Kate and Sally, Dignams Creek

We’ve always appreciated the pumpkin. It’s resilient and easy to grow, a comfort food, nutrient-dense and it can be enjoyed well beyond its season … it’s one of those foods that just keeps giving. But until we were blessed by our abundant harvest this autumn we were ignorant as to just how versatile the pumpkin is. In the past we’ve eaten pumpkin as a soup, baked, mashed, steamed, in a pie, casserole or curry, the odd batch of pumpkin scones, stuffed flowers and munched on the dried roasted seeds. But with so many pumpkins to cook and share, we’ve been enlightened by how multi-talented the pumpkin truly is. We’ve made pumpkin cake, jam and chutney, sweet pumpkin pie, cheesecake, bread, pumpkin salads and on and on. Here are a few of our new favourite recipes. Enjoy!

Base:
1 pkt gingersnap biscuits (or use ½ gingersnap and ½ digestive for a crumblier base) and ⅓ cup pecans, whizzed together—or swap for whatever GF base you prefer.
Mix in ¼ cup melted butter (or a bit more—enough to bind the crumb together).
Press crumb into base of spring-form tin.
Blind bake for 5 – 10 mins. Cool.

Filling:

Mix together:
3 pkts cream cheese (750 g)
1½ cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs

Stir into the above filling mix:
1.5 cups pumpkin (diced, steamed til tender, mashed and cooled)
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg

Spread filling onto base and bake at 170  for about 40 mins. Don’t overcook—remove from oven while there’s still a bit of a wobble in the centre. It’ll keep cooking in the tin while it cools down.