Most people associate pumpkin with only two things: pumpkin pie and jack o’ lanterns. What we often forget is that this fantastic squash has many other uses. It can easily cross the border between sweet and savory. This Halloween, be more adventurous with your pumpkin! Here are four fantastic uses for pumpkin:

1. Pumpkin Soup Bowls
(Makes 1 soup bowl)

Happy Halloween!

Ingredients:

1 small cooking pumpkin

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the top off of your pumpkin and carve out the inside, removing all of the pumpkin goop—just like carving pumpkins when you were little!

2. Sprinkle the inside of the pumpkin with the sugar and salt.

3. Bake on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes, until the inside of the pumpkin becomes relatively dry.

For squash soup recipes, visit the Culinary Society Blog at http://cuculinary.wordpress.com/?s=soup. This recipe can be made with any squash you like!

2. Pumpkin Risotto
(Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

½ C olive oil

½ onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 C Arborio rice

1 C white wine

4 C chicken stock

1 pumpkin, (Roast half of it at 350 degrees until soft. Carve out the flesh and puree. Peel and cut the other half into a small dice. Sauté with butter in a skillet until tender.)

½ C grated parmesan

2 tbsp. butter

Sage leaves

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil. Add in onion and garlic and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat.

2. Add in the wine and stir until the liquid is absorbed. Add in chicken stock half a cup at a time. Each time, stir until the liquid is almost completely absorbed before adding in more liquid. This process should take about 30 minutes.

3. Once rice is cooked to al dente, add in the diced and pureed pumpkin. Stir until evenly distributed. Add in parmesan and butter. Stir until melted.

4. Serve and garnish with sage leaves.

3. Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
(Serves 36)

Cookie Ingredients:

2 ½ C flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. nutmeg

½ tsp. cloves

½ tsp. salt

½ C softened butter

1 ½ C sugar

1 C pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Frosting Ingredients:

2/3 C butter, softened

2—8 oz. packages of cream cheese, softened

1 1/3 C powdered sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp. molasses

1 tbsp. milk (for glossy finish)

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt) together in a large bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla and beat until creamy. Steadily mix in dry ingredients in three batches.

3. Drop dollops of the dough on a greased cookie sheet (about 1 tbsp. per cookie). Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Cool after baking.

4. While the cookies cool, make the frosting. Cream the butter together with the cream cheese. Add in the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add in zest, molasses, and milk. Beat until smooth.

5. Frost the cookies and serve!

4. Pumpkin Dessert Soup
(Serves 4-6)

This recipe is essentially a melted pumpkin ice cream. If you throw it into an ice cream machine, it will taste fantastic frozen.

Ingredients:

2 C whole milk

2 C heavy cream

¾ C sugar

5 egg yolks

1 whole egg

1 inch piece of whole ginger root, sliced

½ tbsp. whole cloves

2 sticks of cinnamon

About 10 oz. pumpkin puree

½ C crushed gingersnaps
Directions:

1. In a saucepan, bring milk and cream to a simmer and add the ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. Let steep for 1 hour. Strain out the spices

2. Bring the milk and cream to a simmer again and dissolve half of the sugar into the milk and cream. In a separate bowl, whisk yolks and egg together with the sugar. Slowly add one and a half cups of the hot milk-cream mixture to the eggs, whisking the whole time. Slowly add the egg-milk-cream mixture back to the saucepan, whisking the whole time. Cook on very low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture thickens to a consistency that can coat the back of the spoon, remove from heat. Do NOT let it boil.

3. Strain the mixture and stir in the pumpkin puree. Add vanilla and ground spices to taste. Top with crushed gingersnaps.