Pumpkins and Chocolate? OH YES!!

We probably went a little overboard with pumpkins this year. Really. Everytime the kids and I were anywhere you could buy them, we did! By Hallowe'en we had our own gigantic pumpkin patch growing near our front door.

Here is a shot of maybe 1/4 of our pumpkin plot:

As we were putting away all of the Hallowe'en decorations, post trick-or-treating, we began throwing all of our pumpkins, big and small, into the green waste bins.

Oh! I felt so guilty!!

All of those perfect little sugar pumpkins heading straight for the compost. How wasteful is that?? I know they are destined for a future as green fertilizer on the gardens of my local town, but really? Shouldn't we EAT them? Isn't that they are sold??

My guilt overtook me. Okay. So did the thought of my favourite pumpkin recipes. Mmmm....

How to take a pumpkin from decor to dinner? Very, very easy.

1. Cut the sugar pumpkins in half.

2. Scoop out all of the seeds and stringy bits.

3. Cover the open side with plastic wrap and microwave for 10 minutes.

4. Using a large spoon, dig out he softened insides, leaving only the outer shell. This is what the yummy guts look like:
5. My pumpkin guts were a little stringy so I mashed them up with a fork.

Now onto my favourite pumkpin recipe:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled)
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree ( or some of the yummy homemade puree you just made!)
• 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.
4. Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares.

Oh yeah! Look at these!

I love how moist these squares are. They are divine, and honestly, they don't taste like pumpkin. I think the pumpkin just adds to the warm colour.

By the way, don't cut these squares until they are completed cooled. Otherwise the squares just mash and rip and all of the chocolate comes out on your knife.
Mmmmm......time for tea....and a pumpkin square!