Cooking Up Some Fall Fun (Recipes Included)

In honor of the season, our kindergarten through fifth grade students did two cooking projects with pumpkin recently. Third, fourth, and fifth graders made a delicious ginger pumpkin soup, which they shared with the kindergarten, first, and second graders. The younger group made pumpkin cookies, which they shared with the older students.

We're sharing the recipes below. Both can easily be made vegan and gluten free, as we did in classes. Both take 10-15 minutes of cooking time.

Pumpkin Cookies (Serves 28)

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups white sugar

• ½ cup butter or vegan alternative, softened

• 1 ¼ cups of pumpkin puree

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour (we used gluten free flour)

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

• ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients into a bowl until well combined

2. Preheat oven to 350

3. Scoop onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper

4. Bake for 10-15 minutes

Pumpkin Soup (Serves 10)

Ingredients:

• 2 cans pumpkin puree

• 2 cans sweet potato puree

• 2.5 tbsp coconut oil

• 5 cloves garlic minced

• Small piece of ginger grated

• 1 can coconut milk or cream

• 5 cups vegetable broth

• 2.5 tsp paprika powder

• 1.25 tsp turmeric powder

• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients into a stock pot

2. Cook on medium heat for 10-15 minutes

3. Blend before serving