Be Yummy.

So, since it's fall now I think it's time to start baking! It's starting to get chilly outside, and what better to do when it's cold out than bake, right? So bust out those little baking pumpkins you had for decoration and get cookin! I made roasted pumpkin seeds, banana-pumpkin bread, and a pumpkin pie with my little pumpkins. It's so easy and delicious!

Make sure you have your ingredients...

(Banana Pumpkin Bread)

2 ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs

1/3 c vegetable oil

1 1/3 c pumpkin puree

1/2 c honey

1/2 c white sugar

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 c raisins - or - walnuts/pecans (I used both nuts in lieu of the raisins)

(Pumpkin Pie)

1 egg

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 c white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 c pumpkin puree

1 1/2 c evaporated milk

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

1 pie crust

I used two baking pumpkins (the little cute ones), and had a bit of pumpkin puree left over. 

The first thing you wanna do is preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Then cut each pumpkin in half and seed it. (this is great if you have kids to do it for you - otherwise it's a little gross)

You'll need 4 baking dishes of sorts, I used oven-safe bowls and a 9x9" brownie pan for mine. In each dish place the pumpkin halves cut-side down, and add about 1 cup of water.

 Now, they bake! ...for 90 minutes, until meltingly tender.

 Don't worry, this is what they're supposed to look like when they come out of the oven, but be careful, the stem will slide right out.

 So, now you just scoop all of the 'meat' right out, and dump it straight into the blender and puree!

 From here, for the bread, in a large bowl stir together the banana (mashed), eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey, and sugar. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pie spice and cinnamon. The stir the dry combination into the banana mixture until just combined. Now you can fold in the raisins/walnuts/pecans.

Bake at 350F in a greased 9x5" loaf pan for 45 minutes (or until a toothpick will come out clean, it took me a little over 45 mins I think). Cool the bread in the pan for about 10 minutes, put it on a wire cooling rack, and then enjoy!

 **This bread is fantastic, but if you don't think you're going to eat all of it within a few days, I would freeze half. The ripe bananas will make this wonderful bread awful after about 5 days.

For the pumpkin pie, preheat the oven to 450F.

Add the sugar gradually to the pumpkin puree. Beat well and stir in the flour, salt and spices. Stir in the corn syrup and beat well. Stir in the slightly beaten egg, slowly add the evaporated milk and mix well until blended. Pour the batter into an unbaked pie shell and bake at 450F for ten minutes, reduce heat to 325F and bake for 30 minutes. (It actually took my pie a lot longer than 30 minutes to bake, and I ended up turning the heat down to around 300F, but 30 minutes is a good time to start checking it - you'll know it's done when a knife or toothpick comes out clean).

This pumpkin pie is amazing, so hopefully you'll get a chance to try it!