5 Fall Pumpkin Recipes From Louisville Chefs & Foodies (2024)

• 1 cup canola oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon of cream
• 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 F.

• Grease and flour a 13 x 9 rectangular pan

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, pumpkin and eggs.

• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

• Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and mix just until well combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake 15-20 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the cream cheese, vanilla and butter and beat until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Once incorporated, beat icing until fluffy. Ice the bars once they are cool.

• 1 medium butternut squash pumpkin peeled and quartered with seeds removed
• 5 ounces heirloom wax beans cleaned and trimmed
• 2 ears of fresh corn husk removed
• 4 ounces fresh carrot juice
• 2 ounces fresh lemon juice
• 1 ounce miso paste
• 1 tablespoon roasted garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 cup arugula
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon freeze-dried corn powder

• Place butternut squash in a shallow roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and then cover with aluminum foil. Roast in a 300 F. oven for 35 minutes or until easily pierced with a knife. Once done, remove from the roasting dish and let cool to room temperature. Dice the squash into bite-sized pieces. Place corn and wax beans on a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. Grill the beans and corn until lightly charred. Allow to cool to room temperature. Once cool, cut the kernels off the charred corn and place into a bowl. Cut charred wax beans into bite-size pieces and add to the corn along with the butternut square. In a blender, add carrot juice, lemon juice, miso paste, roasted garlic and salt. Turn blender on medium and slowly drizzle in olive oil until emulsified. Add arugula to the corn/bean/squash mixture and drizzled with the carrot vinaigrette. Toss to combine and plate on a large serving dish. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and corn powder and serve.

• 2 pounds fresh pumpkin roasted and pureed
• 2 cups yellow onions diced into small pieces
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1 teaspoon 5-spice powder
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• ¼ cup shredded Parmesan
• Salt and pepper to taste

• In a saucepan, heat 6 cups of vegetable stock and keep it on low heat.

• In a separate medium to large saucepan, heat the canola oil. Add the yellow onions and toast the arborio rice for a couple of minutes while stirring occasionally. Once the onions are opaque, add 2 cups of vegetable stock, thyme, bay leaves and 5-spice and stir occasionally. When the rice absorbs most of the vegetable stock, add two more cups and repeat until all the stock absorbs into the rice. If there’s not enough liquid, you can add a touch of hot water to finish the risotto.

• Fold in the pumpkin puree after all the liquid has been absorbed. Take the bay leaves and thyme sprigs out and add the Parmesan and salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Bread

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for the pan
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs lightly beaten
• One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
• 2 teaspoons fine salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2/3 cup water

Bourbon Caramel Sauce

• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons Corn Syrup
• Pinch of Sea Salt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon of Maker's Mark bourbon
• 4 tablespoons of salted butter
• 1 teaspoon of Mexican Vanilla

Pumpkin Bread

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• Butter and flour two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

• Stir together the sugar and oil in a large bowl until well combined, then add in the eggs one at a time, then end with combining the pumpkin.

• Stir together the sifted flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and cloves in a medium bowl and whisk until well combined. Combine half the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and stir to combine. Next, add in half of the water and stir until combined, then continue to alternate with dry ingredients and the water, ending with dry ingredients.

• Divide the batter between the prepared loaf pans. Bake approximately one hour until the loaves are golden brown. Test with a toothpick to see if the batter has set. Cool the bread in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool for at least an hour on the wire rack.

Bourbon Caramel Sauce

• Combine the sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Cook the sauce until it reaches a light to medium brown, about 10 minutes. Once the sauce is a light to medium brown, remove from the heat and add in cream and bourbon. Be careful as the sauce will bubble and steam, but continue to stir and add in the butter and vanilla. Pour sauce into a Mason jar or bowl and allow it to cool and thicken. Serve over freshly baked pumpkin bread. Sauce will need to be refrigerated in an air-tight container and then slowly reheated in the microwave or on low in a saucepan.

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 stick 4oz butter, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup full-fat buttermilk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups pumpkin puree
• 10 ounces mini dark chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• If using a non-stick pan, spray the pan lightly with non-stick baking spray. If your pan is not non-stick, grease and flour each loaf cavity.

• Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice to a medium-sized bowl and stir with a wire whisk to combine.

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the butter, vegetable oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until mixture is light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. Stop now and then to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

• Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl and beating on medium speed for 20 seconds after each addition.

• In a small bowl, add buttermilk, vanilla, and pumpkin puree and whisk to combine.

• Add the pumpkin-buttermilk mixture and the dry ingredients in alternating additions, beating on low speed after each addition just long enough to combine: flour-pumpkin-flour-pumpkin-flour-pumpkin-flour.

• Stir in the mini chocolate chips.

• Distribute the batter evenly among mini-loaf cavities; the batter should come almost to the top of each cavity.

• Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in one of the loaves comes out batter-free.

• Allow the loaves to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then gently remove using a small spatula or butter knife to a wire rack to cool completely.

• 1 5-6 pound pumpkin for cooking
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ lb. fresh chestnuts
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup of liquid cream
• Salt
• Pepper
• Grated Nutmeg
• 4 cups of chicken broth
• 1 cup of crème fraîche
• ½ cup of sautéed smoked, thick hickory bacon

• Remove the flesh from the pumpkin, then cut the pumpkin meat into small chunks.

• Cut the onion into medium-thick slices.

• Shell the chestnuts before cooking. The best way to do this is to slit the chestnuts then plunge them into small amounts of boiling water for two minutes. Take them from the water, and while still hot, peel the outer shell off.

• In a Dutch oven, brown the sliced onion in the olive oil, then add the pumpkin meat, minced garlic and fresh chestnuts. Season with grated nutmeg.

• Add chicken broth and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.

• At the end of cooking, check the chestnuts for tenderness. Some can be reserved for decoration.

• Mix the soup and put it back on the stove over medium heat, stirring, so it remains hot. Add some broth and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Finally, add the liquid cream then cook for three more minutes.

• Ladle soup into bowls, add a spoonful of crème fraîche, and sprinkle with pieces of chestnuts and bacon.