Spicy Pumpkin Soup

I have a very large place in my heart for pumpkins.  I loooove them. :)  I could eat an entire pumpkin pie, can't wait each year for Starbucks to bring in the pumpkin spice lattes, and I love pumpkin soup.

Usually I buy all fresh ingredients for my recipes.  Little sugar pumpkins are easy to bake, but the canned stuff is pretty awesome too.  100% Pumpkin, pureed and ready to go.  Now, you may not have noticed but sometimes Mr Pears and I like to make things kind of complicated (see Tuesday's 6-hour French Onion Soup for evidence).  But yesterday I decided that I wanted pumpkin soup and I was going to do it easy.  It was easy, and it was delicious.

This recipe is really simple and really easy but it is a little spicy and a little sweet and it's just a great fall soup. To make it even easier on myself I made up the soup during nap time, all the way up to blending it. Then I poured the soup into two containers, one to put in the freezer for another time and one to put in the refrigerator for dinner. Then, when we were ready to eat it, I warmed it up and added the milk, etc. to finish it up.  It only took a few minutes to complete. Awesome.  I hope you try it out!

Spicy Pumpkin Soup, adapted from Simply Recipes
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 dashes of cayenne pepper (this is to taste!  feel free to leave this out for a less spicy soup)
5 cups chicken broth
3 (15 oz) cans of 100% pumpkin puree (6 cups if you are making it yourself!)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

Melt your butter in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Put in the onions and garlic and cook them for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Next add in all the spices and cook them, stirring, for about a minute longer.  Add your pumpkin puree and chicken broth to the pot and stir well to combine.  Bring the soup to a boil and then allow it to simmer for 15 minutes.

After simmering, let the soup cool down a bit before transfering it into the blender (you will need to do this in a few batches, probably 3).  Puree the soup until smooth.  At this point, if you don't want to eat this soup right away (or even today) you can refrigerate it or freeze it until you need it.

If eating now, put the soup back into the pot on low heat.  Stir in the brown  sugar, then the milk and the cream. Taste it and season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Enjoy!