Filling for baking with pumpkin and dried apricots

Step-by-step preparation

Cooking time: 2 hr

1. STEP 1

   

   Wash the pumpkin and use a vegetable peeler or sharp knife to cut off the tough skin. Cut the pumpkin into slices about a centimeter high. I have a Butternut pumpkin. Try not to cut off too much pulp along with the skin. A vegetable peeler will ensure minimal waste.

2. STEP 2

   

   Chop the pumpkin into a cube with a side about a centimeter. This is the traditional way to cut pumpkin for any jam.

3. STEP 3

   

   Pour sugar into the pumpkin, stir and cover the bowl with cling film so that nothing extra gets into the future jam. Leave the pumpkin at room temperature for an hour to allow it to release its juice.

4. STEP 4

   

   This is how much juice came out of the pumpkin after an hour.

5. STEP 5

   

   Place the pumpkin along with the juice in a suitable sized pan and cook over low heat for twenty minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent the pumpkin from burning. The pumpkin should be boiled, not fried. Therefore, if there is not enough juice, carefully add a little boiling water. Just a little bit, no more than 100 ml for the specified amount of pumpkin. And take care of your hands!

6. STEP 6

   

   Of course, everyone's stove is different, so some, like me, will need to cover the pan with a lid to reduce moisture loss.

7. STEP 7

   

   This is such a dark dried apricot, in fact - the most natural. This is exactly what apricots would look like if you decided to dry them in the sun yourself. My dried apricots do not contain sunflower oil, so I simply washed them under running water. If you have beautiful orange dried apricots, then you definitely need to pour boiling water over it to wash off the vegetable oil from its surface.

8. STEP 8

   

   Cut the dried apricots approximately equally with the pumpkin pieces. This way the workpiece will look more harmonious.

9. STEP 9

   

   Add dried apricots to the pan with the pumpkin and cook for about twenty minutes. The mass should boil again, and the dried apricots should warm up sufficiently.

10. STEP 10

    

    First wash the jars with a brush and baking soda. Pour approximately 50 ml of water into each and, at 800 watts, sterilize in the microwave for two minutes. The larger the jars, the longer they take to sterilize. For example, a liter jar will require three minutes at the same power. Of course, all ovens are different. The reference point is the boiling water in the jar. Simply wash the lids, pour boiling water over them and leave them like that until needed.

11. STEP 11

    

    Once the mixture has cooked, add lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg to the pan. Add nutmeg only if you have nothing against it. It's quite specific and many people don't like it. And you only need a little bit of it, literally on the tip of a knife. For my taste, the combination of nutmeg and pumpkin is very successful. Mix everything.

12. STEP 12

    

    Place the baking filling into the jars and screw on the lids. Turn over and cover the jars with a towel. Leave until completely cool. Then store in a cool place.