Mini Pumpkins

My friend Beth came this afternoon to whisk me off for some sushi, chat and a delightful pedicure, but I came home in time to bake some mini pumpkins!
Did you know these are edible? I will be honest, I didn't. I buy them for decoration, love their cuteness, and now their tastiness!
I did make some pretty big adjustments to make these pumpkins a bit healthier:

Mini Pumpkin Souffles

2 mini pumpkins
a pinch cinnamon
a pinch nutmeg
2 Tbsp brown sugar (I used 1)
1 cup heavy cream (I used organic 1/2 and 1/2 and could have reduced this to 1/2 cup - my pumpkins were pretty small)
1 egg
2 Tbsp powdered sugar (I didn't use)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp butter (I didn't use)
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used about 1/4 cup of Anne's organic honey bunnies)

I usually just tell you how I made the recipe, but this time I included the original ingredients because if you wanted more of a crumble on top I think adding the butter would be tasty. :)

Chop the tops off of your pumpkins, leaving as much pumpkin as possible. Clean pumpkins with a spoon and place in a baking dish (I used ramekins).
Rub the pumpkin insides with a pinch of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and the brown sugar. Mix together the cream, egg, powdered sugar (if using), and cinnamon. Spoon cream mixture into pumpkins.
Bake at 325 for 50 minutes. Remove from oven.
Mix together the butter (if using) pecans and graham crackers and sprinkle on top of the souffle. Return the pumpkins to the oven and bake 10 more minutes.
After removing the pumpkins from the oven a second time, I decided that they were not brown enough (I had used quite a bit less sugar and had skipped the butter) so I spooned some of my leftover cream mixture on the top and tossed them back in the oven at 350 degrees for another 15 minutes. When I removed them the third time they were perfect! :)

Oh.... and an update on our brining tests - our study results indicated that brining, and length of brining made no difference in meat moisture or taste. Today's turkey was tasty, and more juicy because we removed it from the oven at the correct temp, but I am sad to say none of the flavors from the brine left their traces in the meat!