Great Lakes Brewery Pumpkin Ale

15 pumpkin-infused food & booze offerings in Toronto

This Thanksgiving weekend your serving of pumpkin will likely come in pie form. But that's not the only way to get your orange gourd fix in 2012. Restaurants, brewers, bakers and other local businesses in Toronto seem to always be coming up with new and inventive ways to serve up pumpkin during the Fall season. Here are 15 that caught my attention.

Beer
Mill Street Brewery (Nightmare on Mill Street) and Great Lakes Brewery (Pumpkin Ale) let you pour and sip your pumpkin. The breweries' autumn ales blend pumpkin pie, spices and hops into each bottle.

Butter
Need a new spread for your toast? Williams Sonoma sweet pumpkin butter ($18) is made from ripe pumpkins, pecans, lemon juice and spices.

Cake
The Flaky Tart is making traditional pies, but they also offer a pumpkin spice Bundt cake that's loaded with cream cheese icing and has a drizzle of caramel on top ($4.50 each).

Cocktails
Over at the Evergreen Brick Works, Café Belong makes pumpkin syrup that can be added to everything from soda pop to bourbon.

Cookies
In addition to their great value pumpkin pie ($10.62), Fabarnak is also fusing pumpkins with whoopie pies resulting in the too good to be trendy pumpkin whoopie cookie with a maple cinnamon filling. Yes, they are making pumpkin cupcakes too.

Crème Brulee
If you burn the pie, Prime at the Windsor Arms offers a more decadent alternate. A crème brulee that's infused with pumpkin puree, and served with a side of maple shortbread ($12).

Loaf
Desmond and Beatrice make a moist loaf that tastes like a pie's been baked right into it ($14). Summerhill Market's version is topped with crunchy pumpkin seeds ($8).

Loose Tea
Skip the chain store spiced latte for Pumpkin Cream Rooibos Tea ($6-12) from Herbal Infusions Premium Tea Company.

Pancakes
Pumpkin, it's what's for breakfast. At least it is at the Bloordale Pantry where fluffy pumpkin pancakes are topped with a maple syrup whip cream ($8.99)

Pasta
Epicure Café stuffs their ravioli with pumpkin, nutmeg and ginger before tossing them in a creamy, Parmesan sauce ($15).

Roti
One Love Vegetarian lines their roti shells with Jamaican pumpkin filling that's seasoned with onions, garlic, spices and cooked in coconut oil. ($6.25/small $10.25/large).

Scones
Cob's Bread folds pumpkin puree and tart cranberries into their scones ($7 for four).

Scoops
Sweet and creamy, Ed's Real Scoop churns pumpkins into their pints ($7.50).
Consider yourself more of a gelato eater? Hollywood Gelato makes a pumpkin pie version ($8.95/pint).

Soup
Jean's Vegetarian Kitchen transforms the earthy, slightly bland pumpkin into a flavourful, creamy and hearty soup ($3.50).

Stuffed Pumpkin
Sticking a tea light into a pumpkin just isn't as cutting edge as it used to be. For fall, Zee Grill roasts an entire miniature pumpkin and stuffs it with seafood succotash.


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