Fall is here which means everywhere you look there’s pumpkins and pumpkin flavored items. I’ve never been one to jump on the pumpkin bandwagon. And I’m not even a big fan of pumpkin. However my latest trip to Trader Joes, I had to buy a pumpkin. Ha Ha. There was such a cute display of small pumpkin pie pumpkins on display that I just had to buy one. The pumpkins had such a nice orange color.

That wasn’t all I bought at Trader Joes. I also saw some beautifully leaf shaped pure maple sugar candies which reminded me of the fall. These candies are made of pure maple sugar. I also notice a new product at Trader Joes…organic maple butter, which I also bought. There were other new fall goodies at Trader Joes but I stayed focused on why I originally came to TJs which was just to buy mushrooms. 🙂

With my cute little pumpkin in tow and maple treats in hand I went home to think about what I could make.

Preparing The Pumpkin

First step before doing anything was to cook the pumpkin. Cooking pumpkin or any squash is a very easy process. I prepared the pumpkin just like how I prepared my red kuri squash in this blog post here. I put slits in the small pumpkin and baked in the oven for roughly 4o to 45 minutes. After it was done I peeled the skin off and scooped out the seeds. If you like pumpkin seeds this is the point where you can save the seeds for roasting later. After the pumpkin was finished being scooped out, I was left with roughly a cup and a half of cooked pumpkin.

First Pumpkin Recipe

I was pleasantly surprised to see that out of that cute little pumpkin, a significant amount of pumpkin was produced. Originally the thought was just one recipe using pumpkin but now two recipes were on the agenda! For the first pumpkin recipe I knew I wanted to include my sourdough starter (I’m on a sourdough kick 🙂 ) and the maple leaf candies I bought from TJs. So the first recipe turned out to be a delicious pumpkin maple sourdough loaf with maple butter! This loaf is kind of a cross between bread and cake. It’s low in sugar and easy to make if you have an einkorn sourdough starter. If you don’t have an einkorn starter, here’s a link to how to make one. What’s great about this loaf is you can add more maple flavor and increase the sweetness by just adding maple butter on top.

Second Pumpkin Recipe

The second recipe was inspired by me being out of granola. I ran out of granola and was just going to buy some more. But then I said to myself, “Stop being lazy and just make your own!” That’s when I decided to make pumpkin granola. My pumpkin granola recipe is adapted from minimalist baker’s pumpkin maple pecan granola recipe.

So here we have two great recipes from one little $1.99 Trader Joe’s pumpkin. Let me also mention the maple candies are $1.99 and the maple butter is a little more pricey at $5.99 but a little goes a long way. I hope you try at least one of these recipes for the fall. Coming from someone who is not a big pumpkin fan, these recipes are delicious! Both recipes gives you pumpkin flavor but not in an overwhelming way.

I also think cooking a fresh pumpkin (It’s easy and cheaper!) instead of buying it from a can makes for better, softer pumpkin flavors.

Pumpkin Maple Sourdough Loaf

AuthorDesireeCategoryBreads, Breakfast, Desserts, SourdoughDifficultyIntermediate

This loaf will definitely get you in the fall spirit. It's low in sugar, easy to digest and can be served for breakfast, as a snack or for dessert. Pair a slice with some maple butter to increase the sweetness and maple flavor.

1 cup cooked pumpkin

⅓ cup coconut oil

2 flax eggs (2 Tablespoons of ground flax seed & 6 Tablespoons of filtered water)

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ginger

¼ tsp sea salt

2 packages of maple syrup leaf candies from TJs melted

150 g einkorn sourdough starter

1 ½ cups einkorn flour

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a bowl place 1 cup of cooked pumpkin, vanilla extract, coconut oil, flax eggs, spices and sea salt. Mix all together.

In a small pot, melt 2 packages of trader joe's maple leaf candies or you can sub 1/4 cup of maple syrup for the candies.

Add the melted maple candies to the pumpkin mixture and stir all together.

Stir in the sourdough starter and add the flour and baking soda. Mix till all is incorporated.

Grease a loaf pan (Mine was 10 x 5 x 3) with a light brushing of coconut oil. To make the bread easier to remove after baking, I also lined a strip of parchment paper in the pan.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. You will know it's done when you stick a toothpick or cake tester in the middle and it comes out clean.

You will also know it's done when the loaf turns a nice golden brown and the whole kitchen starts to smell like cinnamon and pumpkin.

If you're using a 9x5x3 loaf pan, it might take up to 15 more minutes to bake.

What's so great about this loaf is that it's not very sweet. But if you want to ramp up the sweetness and maple flavor, add some of this wonderful maple butter from Trader Joes. It turns slices of pumpkin loaf into a delicious treat which reminds me of pumpkin pancakes. 🙂

Ingredients