Pumpkin Soup

If you like the taste of pumpkin pie and would like a comfort soup that reminds you of the holidays, this is the recipe for you. Don’t use pumpkins that are sold to be carved. These are not really meant for cooking and they tend to be tougher than “pie pumpkins,” which are smaller and are usually a darker shade of orange than carving pumpkins. You can also use canned pumpkin, but avoid the pumpkin pie filling that is already spiced and sweetened.

1 sweet pie pumpkin or 2 large cans (16 ounce) pureed pumpkin (do not use the pumpkin pie filling, as this will be too spicy.
4 cups (1 qt) vegetable broth
1 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Slice pumpkin in half, clean out seeds and as much of the stringy pulp as you can.
3. Fill a shallow baking pan with about one inch of water and place both pieces of the pumpkin, flat side down, into the pan. Bake in the oven for about 1 to 1 ½ hours. Make sure the skin of the pumpkin doesn’t burn.
4. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes.
5. Scoop the pulp from the baked pumpkin halves, into a large saucepan or soup pot.
6. If using canned pumpkin, ignore the first 5 steps above, and empty the canned pumpkin into a large saucepan or soup pot.
7. Add the broth, salt and pepper.
8. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 1 hour. Add water or more broth if necessary.
9. Take the mixture off the heat and let cool for 1 hour. Make sure the mixture is cool enough to work with, as you can burn yourself if you splash the pureed mixture in the next step.
10. Puree the pumpkin and broth mixture in a blender. You will need to puree about a third of the mixture at a time in a typical blender.
11. Empty the pureed pumpkin into a separate pot or bowl.
12. When the entire mixture is smooth, return it all to the soup pot.
13. Add the cream and mix well with a spoon.
14. Add the sugar, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg, and stir well.
15. Heat over low to medium heat for about 15 minutes and serve hot.