Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin

As soon as Joanna put up her post for Pumpkin Scones, and at the same time Pioneer Woman had up posts about making pumpkin puree and pumpkin butter, I knew I had to try some pumpkin things here! I have never made my own pumpkin puree - I always just buy a can at the store! But I was feeling adventurous and decided to go for it.

I started by cutting up the pumpkins (I got sugar pie pumpkins) and scraping the pulp and seeds out. I was so excited about this project! So imagine my dismay when I opened the second one and found this:

Rotten!! I was especially horrified because I bought these pumpkins at Whole Foods when I was in another part of town for a meeting. I wasn't about to drive 40 minutes back to Whole Foods for my refund, but man was it tempting. These pumpkins weren't cheap! So I only got to roast one pumpkin. After it roasted, I pureed it in my food processor.

I immediately made Pumpkin Butter. I love it - so yummy. But the recipe makes so much more than I thought it would. And it had too much sugar and not enough pumpkin or spice, for my liking anyway. Look how great this turned out:

Don't you just want to take a big bite of that toast right now? Actually, I wish you could. I'll never finish all this pumpkin butter before it goes bad. Do you think I can freeze it? I didn't know with the yogurt in it if it would freeze okay or not.

If you are wondering about the yield from one pie pumpkin, I used about 1 1/2 cups for the pumpkin butter, separated out the 1/2 c up I'll need for Joanna's scone recipe, 2 cups to make my favorite treat which is basically pumpkin pie filling cooked in an 8X8 glass dish without a crust. I serve it up in squares with fresh whipping cream on top! Mmmmm...and I don't feel so guilty about eating it, since without the crust it is fairly healthy. It's a vegetable, right? Anyway, after portioning out all of that, I still had 1 1/3 cups left.

So, in total, I got 5 1/3 cups of puree. The pumpkin butter is good, but the real test for me will come when I make the pie filling. I want to see if the flavor/texture/quality is really better. Enough that it could justify the extra cost and work from buying canned. If I do think it is enough better, I am going to try some larger, cheaper varieties of squash to see if I still like the results. I did some research, and it seems that most canned pumpkin is actually butternut squash! Who knew?

Of course, I saved the seeds and roasted those up, too. Wow, are they tasty. How long do you think this one, small bowl will last??? I really needed that second pumpkin!