pumpkin pie

What would Thanksgiving be without pumpkin pie? For those of us who LOVE this traditional dessert, we can’t imagine the holiday without the sweet, fragrant filling and flakey crust of pumpkin pie, so perfect with coffee after the Thanksgiving feast. 

The tradition started with the English settlers in Plymouth who brought their pie-making culture to America. The pumpkin, which was a new food for the pilgrims, was soon incorporated into the delicious pie form and gastronomical history was made. It did take a few centuries for pumpkin pie to evolve to what we now are all familiar with. 

I love to buy sugar pumpkins and roast them, as opposed to using canned pumpkin. It’s pretty easy, and I usually prepare it the day before. 

All you do is cut the pumpkins in half, remove the seeds and stem and place cut-side up on a baking sheet. Bake until pumpkin flesh is tender, let cool. It’s easy to peel off the skin once cooled and then puree the pumpkin in a food processor. 

A little water may be needed to smooth the consistency. Here’s my basic recipe which also includes freshly grated ginger and nutmeg. Happy Thanksgiving!   

     

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

1 sugar pumpkin, baked, peeled and then puréed

1 (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.

2.  Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

ciao! fabiana

Check out more fun pie recipes here.

ciao October!

We're well into my favorite month October now, and I wanted to share some of my favorite things about this time of year like festive porches, pretty tables and delicious comfort food... 

Bourbon Pumpkin Shake

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 cup milk, a frozen banana,

1 Tsp. vanilla,

2 Tsp. maple syrup)
1.5 shots Amaretto
1.5 shots Bakers Bourbon
1 cup ice
fresh rosemary to garnish

Put everything in a blender, give it a whirl.

Add a sprig of rosemary to garnish.

Recipe by Mighty Girl.

Table by Tamera Beardsley

PUMPKIN PIE POP TARTS 

1/2 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
flour, for rolling out the dough
1 package pre-made pie crust

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.

2. In a small bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, sugar and spice.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pie dough to 1/4-inch. Use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut out about 20 pumpkin shapes. Use a paring knife to cut-out pumpkin faces (or pumpkin wrinkles) in half of the pumpkin shapes.

4. Place one pumpkin (without any cut-outs) on your floured surface and place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center. Use a spoon to spread the filling almost to the edges. Lightly dip your finger into water and rub the edge of the pumpkin dough shape with the water. Top with a cut-out pumpkin and lightly press the edges together to seal. Repeat with the remaining shapes and filling.

5. Place the tarts on your prepared baking sheet. Bake for 18 minutes, or until golden brown. Set the tarts aside to cool.

Recipe by Recipe Girl

Use sugar pumpkins as bowls

for your favorite pumpkin or squash soup!

 

Funny faces that make you smile.

ciao! fabiana

photo credits:

Pinterest

Jenny Steffins

Mighty Girl

Sand and Sisal

Recipe Girl

Half Baked Harvest

Family Circle

Flicker

time for pie

Vintage pie plates are really fun inexpensive collectables. I pick them up here or there at thrift stores, rummage sales or yard sales for only a dollar or two.

Not only are these ceramic pie plates cute, what makes them really fun is that the pie recipe is already printed on them as part of the design!

And I don’t know about your family, but mine absolutely love any kind of pie especially fruity summer pies, so today I’m sharing a few additional recipes that we love.

Martha Stewart’s Strawberry Icebox Pie

Ingredients

10 graham crackers (2 1/2 by 5 inches)

1 cup sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup unsweetened cranberry juice

2 quarts strawberries, hulled and thinly sliced (a few whole berries reserved for garnish)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, blend graham crackers with 2 tablespoons sugar until finely ground; add butter and pulse until crumbs are moistened. Press mixture into the bottom and up the side of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake until crust is lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine 3/4 cup sugar, cranberry juice, 2 cups strawberries, cornstarch, and salt. Using a potato masher, gently mash strawberries. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until very thick, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in remaining strawberries. Pour into cooled pie crust. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours (or up to 1 day).

3. In a large bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over cream and continue to beat until soft peaks return (do not overbeat). Spread whipped cream over pie, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border around edge. Garnish with whole berries. 

Very Berry Cream Tartlets recipe found here

Tommy Bahama's Key Lime Pie recipe found here

Lemon Meringue Pie recipe found here

Homemade Pumpkin Pie recipe found here

Please stop by again later this week 

when I'll share a few of my new vintage finds

from my visit to the Orange Circle yesterday. 

What’s your favorite collectable?

ciao! fabiana

my favorite pumpkin spice cookies

The addition of pumpkin spices 

makes these spritz the perfect cookie for fall

The pumpkin shape and aromatic flavor of these

cookies will definitely get you in the mood for fall.

Celebrate the arrival of fall with these easy-to-make pumpkin spice butter cookies that will be sure to tingle your taste buds and put you in that perfect autumn mood. 

Traditionally known as spritz, these light butter cookies are usually made around Christmas, but now with the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves, they’re perfect for fall. 

Warm all your senses on those cold autumn afternoons, with Pumpkin Spiced Spritz and a hot cup of coffee.

Did you ever make spritz cookies growing up? I have vivid memories of decorating spritz during the holidays when I was a little girl and being amazed at how beautiful the cookies were when they came out of the oven.  

Tingle your taste buds and put yourself in that perfect autumn mood with these delicious Pumpkin Spice Spritz.

These adorable holiday cookies are so easy to make with the help of one simple kitchen gadget, a cookie press, which comes with a variety of different disks.

Create your own little blend of glittery sprinkles by combining different colors of sparkling sugars.

My cookie press came with this adorable pumpkin shape, but leaves and circular forms can easily be dressed up for fall. Additional disk shapes for other holiday and themes can also be purchased and added to your collection.

A custom mix of sparkling sugars gave me the desired

shine I was going for on these little pumpkin cookies.

The recipe for these cookies is very straight forward and foolproof. I found that the cookies stick better to metal cookie sheets, as opposed to parchment paper or a silpat. 

The first cookie probably won’t turn out pretty, so just throw it back into the bowl of batter. It just takes a little bit of practice to figure out how much clicking is needed to get the perfect cookie on to the baking sheet.

For this batch of cookies, I created my own little blend of glittery sprinkles by combining orange, yellow, gold and white sparkling sugars. This custom mix gave me the desired festive look I was going for. 

In addition to the glittery colors, I used natural food color in the batter to give the perfect pumpkin hue.

Pumpkin Spice Spritz Cookies 

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

natural orange food color (optional)

Sprinkles for garnish

Instructions

1.   Preheat oven to 350.

2.   Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on medium-low until well combined and airy, about 4 to 5 minutes.

3.   Add the vanilla and the egg; mix to incorporate.

4.   If desired, add a few drops of natural food color and mix until combined.

5.   In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.

6.   With the electric mixer on low, add flour mixture slowly to the butter mixture. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix.

7.   Fill the Cookie Press with cookie dough.

8.   Press the cookies onto ungreased baking sheets.

9.   Decorate cookies with seasonal sprinkles.

10.  Bake until firm and golden, about 8 to 10 minutes.

11.  Remove cookies from oven and let set for 2 minutes.

12.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Spritz Cookies will keep up to a week in an airtight container.

Makes about 4-5 dozen.

Feel free to add your own special touch to this recipe!

ciao! fabiana

This article originally appeared on Romantic Homes online.