Ep 193 What’s All the Fuss About Pumpkin Spice with Cinde Little

October 6, 2021 /

Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –

For many people September and October are not as much about Autumn as they are about pumpkin spice everything.  Being a baker, this has always interested me, but I have to say, except for pumpkin pie, I had pretty much stayed away.  Cinde Little, of the Everyday Gluten Free Gourmet was the best person to get me up to speed on pumpkin spice – is it gluten free? what do we have to look out for? where should we expect to find it? and can we use it at home in baking or drinks?

Cinde sent along a photo of her favourite Pumpkin Date Cake, which looks very yummy and you can find the recipe on her blog.  As well, she had a work in progress for a pumpkin spice syrup to use at home.  I’ve played with what she had, and have given a recipe below, so you can make your own special café drinks at home.  After recording with Cinde, I did go out and buy a couple of pie pumpkins.  You can see photos and read what I did with them on Episode #193 of my blog www.acanadianceliacblog.com.  You can find Cinde at www.everydayglutenfreegourmet.ca.

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Syrup for Café Drinks

1 ½ cups water

1 ½ cups sugar

Spices – 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp ground ginger, 2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/3 – ½ cup pumpkin puree

½ tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Place water and sugar in a saucepan on medium heat.  As the mixture heats, add the spices and stir well.  Add pumpkin puree depending on your preference – the 1/3 cup will be a mild flavour and the ½ cup will be more pronounced.  Heat liquid to simmering.  Continue simmer for 5-10 minutes, watching it doesn’t boil over.  Remove from heat.  Add vanilla extract (optional), which will give a somewhat richer taste.  Let mixture cool for 5 minutes.  If your pumpkin puree is still a bit lumpy you can use an immersion blender to smooth out the liquid.  Pour syrup through a sieve to remove any larger bits of the spice blend or pumpkin.  Store in a squirt container or bottle in refrigerator. 

Sue’s Websites and Social Media –

Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com

Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com

Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com

Celiac Kid Stuff – https://www.celiackidstuff.com

Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com

Instagram – @suesgfbaking

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL

Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com

Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com

My Thoughts –

Not my thoughts as much as adventure with two pie pumpkins.  Pie pumpkins are smaller and have more flavour than the ones you carve for Halloween.

Step 1 – Wash the outside of the pumpkin and cut the stem down close.  Using a large knife, cut the pumpkin in half from top to bottom (easier than I expected it to be).

Step 2 – Scrape out the seeds and fibres.  The flesh comes out remarkably clean.  Place pumpkins on a baking tray, poke each a few times with a fork and drizzle with a small amount of oil.  Place in 375° oven for 40-50 minutes, until flesh is easy to pierce with a fork.

Step 3 – If you want to also roast the seeds – In a large bowl place the seeds and fibres.  Run water into the bowl and agitate by hand.  Most of the seeds will loosen and float to the top.  Skim off seeds.  You will need to remove some seeds from the fibres, but they come away easily.  Fill a saucepan 2/3 full of water and bring to a boil.  Add seeds and a pinch of salt.  Boil seeds for 5-10 minutes.  This will clean up the seeds and ready them for roasting.  Place seeds on a baking pan in the oven on a shelf above the pumpkin and roast for 10-15 minutes.  You can season the seeds with lots of different flavours – I want mine for granola, so left them plain.

Step 4 – Remove the roasted pumpkin shells and seeds from the oven.  Let cool for about 10 minutes, then scrape the flesh from the skins (if there are any brown bits, don’t use those, it may give your pumpkin a burnt taste). You can mash the pumpkin or use a food processor as I did.  Place in containers and refrigerate.  I also plan to freeze it in ½ cup portions so I can easily add it to muffins and cake or the syrup recipe.

I enjoyed making my pumpkin puree and will probably do a couple more while they are still in season.  It appears I got about 2 ½ cups of puree from each of the small pumpkins.