{TWD} Sour Cream Pumpkin Tart

I love pumpkin pie. More specifically, I love a particular pumpkin pie. In fact, at my daughter's recent wedding, she had pie rather than wedding cake, and requested that the caterer make our Molasses Spice Pumpkin Pie recipe as one of the flavors. The caterer, a wonderful restaurant in central New York called Circa, was happy to oblige. Additionally, Circa put the pie on their own menu the day before the wedding. Apparently it sold out quickly.

I will eat just about any pumpkin pie, even though they typically fall short of pumpkin pie perfection of our family recipe, and I'm always happy to try a new pumpkin pie recipe (but I usually sneak in extra spices!)

This week the assigned recipe for the Tuesdays With Dorie baking group is Sour Cream Pumpkin Tart (Pie) which was a perfect choice because we could all bake this as our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie last week and post it today. And you can bake it now, just in case you're like me and didn't get enough pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving day.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- Judy of the blog Judy's Gross Eats is hosting this week's pumpkin selection. Head over to her blog for the recipe.

- Dorie Greenspan gives two alternate ways to present this pumpkin dessert: as a traditional pie or baked into a tart shell. I'd never baked a pumpkin tart, so this is the route I chose.

- I made 1/4 recipe, which yielded enough filling for one little tart and two ramekins.

- Instead of light brown sugar, I used dark brown, and a spiced dark rum rather than plain rum.

- Because I'm all about the autumn spices, I generously heaped the measure of the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and added a bit of black pepper.

the verdict:

I served one of the ramekins to JDE, and this was our conversation:

JDE: "this stuff is really good."
me: " I added some extra spices. Do you think it's too spicy?"
JDE: "Is that even possible?"

Later, I got to taste the tart myself. The recipe makes a very good pumpkin filling and I was glad I'd experimented with tart dough (rather than the more common pie crust). The added spices gave it a little kick, which was beautifully mellowed by the sour cream in the recipe and some additional softly whipped heavy cream on top.

While I can't say that this recipe reaches the pinnacle of perfection of my usual favorite pumpkin pie, it was a lovely tart, and I'd gladly eat it again. Most of all, I'm grateful for the technique of adding pumpkin filling to a tart shell, which I will definitely keep in my repertory.

Today's other TWD recipe was Normandy Apple Tart, which I posted here.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cider Cream

I make no secret of my love for All Things Pumpkin. I'll happily bake and cook with pumpkin on a year-round basis, but the cool, crisp and/or blustery weather of Autumn makes pumpkin recipes all the more appealing.

Most pumpkin dishes employ a sweet spiced flavor profile, such as my favorite pumpkin pie or my two favorite pumpkin bread recipes. When it comes to dinner selections, however, I prefer the savory ones. I have a pumpkin soup recipe that I love (which I have shared here in the past), but when I saw this recipe for a savory Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cider Cream from Williams-Sonoma, I had to give it a try.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- You can find the soup recipe here. The recipe has several steps, but they can be done in stages. The pumpkin could be roasted days in advance, and the same with the reduced cider.

- Although the recipe directs cutting the whole pumpkins in quarters to roast, I roasted mine in halves, drizzled with olive oil and pepper. I added the salt later, because I thought it might draw the moisture out of the pumpkin as it roasted.

- I love that this recipe combines the flavors of sage and nutmeg.

- To finish the soup, the recipe has a lovely whipped cream flavored with concentrated cider. Rather than reducing a bunch of cider, I used boiled cider from King Arthur Flour, and the cream was perfectly flavored.

- I found that a half recipe made a big vat of soup.

the verdict:

My husband, who is definitely not the pumpkin fan that I am, said when he tasted his soup, "This is perfection." Don't tell anyone, but I was actually a bit disappointed by his reaction, because it meant less leftover soup for me!

By itself, the soup by was very very good but adding the cider cream completely balanced the flavors. The cider cream was not really sweet per se but it added a smoothing, slightly fruity note to the herby savory mixture of vegetable flavors in the soup. I can't wait to make this recipe again!

I'm sending this wonderful soup to my buddy Phyl to add to his pumpkin dinner roundup.

Red Kuri Squash Soup and my 400th Post!

Back when I began my blog I might have - rashly - thought that of course I'd still be blogging 29 months later, but from my current vantage point I'm a bit surprised that I'm still at it, writing, photographing, and posting the food that I prepare and that we eat. And although I was tempted to reach back into my stack of draft blog posts - my backlog hovers at around 150 posts at varying stages of readiness, for this my 400th post I will feature a recipe that I made yesterday.

At dinner last evening I was telling my family that my next post would be my blog's 400th and that I was unsure which recipe to use. My husband stopped, soup spoon halfway to his mouth and said, "Post this soup." So here it is, Red Kuri Squash Soup from Dorie Greenspan's newest book, Around My French Table. And really, it's only fitting that I use a recipe of Dorie's because it is her previous book, Baking From My Home to Yours and the baking group Tuesdays With Dorie that got me started on the whole blogging enterprise.

I'll be honest, here. Before today I'd never eaten kuri squash in my life. But it was pretty much a mission for me this fall. When cool weather hits, or when it hits places that have cool weather, the food world fairly explodes with recipes for winter squashes: butternut, pumpkin, acorn, and lesser known types such as kabocha, delicata, and kuri.

I was walking through the produce section of Whole Foods a few weeks ago and pounced when I saw a display of kuri squash. Luckily winter squash has a long shelf life, even if that shelf happens to be my kitchen counter, and yesterday's stormy weather gave me just the excuse to cut into that kuri and make some soup.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The soup is beyond simple to make. Dorie shared the method in this post on her blog.

- The recipe calls for simmering the squash and some leeks in equal parts of milk and water. Luckily I had some leeks in the fridge, but I was running a bit short on milk. It was far too cozy and dry in my house for a run to the grocery store, so I mixed in a lot of half-and-half, a bit of milk, and some water. A little extra butterfat never hurt a soup. I'm sure the French would agree.

- After half an hour or so of simmering, I used my immersion blender to puree the soup right in the 4 quart soup pot. There was at least 2 quarts of soup, and given that two of the three humans in our household don't care for squash, I was pretty sure I'd be giving away several pints of soup.



the verdict:

My daughter wandered into the kitchen as I was pureeing the soup and readying it for its photo session. We had a late afternoon soup snack together. Her reaction? "Mom, I love this soup. Don't give any of it away."

A couple of hours later, when dinner time rolled around, my daughter asked for soup. Then my husband requested a bowl. After he tasted it, I thought I heard him say, "This is really rich." I must have had the half and half substitution on the brain because he really said, "This is really good!"

So there you have it: my two squash-haters loved this simple, easy soup. I think you will too; it is smooth in texture and flavor. The nutty flavor of the kuri comes through and is perfectly accented by a bit of nutmeg and black pepper. That big vat of soup will disappear in short order, as I can see it on the lunch, snack, and dinner menu for the next several days. And I envision licking the bowl when the last drop has been served.

In honor of my 400th post, I am going to make a donation to the Atlanta Community Food Bank, so that others in my community might be able to eat.

{TWD} Caramel Pumpkin Pie

As much as I enjoy baking with apples - and pears - to me the real star of the autumnal ingredient lineup is pumpkin! Last year, the shortage of canned pumpkin in the US cast a distressing shadow over the baking landscape, and my local grocery store is still feeling the effects of the limited pumpkin production. Canned pumpkin is kept behind closed doors in the customer service department, where it is doled out two cans per customer. Obviously, pumpkin is not a thing to be squandered on subpar recipes! This week's Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Caramel Pumpkin Pie, carried an added burden. Not only did I have to decide if it was worthy from a taste perspective but also whether it merited a can of my precious pumpkin hoard. But with homemade caramel stirred into the usual pumpkin pie ingredients, this recipe certainly sounded like it would be worthwhile.

I got a little carried away with the whipped cream, but it was delicious
with this pie

n.o.e.'s notes:

- This fall dessert was chosen for the group this week by Janell of the blog Mortensen Family Memoirs and you can find the recipe on her informative post.

- Pumpkin pie might be my very favorite desset. The standard recipe for pumpkin pie at our house calls for molasses and tons of spice.

- I made a full sized pie and followed the recipe exactly.

- In making the caramel, Dorie gives the option of stirring in rum or cider. I used some of my King Arthur boiled cider but reduced the quantity because the flavor is so strong.

- I also baked a gluten-free version of the pie, with a nut crust and I caramelized palm sugar for the filling. The palm sugar was much more difficult to caramelize this time around, but it finally turned a very dark brown. This strong caramel carried through with an almost burnt taste in the filling of the finished pie.

the verdict:

I served this pie to my book group and it was a huge, huge, huge success. Three of my tasters don't like pumpkin pie but each liked this enough to eat a generous slice. One is planning to bake this recipe for her Thanksgiving dinner.

I found the pie to be an unusual, lightly spiced, sweet, and quite enjoyable take on the classic pumpkin pie. It is not likely to unseat our molasses-and-spice family favorite pumpkin pie, but it was definitely worth using a can of pumpkin.


gluten free version of pie. The deeply caramelized palm sugar made the
filling darker and more intense.

{TWD} All-in-One Holiday Bundt Cake

November is the month for giving thanks, and I'm thankful that we have permission to post the November Tuesdays With Dorie recipes in any order, and I have another week to get the time-intensive Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake baked! The recipe that I'm posting this week is the All in One Holiday Bundt Cake.

When I saw this recipe I was skeptical. I don't have a very good history with Dorie's hybrid desserts, especially where pumpkin and/or spices are concerned. (Last Thanksgiving's Twofer Pie (Pumpkin + Pecan) and the Chocolate Gingerbread were not successful combinations in my opinion.) I hoped that the cranberries and apples (and pecans) in this recipe would give the underlying pumpkin cake an interesting twist, but I worried that it would be a hodge-podge of disparate flavors from the multiple ingredients.

n.o.e.'s notes:

- For once I used the full amount of all-purpose flour, without adding any whole grain flour! I figured that I was making enough adjustments to the recipe as it was.

- Cranberry bread/cake is one of Winter's little joys, and the more cranberries the better. I didn't want insipid widely-scattered cranberries, so I increased the quantity of cranberries to 1 1/3 cups. I correspondingly I decreased the amount of apple (I used 1 cup of apple, which is equivalent to a medium apple rather than the recipe's specified large one)

- Although you really can't tell from the pictures, I cut the cranberrries in half (while they were still frozen) rather than chopping them. That's what we did with the cranberries in our cranberry bread when I was growing up, and I love the way they look.

- To build a little intensity in the cake I increased all the spices by half, except the fresh-ground nutmeg, which I mistakenly tripled. Instead of light brown sugar, I used the dark stuff.

- I substituted light tasting olive oil for 2 tablespoons of the butter.

- My bundt loaf pan is 10 cup capacity, and it was the perfect size for this recipe. I spooned a bit of the batter into a single silicone cupcake mold and baked it so that I could have a taste without cutting into the big cake.

- The bottom of the cake got a little soft after the first day or so, probably from the moisture of the apples. I think that if I were to bake this cake again that I'd decrease the quantity of apple a bit more - or maybe use dried apples - and definitely increase the cranberries.



the verdict:

Upon tasting the little cupcake, my first reaction was that it needed more salt. Then I realized that I had forgotten to put any salt in the cake at all.

Despite my apprehension, I found this to be a lovely cake. the combination works surprisingly well. The apple transforms the cake into a whole new dessert - sweet and tart, fresh and spiced - with all the different flavors contributing to the whole rather than fighting with each other. I loved the cranberries the most, and was very glad I'd increased the amount. In fact, I wish there were even more cranberries! The maple glaze dressed up the appearance of the cake, and had a nice flavor, but I wouldn't say it was necessary.

I brought the cake to a neighborhood supper club and it held its own next to a store-bought cheesecake and a store-bought caramel layer cake. (Our street has been meeting for supper club for 20 years, and I don't remember ever seeing store-bought desserts, but I will spare you an extended rant.)

And now I have a confession to make, something that wouldn't have crossed my mine before I started food blogging: I brought the cake over whole, figuring that there would be a lot of cake left over (this is a bundt cake after all, and can serve a ton of people - there are always leftovers!) and I could photograph a slice the next day. When dessert time arrived, I saw that the hostess had cut up the entire huge cake into small pieces. My first thought was: "Oh, no! What am I going to do about my pictures?" All was forgiven when she - and her sons - loved the cake and were excited to keep half the leftovers. The next day I put some of the little half slices on a plate, and took pictures, which were just fine.

Thanks to Britin of The Nitty Britty for choosing this lovely All in One Holiday Bundt Cake on pages 186 and 187 of of Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. The recipe is up on Britin's blog - click here - and on November 24, she will have her own bundt cake posted on her blog.

Pumpkin Bread Taste Test

Autumn is my favorite baking season. The crisp air and changing leaves just call out for warm fragrant spiced baked goods. The denser and spicier the better, and nothing is more wonderful than a spicy pumpkin bread!

I have a pumpkin bread recipe that I've been baking for the better part of two decades. The loaves come out dense and spicy but a little fluffy too, and the bread's always been a big hit whenever I serve it. It's called Victoria's Pumpkin Bread, and is a recipe from Crescent Dragonwagon. (I've mentioned this recipe last year, at the end of the TWD Pumpkin Muffins post.)

This year when the calendar turned to October, pumpkin recipes were suddenly everywhere; sweet and savory, pastas, cheesecakes, cupcakes, and soups. I resolutely ignored all recipes for pumpkin muffins and pumpkin bread until I saw Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread on the Serious Eats site. I just had to try it to see if it was as good as my old standby pumpkin bread. Only one way to find out: bake them both, side by side.

left: Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread, right: Victoria's Pumpkin Bread

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The recipe for the Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread was posted on Serious Eats, which is an immensely entertaining food site, and a valuable Twitter contact (because it sends out tweets to things like pumpkin bread recipes!)

- Scroll down to the end of this post for the recipe for Victoria's Pumpkin Bread

- I roasted a couple of "sugar pumpkins," also called "pie pumpkins" according to the method given in the Serious Eats post that accompanies the Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread recipe. Last year I prepared cooked pumpkin two other ways: in the microwave and by roasting cut up pieces in the oven, and I have to say that I prefer this year's puree from the roasted whole pumpkins. It's much easier to cut the pumpkins once they are cooked, and the puree is neither dried out nor watery.

- I've found that homemade puree is much lighter in color than canned pumpkin puree. I like my pumpkin bread to be a bit dark and spicy, so I mixed some canned puree in with my homemade puree, and used the same mixture for both pumpkin bread recipes. The difference in color in the final bread comes from the proportion of pumpkin to flour, and the other ingredients in the recipes.

- In both recipes I used a mixture of 2/3 All Purpose flour and 1/3 White Whole Wheat flour. Otherwise I stuck to the recipes as written.

- The Olive Oil recipe calls for "light" flavored olive oil. I had "extra-light" flavored olive oil, so I mixed hit half and half with regular olive oil.

- I baked the bread on a chilly gray day with a mug of steaming tea at hand. Nothing could be more perfect!


the verdict:

My husband and I both agreed that the Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread was head and shoulders above the Victoria's Pumpkin Bread. The Olive Oil bread was dense, moist, dark and spicy, compared to the lighter spiced Victoria's bread. While I still like the Victoria recipe, I'm going to have to make the Olive Oil recipe my go-to pumpkin bread.


the recipe:

Victoria's Pumpkin Bread
from ‘The Dairy Hollow House Cookbook’

2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground ginger
dash allspice
6 cups unbleached white flour (can use half whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat)
1 c mild vegetable oil
½ cup yogurt (I often use ¾ c oil and ¾ c yogurt)
4 eggs or equivalent egg substitute
3 c sugar (can use part brown sugar)
2 ½ c. unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 c. chopped black walnuts (I never use nuts)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In large bowl, sift together the cinnamon, baking powder, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, ground cloves, ground ginger, allspice and flour. Set aside

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the vegetable oil, yogurt, eggs, sugar and pumpkin. Mix until smooth.

4. Combine the two mixtures and beat until smooth. Fold in the walnuts.

5. Pour the batter into 3 8x4 or 9x5 inch loaf pans (no more than 2/3 up the pan)

6. Bake for around 1 hour, or until the loaves shrink away from the sides of the pan and have a hollow sound when tapped. Test for doneness after 45 minutes.

{T-giving} Molasses Spice Pumpkin Pie

If you, like me, prefer your pumpkin pie to be dense, dark, and spicy, this is the recipe for you. I first made it several years ago, after finding it in The Spice Cookbook, a vintage cookbook from 1964. It is the single most important recipe of my Thanksgiving dinner.

The cookbook's title page

The book is packed with information, charts, tips, and delicious recipes made with spices from all over the world.

The cookbook's endpapers

Molasses-Pumpkin Pie

from The Spice Cookbook

¾ cup sugar
1 T. flour
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup unsulphured molasses
2 cups mashed cooked pumpkin
3 large eggs
1 cup undiluted evaporated milk
9 inch unbaked 1 crust pie shell (I used the Cook's Illustrated pie crust)

1. Mix together the first 6 ingredients.

2. Add the next 3 ingredients. Mix well.

3. Stir in milk.

4. Pour into unbaked pie shell

5. Bake in preheated 400°F oven for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Enjoy the pie with or without whipped cream. It's great either way. We always make to sure to have lots of this pumpkin pie, and in the days after Thanksgiving I enjoy it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

This pie is a specialty of my daughter A.L.E., who said this year: "I don't know why everyone doesn't use molasses in pumpkin pie." Honestly, as good as the pie tastes, I agree with her.

{TWD} Thanksgiving Twofer Pie goes Zero fer Two

Dorie Greenspan's Thanksgiving Twofer Pie went into Thursday's pie competition round against some proven champions and a new challenger, and despite turning in a solid performance, failed to score a win in either of the categories: Filling, or Crust.

This recipe combines the flavors of pumpkin pie with those of pecan pie, all in one rich, butter-crust-encased package. I've got to say right here that I love pumpkin pie, and I love it best when it's deep, dark, and heavily spiced. I'm not a fan of pumpkin chiffon pie or pumpkin cheesecake - I end up feeling cheated of that intense pumpkin jolt. On the pecan side of the aisle, I'm not as passionate, but I do have a pecan/maple pie that is really good, and feel no need to search out a better recipe (although the Chocolate Pecan Pie I made on Tuesday was also amazing). I was very interested in seeing how the Twofer pie would stack up against the Thanksgiving competition.

I was lucky to be joined in cooking by my oldest daughter, A.L.E., who flew in on Thanksgiving morning. We set right to work baking the Twofer.

A.L.E. eyed the new bottle of Myers Rum, purchased for the 2 tsp of dark rum in the recipe's ingredient list. "If we had any ginger ale, we could make Dark and Stormys."

"Hmm, I think there's some old flat ginger ale in the back of the downstairs fridge."


So, fortified with a delicious taste of the islands (1 shot of dark rum in a glass of ginger ale; technically this drink should be made with Gosling's Black Seal Rum and Jamaican Ginger Beer), we carried on with the recipe. Dorie's crust and both fillings came together pretty well. We made crusts at the same time for the two other pies that we were baking at the same time: Apple and spicy Pumpkin. We used the Cook's Illustrated recipe for these other crusts; scroll down to the end of this post for a comparison of the two pie crust recipes.

The dogs really do eat the crumbs when A.L.E. is cooking!

It got a little confusing following all the different recipes (while enjoying our cocktails), and A.L.E. spooned pumpkin out of the can and into the pecan filling (she was able to fish it out). This prompted her to dispense this piece of sage advice: "Don't cook wasted, man!" Which, I assure you, we were not doing. But it was a bit surreal to have the little girl who began cooking with me at age 2 standing on a stool at the counter, now mixing me a cocktail as she deftly whisked and processed ingredients for a complicated pie recipe.

Our biggest dilemma was which pan(s) to use for the pie. We finally settled on dividing the recipe into two small-ish pies, since the P&Q contained reports of trouble with overflowing pie crusts with 9" single pies.

We chose a 7" foil pie pan and a 7.5" tart pan with deep sides, and aimed for a 1/3 - 2/3 split of the ingredients. It turned out that neither pie shell was completely filled. I probably should have stopped to do some volume calculations before I filled the pans, but I was too lazy.

I was surprised at how little of the pecan filling there was. Also, I didn't split the nuts very well, so I had a higher percentage of them in the shallow pan.

Based on the experiences of those posting on the P&Q, we did not blind-bake the crust. I adjusted the temperatures a bit and baked the pies at 425 for around 10 min, and then 325 until done - fairly quick for the small shallow pie, and somewhat under 45 minutes for the deep tart.

There was just too much going on - apple pie, pumpkin pie, cocktail hour - for me to make specific notes of the exact baking times. I'm just lucky I didn't forget them in the oven and burn them to a crisp.

the verdict:

Thanksgiving day tasting --

- We ate the shallow pie on Thanksgiving. It was OK. Pretty good, but didn't knock either one of us over. The filling was kind of bland, we thought.

- The pecans were distressingly soft for some reason. I'm blaming the nuts not the pie recipe, however. They were very fresh, and I attribute the softness to that (?). I did toast them in the oven before starting the recipe, and they seemed nice and crunchy.

- It is just as much work as making the two separate pies, and personally, I prefer my favorite pumpkin recipe and my favorite pecan recipe to this recipe.

- A.L.E. observed: "It wasn't worth the heartache."

second day tasting --

- We cut into the deeper tart. We thought the flavors were better the second day, and we preferred the deep pie to the shallow one.

- A.L.E.'s comment: "Now I understand the pie."

- I still prefer my pumpkin pie's spicy deliciousness, but I can see how Dorie's pie could be appealing to those less obsessed with pumpkin. So, while this was a good recipe, I preferred the fillings of the other three pies I baked for Thanksgiving, and the crust from the Cook's Illustrated recipe (comparison below, and see my Chocolate Pecan Pie post).


crust comparisons --

I grew up eating pie with an all-shortening crust, and I'm used to its sturdy flakiness. At this point, however, shortening gives me the willies. Actually, I have issues with using any large blocks of fat in cooking. But working with butter is (slightly) more appealing to me than shortening.

Here's where I admit that I've been using the Pillsbury All Ready pie crusts for years. It is easy. I haven't owned a food processor until this summer, and making pie crust has always seemed like a big hassle to me. And I don't mind the taste of the ready-made, especially given that my main interest in eating pie is what's inside the crust. In fact, most of the time I'd be perfectly happy with ramekins of cooked pie filling. And yes, when I pull the magic dough out of the box I'm not forced to confront the crazy amount of fat that pie crust entails.

Owning a food processor has made a huge difference for me, especially in the pie crust department. My first homemade crust in a long time was for the Summer Fruit Gallette - my first official TWD week, back in July. I loved that crust in that recipe. I made minis and froze some of them unbaked. We just finished the last one about a month ago, and it was delicious.

I knew that I wanted to make the Twofer Pie with Dorie's crust recipe, but I also was intrigued by the premise of the vodka-added Cook's Illustrated crust. Thanksgiving provided a perfect set up for a side by side comparison!

- Both recipes employ mostly butter + some shortening. Dorie's has a higher percentage of butter and just 1/3 c of shortening for 2 crusts, and Cook's Illustrated has 1/2 c. shortening for a double crust.

- Cook's Illustrated uses an extra bowl for hand stirring the ice water and vodka into the dough.

- When it came time for rolling, the Cook's Illustrated handled like a dream; it makes a silky smooth dough.

- Neither recipe holds an edge like an all-shortening pie crust - or the Pillsbury pie crust.

- Dorie's is softer, more delicate. A.L.E.'s reaction: "too buttery." It's amazing to see how much difference an additional few tablespoons of butter and a few fewer of shortening can make. We thought the buttery flavor distracted from the pie filling.

- The Cook's Illustrated crust was flakier, crisper, and more neutral in flavor. It didn't compete with the filling, but played its supporting role beautifully.

- Because of superior handling, and perfect blend of taste and flakiness, the Cook's Illustrated crust will become my new standard crust. I think that from now on I'll continue making pie crust from scratch (but there is a box of Pillsbury's in the freezer for crust emergencies!)

Vibi of La Casserole Carrée selected this week's recipe, and you can see her stunning Twofer Tart pictured on her post, and find the recipe - in French and English, no less - there too. Or you can pick up your very own copy of Dorie Greenspan's book Baking From My Home to Yours, where this recipe is on page 321. For further baking fun, check out the Tuesdays With Dorie blogroll and click on the blogs of 359 other bakers to see how they fared with the pie.

{Note: I'm celebrating my first 100 blog posts with a cookbook giveaway - to enter, go here and leave a comment before December 3}

{T-giving} Pumpkin Soup

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We are having an unusual holiday; since A.L.E. flew in today, and our relatives were otherwise occupied, we only had the three of us for dinner. We decided to split the cooking and eating over two days, and have our Thanksgiving first course and desserts today (with mac n cheese from the freezer), and the turkey and trimmings main course on Friday (with leftover pies, of course!)

Here's a fantastic pumpkin soup that we first tried last year. It made such a big hit with all of us, we just had to repeat it. You can make this recipe in a snap, and it's low fat but so rich and creamy tasting that you'd never know!

Pumpkin Soup
This is my adaptation of a recipe from Epicurious.com, but I can't find the original cite.

2 Tablespoon unsalted butter or less if using a nonstick pan
1 cup chopped onion (I used pre-chopped)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ¾ cups chicken broth (14oz can), or homemade (I used homemade)
1 16oz can pureed pumpkin (I used homemade)
¾ teaspoon brown sugar (packed)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or ¼ teaspoon dried thyme (I used fresh)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary or ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary (I used fresh)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon salt
dash white pepper
dash red/cayenne pepper
dash nutmeg
1 cup evaporated skim milk or combined with 2% milk
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1. In a large saucepan, melt butter. Saute onion and garlic over medium heat for 7-8 minutes until lightly browned.

2. Add broth, pumpkin, and seasonings. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Remove from heat. Stir in milk.

4. In a blender or food processor, combine soup mixture and pecans in batches at low speed for 1 minute. (I pureed in two batches in blender)

5. Return to pan and heat, stirring.

Today, I am overwhelmed with thanks that I have food to eat, a roof over my head, family and friends to share it with. I'm also grateful that I can enjoy cooking as an avocation, with such a bounty of resources and fellow cooks with whom to compare notes.

{Note: I'm celebrating my first 100 blog posts with a cookbook giveaway - to enter, go here and leave a comment before December 3}

The Frost is on the Pumpkin

They’s something kindo’ harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here –
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin’-birds and buzzin’ of the bees;
But the air’s so appetizin’; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur’ that no painter has the colorin’ to mock –
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder’s in the shock.
-James Whitcomb Riley

I'm not what I'd call "creative" cook. Any more than I'm a creative writer. In both I'm more of an editor - I can do a decent job of correcting prose, and over the past 23 years of daily cooking, I've developed a working ability to read and change a recipe. Or combine a few different recipes. I don't have the knack for starting from scratch and whipping up a whole new dish. But this week was different!

Faced with a half can of pumpkin after making my TWD pumpkin muffins, I was inspired to make a batch of pumpkin frozen yogurt - with no recipe in sight - and this time it just turned out. My ice cream freezer is new*, and my previous attempts at frozen yogurt were spotty. But this yogurt was really tasty!

Pumpkin Rum Raisin Frozen Yogurt

1 cup pumpkin
6 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ginger
pinch cloves
pinch allspice
hand full of raisins
1/4 cup rum

Mix ingredients through the spices in a mixing bowl. Chill for an hour, then churn in an ice cream maker.

Heat the rum in the microwave and pour over the raisins in a small bowl. When the churning is nearly finished, add the raisins - and 2 tsp of the rum - into the ice cream maker.

the verdict:

This made for a very creamy pumpkin and spice frozen yogurt. We loved it! I'm wondering about using evaporated milk next time, and sweetening with maple or brown sugar. So many possibilities!

*The ice cream freezer saga may be posted at a future date. . .

{TWD} Pumpkin Muffins

The very best part of autumn is the coming of pumpkin season! Beginning in October, Einstein's Bagels sells their pumpkin bagels (along with pumpkin cream cheese and a pumpkin cupcake). And of course, the pumpkin pie is the star of Thanksgiving dinner (or at least it shares the stage with the dressing and gravy!)

About 15 years ago I found a pumpkin bread recipe in the New York Times (included at the end of this post.) It's become my standard, and is the second best pumpkin bread I've ever tasted. The best pumpkin bread is the "one that got away" - it was served at a big church gathering, and although I came close I never could quite track down the recipe. For me, really good pumpkin bread - or muffins - should be dark, moist, and dense, with lots of pumpkin and spice flavors.

For this week's TWD challenge, Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp chose a recipe for pumpkin muffins on p. 13 of Dorie Greenspan's book Baking From My Home to Yours . Dorie introduces the recipe (originally from Sarabeth Levine) with this claim: "The best pumpkin muffins in New York.... They're so good they ought to be the standard for all pumpkin muffins in the world." I couldn't wait to see if these would live up to Dorie's hype! (You can find the recipe in Kelly's post if you don't have the book)


cook's notes

In order to gauge these highly-praised muffins, I hewed to the recipe as closely as I could. There were lots of things I was sorely tempted to change, but made only these minor variations:

a) substituted 1/4 cup ground Elliot pecans for the chopped nuts
b) used equivalent amount of eggbeaters rather than eggs
c) replaced the golden raisins with currants plumped in boiling apple juice - I used the fruit for half the muffins and left the other half plain
d) stirred in half all purpose flour and half King Arthur white whole wheat flour
e) sprinkled roasted pepitas on the tops- what could be more perfect for pumpkin muffins than pumpkin seeds?

- I used silicone muffin pans. These need no paper liners and no additional butter to line the muffin cups.

- My muffins baked at 375 for 19 or 20 minutes

- Any extra pumpkin puree can be frozen for a future use.

the verdict

These muffins have a fluffy and light texture and a delicate flavor of pumpkin and spices. They were well cooked and moist. We liked them a lot. I made them on the first crisp day we've had this year, and they did a nice job of ushering in the autumn feeling.


I've wrapped up the muffins and they are in the freezer. On October 30 my book group is having a taste test of these muffins and pumpkin muffins made by one of the other members. I'll report back!

In the meantime, however, I must admit that I prefer my usual pumpkin bread/muffin recipe to Dorie's muffins. It is denser and more flavorful. It's also lower in fat, as it's oil not butter based. I usually reduce the oil, by substituting plain nonfat yogurt (or fat free sour cream, or applesauce) for part of it. Using the "lighter flavor" olive oil boosts the monounsaturated fat ("good" fat), making for a relatively guilt free - but just as delicious - bread.

The pumpkin-to-flour ratio in the two recipes is very similar, but there are significant differences in the other ingredients. Dorie's muffins have 50% more egg and a third more fat than those from "my" recipe. This is what makes hers fluffier and less intensely flavored and mine denser and more pumpkin-y. The spices in Dorie's lean more to cinnamon/ginger, and mine more to cinnamon/nutmeg/clove.

Hmm, I think I need to invite Dorie over for a few bites of my pumpkin bread.

This is the trusty recipe I've used for years:

Victoria's Pumpkin Bread
from ‘The Dairy Hollow House Cookbook’

2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground ginger
dash allspice
6 cups unbleached white flour (can use half whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat)
1 c mild vegetable oil
½ cup yogurt (I often use ¾ c oil and ¾ c yogurt)
4 eggs or equivalent egg substitute
3 c sugar (can use part brown sugar)
2 ½ c. unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 c. chopped black walnuts (I never use nuts)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In large bowl, sift together the cinnamon, baking powder, nutmeg, baking soda, salt, ground cloves, ground ginger, allspice and flour. Set aside

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the vegetable oil, yogurt, eggs, sugar and pumpkin. Mix until smooth.

4. Combine the two mixtures and beat until smooth. Fold in the walnuts.

5. Pour the batter into 3 8x4 or 9x5 inch loaf pans (no more than 2/3 up the pan)

6. Bake for around 1 hour, or until the loaves shrink away from the sides of the pan and have a hollow sound when tapped. Test for doneness after 45 minutes.