Thanksgiving Twofer Pie
This pie is an interesting one. It takes Pumpkin and Pecan pie, two traditional Thanksgiving recipes, and puts them together. I wasn’t exactly sure how I’d like this one going in because I am a Pumpkin Pie purist. And I don’t really like Pecan Pie at all. I’ve mentioned before that I generally dislike nuts in desserts, especially if they are a front and center ingredient. At any rate, I was going to make it and see what I thought.
I baked this morning in preparation for going to my Dad’s later on to celebrate our birthdays (we’re 30 years apart). Since I didn’t get to see him on Thanksgiving this year, I thought it was perfect to bring along this pie as sort of a make-up Thanksgiving thing. We are so much alike that he probably won’t be crazy about the nuts in it either, but he won’t tell me that and he’ll eat some anyway.
This pie was relatively easy to put together. It made a lot of dishes to clean up afterwards… truly a Thanksgiving type pie, right? haha. I caught a post over at Lady Craddock’s Bakery where she made the pie twice and adjusted some of the steps, temperatures and times in the recipe. After reading a lot of the problems people had (anything from overflowing in the oven, to a burnt crust, to an undone middle) I could see some definite benefits to following her advice. I did everything exactly the same from not pre-baking the crust, to baking at 450 for 15 minutes then dropping down to 350 for 35-40 minutes. Thanks, Lady Craddock, I had zero issues!
What I Thought: This is a good pie to choose if you want to mix it up a little for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s a twist, but not at all “too far out there” from traditional foods people expect on Turkey Day.
I’m grateful to Laurie for extending the deadline to November 30th on this one. I am so glad I had additional time this week, I really needed it.
Many thanks to Vibi of La Casserole Carrée for choosing the Thanksgiving Twofer Pie. Please make sure you stop by Vibi’s to check out what she thought of her choice and to see the recipe.
I’ll be back Tuesday with Linzer Sables as chosen by noskos of Living the Life. It’s going to be a busy, but awesome December for Tuesdays with Dorie. There are a lot of great choices coming up in the following weeks, I can’t wait!
These are so good… I’m kind of scared!
Every so often I come across a recipe that really catches my eye. I put another little bookmark in my favorites folder and think to myself “crap, this list of stuff to make is getting huge!” The day these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies showed up in my reader from Peabody’s blog, I honed right in and quickly saved the link for future reference. A little while later, I saw them over at Susan’s blog and then again at Pamela’s and after reading all the good things being said about them, I knew this particular bookmark wouldn’t stay dormant in my folder for long.
Since I had exactly enough leftover pumpkin puree from my TWD Pumpkin Muffins to make a half a batch of pies, I got right to it. They took no time at all to put together and while I baked I made three different batches of the cream cheese filling: regular, Peabody’s maple version and Susan’s cinnamon version.
These are good. Too damn good. I ate way more than I should have. I started with one, then two, then… never mind. I had thought about bringing these in for my friends at work, but once I tasted the first one I quickly changed my mind. 
“Mine… allllll mine!” I said in an evil tone between bites.
The cake part was absolutely perfect. It was moist, had a great flavor and instantly I knew this recipe was a keeper. Once put together, I preferred the maple and cinnamon fillings although I couldn’t decide between the two which one was my favorite. As for the plain filling version, it was definitely too sickening sweet for me. It wasn’t bad or anything, but what a difference a little added flavoring made to mellow out the overly sweet taste.
These will definitely be added to my Fall recipe rotation. This was the first thing I’ve made in a while that I actually told someone about the next day. Like “I made these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies last night and damn, they were good! Oh right, I couldn’t bring you any because I ate them all. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
You must make these. You will not be disappointed. Though I’m warning you ahead of time that they are addicting. Head on over to Culinary Concoctions by Peabody for the recipe. If you’re interested in the cinnamon version of the filling stop by Susan’s She’s Becoming Doughmesstic! Maybe next time I make these I’ll be ready to share. But maybe not!
Pumpkin Muffins
This morning, the frost on my car windshield that I needed to scrape off was the end of my delusions… it’s officially Fall which means it will officially be Winter soon. And then I’ll be whimpering every day because the following are are three things I really can’t stand: socks, coats and the cold. One upside to it all though, is that around this time all things pumpkin start showing up. Pumpkin rolls, pie, bread, cookies, candy, coffee creamer, Starbucks… if you can name it, there’s a good chance it’s got a “Limited Edition Pumpkin Flavor” out right now. So I thought it very fitting that Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp picked Pumpkin Muffins for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.
I made these this past Saturday afternoon after I finished working my last bit of overtime for at least a week. (Ah, sweet relief!) It was a nice, quiet time in the house. No television, no iTunes, no internet… just quiet. I was able to really focus on what I was doing and I didn’t miss one ingredient this time. 
Well, not by accident, that is. I had to leave out the Allspice on purpose because I couldn’t find it in my totally disorganized spice cabinet. The cabinet is four shelves high, completely packed and completely ridiculous. I recently started moving my most frequently used spices and things to other cabinets or the pantry so I at least have a chance at finding them. Something must be done… someday.
I used Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin, dark raisins instead of golden and I left out the pecans/walnuts. Half got sunflower seeds on top and half didn’t, and to my surprise I preferred these muffins with the seeds. Everything is mixed in one bowl which is nice, I love it when there’s hardly any dishes to do afterwards. I baked in regular sized muffin tins for 24 minutes.
The taste was good, exactly what i expected. My boyfriend thought they were a little bland. I didn’t think they were bland but I thought they were a little too dry. They didn’t seem to keep well overnight either. Afterwards, I read people were lowering the baking time on these which I think is a good idea. I would definitely go along with that the next time.
Stop by Sounding My Barbaric Gulp to view the recipe and check out what Kelly had to say about her selection. Next week, Clara of I Heart Food4Thought has chosen Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes!!
