Pecan Pie

The Mission: 
To use some of the pecans that husband's friend gave us after Christmas.  I'd heard that The Pioneer Woman makes a fabulous pecan pie, so I went to her website and decided to use this recipe.  I was pretty pleased to see that I had all of the ingredients on hand.... though I chickened out and used a store bought refrigerated pie crust instead of making my own.  (Though I do  plan on trying my hand at pie crust some other time..... eventually..... when I find my courage the time.)

The Ingredients:

• pie crust - unbaked 
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 cup corn syrup (I used light) 
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/3 cup melted butter (salted) 
• 3 eggs 
• 1 heaping cup of broken pecans   

The Instructions:

1. Prepare the pie crust in a 9" pie plate.  
2. Pour the pecans into the unbaked crust.  
3. Mix the remaining ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and pour mixture over the pecans.  
4. Cover the top and crust of pie gently with aluminum foil.  
5. Bake in a 350*F oven for 30 minutes.  
6. Remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes.  
7. If the pie is too jiggly, re-cover with foil and bake until set.  (My pie took an extra 15 minutes in the oven until I felt it was solid enough.)   

The Results & Reviews: 
 Okay.  Let's start off with things that were good... 
1 - For the most part it tasted fine.... well at least the filling did.  The crust edges were a bit too done for my taste.
2 - It was easy enough to make, though apparently I'm missing something since it wasn't perfect (or even close to perfect).

Now let's talk about what is not so good.
1 - Even though I recovered with aluminum foil in order to bake the jiggly pie an extra 15 minutes, the crust came out too done and the top tasted a tad burnt.  (and the filling somehow managed to stick to the foil and peeled off - you can see in the pictures.)
2 - it was UGLY.  Really ugly.  Again - see pictures.
3 - The crust cracked during baking and syrupy filling got underneath and stuck everywhere.  Not quite sure how that happened.
4 - As the husband pointed out, the gel part of the filling wasn't smooth but instead had turned lumpy and weird.

Overall score:  No one else ate or saw the pie except for the two of us, so I don't have many reviews to go by.  If I do make pecan pie again - which I will soon - I will try a different recipe.  Obviously I missed some key step in this one in order to have it turn out lovely and rave-worthy.  But since we ate it and didn't throw it out, I guess it wasn't all that bad.  I'm just glad I didn't attempt this for company!

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie

The Mission:

To make two delicious pumpkin pies to bring for Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house. And the only way I know how to make delicious pumpkin pies is to use the original Libby's recipe. It's what I've always used and it tastes absolutely wonderful, so I really don't feel the need to try anything else. I am lazy, though, and buy pre-made pie crusts.... perhaps that's cheating but I'm okay with it :)

The Ingredients:

• 1 can (29 oz.) Libby's 100% pure pumpkin
• 2 cans (12 oz. each) evaporated milk
• 1 and 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 5 large eggs
• 2 unbaked 9 inch pie crusts
  

The Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the canned pumpkin, sugar and all of the spices.
2. Line 2 9-inch pie plates with the pie crust and press the edges into scallops.
3. Crack one egg into each pie crust, making sure not to break the yolk. Swirl the pie plates around until the egg white has coated the bottom of the crust. Pour the eggs into the pumpkin mixture and set the pie crusts aside.
4. Add the remaining eggs to the pumpkin mixture and beat in well. Gradually stir in both cans of evaporated milk.
5. Divide pumpkin equally between both pie plates making sure you don't over flow the crust. Place strips of aluminum foil over the crusts to prevent burning. (If you have pie shields, use those instead.)
6. Bake in a preheated 425*F oven for 15 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to 350*F and bake for 40 - 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.
8. Cool on wire racks for 2 hours. Serve with cool whip, whipped cream, ice cream, or plain.
   

The Results & Reviews:

The pies turned out fantastic as I knew they would and everyone gobbled them up. Dinner guests were very complementary, which is always an absolute joy! I'm always sad to see that they're gone since I have an addiction to pumpkin pie and would be happy to eat them all by myself without sharing!

Note: This recipe turns out much, much tastier than Libby's "Easy Pumpkin Pie" with the spices already mixed into the canned pumpkin. I highly recommend using the original and not subsituting "pumpkin pie spice" for all of the individual spices either.

Gingerbread Pumpkin Trifle

The Mission:
To make a smashingly fantastic dessert to take to Mark's parents house since they had graciously invited us over for Thanksgiving lunch. I wanted to make something a little bit fancier than a traditional pumpkin pie (though I love pumpkin pie dearly!), so when I came across this recipe listed in the Taste of Home Thanksgiving 2009 booklet, I knew it would be perfect.



The Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup hot water

Filling/Topping:

• 2 cups cold milk
• 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon rum extract

The Instructions:
In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with water, beating well after each addition. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Cut gingerbread into 1/2-in. to 1-in. cubes; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon; stir into pudding. In another bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar and extract; beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside 1/4 cup gingerbread cubes. In a 4-qt. trifle bowl or glass serving bowl, layer a third of the remaining gingerbread cubes; top with a third of the pumpkin mixture and whipped cream. Repeat layers twice. Crumble reserved gingerbread; sprinkle over top. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

The Result:
Oh wow! It was fantastic. I loved it.... though I think that I might use a little less rum extract in the whipping cream next time. Though everyone else thought it was delicious just the way it was. It turned out really pretty, too. Which is always a plus when I'm taking a dessert somewhere for a special occasion.

The Reviews:
This dessert got RAVE reviews. Everyone who tried it told me how amazing it was. I am so pleased with myself :) It was definitely worth the effort to make all of this from scratch. This will be a dessert I make every year for sure!

Festive Cranberry Spread

The Misson:
To create a different but fantastic appetizer to take to my Mother-in-Law's house for Thanksgiving lunch. I knew that other people were bringing desserts, so I figured I'd make something different. I'm a huge fan of cranberries, and they're so pretty and festive during the holidays, so when I ran across the recipe for a spread, it sounded like the perfect option.

The Ingredients:

• 1 package - 8 oz - cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp orange zest
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• Crackers for serving - I used Townhouse
  

The Instructions:
In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, orange juice, sugar, orange zest, and cinnamon until fluffy. Stir in the cranberries and pecans. Refrigerate overnight (the flavors will have time to blend together nicely that way). Garnish as desired. As you can see, I left a few pecans and cranberries un-chopped so I could use them for garnishing as well as leaving a small handful unmixed in order to sprinkle them on top. The orange curls added a nice touch, too.

The Results:
It turned out prettier than I thought it would. And though I had some serious problems zesting the orange, I was lucky enough to have two tangerines on hand, so I tried them instead and met with success. They made for pretty curls as well.

The Reviews:
As always, my husband refused to try it because he hates cream cheese. If possible, I sample my food before I serve it, just to make sure that it didn't turn out to be a complete disaster. This was so good that I almost didn't take it with us. I could've eaten the whole bowl myself. I received some very nice complements on it from the other guests as well.