Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Step one, cut it in half. Remove the stem and set it on that side. Cut with a sharp knife.
Rub the inside of the squash with 1 to 2 Tbl of salted butter in each half (depends on the size of your squash. Add 1 to 2 Tbl brown sugar to each half of the buttered squash.
Drizzle 1 tsp of maple syrup in each half. Put into a cake pan with about 1 inch of boiling water in the bottom.
Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until soft.
Cool slightly, remove from skin and mash, keeping any buttery mix and adding it to the mash.
When selecting pumpkins, make sure you ask for cooking pumpkins. Three varieties are pictured - Cinderella, Ghost and Fairy Tail. If you don't know, ask at your local farm stand or farmers market. Carving pumpkins can be made into purée, but they don't have the sweetness of a cooking pumpkin. Flesh colors range from yellow to deep orange - almost red. As you can see, I like to get several varieties and make a mixture. In central Pennsylvania, 'neck pumpkins' are sold and most often are used for baking. Finding true pumpkins can be difficult - of 4 stands at the farmers market, only one had true pumpkins. If you are wondering why I say 'true' - pumpkins are a member of the squash family, but they are pumpkins. Long neck pumpkins are not pumpkins - they are butternut squash. They still make a good pie, but I am a purist and want pumpkin for my pies, bread, soup.....