Oops! Apparently I've accidentally deleted all of my images. I'll see about fixing that soon.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Pumpkin Pie

So I've decided that since I like things all neat and tidy I'm going to try to keep the Monday and Wednesday posts for sewing and try to leave all non-sewing posts for Fridays. It was an idea I had when I first started this blog, but since then I've had this "Friday" tag just lying around barely being used.  Well, let's see how well I keep to it. (big events like GenCon excluded of course)

Anyway, today I'll be talking pie, specifically pumpkin.  I've still not found a consistent gluten free pie crust recipe that works for me (and I soooo miss rolling out pie crust by hand) in general, but one of my best friends  sent me this recipe the other day and it got me thinking.... "what other recipes would that work for?" Why, Pumpkin Pie of course!



So first you take some chex. The recipe calls for 3 cups of chocolate chex, but not only did I think that might not quite work out for a pumpkin pie, but the store was out of it. No matter, I used one cup of rice chex and two cups of corn chex. (Actually, it's store brand chex for both because it's cheaper and the exact same thing, but I love that so many chex flavors are now safe for me to eat!)


The recipe gives two suggestions for crunching up your chex into small bits: put it in a ziplock bag or between two pieces of wax paper and smash it with a rolling pin.  I have found that this wastes either a bag or waxed paper, dents the rolling pin, and generally makes a mess. Instead I put it in a bowl and smashed it with the potato smasher. It worked great. I was a little worried about how large some of the chunks were but I decided to press ahead anyway.


Next I portioned out 4 tablespoons of butter into my glass pie plate.  I also put a heaping tablespoon of brown sugar into the crunched up cereal bits.


I mixed the sugar into the cereal bits and melted the butter by placing the pie plate in the microwave. Then the cereal is dumped unceremoniously into the pie plate and mixed until every piece is coated nicely with buttery goodness.


And then I carefully pressed it into shape over the bottom and sides of the pan.  From there it went into the oven at 350 degrees Farenheidt for about 10 minutes.  


The rest is the same as any other pumpkin pie. Mix up your filling, pour it into the cooled crust, bake at 450 degrees F for 15 min and then drop the temperature until it is done. Then you have to let it cool and pretend it's not calling to you from the other room, "eeeeeeat meeeee." Patience.


The only places where it stuck to the sides was where the filling overtopped the crust. Otherwise each piece slid right out easily, even the first.


I haven't had a pie made from canned (read: store-bought) pumpkin in many years, but I failed to freeze any fresh pumpkin last year and since Libby's is GF and decent by can-o-pumpkin standards, I went ahead and used it. The texture was perfect.The bottom crust was perfect; I had no need to worry that the crust chunks were too large, this actually seemed to work out well. The crust on the sides was a little chewy but I'm wondering if I baked the crust a little longer at the start if that wouldn't crisp up a bit better.  Also I may have had it a little thick around the sides just to keep it from sliding down the side of the dish.

Well, three days later and there's only a small piece left.  I'm not ashamed to say that I've eaten nearly all of it myself (it has been a physically demanding week so I'm sure it all works out), however, I am ashamed to say that after all these years I finally found out that my husband is not fond of pumpkin pie.  Oh, he'll eat it, and he says that, "for pumpkin pie, this is good," but apparently it's just not his cup of tea. How have I missed this before?! Oh well, I guess it's not something I'll be making often and then probably to share with someone else or for a holiday.

Anyhow, it was a success in my book and a happy addition to a rather busy week.

Hope your week has a lovely ending!

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. so true. Actually, it's the only custard-type food I like and that's probably (texture issue) what he doesn't like about it. I get that. Pumpkin also makes good soup, stew, tamale filling... so when I get some fresh again there are plenty of things besides pie to be made with it. :)

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  2. I recall a story about your grandfather -- he didn't like pumpkin pie either. But your grandmother developed a recipe that he did like. Do you have it?

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    1. I didn't know that Grandpa wasn't a fan of pumpkin pie, but I guess that explains why he always took such a small piece. I know Grandma developed a recipe for use with not-canned (i.e., fresh but cooked) pumpkin; Mom and I have been using it for years. I actually have changed the way I do my pumpkin though, taking a lot more liquid out of it, which makes it fine for use in just about any pumpkin pie recipe.

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