Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

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Cream together:

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup melted coconut oil or other neutral oil
3 large eggs
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar, divided
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

Sift together:

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry and fill your prepared pans (greased & floured) and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Add:

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds) to the top of the loaves

I wish you could smell how wonderful the kitchen was after baking the bread and cookies.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Source

Sift together:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Cream together:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

Sugar Mix:

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice

I used the cooked pumpkin I had prepared and pureed it in the food processor and used it for the cookies.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and drop the dough onto the parchment about 3" apart and sprinkle with the sugar and pumpkin spice. Bake for approximately 13-15 minutes.

These cookies came out nice and moist and received two thumbs up from hubby.

Cooking My Pumpkins

I had four pumpkins that I grew this summer and two were saved to use for baking. The other two I shared with the deer and squirrels.

After washing the pumpkins thoroughly, I cut them in half and scooped out all the seeds. I put those aside to rinse and save for roasting.

It took a little over an hour to cook them until tender at 350°F. Once I could prick the skin easily, I removed them and let them cool before removing the skin.

I did get a fair amount of pumpkin from the two and used some of it in the bread and cookie recipes. Half of the remaining pumpkin went into the freezer to be used later. The rest went into the refrigerator for two more recipes that I will share later.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

After rinsing the seeds well, I let them air dry for the afternoon. Then, sprinkled them with olive oil and some Kosher salt. I roasted them in the oven at 400°F. stirring them often to brown evenly. They came out so good that even my dog Mika enjoyed a few.

Even though I have grown pumpkins over the years, this is the first time I've ever cooked them and used fresh pumpkin in a recipe. I have to admit; I was pleasantly surprised.