Skin-a-Licious: 2012

I hope you will enjoy this little tutorial. I found it fun to do, as I had never made pumpkin puree in my life.

Step 1. - First I cut the pumpkin in half.

Step 2. - Then I cut the 2 halves again, making it 4. Simple eh?

Step 3. - With your spoon, scoop out the yukkies. You can toss it out or pull the seeds out.

Step 5. - Now take your slices and wrap them up in aluminum foil. Once wrapped up, place them on a baking sheet. This is important because at first I thought it would be okay to just place them as is in the stove, but not the case. The slices will leak out some juices while they cook. Put them in the oven at 400F or 200C for 3 minutes, or until tender. Treat it like a baked potato, poke a fork in it and if it is soft, you are done!

Step 6. - This is how it looks after it has been cooked.

Step 7. - Now it's time to peel the outer skin of the pumpkin. I find it so easy to use a big spoon and gently snug it just under the outer skin and push upward. Once all the outer skin is taken off, I then cut up the slices in chunk and put them in a food processor. You can you just a mash potato masher, but if you really want that puree look, then a processor is the way to go.

Step 8. - And you are done

Step 9. - Now you can do what you want with the puree. You can make muffins, bread, or whatever you like. However, with this puree I am going to make some soap. So to make the soap, you need to have a soap recipe. Know your oils, know your fragrance and make sure that the fragrance will not form a quick trace. The FO I am using will not trace quickly. It will also not turn brown, so this one will be easy for me.

SAFETY - Follow the safety guidelines when working with LYE, this is paramount.

In order to work the pumpkin puree into your recipe you need to omit a water percentage. So lets say that your recipe calls for 18oz of water and you want to use 2.5oz of puree to your recipe. You would need to subtract the 2.5 from 18, which will give you 15.5oz of water. Do not put the puree in with the lye as it cools down. ADD YOUR PUREE AFTER YOU MIX YOUR OILS AND LYE. See image below, you see I added the puree after all my oils and lye have been mixed together.

Now pour your mixture into your mold as seen below.