Posts Tagged thanksgiving

Caramel Pumpkin Pie

November 24, 2009 at 7:03 am · Filed under baking ·Tagged , , , ,

Caramel Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie - the shy wallflower of the pie set.

It looks pretty homely, doesn’t it? Pumpkin pie always looks like the plain Jane standing in the corner to me. It’s not like apple pie, which can tower over the pie plate, or sport a decorative lattice. And it’s not like cherry pie, whose bright red fruit can be shockingly beautiful. No, pumpkin pie is . . . well, it’s just too brown and flat to be impressive.

And I can’t say that this pumpkin pie is really any less plain – at least on the outside. But you’ll just have to trust me when I say that it really has been spiffed up – a shot of homemade caramel gives the pumpkin a boost of sweetness, with just a hint of that bitter, burnt sugar flavor. Oftentimes I don’t like pumpkin pie because the squash tastes too healthy to me, but this tasted much more like dessert.

The verdict on this pie was mixed – I took it to kittyhagan’s pre-Thanksgiving party and, while it was well received, a full three quarters of it remained by the time I left. Granted, I gave it some pretty stiff competition, in the form of a double chocolate mint pie (more on that next week)—maybe the shy wall flower can never really compete with the beautiful cheerleader, you know?

Well, in any event, if you’re looking for a way to spice up pumpkin pie for Thursday, I definitely suggest this recipe. The caramel gives an extra boost and depth to the pumpkin filling, the crust was gloriously flaky, and, for a homely pie, it certainly packed an impressive punch of flavor. Just make sure you make it the star of the Thanksgiving dessert table, which is certainly what it deserves.

Caramel Pumpkin Pie - Party Photo

Party photo of the pie. No, I'm not telling you how much wine I had when I took this photo. Not happening.

Recipe: Caramel Pumpkin Pie

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Weekly Roundup: Pre-Thanksgiving Edition

November 21, 2009 at 7:50 am · Filed under Uncategorized ·Tagged , , ,

Swedish Embassy

The Swedish Embassy, decked out for the holidays. We're in the thick of the holiday season.

I’ve loved reading the Thanksgiving posts and articles that have gone up this week. It seems like everyone is preparing for the big day. Except me, of course – I’ll be attending the Thanksgiving celebration of a friend from my bookclub, and I’ll leave all the difficult turkey-cooking to her. I’m a little sad that I won’t be cooking the meal myself, but I’m excited to share the holiday with my friends in DC. And it gives me more time to concentrate on pie – my true obsession this month.

Recipes I want to try, as found on the Internet this week:

  • Homemade vanilla extract, from Mango and Tomato. I’ve been meaning to do this forever – I go through vanilla extract like water.

And in other pre-Thanksgiving news;

  • Find out which  Starbucks baked good is worth buying at The Tipsy Baker.
  • I’ve been having a ton of fun watching the tweets from DC’s first Cupcake Cart, Curbside Cupcake. Now if they’d only come up to Tenlytown.
  • 6th and I is holding a potato cookoff. Mango and Tomato is already signed up as a contestant!
  • Crumbs Bake Shop is coming to DC! Actually, I’m pretty happy with our current cupcake offerings. Do we really need another? Via Metrocurean.

Happy Friday!

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Pumpkin Cupcakes for Your Thanksgiving Feast

November 17, 2008 at 4:43 pm · Filed under baking ·Tagged , , , , ,

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting. A new Thanksgiving tradition?

Every October magazines start piling up at my door, with their predictable, if entertaining, stories about how to put a new “spin” on Thanksgiving dinner. These publications have countless suggestions, from new ways to cook your turkey (newsflash—brining is out!), hundreds of interpretations of the traditional sides, and, of course, endless variations on pumpkin-themed desserts.

So, in this time-honored Thanksgiving tradition of food writing, I have my own spin on the Thanksgiving dessert. For those of you who don’t like pumpkin pie, yes, they do exist—what about pumpkin cupcakes?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of pumpkin pie. But for those of you who want to incorporate the cupcake trend into your Thanksgiving tradition, or are just in the mood for a nice fall cupcake recipe, then these cupcakes take the cake.

I used this Martha Stewart recipe (which follows) for the cake itself, because it was one of the few pumpkin cupcake recipes I could find that used butter, rather than oil, for the fat. I was worried that the butter would make these turn out too dense, but no worries—these beauties have a perfect cake-like, tender crumb, and the pumpkin flavor and spices are really wonderful.

My coworker suggested making a maple frosting to go with the pumpkin cake, since she had had the same pairing at Georgetown Cupcake and said it was to die for. I had a hard time finding a maple frosting recipe that didn’t call for maple extract (I try to avoid artificial flavorings when possible, especially when I know they’ll set me back $5 for one recipe), and finally settled on this one (this recipe also follows). I liked the frosting—the cream cheese cuts down on the sweetness. But I now understand why all those other recipes called for maple extract—the maple flavor was definitely faint.

Still, even if these beauties were imperfect, these were still one of my most successful cupcake attempts. I really can’t say enough how much I loved the pumpkin cake—how it was moist without being too heavy, fragrant without being too sweet. I guess that Eddie is right, Martha really does only hire the best.

Recipes galore!

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Thanksgiving Reading For Your Peace of Mind

November 13, 2008 at 1:16 pm · Filed under cooking, entertaining ·Tagged , , , , ,

2006 Thanksgiving - 5.jpg
Thanksgiving Meal, courtesy of xybermatthew on flickr.

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us, which means that food sites and publications have been churning out recipes, full-fledged feature pieces, and all-inclusive guides to this great American meal. These articles are supposed to be helpful, but they make cooking Thanksgiving dinner out to be a Herculean task on the scale of nuclear disarmament.

I’ve only made the Thanksgiving feast once during my first winter in Washington, and I can say from experience that you don’t have to have gone to culinary school to whip up some stuffing. I didn’t have any vacation time that year, and I couldn’t make it home for the big day. Instead, friends came down from New York, Nonnka came over from Georgetown, and we celebrated Thanksgiving orphan-style. It turned out to be one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever. And even I, an untested Thanksgiving novice, was able to make the meal—turkey, stuffing, and all.

Was it a lot of work? My God, yes. But was any of it really beyond the skill level of basic cook? Hell no. The hardest part was getting the timing right, and I think that’s something you have to learn from doing it over and over again.

So stop looking at those scary Gourmet Menu Guides that call for you to make a billion starters from scratch, and put down the Bon Appetite Complete Guide to Thanksgiving Kitchen Tools (the only tools you need are a good sharp knife and some pots and pans).

Instead, I’ve dug through the deluge of Thanksgiving articles to find something to really be thankful for: peace of mind. These articles will calm your soul, they will soothe your worried Thanksgiving consciousness, and they will let you know that you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a nice meal.

Simplifying the Turkey, Well-Priced Menus, and Holiday Wines on the Cheap

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