My Favorite Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel

I was getting ready to post my pumpkin ginger cheesecake, one of my signature dishes around the holidays. I started to look through pictures, making sure that I hadn't posted it already. This is what I found from last year. They look like babes in arms compared to this year. I like them just like this, chubby cheeked and smiling. These were our guests.and this was our dinner last year. Here's Dad reading to the kids later in the evening.

If you peeked in on us this year, I suspect it would look just about the same, except for last year's wee ones are a bit taller and trimmer and there are new little babies taking their place. When it's all said and done, even though Thanksgiving is a truckload of work, I am so happy to be able to share it with my family. My whippersnappers aren't going to be little forever. I'm so glad they have such happy memories with their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. They might not be little forever, but a happy memory is eternal.

After looking through all my old pictures and posts, I discovered that I hadn't shared my ultimate favorite Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel. I will still post my cheesecake, but it's going to take a backseat. (Don't worry Heidi-I'll still make you one for your birthday.) The cheesecake can stick around through New Year's but this pie, this pie is all about Thanksgiving. I found the recipe in Bon Appetit in 1994, when I was a college student. I've since tinkered, but the credit should be theirs. (The original top-rated recipe is here. )The spiced pumpkin filling is silky and rich, just like you would expect. What makes the pie exceptional is the ginger scented pecan streusel topping. I have to guard this pie like a hawk, or my pesty little brother Roy will steal all the streusel off the top. It's a little game we play, he and I. We've been raging a pumpkin pie war for sixteen years now and I wouldn't have it any other way. Make my pie and drive your own little brothers crazy. It's all part of the happy memories.

Money Saving Tips: Stock up on canned pumpkin this week when you can get it for a buck. Substitute evaporated milk for the half and half, if you don't have it on hand. Walnuts would be everybit as nice as pecans, if you can find them for cheaper this week.

Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel, adapted from Bon Appetit

1 pie crust, partially baked (click here for my recipe and tutorial)

Filling:

1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
1 1/2 cups half and half
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed golden brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed golden brown sugar
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1 tablespoon finely minced crystallized ginger, optional
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.For filling:Whisk all ingredients in large bowl until combined. Pour into partially baked, cooled pie crust. Bake until skin begins to form on filling and filling begins to set, about 50 minutes. Remove from oven. Let pie stand 10 minutes to set slightly. Maintain oven temperature.
Meanwhile, prepare topping:Mix first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips until mixture begins to form small clumps. Sprinkle topping over pie. Bake until pie is set and streusel is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. Serve with whipped cream.

Next Up: Summit House Corn

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

My little sister just informed that I have not yet posted my pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Her apron was on and she was ready to bake. Where was the recipe? Of course she must be mistaken! I churn out loaves of this perfect pumpkin bread every year. Here's why it's perfect: The recipe uses the entire can of pumpkin (waste not, want not), has just the right combination of pumpkin flavor, cinnamon, and chocolate, uses common, inexpensive ingredients and is a snap to make. The end result is three delicious loaves for sharing with neighbors and friends. Of course I must have posted it already! Right???? Right?

Wrong. I even took a picture last year, but never posted the recipe. So here it is, better late than never. Thanks for the reminder, sistuh. You've given me a good idea of what to do with the rest of my afternoon.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Estimated Cost: $4.00 for threestandard loaves, or 8 mini loaves

Notes: You can swap out the nuts for an equal amount of extra chocolate chips.

1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

4 eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 and 1/2 cups flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup chocolate chips tossed with 2 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 standard loaf pans. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, oil, sugar, water and eggs, mixing well. Add in cinnamon, soda and salt. Very gently, stir in flour until just combined. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. Separate into 3 separate loaf pans. Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool on a rack for ten minutes before removing from pan.

Next Up: Mini Freeform Meatloaves

All in One Holiday Cake with Maple Icing

Welcome to Tuesdays with Dorie, the day in which our weekly online baking club creates a Dorie Greenspan sweet. I'd been waiting for this recipe because it appeals to my gobbling greediness. If you're a glutton for the flavors of pumpkin, apple, pecans, and cranberries mingled with the warm autumn spices of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, then this is the recipe for you. When the Thanksgiving smells of this cake come wafting through the house, you'll feel like singing "Over the River and Through the Woods." And you might even start tap dancing too. Just warning you.You won't be able to stop yourself and it'll put you right in the holiday spirits. And that's even before you take your first heavenly bite. If you can wait, it's even better the next day.
I made it almost exactly as written, but reduced to a half batch in a five inch cake pan, and smothered it with a maple icing. (Click here for the recipe.) I also did leave out the cranberries, simply because I didn't have any on hand. Did I ever tell you that I'm categorically opposed to running to the market for that one missing item? I just won't do it! It has forced me to become a master substituter and omitter....and borrower too. Thankfully I have generous neighbors who are only too happy to lend a missing ingredient in exchange for a slice or two of the finished product.
Have a wonderful day, dear readers. Did you know that Tuesday is the most productive day of the week? So while you're busy being productive, would you kindly remember to head over the river and through the woods to the French's website and vote again for my recipe? Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Next Up: Let's talk Gravy.

Witness and Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Icing

Welcome back to Cookie Bookie week. Be sure to scroll down and check out any cookies or bookies you might have missed.
Just yesterday, I praised the spooky classics, but today I want to tell you about a paperback novel based on an Academy Award winning screenplay that gave me some of the biggest shivers of my lifetime. Six years ago my husband and I were living in Fairport, New York. We had our little Sailor, who was almost two years old, and our six week old baby West. One Saturday evening the wind began to howl and screech and the temperature dropped dramatically. As the shadows fell, a layer of ice began to form on the roads, trees, and power lines. Soon enough, we were without power and heat. It would have made for a cozy evening at home, except that the Quiet Man had a church meeting to attend from 9-11 at night. Death, disease, and a frightened wife would never come become Quiet Man and his integrity. He drove down the icy, black street, leaving me alone with my two babies in a cold, dark house. The wind was wailing at this point and branches on trees were beginning to snap. So, I did what any sensible person would do: I got a couple of flashlights, bundled up my babies in double sets of pajamas, and found a paperback novel to read. I got into bed with one baby on either side of me, and proceeded to read Witness, by William Kelly and Earl W. Wallace. My spine began to tingle almost immediately. Recently widowed Amish woman Rachel Lapp is returning home from a visit to her sister's house in Baltimore. At the railway station, her young son, Samuel is the soul witness to a violent crime. Salty detective John Book is assigned to witness protection, and moves in with Rachel and Samuel in the heart of Amish country. It's a good thing that John Book is there, because very soon Rachael and Samuel will be in very great danger. And you can sense it coming. (I won't give anymore away, but I'll be that many of you have seen the movie, right?) I stayed up the entire night, long past when the Quiet Man slipped home, swallowing the book before the sun came up to reveal a beautiful white wonderland outside, completely encased in shimmering ice. Ooh, I'm getting the shivers just writing about it. I love getting the shivers when I know that I am safe.

And onwards and upwards to today's cookie: Pumpkin Cookies are elevated to ambrosia by a rich and creamy Browned Butter Icing. It's a bit like having your very own little pumpkin cake. As beautiful as they are delicious, they're just perfect for a chilly October night with the lights turned low and a spooky novel to give you the shivers. See you tomorrow with more Cookie Bookie.

Martha's Stewarts Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting

Estimated Cost: $3.00 for 20

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup solid pack pumpkin

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons evaporated milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 and 1/4 cup plus two tablespoons flour

For the icing:

5 tablespoons butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375. Beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, pumpkin, milk and vanilla and mix until well blended. Stir in powder, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Add flour and stir until just combined. Line two cookie sheets with waxed paper. Using a 1/4 cup measure, pour a little batter onto cookie sheet and nudge it into a circle with the back of a spoon. (Martha recommends piping the dough). You should get about 20 cookies.
Bake both cookie sheets, rotating halfway through, for about 12 minutes, or until cookies spring back. Cool completely. Make browned butter frosting. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until butter is golden brown, about three minutes. Add powdered sugar. Stir in evaporated milk and vanilla. Mixture will thicken as it sits, so add more milk as needed. Frost cookies with warm icing. Sprinkle with additional cinnamon, if desired.

Come Back Tomorrow for More Cookie Bookie

Tuesdays with Dorie: Whole Wheat Pumpkin Maple Muffins

Time's a wasting! Join Tuesdays with Dorie baking club before October 31st, or you'll miss your sugary chance. Each week, we make fabulous treats on the cheap. Hurry on over!

Fall is my favorite time for a Saturday Adventure. I capitalize this term on purpose because it's such a grand idea that it deserves to be a proper noun. When we moved to our little southwest town from upstate New York, our notion of the Fall Saturday Adventure had to adjust a little. For one thing, a pumpkin patch-a real true pumpkin patch- was not easily found. After some inquiry, a local yokel informed us that the nearest thing to a pumpkin patch was 40 miles away in an even smaller town. A pumpkin growing farmer puts the gourds out on his front lawn with a lockbox on a card table. On the honor system, you pick out your pumpkin and cram some crumpled ones into the too-small slot. This sophisticated market system simply isn't used in Los Angeles, where I grew up. It sounded like the perfect Saturday Adventure to me; even if we didn't get a pumpkin it was worth it to see virtuous people handling a loaded cashbox. And so it has been for the last four years in a row. Each October we've headed off to someone else's front lawn in somebody else's hometown to buy somebody else's home-grown pumpkin on the marvelous honor system. This year, I woke up early and slipped a batch of freshly baked whole wheat pumpkin muffins whole wheat, perfumed with maple and studded with sunflower seeds, into a basket to take along. If there is any way to make an October Saturday Adventure even more ideal, it's with these fall flavored muffins. And this year, as the icing on the cake, during our drive home the sky sifted down gentle drifts of powdered sugar snow. It melted just hours later, but it was a good reminder that the holidays are coming soon, and muffins like these are not only good for Saturday Adventures but also for Holiday Breakfasts. Another capital notion!
Money Saving Tips: Maple extract is a HUGE money saver. You can make pancake syrup by boiling together sugar and water and flavoring it with maple extract. It's not as good as maple syrup, but for a child's frozen waffle, it does the trick. Also, maple extract makes a great frosting since the flavor is stronger than real maple syrup. Be sure to freeze any leftover pumpkins in 1/2 cup portions in zip top baggies. Sunflower seeds can be pricey, so use whatever nuts you've got available.
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Maple Muffins
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
Estimated Cost: $2.00 for six muffins
Notes: These are even better with a little maple butter. Stir together equal parts butter and maple syrup.
1 cup whole wheat flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
4 tablespoons softened butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons buttermilk or milk
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, plus more for top (or other nut)
Grease a six cup muffin tin. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine flour, powder, soda, cinnamon and ginger. In a separate medium bowl, cream butter and both sugars. Add the egg and beat well. Stir in vanilla and maple extracts. Mix in pumpkin and buttermilk. Very gently, fold in dry ingredients. Stir in seeds. Divide batter between muffin cups. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in muffin tins for five minutes. Remove from muffin tins and serve warm
Coming Tomorrow:
Sweet Red Pepper and Ginger Penne with Feta

Spicy Pumpkin Vegetarian Chili

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever going to get my full and complete "Fall Kick Off Dinner" Menu out there to share with you all. Between Tuesdays with Dorie and Thursdays with Ina, and give aways, and mix ups and my actual real life, I'm getting a little behind. Thank goodness the season lasts three months since it just might take me that long to kick it off. I'll keep patiently posting menu items one by one until we've made our way through dinner and dessert. Starting with this Fall-flavored, intensely delicious and satisfying pumpkin chili. A gorgeous vibrant deep reddish orange color, you might not even guess it has pumpkin at all. So spicy and satisfying and healthful, piquant and bright with fresh garlic and ginger, this one pot wonder has a silky smoothness from humble canned pumpkin. For parties, I always make two kinds of chili; one with meat and one without. I've learned my lesson to make big batches of both, since the carnivores will love this one too. Even my super-manly, Big Stuff dad couldn't get enough of this one. You might have to hoard it in the kitchen.
Fall Kick Off Dinner:
Today's Offering: Spicy Pumpkin Vegetarian Chili
Crock Pot Meaty Chili
Corniest Corn Muffins
Crumbly Oatmeal Apple Bars
Caramel Apple Wedges

Money Saving Tips: If you don't have canned pumpkin, you can swap it for pureed winter squash or even sweet potato, but you may have to add a little extra water to compensate. You can use your own cooked dried beans to save money. 2 cups of pinto beans will cook overnight on low in a crockpot without any presoaking or fuss.
Spicy Pumpkin Vegetarian Chili
Estimated Cost: $4.00 for 8 servings
Notes: You can make this chili a day ahead of time and store it in the fridge. It'll taste even better.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced, divided
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger, or 1/2 teaspoon dried
1 large bell pepper, chopped (I used some red, some yellow)
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
2 tablespoons chili powder (less if yours is hot)
1 teaspoon cumin
pinch of cayenne
2 (14 ounce) cans pinto beans, drained
1 (14 ounce) can Mexican style diced tomatoes with juices, blended in the blender
1 cup canned plain pumpkin puree
shredded cheese and chopped cilantro for serving
In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, 2 cloves garlic, ginger, bell pepper, and carrots. Cook for five minutes, stirring often, or until vegetables begin to soften. Add chili powder, cumin, and cayenne and cook for 1 minute. Add beans and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until all vegetables are softened. Stir in remaining garlic and pumpkin; warm through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with shredded cheese and cilantro, if desired.
Coming Tomorrow:
A Brief but Delicious Break from our Fall Menu
Barefoot Thursdays
Lightened Up Cream of Mushroom and Brown Rice Soup