What To Make With What’s On Sale: Canned Pumpkin

It’s the Friday before Thanksgiving, and that means great sales on lots of holiday foods (and it also means busy grocery stores!).  Canned pumpkin puree is one of those popular holiday staples.  You can see prices on canned pumpkin and other Thanksgiving foods on this comparison list!

The possibilities of cooking with canned pumpkin are endless.  We’ve all had the traditional pumpkin pie (and we likely either love it or hate it) but here are eight more tasty ideas for using canned pumpkin puree!

Pumpkin Desserts

Try this twist on a pumpkin pie: The Pioneer Woman’s Pumpkin Cream Pie.  She uses a graham cracker crust, vanilla pudding, and half-and-half to create this yummy dessert.

These Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing are moist and cake-like, and the browned butter icing is a nice alternative to the typical cream cheese frosting.

Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake looks delicious!  She uses a boxed yellow cake mix for the base, so the recipe is fairly quick and easy to make — a plus if it’s just one item on your list of Thanksgiving dishes to prepare!

Pumpkin Breads

This basic recipe, Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread, is flavorful and moist.  It calls for three 7×3-inch loaf pans, but you can use two 9×5-inch pans instead, or make about two dozen muffins.

These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins are a lighter version of what you’ll find at Starbucks!  (If you have limited time, try this Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl Bread instead.  It’s similar to the muffins but can be whipped up more quickly!)

Pumpkin Savory Dishes:

Here’s a fantastic recipe for Spicy Pumpkin Soup.  If you’ve never had pumpkin soup, this is a great recipe to try.  The spices can be easily adjusted according to your taste buds!

For a tasty main dish, try this Pumpkin-Sage Cream Sauce over any type of pasta.  The sauce is very rich; if you’d like to make it a little lighter, try using half-and-half in place of the cream.  Either way, it’s delicious!

What are your favorite ways to use canned pumpkin puree?  Do you like to stock up on pumpkin during the holiday sales?