Spicy Butternut Squash Bisque

I love squash. I think I'm one of the only people in my family who loves it, but hey, more for me ;-). So when I read this recipe for a Butternut Squash Bisque, I thought yum. I mean, who doesn't like bisque?

Okay, maybe some people, LOL. I love it personally.

I should have been smart and read the reviews/comments first for this bisque. As I was making it and adding the chipolte peppers, I was thinking, "man, this is going to be spicy." But I figured, hey, it was a Better Homes and Gardens recipe, how spicy could it be?

FIRE. That's how spicy. I mean, I like spicy food. Love buffalo wings, love salsa. But this soup, even after I REMOVED the chipoltes halfway through was FIRE.

So, if you're going to make this, I recommend only using one or a half of a chipolte pepper or using some cayenne pepper instead. I ended up tempering the fire (some) with extra cream and sour cream. But it was still SO spicy.

Spicy-good, though, I do have to say. This was a DELICIOUS soup, even with the super spicy part. I added smoked applewood cheddar to it, and had, uh, five bowls over the course of two days ;-) So it wasn't intolerably hot (but boy, was I glad I removed the chipoltes early on. If I had left them in and blended them in...it would have been inedible, IMO) but VERY spicy.

I used 1 fresh butternut squash, 2 honeycrisp apples (since those were what I had in my kitchen), apple juice (didn't have any cider) and the only-added-for-a-few-minutes chipoltes. Other than that, I used all the ingredients listed in the original recipe.

This is REALLY yummy, so I will be making it again. Just with less heat ;-)

Shirley