I've been craving gingerbread this week and decided to try and make it into an acceptable breakfast ... other than a cookie dipped in coffee.  I've even been on the hunt for a gingerbread man pancake mold ... but I've only found cookie cutters which are a bit too small. Thanks to the Google Gods I did find eons of gingerbread pancake recipes.  So many I didn't know which one to try.  Some with raisins, some with currants, some with cocoa, but I just wanted to stick with a basic gingerbread pancake.

I eenie-meenie-minnie-mowed and clicked through on one of the first listings that came up.  I found one on CDKitchen.com and gave it a whirl (with a couple of my own modifications and additions  ... please take note).

So here's a holiday breakfast recipe that will be both memorable and delicious.

The full list of ingredients at the bottom of the post.  I later added an additional cup of flour, teaspoon of ginger and 1/4 cup of sugar.

Start with adding your dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl.

Next, add your wet ingredients to another bowl and whisk together.

During one of my health nut kicks a couple of years ago I had a nasty introduction to molasses.  You see, I thought it was syrup.  I was going to be healthy and low cal by adding that to my pancakes.  And I drenched my sweet little pancakes in the black, rust-flavored tar.  Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh.

My boyfriend was a champ.  He didn't complain. Ate them all.  Me ... I made some toast instead.

Molasses on milk.

My new art project.

Blend together.  Starting to look like chocolate milk, huh?   Don't drink it though.

Pour wet batter into your large  dry ingredients bowl with the flour, spices, etc.

You may have to scrape the bottom of the bowl a bit.  Molasses doesn't play nice with others.

Blend.

Well bah-humbug.  The batter was runny.  I dipped my finger in and took a taste. This was a no make-up-work-in-my-pajamas day, so I have no photographic evidence of the finger-licking.  But I'll tell you that it tasted like molasses.  Ugh. Now I'm feelin a bit scroogey.

I followed the recipe EXACTLY!   To a T!    (indecently, where does the phrase "to a T" actually come from?)

Anyway, it was a runny, molasses flavored mess.

So, I added a little more love that it needed.

An extra cup of flour.  That helped with the consistency.

Now to put molasses in its place and tweak the flavor.  I added an additional tsp of ginger and a 1/4 cup of sugar.

Mmm.  That helped a whole lot!  Dipped my finger again and now the flavor is more like a gingerbread cookie.  It's ready to go be made into round cake perfection.

A little butter.

A little batter.

A little bubbly.

Flip.

Now that's a leave-for-santa worthy pancake.  I could eat it like a cookie.  But instead of eating with my fingers I'll fancy it up with a bit of butter, maple syrup and festive star fruit.  And of course, a fork and knife.  Still in my pajamas though.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Pancakes

Ingredients

2 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg, beaten

3 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

1) Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  (Flour, spices, sugar, baking soda and powder)

2) In a separate bowl, beat the egg  then add and mix together the milk, molasses and oil.

3) Add wet mixture to dry mixture and blend until combined.  Using a ladle or measuring cup, scoop 1/4 cup of batter onto  a hot greased griddle or skillet. You can use non-stick spray or butter. (I prefer butter for flavor)

4) Turn when bubbles form on the surface and the edges are golden brown.

5) Serve with butter, syrup and festive starfruit.

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I once made this cheesecake on Daytime ... in under 4 minutes!

Now, that being said,  I don't recommend making this in 4 minutes ... you actually need about 45 minutes to put it all together and another hour to bake it.  But, if you've never made cheesecake before, don't be intimidated.  It's actually quite easy.  The hardest part is not eating all the creamy pumpkin-y batter right out of the bowl!

Chef Jim from the Mount Dora Historic Inn gave me a few extra little tips that gives it a little extra panache.  Follow along and I'll make you the star of your Thanksgiving dinner table.

Here's what you'll need ...

As long as you have the right pan, every thing else is a piece of cake.  Pun intended.  If you've made cheesecake before, skip down a bit. If this is your first time, then let me introduce you to the springform pan.

This nifty little inexpensive  dishware can be found at most large-we-sell-anything-and-everything-superstores.  You might also be able to find it at your local grocer.  "What exactly does it do?" you ask.  Well, it has a nice little hinge on the side that, when opened, releases the sides of the pan allowing you to display your cheesecake as a nice perfect whole cake rather than trying to dig it out with spoon. 

(Not that I've ever done that ... ah em.)

Here are the rest of the bits you'll need (full recipe and measurements at the end of the post.)

Some cream cheese, softened to room temperature.  And I do mean room temperature.  If you have a sunny little spot on your counter top, let it sit there awhile and catch some rays while you pull everything else out of your cabinets and refrigerator.  It may take a good hour for it to warm up.

warmed up room temperature cream cheese = easy + creamy cheesecake

cold cream cheese = chunky cheesecake + frustrated baker with sticky bits clogging up their mixer

Catchin my math here?

In addition to cream cheese, you'll need graham cracker crumbs, ginger snaps, butter, eggs, pumpkin pie spices, brown sugar, sour cream, a pinch of salt, and some BOURBON.  (You have to say that last ingredient with your best Southern accent, as if you've taken a swig or two) BOOOOOURBON.

*In my best fake Southern accent*

"Did I say BOURBON?  Why, yes, yes I did say Bourbon.  Pass me some whisk-eh!"

Cooking is always fun in my kitchen.  And while I may laugh and play with my fake Southern accent (as if you could hear me?) I do have a confession.  I don't drink whiskey.  I'm a wine girl.  So walking out of the liquor store with a brown paper bag wrapped around this teeny bottle had me blushing in the same way I did when I was 13 years old and running to the cash register hoping no one saw me buy my first box of "monthly supplies."  Girls, you understand.  Guys, you'll never know, so don't ask.

So, yes, I was blushing and looking over my shoulder to see if any of my small town neighbors would catch me buying whiskey before noon and start spreading rumors that I'd become a "drinkah."

But inviting Jack Daniels into my home for some Thanksgiving baking was the BEST decision I've made this week.  Just WAIT until you taste it.

Now that my confession is over with ... onto the good stuff!  Let's start with the crust, shall we?

For cheesecake, it's really easy.  Just 3 simple ingredients.  Graham cracker crumbs, pinch of brown sugar, and some butter.  Chef Jim suggested a little bonus ingredient. Ginger Snaps.  You can crumble up handful of these spicy cookies in your little food processor.

If you don't have a food processor, you can throw 5 or 6 cookies into a large zip lock bag and crush them with a wooden spoon to make some crumbs.

Now, I have to warn you, if you decide to go this route I will suggest you put the whiskey away.  Unless you want your family to find you in your kitchen with a bottle of bourbon smacking cookies with a spoon.

Just sayin.

Mix them all together ...

Thenn press the crumb mixture firmly into the bottom of the springform pan and up to the sides.  Pop it into the oven at 350 for 10 minutes and then let it cool on a wire rack while you mix the filling.

Step 1 is done.  See, wasn't that easy?

Now on to the fall ingredient that makes this cheesecake extra special ... pumpkin.

Pumkin actually holds A LOT of water.  So, if you want to keep your cheesecake firm, you'll need to soak up some of that water.  Chef Jim gave me a little tip for how to do that ... spreading it out on paper towels.  Simple white un-printed plain ole paper towels.  Fancy, huh?

Spread the pumpkin out onto a layer of 6 to 8 paper towels using a spatula.

When you've got it spread over the paper towel like icing, add another couple of layers of paper towels and press softly to absorb more of the moisture.

Next you want to mix or "cream" together the cream cheese and brown sugar.  Then add the pumpkin and mix some more.

Add your eggs, vanilla and spices and you've got your filling!

When it's all mixed together, scrape the edge of the bowl with a spatula ...

don't lick it ...

not yet anyway... and blend some more until it's nice and creamy.

Then, spread it out onto your baked graham and ginger crust.

Then bake at 350  for 45 minutes to an hour.

TIP! In other cheesecake recipes I've done, it usually calls for a "water bath" in which you wrap the bottom of the springform pan with tinfoil and place the cheesecake in a pan half filled with water while baking.  This is a little precarious because it's heavy ... and it's extremely hot water.

The purpose of the water bath is to keep the cheesecake moist and prevent it from getting dried out around the edges.

Well Jim said I could just stick a pan or bowl in separately and have the same effect.  He does this with his cheesecake as well as his souffles.  Well hallelluah!  I (we) don't have to fret over pulling a gigantic heavy hot "water bath" out of the oven.  Just let the pan/bowl full of water cool before removing.  Brilliant!  Wish I would have known this little short cut last time I made cheesecake.

Step 2 is done.  See ... easy!

Now the final step.

BOOOOURBON.

After the cheesecake is done baking, you'll need to let it cool for an hour and then place it in the refrigerator to chill (overnight or for a couple of hours)

These 3 ingredients will be your topping. A container of sour cream. (Why did I go "lite" on the sour cream, I don't know. Nothing else about his recipe is "lite" and the 20 calories I saved in using this one didn't make a lick of difference I'm sure. Thanksgiving is not for diets, after all. That's what New Years Resolutions are for.)

Add to the sour cream about 2 to 3 cap fulls of Bourbon and a whole lot of shug-ah.

Mix.

Taste.

Mmm.

Check out the Daytime Video here ... [video].

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon Cream

(from the Mount Dora Historic Inn)

CRUST

Mix together the following ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cups finely ground ginger snaps

1 tablespoon brown sugar

4 - 5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

Press crumb mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.  Bake for 6 to 8 minutes (do not allow to brown). Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

CHEESECAKE FILLING

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened and at room temperature

3 large eggs

1 can pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Note for Pumpkin:  Pumpkin holds a lot of water, so in order to make the cheesecake more firm you need to drain some of that water. One quick and easy way to do this is to layer 6 or 7 plain white paper towels and spread the pumpkin over the paper towels.  Next, layer 6 to 7 towels on  top of that and press firmly.  Once the paper towels are soaked through, remove top layer of towels and scrape pumpkin off the bottom layer with a spatula.

Filling: After draining the pumpkin, beat together cream cheese and sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy. Beat in eggs and pumpkin then add spices, salt and vanilla.

Pour your filling on top of crust.  In order to keep the oven "moist" fill a separate cake pan or bowl half way with water and place on the bottom rack of your oven.  BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until edge is set.  Let cool for 1 hour, then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

BOURBON CREAM TOPPING

1 container (16 oz.) sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon bourbon (can also use vanilla in place of bourbon)

Beat together sour cream and sugar.  Then add teaspoon of bourbon.  Spread over top of cheesecake or serve on the side.

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Here's another great pumpkin recipe for the fall coming to us from the B Street House Bed & Breakfast in Virginia City, NV.   There are two things in this recipe that make your taste buds leap off the charts ... it's spicy like gingerbread ... and it has a gooey cream cheese surprise in the middle.

There was one particular spice that I didn't have in my pantry, and while I was shopping for ingredients my jaw it the floor at the price ...  Cardamom.  There was only one brand in our local grocer that carried it and the sucker was 12 bucks.  Sheesh.  Well, if it's expensive, it must be good, right?  This inspired me to do some research.  What's the story behind this pricey spice?  I googled it and found that my $12 bottle was a bargain.  Some spice shops online were charging upwards of $67.  I've just renamed this recipe Fall Harvest Food of the Gods.

Wikipedia says ... "Green cardamom in South Asia is broadly used to treat infections in teeth and gums, to prevent and treat throat troubles, congestion of the lungs and pulmonary tuberculosis, inflammation of eyelids and also digestive disorders. It also is used to break up kidney stones and gall stones, and was reportedly used as an antidote for both snake and scorpion venom." The spice includes volatile oils such as camphor, eucalyptol, and limonene.  Some sites reported it to be used in Ayurvedic medicine and also an effective aphrodisiac.

Well no wonder it's so dang expensive!  It's a absolute cure-all.  Next time I get sick I'm baking some of these babies instead of taking NyQuil.

On with the recipe ...

Hmm.  After taking a glance at this photo,  it looks like I went overboard with the cinnamon again.  Good thing it wasn't with the cardomom!  No ... wait ... it's the pumpkin pie spice that's the big mound in the middle.  They call it "spicy" pumpkin muffins for a reason!  There is almost as much spice as there is flour.  I have a full list of ingredients with the recipe at the bottom of the post.

The stars of this show ...

Cream Cheese.  Take an 8 ounce block and cut it into 12 little cubes.

And of course, the spices.  They even smiled for the occasion.

Add your dry ingredients to one bowl.  Starting with flour ...

The menagerie of spices ...

A whoosh of dark brown sugar ...

And then add your "wet" ingredients to a second bowl.

Starting with canned pumpkin (plain, not the pie filling)

A little oil.  I had to hold this with two hands as I was starting to get messy and lost my "no slip" grip in my fingertips.

Molasses.  I have a funny confession about molasses.  During my go-green-all-natural-hippy phase (I'm still eco-friendly, but lite) I decided I was going to try molasses instead of syrup on my pancakes.  I had been using maple, which is natural but high calorie.  I thought this would make a low-cal natural alternative.  Buwhahahaahahahahah!

It was my first time trying the tar-like sap.  Took me a year to try it again.  But only in it's proper use as a "blended" ingredient.

Buwwwahhhahahahah!

I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.  Enough with the self-deprecating confession.  Needless to say I didn't lick this bowl.

Add two eggs, a cap full of vanilla and whip together.

Then add to your BIG bowl of dry ingredients and whip together some more.

Spoon into muffin cups.  If you know a non-messy trick to doing this, please let me know!

I usually just wipe down the pan with a wet paper towel to erase the splatter.  I know on TV and in cookbooks it always looks so neat and tidy ... but I bet the reality is there is someone just behind the camera wiping down the messy spoon drippings too.

Press the cream cheese cubes into the center of each muffin cup.  Resist the temptation to pop them in your mouth.  Resist!

Sprinkle with chopped walnuts and pop em in the oven at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

Voila!  Spicy Pumpkin Muffins. Fall Harvest Food of the Gods.

B Street House Bed & Breakfast

Spicy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 Cups flour

1 Cup dark brown sugar

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 Cup cooked or canned pumpkin (not pie filling)

2/3 Cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1 tsp molasses

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 Cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease or spray with butter-flavored oil spray 12 muffin tins or line with paper baking cups.

2) Stir together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Mix together the pumpkin and wet ingredients.  Stir into dry ingredients until blended.  Fill muffin tins 3/4 of the way full.

3) Divide cream cheese into 12 equal portions.  Put one portion in each muffin in the middle of the muffin batter, pressing down.  Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

4) Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the muffin part.  Let cool for a bit then serve!

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My mom recently gave me a terracotta apple baker ... so I was DELIGHTED when Susanne at Arthur Morgan House Inn sent me a recipe that gave me the opportunity to use it.

As I read on through the recipe I realized it was stove top.  Bummer!  So I decided to try it both ways ... sauteed and oven baked.

A sort of apple cook-off.  A contest.  A duel.  An absolute apple taste test.

Maybe it's because I was just having one of those frustrating weeks where stress started creeping in because I had a lot of projects started and nothing finished.  So slicing and chopping apples was just the outlet I needed for releasing some energy.

Get your apples on the counter.  LOTS and LOTS of apples.  Any variety that's available.  A mix of tart and sweet.  I used gala, granny smith and fuji.

The recipe was sort of wingin' it ... no exact measurements.  It's a fun way to cook ... a dash here and a dash there ... but difficult to duplicate and share!  Susanne is delightful through email, and I can tell she's been making these for so long that it just comes naturally to her.  So, I've "winged it" and made up some measurements form Susanne's list of ingredients that worked pretty well and added one of my own ... cinnamon.

You'll need ... about a teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (our local grocer didn't carry whole nutmeg, so I used some already grated.) Also, about a teaspoon of freshly grated ginger (another item our grocer was out of.  Sheesh! And I love freshly grated ginger.  I was too impatient to wait 2 days for their next shipment to come in, so I used some I had in my spice rack as a standby.)A teaspoon of cinnamon (after I re-read the recipe, realized this was my own addition!  Whoops!  I just couldn't imagine apples without cinnamon). Add to that some lemon juice, vanilla and a handful of raisins.

I used the same ingredients for baking as I did for the stove top  ... we'll see which produces a better apple!  (Hint: It takes a little more time, but so worth it.  Follow along ...)

I'm gonna show you the baked apples first, then the sauteed Arthur Morgan House Apples.

For the baked apples, I sliced and cored them but kept the peels in tact.  I did it such a way that the whole apple was still connected by the skin at the bottom.  A little tricky, as you have to sort of pull the apple back through the slicer.  Don't pull your finger through at the same time!  Unless ... of course ... you're making this recipe for Halloween and are going for the whole bloody-apples-with-finger-bits kind of dish.  But that's just plain gross.

I thought it would later make a nice presentation with a big scoop of ice cream in the middle.

I needed a little leverage on some of these firm apples, so I stepped up on a stool to throw my weight into this coring thing.  So THIS is how Julia Child felt hovering over her counter tops.  Aaah.  It's nice to be tall ... even just for a moment.

All the apples nestled nicely in their little baker.

Despite my unfruitful search for fresh ginger and whole nutmeg to grind ... I did find a lonely lemon.  I roll lemons on the cutting board a bit to get it a bit more juiced up.

Here's where I let the photos tell the story for a bit.  A little lemon, a dash of vanilla ...

GASP!  At this point I remembered my spices.  Too late.  The apples have already started soaking up the lemon and vanilla and boy-o-boy did it pour quick.   Ah well.  Rethink.  Revise.  Sprinkling it is.  I guess it is possible that the spices would have just stuck to the bowl?  (making myself feel better anyway!) Now I'll just be more precise with how to sprinkle them?  At least each apple got a little extra love and some undivided spice attention.

Well ain't that symmetrical?

Strategically place some raisins and you're ready to go!

We are now up to our elbows in apples and I realized I got a little carried away.  For the sauteed apples I should have PEELED them first, then chopped.   Now we've got to peel them all individually and I'm having flashbacks to stories of my grandfather talking about how peeling potatoes in the army was sort of a punishment.  I guess I'm paying my penance  for any wrong doings of the week.  I may have to pour some autumn sangria to get through this tedious task!

Assuming you're smarter than me, and actually peeled your apples before slicing, then this process should be pretty quick.  Next, add your naked apples to a warmed up saute pan (medium heat) with the same juice/vanilla/spice concoction listed above for the baked apples.

Pour on the raisins ...

Reduce heat to low/medium and stir every 5 to 10 minutes until the apples have absorbed all the spices and they turn into a gooey compote.

So, is it the sauteed apples ...

Or the baked apples that passed the taste test?

Both were excellent and immediately devoured with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  If you're into the dessert for breakfast sort-of-thing.  Susanne says guests love it served warm either solo, with cereal or yogurt.  I would even spoon it on toast.

The baked apples were a little less sweet.  The sauteed much more tender and syrupy.  Hands down, I'd say I preferred the stove top version. Turned out much tastier!  Well, at least I can use the apple baker as a serving dish!

Arthur Morgan House Apples

Peel and slice apples of several varieties into a large sauce pan with grated fresh ginger, fresh grating of nutmeg, a handful of raisins, a splash of lemon juice, and a dribble of good-quality vanilla (Susanne recommends Sunny Caribee's Vanilla Vanilla from the British Virgin Islands).  Cook over low-medium heat until apples are tender.  Taste as you go and you'll find the right balance of flavors.

**Susanne recommends mixing a little of this compote into the batter next time you make banana bread. Mmm.

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Even though breakfast is my favorite food group, I do eat other foods.  For instance, I love fish.  I just don't usually cook them.  If it wiggles, has scales, gills, tales, and ESPECIALLY eyeballs ... I can't see it until it's prepared.  Call me squeamish, but I just can't look my food in the eye.  I know, some day I'll have to face my fear and chop off a fish head and roll some sushi ... but today is not that day.

So that made things real interesting when I received a couple of recipes from Elisse at the Elkhorn Inn in West Virginia.  She refers to her husband, Dan, as Hot Chef.  He's definitely a huntin-fishin-spear-em-up-cook-em-out-on-the-grill type of manly man.  Retired from the US Army and a chef, he's the type that you'd want to be-friend on the show Survivor.  When it comes to smokin, roastin and grillin ... guests from NYC say he can kick Bobby Flay's butt any day.

But I'm a girlie girl.  I can't look my food in the eye.  I was even considering buying a barbie pink grill yesterday ... and unless my foodie friends came over it would probably only see vegetables.  So ... I tackled the one recipe that didn't involve prepping fresh fish or smoking ribs (although I'll love eating them both!).  Pumpkin Mango Soup.

Pumpkin and mango are two ingredients I can handle and I've never had them married together in one dish before ... so this is the dish I tried.  Call it a "brunch" recipe.  It would actually make a great Thanksgiving appetizer so it fits perfectly with the season.

This is a signature dish at the Elkhorn Inn and the ingredients are simple, fresh and it's one of my favorite regional cuisines ... Thai.  Call me a nut for peanuts, but it's pure comfort food for me.

Here's what you'll need ...

2 Cups chicken broth, 2 cups pumpkin puree, 1 1/2 cups mango nectar, 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter, 2 teaspoons rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoons minced green onions, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon  crushed red pepper, 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind, 1 garlic crushed garlic clove, and candied ginger for garnish.

There are a lot of ingredients in here that individually are my favs ... ginger, garlic, peanut butter, pumpkin, mango ... so it's gonna be real interesting to mix them all together.  Similar to gathering all your unique friends over for a party ... will they all get along?

Combine the chicken broth, mango nectar and pumpkin puree in a large pot.

(Make sure to get plain pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling!)

Mmm.  It's getting steamy.  Can you smell it?  Yum!  And we haven't even added the good stuff yet.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

While it's simmering, you can prep the other ingredients.  Such as chopping your green onions ...

And grating fresh ginger.  Jaden with www.SteamyKitchen.com actually shared this little secret trick with me last weekend when we were playing around in my kitchen.  She had an awesome recipe for wings that had a hint of ginger. And all this time I had been "chopping" my ginger.  Sheesh! What was I thinking?  This was one of those "aaaaaaah" moments where I realized I could save a ton of time AND pull out a lot more flavor.

Take off the skin/bark ..

And then grate.  (I'm gonna try making some ginger tea now with this new little trick.)

Then some orange ...

Now your kitchen should smell fresh and clean ... orange and ginger zest molecules floating all around.

Scoop out about a cup of the soup mixture into a bowl or measuring cup.

Then add in the chunky peanut butter and stir until dissolved.  Add back into the soup pot.

Stir in the rice vinegar ...

green onions ...

ginger and orange ...

red pepper ...

... and garlic.  Just use a garlic smasher and squeeze it right into the pot.

Stir together an let it simmer for about 3 to 5 minutes.

Chop up some fresh cilantro.

Garnish and serve!

This soup was really fabulous.  You can really taste all the flavors ... they DID get along!  First the mango, then the bite of ginger, then creamy peanut, and then a latent heat from the red pepper.  Yum.

Elkhorn Inn's Pumpkin Mango Soup

Ingredients

2 Cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups mango nectar

2 cups pumpkin puree

1/4 cup chunky peanut butter

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons minced green onions

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 garlic clove, crushed

Garnish:  fresh chopped cilantro, sugared ginger slices, mango slices

Directions

1) Combine chicken broth, pumpkin puree and mango nectar in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

2) In a large cup or bowl, combine 1 cup of the hot pumpkin soup mixture with the peanut butter and stir until well blended, then return mixture to pot.

3) Stir in vinegar and the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 3 minutes until the flavors have blended and it's heated through.  Pour into soup bowls and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.  Serve with a thin slice of mango and sugared ginger.

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