This silky, slightly sweet soup is a fitting starter for various holiday entrées, including roast turkey, ham, or pork tenderloin. Bourbon enhances the natural sweetness of the pumpkin.
I'm not sure what others did with the recipe, but as written, I found this AH-mazing! It is DELICIOUS! I eat "clean" so all my ingredients were fresh - 3.5 cups fresh pumpkin puree in place of the canned, pure maple syrup (rather than one made with HFCS), and all natural, no preservatives/no added sweeteners apple cider. Perhaps added sugars and poor ingredients were the culprit in making it too sweet for the above reviewer. I eyeballed the onion and the ginger, so it's likely I used more than what was called for.
As the recipe is written this soup is like a dessert. It's way too sweet. Not sure if it's even worth doctoring the leftovers as no one wants to try it again.
With modifications described below it was good - left it a bit chunky and also added minced jalapeno peppers for a bit of fire - fresh grated asiago on top and served with fruited autumn pork tenderloin and a fresh spinach salad and fresh bread for an easy sunday dinner with family.
I understand the criticisms of this recipe and here are my suggestions. 1) Use double onions 2) Use triple garlic 3) Add a third cup of lite salt soy sauce 4) If you like some texture in the soup w/the onions then don't bother blending. 5) Expect to accompany the soup w/say bread and melted cheese or something like that. This soup is very simple to put together and definitely has a Holiday feel to it. I did find it a little sweet unmodified. The ease of the recipe makes it reliable in a Holiday time crunch and while it may not be the show stopper of the Holiday dinner, it is still a good soup and would be fine on a Holiday table or just as something a little special for lunch in the Fall.
