easy pumpkin recipes?

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Pancakes

Ingredients:

For the cinnamon streusel:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

To make the pancakes:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup milk

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1 large egg

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

directions:

1. First, make the cinnamon streusel. In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Mix together with your hands or a fork, until you have a crumbly mixture. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, egg, pumpkin, canola oil, and vanilla extract. Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture and whisk until combined.

4. Heat a griddle or pan to medium low. Coat with cooking spray. Drop 1/3 cup of batter onto heated skillet. Add 2 tablespoons of the cinnamon streusel. Cook on the first side until bubbles begin to form, about 2-3 minutes. Carefully flip pancake over and cover very generously with cinnamon streusel. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Continue this process to make the rest of the pancakes.

5. Serve pancakes warm with maple syrup and butter.

You probably don't have enough pumpkin, so freeze what you have and make up the difference with a small butternut squash.

PUMPKIN SOUP

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

500g of pumpkin

1 clove of garlic

½ an onion

1½ tablespoons of oil

½ a tablespoon of lemon juice

½ a teaspoon of mixed herbs

1 vegetable stock cube

500ml of water

METHOD

Cut the pumpkin into quarters, remove the peel and seeds, and chop it into 2cm (1 inch) pieces. Peel the garlic and cut it into quarters. Peel the onion, cut it in half, chop one half into 2cm (1 inch) pieces and save the other half.

Put the oil into a saucepan on a medium heat. Fry the garlic and onions for about 2 minutes until the onion is soft but not coloured. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Add the pumpkin and continue to cook for another 3 minutes. Stir frequently to stop it sticking.

Add the herbs, lemon juice, stock cube and water. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat until it is just boiling. Put the lid on the saucepan and continue to cook for another 20 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.

If you have a food processor, put the soup in it and blend it to the desired consistency. If you have a hand blender, put it in the soup and blend it to the desired consistency. If you don’t have a food processor or hand blender, use a potato masher, press the soup through a sieve with the back of a spoon, or leave it lumpy. If you used a food processor, rinse out the saucepan and put the soup back into the saucepan.

Put the saucepan on a low heat and reheat the soup gently.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Use butternut squash instead of pumpkin.

Add ¼ of a teaspoon of ground ginger, at the same time as the herbs and lemon juice.

Garnish with either a swirl of either crème fraîche, fromage frais, natural yoghurt or single cream, or a sprinkle of chopped chives or parsley.

Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin stuffed ravioli, pumpkin sauce for other pasta, pumpkin soup, pumpkin-corn fritters, pumpkin pancakes...Merry Christmas.