Spanish Baked Pumpkin

I love pumpkin but I never had it as a child growing up in Ireland. Now, living in Spain, I have had many thanksgiving celebrations with ex-pat family and friends and I've also found a few fantastic local recipes for pumpkin. This one strips the idea of a dessert right down to a bare minimum and therefore I thought I'd share it with you as something unusual.

This dessert might seem challenging for your average American! After all we eat with our eyes and visually we associate the images with our learned experiences about what tastes good. If you don't know this recipes you might not "see" it as being good. Trust me it is.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning that this pumpkin dessert is a very healthy way to eat a sweet! It has none of the over dose of butter, sugar, eggs and cream you'd find in a pumpkin pie so you don't have to feel guilty about an extra scoop of cream when you're serving it XD

Super Simple! All you will need is:

A good baking pumpkin

Sugar

Cinnamon

Knife

Oven

Cut the pumpkin around the equator. Seeing as the pumpkin is hollow in the center, a good small sharp knife ought to do the trick. Seeing as the pumpkin is quite a hard vegetable, hold it firmly with your other hand while making the cut. Place it on your oven try with parchment paper if you've got it. It's not the end of the world if you don't.

I added about a quarter cup of sugar, sprinkled on top of the meat and the seeds and a teaspoon or two for cinnamon. You can add sweetness to taste. I only used half the sugar you see in the photo in the intro.

Bake it at 350º F (180º C) with top and bottom heat and the fan if you got it for about 40 to 50 minutes or however long it takes to get soft in the thickest parts.

Serve cut into slices as if it was a pie with a scoop of ice-cream or whipped cream and accompany (if you must) with a glass of dessert wine or a dessert coffee. The seeds are completely edible as is. Although depending on the variety the husks of the seeds might be a bit tough.

¡Buen provecho!