Pumpkin pastry puffs

Pumpkin pastry puffs (for 16 pastries)

Have you ever tried fresh pumpkin? It's not naturally sweet or spiced, but it's darn delicious. Roasted pumpkin kind of tastes like butternut squash, very earthy and undeniably fibrous. With the help of maple syrup and puff pastry, pumpkin definitely shines. These "pumpkin wedges in a blanket", if you will, are a fun way to make the most of pumpkin season so try them out for your holiday gatherings this year.

• 1 small pumpkin

• Drizzle of olive oil

• 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup

• 4 oz. goat cheese

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• Pinch of nutmeg

• Pinch of clove

• Pinch of ground ginger

• 1 14-oz. sheet of puff pastry, defrosted

• 1 egg

• Pepitas, for garnish

• 2 tablespoons white sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Prepare the pumpkin by washing the outer skin, removing the seeds, and slicing the pumpkin into wedges. You’ll want at least 16 wedges to make 16 puffs. Toss the pumpkin wedges in a drizzle of olive oil. Arrange the wedges on a paper-lined baking sheet, and brush the wedges with maple syrup. Sprinkle them with salt.

Roast the pumpkin in the oven for 20 minutes until soft. Once out of the oven, cut the skin off the pumpkin and discard the skin.

To make the filling combine the goat cheese, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ground ginger.

Roll the puff pastry out on a floured surface. Cut the pastry into sixteen even rectangles. Here’s the fun part, evenly divide and spread the goat cheese mixture on each pastry rectangle. Top each pastry with a roasted pumpkin wedge, and roll the puff pastry around the pumpkin. Place the puffs seam-side down and evenly spread them out on a freshly lined baking sheet.

Before baking, brush the surface of each puff with an egg wash by whisking together an egg yolk from the egg with a dash of water. Save the egg whites for a scramble the next morning. Top each puff with a few pepitas.

Bake the pumpkin puffs around 20 minutes, until golden. Combine the white sugar and cinnamon to make cinnamon sugar. Once you remove the puffs from the oven sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the puffs.