We have been watching pumpkins pile up at farmers markets and brightening front porches. Now it’s time to cook with them.
Don’t try to cook your jack-o-lantern pumpkin, although technically they are fully edible. Reach instead for a cheese pumpkin or the various other winter squashes available this time of year.
The round, orange pumpkins used for decorations are stringy and tasteless. They have been bred for their bright color and suitability for carving. If you pick up a cheese pumpkin from a local grower, it will make a suitable decoration for your front porch (don’t carve it – it will rot sooner) and you can follow up by roasting and pureeing it for use in a variety of recipes.
Few foods boast deeper American roots than the pumpkin, a type of squash native to North America and domesticated in Central America almost 10,000 years ago. Americans have been baking them into pies since at least the 16th century, making pumpkin pie one of the best-loved desserts in U.S. history.
But pumpkins are good for so much more than pie. They make great soup, sweet bread, cakes, cookies, brownies and cheesecake. And don’t forget pumpkin lattes.
Low in calories and high in fiber, pumpkin is rich in vitamin A, lutein, and zeaxanthin, all of which are essential to eye health and help maintain vision. Packed with vitamin C and beta-carotene, loaded with antioxidants and nutrients, pumpkins rank as a superfood.
This recipe from sallysbakingaddiction.com is a great way to use pumpkin, which tastes great when combined with chocolate.
My Best Pumpkin Bread
1¾ cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¾ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
1 ½ cups pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
1/2 cup vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil
1/4 cup orange juice
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lowering the oven rack prevents the top of your bread from browning too much, too soon. Grease a metal 9×5-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and salt together until combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin, oil, and orange juice. Pour these wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix together using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon. There will be a few lumps. Do not over-mix. Gently fold in the chocolate chips, if including.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes, making sure to loosely cover the bread with aluminum foil halfway through to prevent the top from getting too brown. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean with only a few small moist crumbs. This may be before or after 60–65 minutes depending on your oven, so begin checking every 5 minutes around the 55-minute mark.
4. Allow the bread to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before removing and slicing.
5. Cover and store leftover pumpkin bread at room temperature for up to 3 to 4 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
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