As one of the most well known features of any Halloween celebration, pumpkins are usually remembered by the masses as a sticky, messy novelty. However, unlike those American folk across the pond, we Brits have been less hasty to adopt the pumpkin into our recipes, which in my opinion, is a huge mistake. This vast, and relatively cheap, vegetable can be used in many sweet and savoury dishes.

I always start by making pumpkin puree, which is surprisingly easy to do – the recipe for this can be found online, but you will simply need one large pumpkin and a large roasting tin. Preheat the oven to around 200°C, and cut the pumpkin in half, scooping out the insides. You might need to cut it into quarters to fit into your roasting tin. Lay it so that the flesh is facing down and fill the roasting dish about half way full with boiling water to keep it moist. Cook for an hour and once cool, peel off the skin and blitz the flesh in a food processor.

A classic pumpkin recipe I always turn to is the humble pumpkin pie, the famous American Thanksgiving dessert. This really is one of the easiest pie recipes, and takes barely any time due to the fact that the pastry doesn’t need to be blind baked. In my opinion, pastry should always be made from scratch, but if you are tight on time you can get the same result from store bought.

For the pastry:

260g plain flour

½ teaspoon salt

110g unsalted butter

Put all of the ingredients into an electric mixer and beat until you get a sandy consistency. Add a tablespoon of water at a time until the mixture sticks to the mixers. Squeeze the dough together with your hands and wrap it in clingfilm, and leave to rest in the fridge for one hour. Roll out the dough, which is easiest to do between two pieces of clingfilm. Line a greased pie dish with it and  trim the edges.   

For the filling:

 1 egg

425g pumpkin puree

235ml evaporated milk

220g caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon plain flour

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Put all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix until well combined, with no lumps.  Pour into the prepared pie dish and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes, so the filling is set firm and doesn’t wobble. Serve on its own or with lightly whipped cream.

A great savoury recipe is this one for pumpkin scones.

Ingredients:

175g pumpkin puree

50g grated parmesan cheese

1 egg

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of white pepper

2 teaspoons chilli oil

250g plain flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

Milk to glaze

Preheat the oven to 200°C and beat the pumpkin puree, parmesan, egg, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and chili oil in a bowl.  In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and bicarb. Fold this into the pumpkin mixture and work to form a dough.  On a lightly floured chopping board, roll  the dough into  long sausages.  Cut the dough into equal discs, about 5cms thick. Round them a little and place the scones on a lined baking sheet, about 3cm apart. You should get about 12 scones from the mixture. Brush the tops of the scones with milk and bake for about 15 minutes.

For more creative and delicious recipes, check out Chloe's blog at: www.kloelladevillescupcakes.blogspot.com