So you want to bake some pumpkin treats?
We’re going to make:
- 2 Pumpkin Pies
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
The 1975 Betty Crocker way!
You will need:
- 2 9-inch deep-dish pie crusts (you can also make your own pie crusts, but I didn’t)
- 1 pie pumpkin
- 2 cans (15 oz) sweetened condensed milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp ginger
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
It all starts with a pumpkin
Make sure you buy a “pie” pumpkin from your grocery store – these tend to be smaller and rounder than their Jack-o-lantern counterparts.
You’re gonna want to have a knife.
A big, sharp one. Also, a friend who can hold the pumpkin steady for you. If your knife is sharp enough, you shouldn’t have a problem cutting your pumpkin in half. If it’s not sharp enough (mine wasn’t) you might try a serrated knife (I used a big bread knife. I wouldn’t recommend it).
Eventually, after struggling to get the knife halfway into the pumpkin, I got frustrated and used the knife as a handle to bang the pumpkin onto the cutting board. It broke in half! Unfortunately, so did the wooden cutting board.
Use an ice-cream scoop
or big spoon to remove the guts of the pumpkin. Set them aside to sift out the seeds to make roasted pumpkin seeds later.
Place the pumpkin halves face down in a baking dish with about 1″ of water. Cover the dish and microwave on high for about 40 minutes or until the insides are soft enough to remove with a fork.
Strain your pumpkin insides
in a mesh strainer. Keep in mind that your pumpkin insides will be much more watery than canned pumpkin, and will yield more batter.
Once the pumpkin is strained to your satisfaction, scoop 4 cups of it into a mixing bowl (this is a double recipe, if you want to make only one pie, half all ingredients).
Mix, mix, mix!
Add the condensed milk, eggs, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Mix until all ingredients are blended. Batter will be very liquidy. This is normal. Pour equal amounts of batter into your two pie crusts. Mine almost overflowed because I forgot to buy deep-dish. Buy deep-dish.
You can also wrap the edges in tinfoil to prevent browning or crisping of the crust.
Bake
Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until filling is set and pastry is brown. A good rule of thumb is to insert a fork into the center of the pie. If it comes out relatively clean, the pie is done. If the fork has a lot of pie on it, the pie could probably use some more cooking.
Sorry I forgot to photograph this step!
Now for the seeds!
Do your best to remove the guts from the seeds.
Select Your Spices
You’ll need to select your spices to spread on your pumpkin seeds. You’ll need some kind of oil to help the spices stick and to prevent the seeds from burning. Place your seeds in a plastic bag with the oil and spices and shake ‘em up!
I used:
- Salt
- Pepper
- Canola Oil
Grease a cookie sheet and spread salted pumpkin seeds over it.
You can just toss these seeds in the oven under your pies if there’s room. Keep an eye on them, they burn quickly! When you notice them starting to brown, pull them out and flip them over to the best of your ability. Toss ‘em back in the oven for browning on the other side.
Enjoy your delicious pumpkin seeds!
Pumpkin Muffins
If there is a bit of leftover pumpkin, you can make some pumpkin muffins!
You will need:
- 1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 1/2 C sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 C milk
- 1/2 C pumpkin (from your leftover pumpkin)
- 1/4 C butter or margarine, melted
- 1 egg
- 1/2 C raisins
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups (2 3/4 inches in diameter…you don’t really have to be that precise. Just guestimate).
Mix all ingredients
Mix just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy.
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon sugar over batter in each cup. Bake 18 to 20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.
Should yield 12 muffins, although mine was one short!
There you have it!
Three delicious pumpkin treats all from one pumpkin!






















