It’s really fun to make spaghetti squash because it’s so amazing how spaghetti-ish it is inside the squash! It’s really a fun ingredient to cook with and the easiest thing to do with it is to dig out all of the spaghetti and put pasta sauce on it. But we’ll do some different things with it this fall in case that’s all that you do now with spaghetti squash or haven’t had it before.
I liked this recipe when I saw it in the October Vegetarian Times (pg. 69) because it is dessert bread without any granulated sugar, which means it did not take a bunch of tries modifying it to get it right. It’s a free-for-all to modify when cooking but difficult when baking.
Spaghetti squash are hard to cut compared to other squash – more like a pumpkin. If you put it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes while preheating the oven, you can more easily cut off the top and bottom and slice it in half to remove the seeds. You stab the squash a few times with a knife before microwaving to let some steam escape and I’m showing in the picture below how the steam needs to release.
My squash yielded three cups once I scraped it out, so I saved one cup in a sealed container in the frig and will use it in a dinner recipe later in the week.
Maple-Spice Squash Cake
1 small spaghetti squash (1 1/2–2 lb.)
1 C flour
2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t nutmeg
2 eggs
1/4 pure maple syrup
1/3 C melted coconut oil
1/2 C chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 375°F. Pierce spaghetti squash in several places with knife. Microwave 3-4 minutes on high power to soften. Slice off ends, and stand squash upright. Cut straight down length of squash. Remove seeds with spoon. Place halves cut side down on rimmed baking sheet with 1 1/2 cups of water. Bake 30 minutes, or until squash yields when pressed.
Meanwhile melt coconut oil in microwave and let it start to cool. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in large bowl.
After you remove the squash from the oven, let it cool 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 350. Scrape squash halves with fork to release strands. (You should have 2 cups.)
Whisk eggs and maple syrup together in separate bowl; whisk in oil. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture. Fold in squash and nuts.
Spread batter in a sprayed 8-inch loaf pan, and bake 65 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Unmold, and cool completely before cutting.
