pumpkin. Sprinkle in a little freshly ground black pepper.

Put the tops back on the pumpkins so they fit snugly.

Roast in your preheated oven for 45 minutes then test for doneness. If a fork doesn’t go easily into the flesh of the pumpkin, roast for another 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving. The coconut curry mini pumpkins retain the heat quite well and you don’t want to burn your mouth.

If desired, top with sliced red chili pepper and fried curry leaves.

Enjoy!

It's October so that means pumpkin recipes in honor of National Pumpkin Day on October 26th! Many thanks to our Foodie Extravaganza host this month, Lynda from Reviews, Chews & How-Tos.

• 15 Minute Ravioli with Pumpkin Cream Sauce from Faith, Hope, Love & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Apple Pumpkin Bundt Cake (Vegan) from Veggie Fun Kitchen
• Butter Roasted Pumpkin Seeds from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chicken, Pumpkin & Bean Enchiladas from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Coconut Curry Roast Mini Pumpkins from Food Lust People Love
• DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte with Almond Milk from Hardly a Goddess
• Low-Carb Pumpkin Scones from Reviews, Chews & How-Tos
• No-Bake Pumpkin Cookies from Caroline’s Cooking
• Pumpkin Saffron Rice from Palatable Pastime
• Roasted Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin) Fries from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Vegan Malaysian Red Pumpkin from Sneha’s Recipe

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays, and we all post recipes using the same ingredient. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

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