Pumpkin Biscuits and Chicken Corn Chowder

Pumpkin Biscuits (makes 8 biscuits):

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
3. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the chilled butter, until it looks like coarse meal, with some pea sized butter pieces remaining.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the pumpkin puree and buttermilk.
5. Then add the pumpkin/buttermilk mixture to the flour.
6. Stir with a fork, but don’t over mix.
7. Then turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead into a ball. It is supposed to be lumpy – that’s what makes them so buttery and crumbly!
8. Then flatten the ball into a disc shape, about 1 inch thick. The disc should be big enough to get 8 biscuits cut out of it.
9. Using a biscuit cutter or some other circle shape (like a cup), cut out 8 biscuits. Or you could use a pizza cutter. I like this method the best (it’s less wasteful) – just cut it like you would a pizza, into 8 pieces.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan half way through baking.

Chicken Corn Chowder:

1. In a skillet melt the butter, and add the onion, potato, bay leaf and sage. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft but not browned.
2. Add the flour, mix well, and cook for about 1 minute.
3. Then whisk in the chicken stock and cream. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, and simmer the soup for about 20 minutes, making sure to stir often.
4. After this time, add the wine, corn and chicken. Simmer until everything is warmed through, about 5 minutes.
5. Remove the bay leaf, and remove the soup from the heat.
6. Stir in the cheese until melted.
7. Serve and enjoy!