Roasted pumpkins with bacon and brown sugar

This is another magazine recipe I found that sounded exotic and fun. In the end, I give it a B. We decided on one change for it that really would've made it better for us. But otherwise, it went over better than I could've expected. This is the sorta thing I would've gagged at last Thanksgiving, so for me it was a major success.

Ingredients
6 slices bacon, crisp-cooked and drain, dripping reserved (I baked it, which is shown here)
2 2-4 lb. pie pumpkins
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp. fennel seed, crushed (It's practically impossible to crush fennel seeds, so just buy them crushed. Yes, I tried to crush my own. Didn't work. If you buy them crushed, I'd just use 1 to 1 1/2 tsp. instead of 2.)
2-3 green onions, diagonally sliced

Preheat Ocen to 400. Cut of top 1/4 of pumpkins. Remove seed and strings; reserve 2/3 cup pumpkin seeds. Place pumpkins, cut side up, in foil-lined baking pan. Brush insides with some of the bacon dripings and sprinkle with salt, pepper and brown sugar. Replace lids and roast pumpkins in oven 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in skillet stir together pumpkin seeds, fennel seed, green onions, and remaining bacon drippings. Add skillet to oven during last 10 minutes of roasting. Remove pumpkins and seed mixture from oven. Sprinkle inside of pumpkins with seed mixture and crumbled bacon. To serve, use a large spoon to scoop out insides or use knife to cut into wedges.

Excuse the not so great photo. The only problem we had with this was the pumpkin seeds were too chewy. I realize they may not have roasted well because the skillet wouldn't fit in the oven with the door shut, so I think I had the door cracked, which may have kept the seeds from getting toasty. So, that might have done it. If the seeds had been crunchy and roasted, it would've been really cool. But even without the seeds it would've been good. The skillet mixture smells really good, so I think it was just a texture thing. The flavors were all there and in sync. So if you're brave, you can try this one on for size.

Spiced Pumpkin Butter

This is something I, again, found in a magazine and thought it sounded exotic and fun. It was super simple and I made it ahead of time. It was pretty darn good. As reference for the remaining Thanksgiving recipes, some were appetizers that we ate as we hung out and cooked turkey. Then there are the meal recipes that were for the actual dinner. This was an appetizer. (Unless you think this will be ravaged or you're having an extremely large group, I might half it.)

Ingredients
4 cups Pumpkin Puree, or two 15 oz. cans pumpkin
1 1/4 cups pure maple syrup
1/2 cup apple juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
Chopped hazelnuts (optional) (I went through tons of trouble to find these darn things and then forgot to take them to the event.)

In 5 quart dutch oven combine all ingredients except nuts. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat, stirring frequently., 25 minutes or until thick. (It was pretty much thick the whole time to me, so I just did 25 minutes.) If mixture spatters, reduce heat to medium-low. (Okay, this is like tomato sauce, it spatters no matter what, so just keep a rag handy and mop it up as you go along.) Remove from heat; cool. Ladle into jars or freezer containers, leaving1/2-inch headspace. Cover; store in refrigerator up to 1 week or freezer up to 6 months. To serve, top with chopped nuts.

Can serve on pancakes, muffins, or toasted bread. Can top with favorite cheese. We just had it plain on cut french bread. I would definitely toast the bread. Just a simple, tasty spread.

Pumpkin Muffins

I got this recipe from my Visiting Teacher. I've been doing muffins quite a bit lately, so thought this would be nice for the fall season. They came out great. However, if left out, they'll get pretty dry. I would also recommend not using muffin cups. Just grease your pans good. They totally stuck to the inside of the muffin cups. I was able to peel one out without losing much, but you have to have expert peeling from muffin cup skills. For the kids, it didn't work well. Anyway, great recipe. Here it is:

Ingredients
1 1/8 cup flour
6 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pumpkin
1/4 milk
1 egg
2 tbsp applesauce

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Mix wet and dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Grease muffin pan and bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

It would probably be really good with some type of white frosting and sprinkled nuts or cinnamon sugar, if you wanted to make it more desserty.