Pumpkin Puree

Pumpkin puree is easy to make - much creamier and tasteful than your canned version. Weather you use it as a side dish or an ingredient for baking, making it fresh is always best. Add some nut or seed milk for extra creaminess and flavor. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

For puree

• 1 sugar pumpkin
• 1-2 cups plant-based milk of choice (I used cashew pumpkin milk)
• nut butter of choice (optional)
• salt to taste (optional)

For cashew pumpkin milk

• 1/2 cup (75g) cashews
• 1/3 cup (45g) pumpkin seeds
• 1/8 tsp. Pink Himalayan salt (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

• Start by making fresh cashew pumpkin milk with the NutraMilk:

• Place cashews & pumpkin seeds in the NutraMilk container.
• Press Butter cycle, set for 3 minutes.
• Press Start.
• Open the container lid, add water and replace lid.
• Press Mix (do not change the default Mix time).
• Press Start.
• Press Dispense.
• Press Start and open spigot to fill your storage container.

• Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Rinse and pat dry the pumpkin. Cut the squash from stem to end, but don’t try to cut through the stem (it’s too tough). When you’ve cut through the pumpkin, just pull each half apart. We do this in two parts. Cut one side from the stem down to the bottom of the pumpkin. Remove the knife, rotate the pumpkin to the opposite side then do the same. When there is a slit down both halves of the pumpkin, put down the knife and pull the halves apart. They should separate at the stem.

• Scoop out the seeds and most of the stringy bits. Lightly season the inside of the pumpkin halves with salt then place cut-side-down onto the baking sheet. Bake until the pumpkin can easily be pierced with a knife in several places and the flesh is pulling away from the skin, 45 to 60 minutes.
• Cool until you can safely handle the halves then scoop out the soft flesh into a food processor — depending on how large the pumpkin is, you may need to do this in two batches.

• Place in the NutraMilk and process until smooth. Add enough of nut milk you, starting with ½ cup and then adding more until you reach consistency and flavor you like.

• Add a creamy nut butter such as almond, cashew or pecan to add creaminess and flavor and spices you like. Depending on what you are going to use it for- a side to a meal or for baking you can season as needed. Enjoy!

Prepared and photographed by NutraMilk nutritionist, Florencia Tagliavini.