TOP PHOTO: Pumpkin soup in a pumpkin
terrine. Photo courtesy Cristina Ferrare.
BOTTOM PHOTO: Pumpkin soup in a real
pumpkin. Photo by G.M. Vozd | IST.

When was the last time you had pumpkin soup? It seems to have been supplanted by its cousins, acorn squash soup and butternut squash soup.

The multi-purpose fruit was introduced by the Native Americans to American colonists, who turned it into soups, sides, desserts and beer.

You can make pumpkin soup a Halloween tradition. Serve it from a scooped-out pumpkin, invest in a pumpkin tureen, or simply serve it from the pot.

Pumpkin soup is adaptable to different flavors, from anise to chile, curry, and just about any spice on the shelf.

 
The recipe below is from Cristina Ferrare, host of Hallmark Channel’s The Home and Family Show. She flavors the soup with pumpkin pie spices and suggests multiple garnishes so each diner can customize his or her soup. And she uses cream cheese instead of cream, for an even richer soup.

Whether for sophisticated palates or to warm up the kids prior to trick-or-treating, make pumpkin soup part of your Halloween tradition.
 
Trivia: The word pumpkin comes from the Greek pepõn, large melon. The word soup derives from Late Latin suppa, “bread soaked in broth,” from Proto-Germanic sup, “to take liquid.” For many people, yesterdy’s bread soaked in broth was the main meal of the day and also the derivation of “supper.”

Ingredients

 
Garnishes

Use as many of these as you like:

Preparation

1. HEAT a saucepan or stockpot over medium-high heat until hot. Add the olive oil, then quickly add the onions and scallions. Stir.

2. TURN the heat down to medium. Sauté until the onions start to caramelize, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the sherry. Add the cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt, cayenne and pumpkin, and mix well.

3. ADD the chicken stock and stir until all of the ingredients are well blended.

4. LOWER the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, until the soup starts to thicken slightly. If the soup is too thick, add more chicken stock or water, a half cup at a time. Turn off the heat.

5. FILL a blender halfway with the soup and half of the cream cheese, and blend unit smooth. Pour into the soup pot. Continue the process with the rest of the soup and cream cheese until everything has been blended.

6. PLACE the soup pot back on the stove and heat through. Serve piping hot, garnished with a dollop of sour cream, finely chopped scallions, chopped jalapeño and pomegranate seeds; a drizzle of olive, pumpkin or walnut oil; and the pumpkin seeds (recipe below).
 

RECIPE: ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

This recipe is adapted from one from Elise on SimplyRecipes.com. You can see the step-by-step process with photos.

With Elise’s technique, first boiling the seeds in salted water allows salt to permeate the seeds, not just coat the outside. If they’re properly toasted and are from small to medium size pumpkins, she notes, they can be eaten shells and all.

Ingredients

Carve the pumpkin, roast the seeds. Top photo courtesy Starling Farms. Bottom hoto courtesy Elise | Simply Recipes.

 
Preparation

1. USE a strong metal spoon to scrape the seeds and strings from the inside of the pumpkin. Place in a colander and run under water to rinse and separate the seeds.

3. BRING the salted water and pumpkin seeds to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain.

4. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Toss the seeds in oil and spread out in a single layer in a baking pan or rimmed baking sheet.

5. BAKE on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 5-20 minutes, depending on the size of the seeds (small pumpkin seeds may toast in 5 minutes, large pumpkin seeds may take up to 20 minutes). Keep an eye on the pumpkin seeds so they don’t get over-toasted. When lightly browned…

6. REMOVE the pan from the oven and let cool on a rack until ready to serve. Test to see if you enjoy the seeds whole. If not, crack to remove the inner seeds.

Brownies for Halloween. If you want to place an edible spider in your web, sandwich two chocolate wafers with icing and add candy eyes and string licorice legs. Photo courtesy King Arthur Flour.

Need to bring something to a Halloween party? How about a twist on that party favorite, chocolate brownies?

This recipe for Spider Web Brownies is from King Arthur Flour, the source of everything wonderful for baking. Prep time is 18 to 22 minutes, baking time is 28 to 30 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE: SPIDER WEB BROWNIES

Ingredients For 24 Pieces
 
For The Brownies

Notes Prior To Preparation

1. MAKE the brownie base. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan or two 8″ round cake pans.

2. CRACK the eggs into a bowl; add the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder and vanilla and beat at medium speed for about 4 minutes.

3. MELT the butter in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Continue to heat (or microwave) briefly, just until the mixture is hot but not bubbling, 110°F to 120°F. It will become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating the mixture to this point will dissolve more of the sugar, which will help produce a shiny top crust on the brownies.

4. ADD the hot butter/sugar mixture to the egg/cocoa mixture, stirring until smooth. Add the flour and chips, stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the pan(s).

More Halloween brownies: round, bite-size, wrapped in fondant, by Blissful Brownies. Available exclusively at Williams-Sonoma.

6. PLACE a small pool of the mixture in the center of the brownie batter. Draw concentric circles around the pool, about 1 inch apart, moving out from the center. Once the circles are drawn, take a table knife, wet the tip, and draw it back and forth through the circles. The knife will draw the cream cheese filling into arcs. When the arcs are finished…

7. USE the remaining filling in the pastry bag to trace the path where the knife traveled, to create the spokes of the web.

8. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes, until the brownies just barely pull away from the edge of the pan. The center will rise while baking, but will sink back level once the brownies are cool. Remove them from the oven and cool before cutting.

When testing to see if brownies are done, insert a cake tester into the center of the pan, digging around just enough to see the interior. You should see moist crumbs, but no uncooked batter. You’ll be left with a small divot in the center of the brownies; cover it up with a dab of the cream cheese frosting.

[2] Raspberry Pecan Crumble Slab Pie (here’s the recipe) from Driscoll’s.

[3] An Apple Slab Pie. Here’s the recipe (photo © Vermont Creamery).

[4] How about a Blueberry Slab Pie? Here’s the recipe (photo © Pillsbury).

In the 15 years that we’ve been publishing THE NIBBLE, slab pies have been under the radar. They didn’t even make it into the different types of pies collection in the early editions of our Pie Glossary.

Slab pies have been getting a bit of play lately, but when did they originate? We found a recipe in our Mom’s recipe box that dated back to the 1950s.

Surely, they’re older than that. But try as we might, we could find no history of slab pie online. If you have a reference, please let us know.

National Pie Day is January 23rd. February is Great American Pie Month. National Apple Pie Day is May 13th.

> The recipe for Candy Apple Slab Pie is below.

> So is a recipe for Cranberry Meringue Slab Pie.

> Plus, links to even more delicious slab pie recipes.

> The history of pie.

> The different types of pie and pastry.
 
 
WHAT IS A SLAB PIE?

A slab pie is a shallow pie that’s baked in a jelly roll pan or a rimmed baking sheet. It has a much higher crust-to-filling ratio than a standard pie, so it’s definitely for the crust-loving crowd (or the hand pie-loving crowd).

But there’s another reason to make a slab pie: It stretches pricey ingredients like fresh fruit and feeds quite a few more people than a standard 9-inch pie.

In fact, it’s almost as much as two pies!

Nor do you need to roll out two sets of crusts for two pies. Just roll out one crust and make a streusel top if you don’t want to roll out a top crust—although two crusts enable people to eat their slices like a hand pie.

Of course, you can plate it like a conventional slice of pie and top it with ice cream or whipped cream.

You can use any filling in a slab pie; but anticipating the holidays, we have two cranberry recipes below (plus links to other recipes).
 
 
RECIPE #1: CANDY APPLE SLAB PIE

In this recipe from McCormick, prep time is 25 minutes, cook time is 40 minutes. The recipe is faster to make using purchased crusts. To make crusts from scratch, see the recipes below.

This recipe is called “candy apple” because of the red food coloring. Leave it out for a conventional apple slab pie.

You can serve the pie plain, à la mode, with whipped cream, crème fraîche, or mascarpone.

Another favorite of ours: sour cream with a bit of cinnamon and a pinch of sugar. The tartness is a nice contrast to the sweetness of the pie.

Ingredients For 16 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Bring the pie crusts to room temperature according to the package directions.

Unroll the pie crusts and press two of them onto the bottom and sides of a 13×9-inch glass baking dish. Press together the seams of the overlapping crusts in the middle of the baking dish to seal.

2. MIX the sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the apples; toss to coat well. Add the food color; toss to coat well.

Spoon into the pie crust and top with the remaining 2 crusts. Pinch the edges of the top and bottom crusts together to seal.

Cut small slits in top crust (you can make them artistic; see this photo and this one).

3. BAKE for 35 to 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

Another easy McCormick recipe, this pie uses cranberry sauce in the filling instead of having to prepare whole cranberries.

A meringue top replaces the top crust.

Prep time is 25 minutes, cook time is 40 minutes.

Ingredients For 16 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Bring the crusts to room temperature according to package directions. Unroll the pie crusts and press onto the bottom of a 13″ x 9″ glass baking dish. Fold the edges of the crusts under and press them together to form a thick crust edge. Press the seams of the overlapping crusts in the middle of the baking dish together to seal. Pierce the crusts with a fork. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile…

2. MIX 1 cup of sugar and the cornstarch in a large saucepan. Gradually whisk in the cranberry juice until well blended. Whisk in the egg yolks and the cranberry sauce until well blended (some lumps may remain). Whisking occasionally, bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 1 minute.

3. REMOVE from the heat and stir in the orange extract. Pour the hot filling into the baked pie crust. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight until chilled and set. Then…

4. MAKE the meringue. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Mix the remaining 2/3 cup sugar and the cream of tartar in a small bowl. Gradually add the sugar mixture to the egg whites, beating until stiff peaks form.

5. SPREAD the meringue evenly over the cranberry-topped pie, sealing the edges of the crust. Bake 4 to 6 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. For the best results, top and bake with the meringue just before serving.

[1] Candy Apple Slab Pie (photo © McCormick).

TOP PHOTO: BOTTOM PHOTO: Cranberry Meringue Slab Pie (recipe below). Photos courtesy Julie Gransee | Lovely Little Kitchen.

MORE SLAB PIE RECIPES

It turns out that Martha Stewart has been publishing slab pie recipes since 2006. Here are some of them, each with a different crust treatment:

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

For seasonal brunching, we like this Pumpkin-Apple French Toast by Serena Wolf of the blog Domesticate-Me, sent to us by grocery delivery service Peapod.com.

Prep time is 10 minutes, cook time is 15 minutes.

This recipe works best with slightly stale (day-old) bread.For a richer French toast, replace half of the milk with half-and-half. If you don’t want to use butter, substitute coconut milk.

RECIPE: PUMPKIN-APPLE FRENCH TOAST

Ingredients For 4 Servings

For The French Toast

Pumpkin French toast topped with sautéed cinnamon apples. Photo courtesy Domesticate Me | Peapod.

For The Apple Topping

Preparation

1. COOK the apples. Heat the butter in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. When hot, add the apples, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Cook for 5-6 minutes until tender, and then stir in the maple syrup. Cook for 1 minute. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve. (If you prefer very soft apples, cook them for 10-12 minutes before adding the maple syrup.)

2. WHISK together the eggs, pumpkin purée, milk, brown sugar, vanilla extract and spices in a large baking dish (at least 9”x13”).

3. PLACE the slices of bread in the custard mixture and let soak for 5 minutes, turning over the slices halfway through, until most of the liquid has been absorbed into the bread. Gently press on the bread a few times during the soaking process to help it absorb the custard. Meanwhile…

4. HEAT a griddle or large skillet over medium heat. Add a butter to the griddle/skillet. When melted, carefully remove the bread from the custard and place on the griddle/skillet. You’ll probably need to do this in two batches. Cook for about 3 minutes until golden brown. Add another bit of butter, flip the French toast, and cook for another 3 minutes or until golden brown.

5. TRANSFER the French toast to plates and top with the warm apples. Serve with a pitcher of maple syrup on the side.
  

When silicone potholders and oven mitts appeared on the market, we traded in all of our cloth versions for the superior heat protection when baking, cooking and grilling. But lots of the mitts are very clunky, and also sized to fit men’s hands.

Finally, here are women’s silicone oven mitts that are sized right, flexible, and available in 10 colors: Coral Red, Fall Orange, Fuchsia, Lime Green, Mustard Yellow, Navy Blue, Pink, Steel Gray and Teal.

Made in Italy, they appear to be discontinued by their U.S. retailer, because they’re marked down from the original $47.00 to $19.99 with free shipping on orders over $35. Bargain time!

We’re loading up on holiday gifts. We can’t think of too many other $20 items that are as universally needed and long-lasting.

Get yours on Amazon.com.

Teal, one of the 10 colors of these nifty heatproof silicone kitchen gloves.Photo courtesy Love This Kitchen.