buttery, cinnamon-y holiday winter squash

As soon as the first chill in the air arrives, I begin to crave the tastes of spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice. Okay, maybe a little ginger, but it's not one of my favorites - small doses. And with fall and winter (and holidays') migration to more roasted and baked comfort cooking, I love this buttery, spicy, creamy winter squash creation on the side.

Very easy to prepare from frozen winter squash puree, but if you had a bumper crop of acorn and butternut squash in your garden this year, by all means use your bounty. If you use fresh squash, be sure to bake it with butter and brown sugar in the center! If simply using a frozen puree, follow my adaptation of another mouth-watering recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Prairie" by Stephen Langlois.

Ingredients:

One 10 ounce package frozen pureed winter squash, thawed

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 tablespoons milk or cream

Salt to taste

Simply heat thawed pureed squash and add butter. When butter is melted entirely, incorporate honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and milk or cream. Season to taste with salt.

Makes approximately 3 to 4 servings and is easily doubled.