My *gasp* first pumpkin pie

One might think - considering my love of Thanksgiving (favorite holiday!) and pumpkin and baking - that I would have made countless pumpkin pies in my 21 28 years in this world.

One would be wrong.

I cannot recall ever making a pumpkin pie. I used to ask for pumpkin pie instead of birthday cake, but I never made my own. During my childhood and college, my aunt, uncle or grandma always made the pies for Thanksgiving. I willingly ate my share. After I graduated college, that arrangement remained primarly the same, but I was almost always working on the holiday and would usually just partake in a work potluck. The rest of my family got to feast on my aunt's, uncle's or grandma's pies (which always included a pumpkin pie and a fruit pie, like apple or cherry).

But there have been two Thanksgivings since I got married, and last year, the holiday was soon after we returned from our honeymoon. I honestly think I bought a pre-made frozen pie to simplify my life. I was cooking a turkey for the first time last year and figured one new thing was enough to conquer.

This year, life wasn't any less complex, but I had all of my stock-piled pumpkin and wanted to make a pie.

Full disclosure: I'm weary of pies. I've made them from scratch, including a peach pie I started enthusiastically when I was about 14 and quickly lost patience with ... I love pumpkin pies largely because the whole crust factor is a lesser issue - no lattice on the top, just crimping on the side. And this year, I still went the easy way out with a store-bought crust. But it's progress, people!

My husband loved the pie and said I should make pumpkin pie more often. Will do, babe.

Here's our full spread:


Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.

3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

Source: Libby's

Pie Pops

My friend Darla sent me a link to these cute pops a few weeks ago. I was intimidated but intrigued. Then I found a simplified version posted a few weeks after that and knew I'd be making them. Darla made them before I did (and has made them several times since!) and stressed using lots of egg white (to make them prettier) and to utilize the cornstarch tips (the Luxirare link has been updated with answers to some FAQs).

I struggled finding the perfect size for the cookie cutter - my shapes were either too small for filling or too big to stay on the stick. But they taste amazing regardless, and they were a huge hit.

I ended up with a lot of extra pie filling (I used a total of four pre-made crusts and two cans of filling - cherry and pumpkin) but they were perfect - a whimsical hint of fall's pies, which excites me to no end. The reason I include them in Pumpkin Friday is because the pumpkin truly was the superior flavor. And for someone who can simply not get enough pumpkin pie (I think I've bought at least ten cans of pumpkin already this fall), these are amazing.

I hosted a jewelry party when my friend Lindsey was in town last month and made the pops. They were a hit, even though I ended up taking a lot of them off the stick. The biggest complaint Darla and I have about them are that they are time-consuming, but they are so adorable that it's easy to forget that fact. Until the next time you make them, when you remember all over again :)


And normally I would put the exact, thorough recipe here to make the pops. But seriously, Bakerella explains them clearly. I'll summarize, but I encourage you to check out the above Bakerella and Luxirare links for clarification.

Ingredients:
Refrigerated pie crusts
Pie filling (flavor(s) of your choice)
Egg white
Lollipop sticks (Wilton sells these)

Directions:
Dust flour and/or cornstarch on your preparation area. Unroll your pie crusts. Using a cookie cutter, cut out pieces of dough.


Place one piece of cut-out dough on cookie sheet.

Place a small spoonful of filling on the dough. Place stick on dough/filling area.


Cover with another piece of cut-out dough. Seal edges gently.

Brush dough with egg whites.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

My notes:
Be careful of the size of your cookie cutter. If your cut-out dough is too large, it will fall off the stick. If it's too small, you won't be able to fit any filling on the dough, and it will also take you FOREVER to use up all the dough.

And again, the cornstarch and flour will help make your pie crust cut and come up easier. Keep in mind, though, the more you handle the dough, the harder it gets to rework it. The egg white will make your pops brown and pretty.

Source: Bakerella and Luxirare

Itty-Bitty Pumpkin Pies

When I came across these last week, I nearly fainted. They are quite possibly the cutest pumpkin dessert I'd ever seen. I vowed to make them immediately.

I knew mine wouldn't turn out as pretty as Bakerella's version (cuz let's face it -- she is good). But I can live with that.

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 tspn cinnamon

1/2 tspn ginger

1/2 tspn nutmeg

1/2 tspn salt

2 packages roll-out refridgerated dough

Directions

1. With wire whisk, beat pumpkin, condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt. Set aside.

2. Roll out dough with roller to make it a thinner consistency. Use a pumpkin cookie cutter to create pumpkin shapes, and press the dough into mini-muffin tin, making sure to keep the stem sticking out.

3. Spoon filling into the cups so that it is just about (or slightly less than) full.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of one the pumkins comes out clean and crust is golden brown.

My notes:

*When you roll out the dough, be judicious with how you are cutting out the pumpkin shapes. Cut them out very close together and try to eliminate scraps as much as possible. I figured I would just lump the scraps together and re-roll it out to make more, but the more I handled the dough, the less it wanted to cooperate and stretch out, so handle it and roll it as little as possible.

*Using two packages of the roll-out dough will get you about 24 mini pumpkin pies. With this pumpkin pie recipe, you'll have a LOT of batter left over. Luckily, I had bought frozen pie shells recently, expecting that I would want to make pumpkin pie on a whim. So I poured the rest of the batter into a frozen pie shell and popped it in the oven. For the pie, bake it at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the pie about one inch from the crust comes out clean.


Full disclosure: I added WAY more whipped cream after I took that picture.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

For Round 13 of Operation Baking Gals, I made some Vanilla Cake Mix Coolers
and some pumpkin bread. I went in search of a pumpkin bread recipe and found one that included 1 cup of mini-chocolate chips - just the amount I had left over from the last time I made Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip. Since I'm all about not letting ingredients go to waste, I thought I'd try this one out.

The recipe I found yielded three loaves, which seemed a bit much, but I'm glad I made it. I sent one to our soldier, Josh; part of one to his wife, Kara; a few slices to my friend, Sara; and uh, Tim and I *might* have eaten the rest. Maybe.

Aside from the deliciousness of this moist, rich bread, I was pleased to find a reason to pull out some of the bread pans my grandmother had given me. There are a lot of baking pans that she passed on to me when I moved from Pittsburgh, and I feel like I don't use them enough.

INGREDIENTS

3 cups white sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9x5 inch loaf pans.


2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.


3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

Source: allrecipes.com