One of my friends suggested I make a squash dish for my blog because squash was in season. I’ve had some fabulous butternut squash soups in restaurants. Most of them are delicious but sometimes I can only eat a little bit because they are too sweet for my palate. I thought it may be fun to make a new, less sweet version of butternut squash soup using a green apple and cider. The recipe I created was yummy but I wanted to make sure it could pass the ultimate test, “do my friends like it?”. I took it over to a girlfriend’s house for dinner. She said it was great and complex (test passed!). I felt like I hit the jackpot in my attempt for less sweet but still yummy butternut squash soup.
For this soup, I used two butternut squashes and roasted them. Roasting the squash helps the process of peeling and cubing. Cutting the non-roasted squash in half is tough enough to do. I definitely cursed out the squash a couple times. Make sure to use a sharp, sturdy knife to cut the squash in half. Seed the squash before roasting. After roasting the squash and letting it cool (very important if you don’t want to burn your fingers), it’s so much easier to peel and cube…thank goodness! The hard part is over. Making the rest of this recipe is easy. If you are looking for a creamy, delicious fall soup recipe, you’ve got to try my Butternut Squash and Apple Cider Soup.
BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND APPLE CIDER SOUP
Ingredients
- 2 butternut squashes , roasted, peeled and cubed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- ½ chopped small yellow onion
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 peeled , cored and chopped granny smith apple
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (add more or less depending on how much heat you want)
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the butternut squashes in half. Place halves on aluminum foil covered cookie sheet (for easy clean up). Brush squash halves with olive oil. Salt and pepper each half. Roast the squash for 45 minutes, cut side up.
- When squash is done, remove from oven and set aside. Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onions to saucepan and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
- Add roasted squash and apple to the onions in saucepan. Stir and cook on medium heat for one minute.
- Add the next five ingredients (everything but the cream cheese) to the saucepan. Cook on high until boiling then turn heat down and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove soup from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes. The soup will still have chunky bits of squash, apple and onion at this point.
- In batches, add soup mixture and cream cheese in a blender and puree until smooth. I was able to do this in two batches so I used half the cream cheese (4-ounces or so) in each batch. The cream cheese makes this soup creamy.
- Transfer the pureed soup back into the large saucepan and heat on medium low until warm.
- Serve with hearty bread and enjoy!
Looks great Dayna! Can’t wait to try it.