Autumn Squash Soup

recipe and image from here

I loved having this sweet soup at Panera, so found a copy cat recipe.

Panera Bread's Autumn Squash Soup
1 extra large butternut squash
2-3 T. extra virgin coconut oil
Salt and pepper to taste
15 oz. pumpkin
1-1/2 c. apple juice
1-1/2 c. vegetable broth
1-1/2 c. half-and-half
1-1/2 T. honey
1/4 t. curry powder
1/2 t. cinnamon
1-1/2 t. sea salt or kosher salt
1/4 t. black pepper
roasted pumpkin seeds for garnish
Preheat oven to 450°.
Peel squash.
Remove seeds and cut in chunks.
Place in baking dish or on cookie sheet and drizzle with oil.
Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Bake at 450° for 25-30 minutes or until fork tender.
Mash squash with a potato masher and place in a large stock pot.
Add pumpkin, apple juice, half-and-half and vegetable broth.
Puree ingredients with an immersion blender until well mixed.
Add honey, curry, cinnamon, salt and pepper and heat through about 10-15 minutes at a low simmer.
To serve, garnish bowls of soup with roasted pumpkin seeds.

NOTE: Adjust the apple juice, vegetable broth and half-and-half according to how large your butternut squash is. If the squash is smaller, decrease liquids. If it’s a whopper you may have to increase this amount. I increased these amounts above the original recipe because I had a whopper butternut squash.

Dee's notes: I just half, clean and roast the squash instead of cutting. I only had apple/pomegranate juice so used that. I used chicken broth instead of veggie. I used a bit of left over sweetened condensed milk with 2% instead of half and half. AND, finally, it didn’t taste as sweet as Panera’s…so I added a little brown sugar. But other than that : ) I followed the recipe!!