Jack-o’-buns

Sweet pumpkin-spiced buns – with pumpkin!

This recipe is perfect for Halloween. You can carve out the silliest or spookiest Jack-o’-lanterns and use the pumpkin ‘meat’ for these delicious buns. You can use a store-bought pumpkin spice mix or you can get your druid vibes on a make the concoction yourself. You’ll need 6 parts of cinnamon, 4 parts of ground ginger, 2 parts of ground clove, 1 part of nutmeg.

Ingredients

200G PUMPKIN, cut into little cubes
400G FLOUR
30G FRESH YEAST (or 15g of dried yeast)
1 EGG , 1 ADDITIONAL EGG
30G SUGAR
50G BUTTER
Dash of MILK
Pinch of SALT
2 ts of PUMPKIN SPICES

Method
  1. Add the cubes of pumpkin, the spices and a dash of milk in a sauce pan over medium heat. Once they are soft, puree the pumpkin into a smooth blend.
  2. Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, egg, salt, butter and the pumpkin puree and knead for 15 minutes.
  3. Cover the dough with a tea towel and plastic bag and set aside for 30 minutes.
  4. Divide the dough into four pieces, making four pumpkin shapes buns and set it aside under a tea towel and plastic sheet for another 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
  5. Add a splash of water to the additional egg. Give the buns a layer of egg wash with a pastry brush. It will give them a nice golden outer layer. You can cut lines in the buns in the shape of a pumpkin our you can sprinkle some sugar and spices on the buns. Bake for 30 minutes or until the bottoms are golden.

You can also make one big pumpkin loaf! To make it even more delicious, you can add dried cranberries and nuts to the dough after kneading. Perfect for a foggy fall Sunday breakfast.

Do you know the history of the Jack-o’-Lantern? Centuries ago, there was an Irish conman called Stingy Jack, who loved his booze. He was a notorious man and often the talk of the town. One night, Satan heard two drunk men talking about Jack and his vile reputation. Satan got curious and wanted to see what the fuss was about.

Stingy Jack was walking – or rather stumbling – his way home when he got cornered by a jealous devil. He knew he would die and convinced the devil to get one last drink together. Satan took Jack to the local pub, where they drank until the sun came up. Surely, Jack ‘forgot’ his wallet, so he convinced Satan to turn into a silver coin to fool the bar tender. As soon as Satan turned into a coin, Stingy Jack put the coin into his pocket, next to a crucifix, which forced the devil to agree to one last demand: Jack would keep his life and his soul for another 10 years.

Ten years later, Satan came for Jack’s soul. But Stingy Jack had a better idea: he convinced the devil to grab him an apple from a tree before heading to Hell. Satan agreed but as soon as he climbed in the tree, Jack surrounded its base with crucifixes. Satan, furious at the fact that he had been fooled again, demanded his release. As Jack did before, he made a second demand: that he will never take his soul to Hell. Having no choice, the devil agreed and was set free.

Stingy Jack died a few years later – liver failure I guess? Having led a life of sin and filth, he was denied entrance to Heaven. As he couldn’t get into Hell either, he would roam the world between the planes of good and evil, with only an ember in a hollowed turnip to light his way… Talk about a good background story for a DnD character!