Autumnal Stuffed Pumpkin Dessert - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon clove
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar or 1/2 cup maple syrup
1 small sugar pumpkin (3-6lbs)
3 granny smith apples
3 pears, any variety
1 cup pecans or 1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1 tablespoon orange peel, plus
orange juice, from orange
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons rum

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350\u00b0F.
Mix spice mix together by combining the first five ingredients.
Cut the top of the pumpkin off leaving a lid but enough room to stick your hand in and clean out the seeds and stringy pulp.
Mix 2 tablespoons butter and 1/2 of the spice mix into a paste and rub it all over the inside of the pumpkin and pumpkin lid.
Bake the pumpkin with the lid on for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet.
In the meantime, coarsely chop the apples and pears, then mix with the last of the spice mix, butter (cut into chunks), and remaining ingredients.
Stuff the pumpkin tightly with the mix and place the lid back on. The inside stuffing will bake down a bit as the apples and pears soften.
Bake for 45 minutes and check for doneness based upon how soft the flesh is when pierced with a fork. Continue baking until pumpkin is cooked, covering the top loosely with foil if it starts to blacken.
Cool with the lid off for 20 minutes and serve scoops of the pumpkin flesh and stuffing next to vanilla ice cream and a slice of pound cake.