Pumpkin spice: A recipe collection

It’s pumpkin spice season, and we’ve dug into our recipe archives to find some popular fall dishes.

From soups to desserts, our readers have come up with a wide range of seasonal recipes you’ll want to try this autumn.

Have a recipe to suggest? Send it in to the Local Flavor: Recipes We Love contest for a chance to win a gift card from Riccardo’s in Dunmore.

JoAnn Brown’s Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 medium fresh pumpkin
• 1 medium to large white onion, sliced thin
• Parsley, to taste
• Pink Himalayan salt, to taste
• Paprika, to taste
• 3 medium carrots, grated
• 3 medium yellow potatoes, cubed
• 2 to 8 bouillon cubes (chicken or beef)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups sour cream
• 2/3 cup milk or water
• 1 to 2 heaping tablespoons flour

Directions:

1. Cut, seed, peel and grate entire pumpkin in food processor.
2. Put grated pumpkin in pot and add cold water, enough to cover about 2 inches above pumpkin. Add onion, salt, paprika, bouillon cubes, carrots and potatoes. Bring to a boil. Then, lower heat and cook for about 45 minutes to an hour (or longer if necessary).
3. In separate bowl, mix sour cream, milk and flour and whisk until smooth and creamy. (May need to add more milk or water if too thick.) Add mixture to soup and stir continuously to incorporate throughout.

For drop noodles:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 to 3 cups sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 to 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2/3 cup milk or water

Directions:

1. Mix all together until smooth. (May need more milk or water if it’s too thick.)
2. Make dumplings by dropping small amounts off of a spoon into boiling water. Let boil for about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. Then, add to soup.

Chris Poremba’s Spicy Pumpkin Sauce over Butternut Squash Noodles

For sauce:

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 32 ounces vegetable broth
• 16 ounces pumpkin purée
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 ounces cream cheese, cubed
• 4 ounces heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to sauce pot and coat the bottom of pot evenly. Bring to medium-high heat and cook down chopped shallots, about 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Add broth, purée, white wine, nutmeg, crushed red pepper, salt and black pepper. Turn heat up to high. Bring the sauce to boil, stirring occasionally so it doesn’t burn. Let it boil for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium to stop the sauce from boiling.
3. Add cream cheese and heavy cream, stirring continuously, until cream cheese is completely melted. As the cream cheese and cream become incorporated into the sauce, it will thicken up. (Poremba mixes about 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with cold water, slowly poured it in and stirs until consistency is smooth and thick.)

For butternut squash:

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash, peeled and spiraled ((cooks also can buy spiraled butternut squash)
• Salt, pepper and garlic powder, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Arrange squash on sprayed baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Roast 10 to 20 minutes depending on thickness. Transfer to a bowl and top with sauce.

Rhoda Deliecave’s Pumpkin Chili

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 4 long green peppers, chopped
• 1 cup mashed pumpkin (fresh is preferred but canned will work)
• 2 tablespoons chili powder (or less, to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast (optional)
• 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 cups (2 15-ounce cans, drained) cooked kidney beans
• 1 chipotle pepper in sauce (out of a can), diced

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven and saute garlic, onions and peppers for 6 to 10 minutes, until almost tender. Sprinkle in chili powder and cayenne pepper.
2. Stir in pumpkin. Cook 1 to 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients, cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes, checking and adding more water if needed.
3. Serve with chopped scallions, jalapeno peppers and/or grated cheddar cheese.

Jean Flynn’s Summer Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 5 cups squash, cut up
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice mix
• 1 cup half-and-half or light cream

Directions:

1. In a pot, cook onions, butter and carrots in 2 cups broth until soft, or about 15 minutes. Add cut squash and another 3 cups of broth and cook for 20 minutes.
2. Put all contents from pot into blender and pulse until processed. Return to pot and add nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice mix. Add half-and-half or cream and stir. Warm until heated throughout.

Ann Romanosky’s Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake

For the crust:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs (about 32 cookies)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 300 F. Grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter or cooking spray. Wrap foil around pan to catch drips.
2. In a small bowl, mix cookie crumbs and butter. Press crumb mixture into the bottom and up 1 inch on the side of the pan. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set.

For the filling:

Ingredients:

• 32 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed or just until smooth and creamy. Do not overbeat.
2. On low speed, gradually beat in sugar.
3. On low speed, beat in eggs one a time just until blended.
4. Spoon 3 cups of the cream cheese mixture into pan and spread evenly.
5. Stir pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg into remaining cream cheese mixture. Mix with wire whisk until smooth. Spoon over mixture in pan.
6. Bake 1 hour and 25 minutes (or 1 hour and 30 minutes) or until edges are set but center of cheesecake still jiggles slightly when moved. Turn oven off and open door at least 4 inches. Leave cheesecake in oven 30 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Without releasing side of pan, run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen cheesecake. Cool in pan on cooling rack for 30 minutes. Then, cover loosely and refrigerate at least 6 hours but no longer than 24 hours. Run knife around edge of pan to loosen cheesecake again. Carefully remove side of pan.

Peter Tafuri’s Pumpkin Spice Cake 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/3 cups oil
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 sugar or pie pumpkin (3 cups grated)

Directions:

For the grated pumpkin:

1. With a sharp knife, make a circle at the top of pumpkin and take off skull. Scrape off seeds and cut off any meat of the pumpkin that can be used for cooking later.
2. With the same knife, carefully cut the pumpkin in half, coming straight down from the top of the pumpkin. Then, cut the pumpkin in fourths. Crosswise, cut again to make eighths. Remove the seeds and fibers.
3. Peel off the outer, thin layer of skin of the small, cut sections of pumpkin with a potato peeler. For sections not reachable with the peeler, use a knife. After a few sections are peeled, use a food grater to shred 3 cups of pumpkin. A food processor may also be used for shredding.

For the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and salt in a medium bowl. Add oil, sugar and eggs to dry mixture. Mix thoroughly. Mix in pumpkin.
2. Pour mixture into a greased 10-inch-by-15-inch pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Wesley Mech’s Savory Pumpkin Pie  

For the pastry dough:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage (or 1 teaspoon crumbled dried sage)
• 1 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary
• 7 tablespoons unsalted (butter
• 1/3 cup ice water

Directions:

1. Combine flour, salt, sage and rosemary in a medium bowl. Stir to mix.
2. Add butter and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until mixture resembles pea-like pieces. Sprinkle in ice water and stir and toss mixture with a fork until it comes together in a rough mass. If necessary, use more ice water to form unified dough.
3. Divide dough into two portions, one twice as large as the other. Cover each portion with plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 1 hour.

For the filling:

Ingredients:

• 1 small sugar pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 ounces prosciutto, chopped and sautéed (until cooked but not soft
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese
• 1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1 extra-large egg
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil and oil.
2. Cut pumpkin in half, lengthwise, and scrape out and discard seeds. Place halves, cut-side down, on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes, or until tender throughout. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 350 F. When cool enough to handle, peel off and discard pumpkin skin.
3. Transfer the rest of the pumpkin to a bowl and mash pulp with fork or potato masher, or puree in a food processor and pour into a bowl. Add butter, prosciutto, cheese, egg, salt and pepper, and mix.

To assemble pie:

1. Butter and flour a pie dish and shake out extra flour.
2. For base crust, roll out larger dough portion on a floured surface until 1/8-inch- thick. Transfer to prepared pie dish and ease into bottom and side. Trim excess.
3. Roll out remaining dough for top crust and cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Pour filling into pastry-lined dish. With pastry strips, weave lattice crust over the filling. Fold overhang of the bottom crust inward and crimp as for a fruit pie. Bake pie at 350 F for 55 to 60 minutes, or until crust is golden.

Jay Sochoka’s Pumpkin Pie Decadence 

Yield: One deep-dish or two 9-inch pies

For the crust:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose or gluten-free flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 cup cold Crisco
• 1-2 ounces cold bourbon (makes for an extra-flaky crust)

Directions:

1. Add everything except the bourbon into a food processor. Add the Crisco in five or six pieces on top of everything else. Blend on high for about 15 seconds until mixture looks like grated Parmesan cheese. Add the bourbon 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing the food processor until a dough ball forms.
2. Take dough out (break into two equal-weight pieces if desired) and press flat in between two pieces of parchment paper. Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
3. Roll to size of pie plate, remove top later of paper, and turn over into pan. Form crust up to size. (He uses a 9-inch tart pan with a removable ring for easy slicing.)

For the filling

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggs
• 1-1/2 cups light brown sugar
• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 10 ounces heavy cream
• 1 29-ounce can Libby’s 100 Percent Pure Pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs for about a minute, until pale yellow. Whisk in brown sugar. Whisk in condensed milk and cream until well blended. Whisk in pumpkin until well blended. Add spices and vanilla until combined and uniform in color. Pour into pie pan(s).
3. For small pies, bake for 45 to 50 minutes and check doneness. Pie is done when center bounces back when touched. Deep-dish pie takes about 90 minutes, but bake for an hour then check every 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on rack for about 2 hours, then chill to firm up, at least 2 hours.

For whipped topping:

Ingredients:

• Whipped topping
• 16 ounces heavy whipping cream
• at least 1/4 cup white sugar, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions:

1. In a chilled glass or metal mixing bowl, combine topping ingredients. Whip until very stiff peaks form. Top on chilled pie.