Fall is a season that I’ve come to appreciate much more since joining a Community Sponsored Agriculture program. In the past I’ve avoided pumpkin pies and other baked pumpkin sorts of things. It was just sort of bland and unappealing to me.
Then 2 years ago I ended up with mounds of butternut squash on my kitchen counters, and I didn’t have a clue what to do with it. I didn’t want to roast it and eat it with a meal, because I don’t like mixing “sweet” with “real” food, and it’s far too sweet for my tastebuds.
Out of desperation I sliced one open, cleaned it of the seeds, and roasted it. Then I stared at it for a while and it occured to me that what it really looked like (and tasted like) was pumpkin. So I started to bake pies, muffins, and breads using the roasted squash and became a fan.
Since that time, I’ve heard rumors that canned pumpkin isn’t really pumpkin in many cases. Rumor has it that most canned pumpkin is really butternut squash.
Still, in my opinion, the difference not only lies in the type of squash, but more importantly in the deep, fresh-roasted flavor of the non-canned alternative.
I have a love/hate relationship with baking with pumpkins. I love the flavors, but I hate the fact that I am the only one in the house who will even consider eating the stuff. So that means that there’s lots of baked goods sitting around that I need to eat before it goes bad, and that isn’t very good for someone who is trying to pay attention to caloric intake.
So today I tried to make some low-fat pumpkin cookies. I formed one batch into scone-type mounds, and the other batch into cookie shaped flatter circles. Then I promptly defeated the low-fat, lower calorie recipe by adding a spiced icing at the spur of the moment.
These cookies are actually much better as scones or muffins, as it turns out. They don’t get crispy enough for a cookie, but the texture is just about right for a muffin or a softer scone.
Cookies:
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup roasted fresh butternut squash (mashed)
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- – vegetable cooking spray
1 Heat the oven to 350
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh how it’s great to hear I’m not the only one that find it difficult to use pumpkin/butternut squash/whatever they are! The taste is just somewhere in between savoury and sweet for me – definetly love/hate! Haven’t actually tried doing anything sweet with them yet, but I might just give these a go!
Oooh, this sounds like a winner! SpiritMan whips up pumpkins bars every now and then, but I think I would prefer scones. We’ll have to give this a try.