Pumpkin Purée

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Before we get into the complicated and delicious world of cream cheese pumpkin cupcakes (I know, I'm such a tease -- but I promise it's worth the wait!), we ought to start at the beginning, right?



When you read, you begin with A-B-C (when you sing, you begin with Do Re Mi - hello, Sound of Music!), and when it comes to the pumpkin arena, you begin with the mastery of pumpkin puree. There are three ways to do this -- all of which I tried over the weekend. In the end, I got extremely frustrated by the slow pace of the oven cooking method (Can a girl get some immediate results, puh-lease?), then overheated the oven (guess things can't be that immediate!), and ended up quite pleased with what was (of course) my third attempt: stove-top cooking.

Not too fast. Not too slow. Juuuust right. Okay, so now we've hit Sound of Music and Goldilocks. What on earth is going on here...










I've included all three methods for those of you who have functional microwaves and attention spans.

Stovetop Pumpkin Puree

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15-25 min
Total time: 30-40 min
Ingredients:

• 1 Pumpkin

Cooking Directions:

1. Rinse pumpkin
2. Using a serrated knife, cut the pumpkin in half
3. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop out strings and seeds
4. Cut pumpkin into 6-10 pieces, small enough to fit numerous pieces into a steaming basket.
5. Place in steamer on stovetop. Add water and steam for 15-25 minutes, checking regularly to replace water. Pumpkin is cooked when a toothpick easily pierces its skin.
6. Let cool, then peel or cut skin off and discard. Keep remaining pumpkin "meat."
7. Using a handheld blender, standing blender, or food processor, purée pumpkin meat.

Oven Pumpkin Puree

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 60-90 min
Total time: 75-105 min
Ingredients:

• 1 Pumpkin

Cooking Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Rinse pumpkin
3. Using a serrated knife, cut the pumpkin in half
4. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop out strings and seeds
5. Place skin-up on cookie sheet and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 60-90 minutes, or until skin is easily pierced by a toothpick.
6. Let cool, then peel or cut skin off and discard. Keep remaining pumpkin "meat."
7. Using a handheld blender, standing blender, or food processor, puree pumpkin meat.

Microwave Pumpkin Puree

Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 7-10 min per pound
Total time: Varies
Ingredients:

• 1 Pumpkin

Cooking Directions:

1. Rinse pumpkin
2. Using a serrated knife, cut the pumpkin in half
3. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop out strings and seeds
4. Place into microwave safe casserole dish and microwave on high for 7-10 minutes per pound. Check consistency. Pumpkin is cooked when a toothpick easily pierces the skin.
5. Let cool, then peel or cut skin off and discard. Keep remaining pumpkin "meat."
6. Using a handheld blender, standing blender, or food processor, puree pumpkin meat.