Embracing the Pumpkin Part 2: Recipe for Mini Pumpkin Pies

These are a wonderfully seasonal treat to celebrate the joy of autumnal abundance and to help you cosy in to the cooler days.

For full list of ingredients skip to end of post.

Whether you use shop bought shortcrust pastry or spend a little more time making my own Rich Shortcrust Pastry they are a fairly quick treat to make, especially once you've hacked into your pumpkin!

You may have your own preferred way to obtain the flesh of your pumpkin. My friend likes to peel, chop then microwave it. I found it easiest to roast it as the skin then peeled off like a glove.

So, to begin, get yourself a small pumpkin.
With a large knife, cut it in half. Scoop out the inside (setting aside the seeds of you want to toast them as a snack later.) Cut each half into quarters triangularly. Place on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Bake at 180 for about half an hour or until very soft and starting to brown at the corners. Allow to cool a little, then peel off the skin just gripping with your fingers.

Using a stick blender or food processor, blitz the roasted flesh until it's a smooth purée and plop 350g into a mixing bowl.
Depending on the size of your pumpkin you may have spare mixture to save for another batch or another purpose. My small pumpkin gave me just over enough for two batches.

In a measuring jug, beat two eggs. Whisk in 50 ml double cream, half a teaspoon of All Spice, a whole teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon and 75g light brown soft sugar.

I made these with not too much sugar so that my little boy could eat them, but if you like these things a bit sweeter, it's amazing to drizzle just a little golden syrup over them once cooked.

Pour the eggy, creamy, spicy mixture into the puréed pumpkin gradually, whisking as you pour.

Using a fluted edge round cutter, cut out 24 circles (12 from each packet of pastry) and use the trimmings for your leaf shapes.

Lay the circles into a patty pan and spoon the mixture into the bases, leaving a margin of 0.5cm for them to rise. Lay your leaves or other shapes gently over the top and brush with egg yolk.
Bake at 180C for 15-18 minutes till risen and golden.

Serve as they are, still warm with a nice hot cup of tea or enjoy when cooled.

350g Pumpkin puree
2 eggs
50ml double cream
75g light brown soft sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Half teaspoon allspice
2 packets shortcrust pre-rolled pastry

Embracing the Pumpkin Part 1. A Light in the Dark.

I may be in the minority but I really really don't like Halloween. I dread the whole thing every year and I'm always heartily glad to see the end of it.

Everything about it seems set up to celebrate darkness and fear whereas I love light. I feel like the world just turns a bit too ugly and all the decor everywhere in the lead up makes me turn away. If you've ever met me you'd know I'm a sensitive soul; I don't watch movies that are rated more than a 12 and even then I'm pretty choosy. I don't like masks, don't like gore, don't like skeletons, basically don't like anything about Halloween. I know most people would say there's no harm in it and it's just a bit of fun, but I feel there's a lot behind it that isn't harmless or fun and I just don't get the fascination. Anyway, recently I have come to think that there is ONE thing that people do at Halloween that can be really lovely, and that is pumpkin carving. Not ugly, scary faces type of pumpkin carving but the pretty ones; the warm amber glow of light through beautiful shapes. That is almost like a prelude to Christmas with all its merry twinkle and it's all about the light. It's cosy, friendly and inviting. I love Autumn and adore October but sometimes feel like the way Halloween is these days  has spoilt it for me; I end up looking forward to Halloween being over so I won't keep seeing all the stuff everywhere but I don't want to wish away one of my most beloved months of the year. So I'm taking pumpkins back. They've been a popular of icon of Halloween for so long but do you know what? Halloween does not own pumpkins. Autumn does. And Autumn is about abundance of harvest, and nature's beauty, and ways to get cosy. Pumpkins are so widely available at supermarkets and farm shop these days that you can get them very easily for very little expense. I grabbed these two little cuties today for 75p each.

I've been looking forward to carving out my own little lantern and seeing it all lit up. When it came to it though I didn't really have a very good knife for the job (turns out if you want to do more than the odd triangle here and there you probably need tools such as an awl and a flesher which I definitely want to invest in for next time). So Dad came round with his power drill and we had a fun time making lots of holes in my pumpkin and making a very impressive mess on the floor with the delicate little twists of pumpkin that were being pulled from within.

 I could certainly improve upon my first effort now that I've had a go. There are so many designs I'd love to play with but with an active little 7 month old boy I don't think I can spend too much time mucking around with power tools and vegetables. For now I will be content with popping my lantern on our porch and seeing it glow.

I've also been itching to make some little pumpkin pies. I've excitedly unearthed my overflowing box of cookie cutters as I wanted some autumnal leaves to decorate the pies.

There are many wonderful recipes out there for pumpkin pie but I knew roughly what should go in so I wanted to have a go myself. I love making pastry and have a really great pastry recipe I always use but today time was of the essence and I didn't want my little chap to be bored while I was in the kitchen so I bought some pre rolled shortcrust from the supermarket. Do whichever you like. If using the shop bought stuff though, I recommend tossing a bit of flour over the surface as it can be a  bit moist and sticks to the cutters. It's also quite effective to keep flouring your cutter.

Here is my recipe. I hope you enjoy making them. And eating them!

While everyone else is doing their own thing this year, I will be content knowing that I'm letting my own little light shine whilst also filling the kitchen with some yummy treats for my man and my boy and me, and anyone else who may wish to join us.

And then soon there'll be the joy of Bonfires, sparklers, fireworks and the lead up to Christmas. That's a whole lot of light in the dark! 

Purée Pancakes. Fast food for hungry high chair users.

I made these pancakes to use up some lovingly made but 'not actually needed thanks Mummy' veg purées from our freezer. Before our boy was due to start weaning (we chose to wait till almost 6 months) I got all excited in the kitchen and started blitzing lovely carrots, tatoes, peas, parsnips and squash, in readiness for spoon-feeding. After a few promising days of gulping them down gleefully however, the Chappie decided he wasn't going to open his mouth for a spoon at all and the only way purée was going in was in his fists. It quickly became obvious he wanted the hands on approach so sloppy isn't happening. I'd wondered for a while what to do with all these colourful frozen cubes and had started merrily giving them out to friends whose babies were happy to be spoon fed until one of these friends suggested I could use the purées in muffins. Genius! The boy has been devouring savoury muffins for weeks and they are a wonderful ready meal. With purées still plentiful in the freezer I set about muffin making. Except the kitchen was a tip and by the time I'd cleaned up it was really time to start feeding the boy. I bought a little time by bringing his high chair into the kitchen so he could sit and play with a few toys while I darted round and hastily reconfigured the menu to veggie pancakes.

They were so quick and easy. Not even really a recipe but I'll tell you how I made them in case your little one might like them.

I chose butternut squash and defrosted 8 cubes, grating a pinch or two of parmesan in to melt, stirring in 3 heaped teaspoons of plain flour and whisking in an egg. It made a very liquid mixture as this particular purée was a thinner one but it was fine for little blini style pancakes, or you could do larger crepes. You could vary the thickness with more flour or a dash of whole milk, it's up to you.

I used some olive oil to fry them off in a non stick frying pan and flipped them once the top side was nearly all dried up with little bubbles popping over the surface.

Jem seemed to like them and they were easy for him to pick up, grip, chew and swallow. All very important things in the early days when so many foods are too slippery, too crunchy or too hard. I don't know why bananas and cooked carrot sticks are deemed such basic finger foods, they're almost impossible for him to pick up or hold onto yet. They will however be finding their way into pancakes and muffins very soon along with all the colourful little cubes in our freezer.

A Proper Pasty: St Mawes Bakery in Cornwall

Most people have their own favourite place to go for a proper Cornish pasty and now I've found mine.  If you don't already have a favourite, let me help you, and if you already have a favourite that's not St Mawes Bakery I can only assume it's because you've never been there.

Today the pasties at St Mawes Bakery, along with the delightful staff who served them, were our heroes. On a wet, misty, grey day holidaying in Cornwall in October, we'd spent the morning doing a quite lovely but rather exhausting walk, in drippier conditions than we'd have preferred, recovering from a raging cold, with a rather heavy 6 month old little man in a sling and all of us getting hungrier by the second.

By about 11.00, with no snacks with us except a couple of rosy red Cox's from Curgurell Farm shop, we felt it was lunch time. We eventually made it back to the car (never before have I been so glad to see it) and decided that no, we were not going back to the holiday cottage for a sensible sandwich we needed a hot pasty and we needed it now.

We thought St Mawes would be the best bet, being large enough to meet the criteria of somewhere to eat a pasty indoors. So we started chugging in that direction as it was only fifteen minutes away and as Andy drove I Googled pasties. The general consensus online was that you'd be a fool not to go to the bakery at St Mawes and as we knew no better we did not hesitate.

Wheeling our boy through the quiet, wet streets to find the bakery, we reached it pretty quickly and dived in. A low little building just on the harbour edge, its windows filled with towering loaves and plump buns, a few tables and shelter from the rain, it was just exactly what we needed. I don't think I would have enjoyed it so much on a sunny day somehow although the pasties would taste just as good come rain or shine. My Dad is a connoisseur of pasties these days. In recent years he's been walking the South West Coast Path in day-long sections and on each visit he's procured a pasty to power his legs. He's worked out his top 5  favourites but I don't think any of them could beat this one. 

It was piping hot, huge and rugged. Beautifully golden, crisp and crunchy in places, soft and almost chewy in others, with a slightly caramelised base that tasted a little salty and almost cheesy. The beef inside was generous and chunky, and tasted like the yummiest beef stew, with soft little slivers of potato and onion that were wonderfully moist. I broke mine up into bits so it could cool enough for the boy to have his first taste, and we sat devouring it between us. A few minutes and a good mug of tea later it had all gone and we were warm, nourished and cheery.

To help it go down we stood and admired the cakes, buns, scones and doughnuts and chatted to the two lovely ladies at the counter. Micky and Ruth truly enhanced our visit, especially as we happened to have the place to ourselves on a quiet October day. We chatted for some time recommending games, Jem giving lots of grins and trying to grab everything in sight.

We left with lots of smiles, full tummies and paper bags containing the most beautiful doughnut and scones I've ever seen. Andy's doughnut was gone before we'd even crossed the road! 

The only thing I could say that is slightly negative, and I can't really blame them, is that it's too far to come very often! Perhaps we should buy a load of pasties in bulk and fill up the freezer!!! St Mawes, we WILL be back.