Happy Hallowe'en!

Hallowe'en seems to have come around very quickly! Over the past couple of months I realised there was still a few bags of pumpkin mush in the freezer that I needed to use up before creating new mush for the next year of pumpkin pies and pumpkin muffins. Too late I also realised I had never posted pictures or my recipe for pumpkin pie -- I'll try to remember to document the next time I am baking (it is very delicious!). In the meantime, the pumpkins were carved the day before Hallowe'en while listening to spooky music and that meant the biproduct of carving - seeds - needed roasting. In case you are not aware of how delicious these seeds are to snack on, follow the link here for my post from 2016. 

These are the two pumpkins that were carved in my house! They'll be turned into mush for the freezer in a couple of days. I gave full details of that process in a post from 2020 here.

Meanwhile, many houses are decorated for this spooky season. I was walking around one of the neighbourhoods locally and saw a few houses decked out quite well.

Cobwebs on bushes, spiders, ghosts, witches and pumpkins are all part of the fun.

Oh yes, and lots of scary skulls! By the way, the pumpkin muffins are good for other occasions too -xmas, Valentine's Day, Paddy's Day or even as a birthday cake - it's all in the decoration. Here is this very versatile recipe. Happy Hallowe'en!

Happy Hallowe'en!

Happy Hallowe'en! It's that time of year again - the clocks have gone back an hour, the sun is setting really early, and I have taken my winter coat and scarf out of the cupboard. The heat has been on a few times now as there is a definite chill in the air. 

This year's pumpkins seem a little more abstract than in previous years. The lower pumpkin, carved by my husband was inspired by our recent trip to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona and seeing Picasso's version of "Las Meninas".

When the two pumpkins were carved (by husband and teen), it was up to me to wash and roast the seeds. This is an easy and tasty snack and I have given more details here.

Using last year's pumpkin mush (a few packs left in the freezer), we had made muffins earlier. It was a family affair as we decorated the muffins when cooled, after the pumpkins were carved. Details of how to make pumpkin mush after Hallowe'en are here and the muffin recipe is here.

Versatile Muffin/Cake Recipe

I always make muffins at Hallowe'en for either (sometimes both) my daughter's class or troop at Girl Guides. I know I have posted this recipe before, but I don't think I ever mentioned that it is the same versatile recipe that I have used for other occasions, just changing the ingredients slightly. So here I am stating the other possible ingredients!

3 cups flour [I usually do approx 2 cups white & 1 cup coarse ground]
2 tsp baking soda [same as bread soda]
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground clove
4 eggs
2 cups sugar [I usually mix brown & white]
1 ½ cups sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla
**2 cups {approx} grated carrot OR crushed pineapple OR smushed banana OR apple sauce OR pumpkin mush [OR combination, for instance when making “Hawaiian” I whiz up 1 can of pineapple with 2 mushed bananas and infuse the cake with some rum before frosting!]

OPTIONAL:  walnuts, pecans, raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C
2. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, & spices
3. In another large bowl beat together eggs & sugar; then beat in oil & vanilla.  Slowly stir in dry ingredients, then fold in fruit or veg mush.  Add nuts or raisins last, if using.
4. Grease & flour bundt cake tin, or other large tin IF making a cake.  If making muffins, put muffin cases in deep muffin tin.  For cake bake approx 1 hr 10 mins or until tester comes out dry; for muffins the time is between 15 –  20 mins depending on the size of the muffin tin.

NB this is a large recipe, for 1 large cake (like a bundt), a sandwich cake or about 5 dozen standard size muffins (less if making large muffins, more if making small muffins!).

For cakes I tend to make a butter frosting (butter, icing sugar, small amount boiled water, vanilla, food coluring) but for muffins it is simple enough to frost with a glace frosting (small amount of boiled water, icing sugar, vanilla, food colouring). I don't have a cake decorating kit, but a zip-lock bag with a cut corner serves as a squeezy sack for coloured frosting to decorate (the smaller the cut corner, the finer the decorative line).

Hallowe'en!

Well, it was a year ago that I posted how to make pumpkin mush for use in future recipes (pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, cake, etc) that I intended to share but never did! I remembered of course, when I pulled out a bag of last year's pumpkin mush in order to make muffins for my daughter to bring to both her school and to her Girl Guides troop as a Hallowe'en treat. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients: 3 cups of flour (I use a mix of self-raising & coarse), 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp cinnamon powder, 1 tsp clove powder, 4 eggs, 2 cups sugar (I use a mix of white & brown), 1 1/2 cups sunflower oil, 1 tsp vanilla, 450 grams pumpkin mush [just because that is how I measured the mush out last year, this year's bags weigh approx 440 grams - I don't think it will matter much, the original recipe is for 2 cups]

Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C. In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda & powder, salt, cinnamon & clove. In another large bowl beat together eggs & sugar, then beat in oil & vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients from other bowl and gently fold in pumpkin mush. Let mix sit at least 5 minutes then spoon into muffin cups. (If not using paper muffin cups, make sure that muffin tin is thoroughly greased & floured. Bake approx 15 minutes. Yield at least 5 dozen. Decorate the muffins when cool; I frost with a simple glace frosting (icing sugar & water) with food colouring.

To get into the Hallowe'en spirit of course, pumpkins need to be carved into Jack-o-lanterns, and my husband has taken to the Irish tradition of carving a Willie-the-wisp out of turnip. This year he decided to skin the turnip completely, and the resulting skull looked a bit like alabaster.

I think it is a North American Hallowe'en tradition to bake the pumpkin seeds. It is a very simple and delicious snack! After cleaning the pumpkin in preparation for carving, be sure to wash the seeds.

Spread on a baking tray with a few knobs of butter and plenty of salt. Bake at 350 F/180 C for about 20 mins - check after 10 mins to shake tray and check if more butter is needed!

Mmmmmm, don't burn your mouth by immediately chowing down, but this snack is especially delicious when warm!