Pumpkin Roll

Fall food, is there anything better?

Not much!

One of my friends/co-workers, Barbara, made a pumpkin roll a few weeks ago 

and it brought back to my mind a recipe I had seen before and wanted to try.

I remembered where I saw the recipe,

(linked HERE),

from my beautiful friend Tara over at Saucy Mouth!

Here is my version of her gorgeous looking Pumpkin Roll.

I bought a fresh butternut squash down at the local Farmer's Market,

Shout Out to my friends at the Front Porch Farm for their fabulous produce!!!

Here's another plug... :) 

I love my Norwex Fruit and Veggie Scrubber,

If you want to buy any awesome products from Norwex,

 click HERE to buy from my favorite consultant, my friend Andrea!

Ok back to the recipe.

Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise.

Scrape out the seeds and fibrous strings.

Place the squash cut-side down in a pan. 

Pour water into the pan to come 1/4 inch up the sides of the squash.

Roast until tender when pierced with a fork,

45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the squash.

While the squash is baking, you can start mixing up the ingredients for the roll.

1 Cup Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 1/2 Teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice

And, whisk!

Set aside.

When the squash is done baking, take it out of the water and let it cool.

Once cool, scoop out the flesh and puree in a food processor until smooth.

Measure out 1 cup for the pumpkin roll recipe, and save the rest for other yummy things.

(Homemade Butternut Squash Ravioli?!  Laurel, I need you to come over!)
You can freeze the squash puree in ice cube trays too, for later use.
I'm an old pureeing-baby-food pro ;)

Ok obviously I used a "generous" 1 cup of squash puree :) :) :)

Turn your oven back on, this time to 375 degrees.

Blend the dry ingredients with the squash and three eggs until smooth.

One last shout out!

The best eggs come from my friends, the Thompson Family, 

over at the Burnt Valley Farm!

Good good people :)

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and pour out the mixture evenly on the tray.

Bake for 10-15 Minutes.

Let cool completely.

You know it smells good when all the animals in the house 

start getting lined up for a taste!

Once it's cool, spread the yummy cream cheese filling evenly over the roll.

(See Saucy Mouth's blog for the cream cheese filling recipe)

I didn't add the pecans, for no real reason.  

I like pecans but wanted to try this without them I guess!
I used vanilla extract and not almond extract,
because i'm obsessed with our homemade vanilla extract.

I also made a double batch of the filling because I have two little boys who I knew would be begging for spoonfuls of it!

Then roll it on up... Magnifico!!!

Saucy Mouth added the final touch of the confectioner's sugar dusted on the top,

which is what real chefs do I've learned, from watching Master Chef! LOL

It's all about PRESENTATION!

Well, taste too of course, but also, presentation :)

I ate more than my share's worth last night when it was fresh,

and another share's worth for breakfast this morning :)

And it does taste as good as it looks.

You can wrap in in saran wrap and freeze so it keeps it's shape better,

I was too lazy last night at 10 p.m. to do that, so mine fell flat in the fridge overnight.

Oh well it still tastes the same!

I would wrap it and freeze it if I was going to be serving it to someone.

Thank you Tara for sharing your recipe, 

wish we could enjoy some of your delicious creations together sometime!