Buh-bye, pie
Rid yourself of the worries of preparing the perfect crust. Top off your feast with one of these pumpkin treats instead.
By JANET K. KEELER
Published November 15, 2006
Pumpkin pie was born in 1621, closely followed by the fear of making pie crust.
That paralyzing angst survives today, felt keenly at Thanksgiving when pressure to bake a perfect, or at least presentable, pumpkin pie is intense. Those of us missing the pie crust gene are miserable failures at flaky pastry with lovely fluted edges, but that doesn't stop us from trying. Mrs. Smith and Sara Lee and their boxes of frozen goodness await people who accept the DNA deficit.
This year, my crust-challenged compatriots, cast off the shackles of tradition. Keep the pumpkin spiked with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, but blow off the pastry crust. There are plenty of other sweet endings in which pumpkin can be the star. Consider puddings and cakes or pies with butter-crumb crusts that only require elbow grease to push them into the pan.
The early American settlers didn't really make pie crust anyway. They hollowed out the pumpkin and filled it with milk, honey and spices, then baked the massive orb in the smoldering ashes of an outdoor fire.
Sounds more like pudding or custard than pie.
One of the earliest known recipes for pumpkin pie was written in 1651 by legendary French chef and cookbook author Francois Pierre la Varenne. He merrily glosses over the crust and directs the cook to put the filling into a "sheet of paste" and bake. Easy for him to say.
The best part of the recipe, as outlined on www.whatscookingamerica.net, is the post-baking instructions: "Besprinkle it with sugar and serve."
I plan to say "besprinkle" a lot this holiday season.
Tastes like buttah
Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake will make every Pilgrim at your table forget traditional pumpkin pie. A yellow cake mix, butter and an egg are the foundation for a layer of cream cheese, pumpkin, butter, lots of powdered sugar, more eggs and spices. Serve slices with fluffy cream topping: home-whipped, from the aerosol can or scooped out of a plastic tub.
Forget the wimpy pie plate; this cake is made in a sturdy 9- by 13-inch baking pan and serves 15 people. Three columns across, five down. That whittles the butter serving to about 1 tablespoon per person. The fat? Don't ask.
Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake is sweeter and richer than pumpkin pie and is an easy take-along dish for a Thanksgiving potluck. Bring copies of the recipe because you will get requests, the ultimate compliment.
Another good thing: The cake can be made the night before. Store it covered in the refrigerator after it cools and take out about an hour before serving.
If you are thinking of cooking a fresh pumpkin for a dessert recipe, don't. It takes quite a bit of time (chopping, seeding, boiling, scraping) and you're likely to be unhappy with the results. The cooked pumpkin probably will be watery and less flavorful than its concentrated canned counterpart. Pumpkins, just like all nature's bounty, are not created equal.
Buy canned pumpkin puree and make sure it says 100 percent on the label. Do not mistakenly buy pumpkin pie filling, which has sugar in it.
Pumpkin pairings
Pumpkin is a good companion with many flavors including apples, bourbon and rum, caramel, cinnamon, cloves, raisins, coconut, honey, maple syrup, pecans and vanilla.
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce teams the winter gourd with several of those tastes. Caramel sauce is sold in jars but making it from scratch requires just three ingredients and only a few more minutes to put together. Butter, dark brown sugar and cream mingle in a sauce pan until the sugar melts and a rich sauce develops.
A fresh egg bread works best and I like braided challah, which is sold unsliced in Publix bakeries. Some bread puddings call for stale bread but this recipe works best with soft, fresh bread cubes.
Bread pudding can be made the night before, stored in the refrigerator, then popped into the oven after the turkey comes out. Turn the oven off and there will be enough heat to warm the squishy-sweet pudding. Serve it alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
C'mon, try something different this Thanksgiving.
Hasn't the fear of pie crust frustrated you long enough?
Janet K. Keeler can be reached at (727) 893-8586 or jkeeler@sptimes.com.
Fast facts
Frozen pie, if you must
Sara Lee's ChefPierre recently was rated the No. 1 frozen pumpkin pie by the St. Petersburg Times' Taster's Choice panel. Marie Callender's finished second and Mrs. Smith's was third.
Make sure you read the cooking instructions the day before Thanksgiving if you're baking a frozen pie for your feast. They can require as much as 90 minutes in the oven and then have to cool to firm, which takes another hour or more.
You can cook the pie the day before, let it cool, then cover and refrigerate.
Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake
Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the cake mix, egg and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 9- by 13-inch baking pan.
- To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin in a large bowl until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.
- Serve with fresh whipped cream.
Variations:
Pineapple Gooey Cake: Instead of pumpkin, add a drained 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple to the cream cheese filling. Proceed as directed above.
Banana Gooey Cake: Prepare cream cheese filling as directed, beating in 2 ripe bananas instead of the pumpkin. Proceed as directed above.
Peanut Butter Gooey Cake: Use a chocolate cake mix. Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter to the cream cheese filling instead of the pumpkin. Proceed as directed above.
Serves about 15.
Source: Paula Deen, Food Network
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Bread pudding:
2 cups half and half
1 (15-ounce) can pure pumpkin
1 cup (packed) plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 cups 1/2-inch cubes egg bread (about 10 ounces)
1/2 cup golden raisins
Caramel sauce:
11/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
Powdered sugar for garnish
- For bread pudding, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk half and half, pumpkin, dark brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and vanilla extract in large bowl to blend. Fold in bread cubes. Stir in golden raisins.
- Transfer mixture to 7- by 11-inch glass baking dish. Let stand 15 minutes. Bake pumpkin bread pudding until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare caramel sauce. Whisk brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts. Whisk in cream and stir until sugar dissolves and sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes.
- Sift powdered sugar over bread pudding. Serve warm with caramel sauce.
Serves 8.
Source: Bon Apptit magazine, 2000
Frozen Yogurt Pumpkin Pie
Crust:
1 1/3 cup crushed gingersnaps
1/3 cup butter, melted
Filling:
1 cup cooked pumpkin
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 pints vanilla frozen yogurt
Optional for garnish:
Whipped cream
Ground nutmeg
- Heat oven to 375.
- In a medium bowl, combine cookie mixture and butter, blend well.
- Press mixture evenly in the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake for 8 minutes, cool completely on a wire rack.
- In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar and spices and mix well. Spoon in frozen yogurt, stirring until well blended. Spoon mixture into prepared crust.
- Freeze at least 2 hours until very firm. Place pie into refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with whipped cream and nutmeg if desired.
Serves 8.
Source: www.mom-mom.com
Pumpkin Pecan Pudding Cake
8 ounces (about 1 1/4 cups) dark or golden raisins
3/4 cup apple brandy, such as Calvados
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) pumpkin puree
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
8 ounces (about 2 cups) chopped pecans
3/4 cup whole or low-fat milk
- Place the raisins and brandy in a small bowl and macerate for at least 1 hour and preferably overnight (this does not have to be refrigerated).
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a large nonstick Bundt pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, oil and vanilla extract, mixing until smooth.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves.
- Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and fold carefully to combine. Add the pecans, milk, raisins and their brandy to the batter, stirring to combine.
- Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until the cake is nicely browned and springs back to the touch.
- Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack until it comes to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate the cake (still in the pan) for several hours or overnight.
- To serve, place the cake in a 250-degree oven for a couple of minutes to loosen the sides from the pan, then invert onto a serving plate.
Serves 10 to 12.
Source: Washington Post