Squash Soup in Pumpkin Bowls

These bowls are just too fun and cute!  I love being able to eat my bowl and soup at the same time.  Squash is everywhere this time of year and makes a great soup.  Need a shortcut?  Trader Joe’s and most other grocery stores sell butternut squash soup in those cardboard containers.  That way you just cook your pumpkins and fill it with hot soup!  Then, take your soup and scrape a little bit of pumpkin from inside your bowl with every delicious bite.

You can use a number of toppings like chopped green onion, bacon, croutons, fried onions or ham.  I used homemade pepitas (pumpkin seeds) since I had seeds from scooping out the pumpkin bowl.

Squash Soup in Pumpkin Bowls
serves 4

4 pumpkin pie pumpkins
sugar
salt
olive oil

2 medium butternut squash
olive oil
1 apple, peeled and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
32 ounces (4 cups) chicken broth

Pumpkin Seeds
1 Tb. melted butter
1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper

For the pumpkins:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Use a knife to cut the stem off like a lid.  Scoop out the seeds (I use my grapefruit spoon) and reserve if you want to roast them.  Drizzle or brush a little olive oil inside the pumpkin.  Sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp. of salt and sugar in each pumpkin.  Roast for 20-35 minutes.  It will be soft inside.  I didn’t go too long because you want the bowl to still be sturdy enough to hold the soup.

For the Soup:
I usually roast my squash the night before in order to save time.  Just a preference.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut the squash in half lengthwise.  Brush with a little olive oil.  Place it skin side up in the oven and roast 45 minutes.  You can roast this at 425 degrees – at the same time as the pumpkin – just reduce your cooking time.  Poke with a fork in several places to make sure it is cooked through.  Once cooled, scoop out the flesh – discard the seeds.  Set aside.
In a large dutch oven or pot, heat 1 Tb. olive oil over medium heat.  Add chopped apple and onion until tender.  Add broth, garlic, spices and the squash.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.  Puree using an immersion blender or in a blender.  Return back to the pot and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Ladle soup into prepared pumpkin bowls

For the Pepitas:
Remove all the pumpkin orange stringy stuff from the seeds.  Mix the seeds with the melted butter and Worchestershire sauce.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  You could add garlic powder, onion powder, etc.  Roast at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  Pumpkin pie seeds are smaller than bigger carving pumpkin seeds, so they will cook faster.

Recipe for Pumpkin Bowls from Food Network