Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

I might be the only person in our family who doesn't like squash. When I was a child, we had to eat everything on our plates, and that was by far one of the hardest side dishes for me to get down. But Mom and Dad LOVE squash, roasted and topped with butter and brown sugar, or made into a pie that uses squash instead of pumpkin. 

I vowed as an adult to find a way to like squash. It's something you can plant in your garden and get a bountiful crop of every year, and you can use it in so many dishes. 

Last Fall I fiddled around with a batch of Butternut Apple Coconut Soup. It had fresh apples and sweet onions roasted along with the squash, and hints of coconut and thyme blended in. This Fall I decided to try something a little different that wouldn't require quite as much time to make.

Our local Mennonite farmer had an abundance of many different kinds of squash available at the Saturday market, so I grabbed two good size butternut squash...and a couple of buttercups for Mom.

Wash the outside of the squash, peel them, cut off the tops and bottoms, cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, and cut the "meat" into chunks.  Spread into two baking sheets that you have lined with aluminum foil.

Mince two cloves of garlic and disperse them evenly over the squash in the two pans.  Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with onion powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt and black pepper.  Give it all a good mix with your hands so everything is coated well.  Roast in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until the squash is soft.

Remove the squash from the oven to cooling racks. If you are ready to continue on with the soup, scrape the squash and the pan drippings into a large sauce pot; if not, scoop it all into a large plastic container, cover it, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Turn the heat under your sauce pot to medium. Add 1/4 cup honey and 2 Tbsp. minced candied ginger and mix well.  Pour in a quart of half and half and stir to combine.

When the soup has heated through completely, blend it in the pot with an immersion blender. I purchased my Cuisinart immersion blender a few years ago, and I don't know what I ever did without it. 

If you don't have an immersion blender (you can find one from my Amazon link over on the right side of the blog) you can carefully ladle the soup in batches into a regular stand blender and process until smooth, being careful to keep the top on the blender to avoid any burns from soup that might fly up out of the top. It doesn't hurt to place a kitchen towel over the top of the blender lid for safety as well.

When the soup is smooth, ladle a serving into a bowl and dollop with some Ginger Honey Lime Peach Jam, or for a little crunch add some chopped pecans. This soup is perfect to curl up with on a brisk Fall afternoon.

SWEET AND SPICY BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP                    Printable Version

2 butternut squash

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

2 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. black pepper

1/4 c. honey

2 Tbsp. candied ginger, minced

1 qt. half and half

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Wash the outside of the squash, peel them, cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, and cut the "meat" into chunks. Line two large baking sheets with aluminum foil. Spread the squash into an even layer in the pans.

Mince two cloves of garlic and disperse them evenly over the squash. Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with onion powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt and black pepper. Roast in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until the squash is soft.

Remove the pans from the oven to cooling racks. If you are ready to finish the soup, scrape the squash and all the pan drippings into a large sauce pot; if not, scoop it into a large plastic container, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Turn the heat under your sauce pot to medium. Add 1/4 cup honey and 2 Tbsp. minced candied ginger. Stir the mixture well, and when it has heated through completely, blend it in the pot with an immersion blender. 

If you don't have an immersion blender you can carefully ladle the soup in batches into a regular stand blender and process until smooth, being careful to keep the top on the blender to avoid any burns from soup that might fly up out of the top. It doesn't hurt to place a kitchen towel over the top of the blender lid for safety as well.

When the soup is smooth, ladle a serving into a bowl and dollop with some Ginger Honey Lime Peach Jam or some chopped pecans.