Baked Acorn Squash & Roasted Seeds

I’ve noticed my grocery store sells acorn squash all year long now. Every time I see it, I think of this recipe. But we wait until Autumn, when the days are shorter, the air is brisk, and the trees have given way to the season to take one home and bake up this sweet delicious dish.

What You’ll Need:

acorn squash, cut in half, seeds removed (place aside if roasting seeds)
2 tbsp butter (one for each half)
2 tbsp brown sugar (one for each half)
2 teaspoons real maple syrup (one for each half)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Cut your squash in half. Have a bowl on hand to put the seeds in, especially if you’re going to be baking them later, and begin scooping them out of the acorn squash. This will feel reminiscent of scooping the guts out of a pumpkin before Halloween!

^ clean as a whistle and ready for the good sweet stuff!

In each acorn squash, add your butter and brown sugar (1 tbsp for each half). I like to rub butter on the cut flat side of the squash as well.

Now add your maple syrup (I also like to drizzle a little over the sides). Put in the oven to bake for 1 hour.

Here’s an extra part that you don’t have to do: occasionally “baste” the sides of your acorn squash with a spoon (that cut flat side I mentioned earlier), taking a spoonful from the butter/brown sugar sauce in the middle. It might be a little bit more golden when it’s done, but I started doing this because I thought the sides were drying out a little the first time I ever did it. And that’s the way I’ve been doing it ever since!

Once its done, let it cool down a little before you dig in! If you still have some butter/brown sugar sauce in the middle that hasn’t absorbed or leaked out, scrape down the sides of the squash with your fork, grab a bite, and dip in the sauce! So good. You can always scramble it all up and enjoy it that way, too!

If you’ve kept your seeds, preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Separate the pulp from the seeds. Wash your seeds off and blot dry with a paper towel, keeping a little moister. Sprinkle with salt, and a little pepper. For added flavor, sprinkle with garlic powder. On a baking sheet covered with tin foil, bake seeds for 15-20 minutes. If you have a toaster oven, you can pop these in while your acorn squash is cooking in your big oven!