Cooking with Toti
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Bulgarian Baked Pumpkin
Growing up in Bulgaria, this baked pumpkin was our cozy fall dessert.
Serves
4-6
Prep
10 min
Cook
40-50 min
A cozy fall dessert from a Bulgarian childhood: pumpkin halves are sweetened with sugar, spiced with cinnamon, and topped with chopped pecans or walnuts, then baked until soft and caramelized. I made it with the other half of the pumpkin from my pumpkin roll, so one pumpkin gave me two desserts and nothing went to waste.
Instructions
- 1
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- 2
Cut the pumpkin in half or into wedges and scoop out the seeds.
- 3
Sprinkle the pumpkin generously with sugar and cinnamon.
- 4
Top with chopped pecans or walnuts.
- 5
Bake at 375°F for about 40 to 50 minutes, until soft and caramelized.
- 6
Scoop and eat it warm.
Toti’s Tips
- ✓This is what I do with the other half of the pumpkin after making pumpkin roll. One pumpkin gives me two desserts and nothing gets thrown away.
- ✓Sprinkle the sugar while the cut surface is still moist so it dissolves and caramelizes into the pumpkin instead of sitting on top as dry grains.
- ✓Adjust the sugar and cinnamon to your taste. A sweeter pumpkin needs less sugar, and a pale watery one needs a bit more.
- ✓Walnuts work just as well as pecans. Add them with the sugar so they toast in the oven and pick up the cinnamon.
- ✓Bake until a fork slides in with no resistance. Underbaked pumpkin tastes watery, while fully soft pumpkin turns sweet and almost custardy.
- ✓Serve it warm, straight from the shell with a spoon. As it cools the caramelized sugar firms up and you lose that soft, syrupy texture.
More photos
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