Pumpkin Beer

Pumpkins are for more than just carving. Get ready for the Halloween season with this lovely winter beer. It usually comes out at 4.5 %

Ingredients:

• 1kg pumpkin

• 35g hops

• 500g dark malt extract

• 375g sugar

• 12 pints of water

• Beer yeast (or Young’s super wine yeast extract)

Method:

Cut the pumpkin into fist sized pieces and roast for 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

Put the pumpkin into a large pan with the hops and cover with 6 pints of water, boil for 30 minutes. Meanwhile put your sugar and malt extract into a fermentation bin. Strain the pumpkin water through a muslin cloth into the fermentation bin. Stir well to dissolve all the sugar and malt extract.

Pour in 6 pints of cold water and stir. Make a note of the gravity, it should be around 1040.

Add your yeast and leave to ferment for 3 weeks. Whilst a lot of recipes state much shorter times I find the beer benefits from this extended time.

Don’t forget to check your final gravity, if you haven’t already and want to know the percentage of alcohol in your brew.

Add a level teaspoon of sugar to each bottle and siphon the beer into the bottles. Cap the bottles (or use swing tops) and place somewhere warm for 2 days before moving to somewhere cool.

The beer should be ready to drink in 2 weeks, 3 is better.

Hokey Pokey (honeycomb or Cinder toffee )

Ingredients:

500g granulated sugar

250g golden syrup

100ml water

2 teaspoons bicarb

Method:

Put the sugar, syrup and water into a large pan (it needs to be large for the later stage).

Melt on a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar has all melted and turned a caramel colour, stop stirring.

Boil the sugar until it reaches 150 degrees (hard crack) on a thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer drop a little of the sugar into some water, it should set instantly.

Turn off the heat and add the bicarb. Whisk to mix the bicarb well (it will dramatically volcano and increase in size) and then pour into a lined baking tray with high sides.

Leave to set for about an hour, before breaking into bite-sized chunks.

Taken from my Eat like a Halfling! Cookbook. Available on Amazon now

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 150g plain flour (sifted)

• 75g unsalted butter (cut into cubes)

• Water

• 300g pumpkin

• 90g dark brown sugar

• 1/4 can coconut cream

• 1 egg (whisked)

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp mixed spice

• 1/2 tsp ginger

• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

• Pinch of white pepper

• 1/2 tbsp cornflour

To serve;

Icing sugar

Method:

Add the butter to the flour and rub it between your fingers and into the flour. Keep rubbing until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.

Add a small drop of water and mix together. Keep adding a little water at a time, until the mixture comes together to form a stiff dough and leaves the bowl mostly clean.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry out as thin as possible - 1 or 2 mm is best. Grease a tart tin and use the pastry to line the tin.

Blind bake (line the tin with greaseproof paper and baking beans) for 10 minutes at 180 degrees, remove the beans and cook for a further 10 minutes at 160 degrees.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5- 10 minutes, while you prepare the filling.

Peel, de-seed and dice the pumpkin. Add it to a pan, cover with water and boil until soft (approx 10-15 minutes). Drain and mash.

Whisk in the rest of the ingredients.

Pour the pumpkin filling into your precooked pastry base and cook in the centre of a pre-heated oven at 220 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes, reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Leave to cool, and serve dusted with a little icing sugar.