I adore watching PBS America's Test Kitchen. One of my favorite programs was one where the host decided to cook a holiday dinner from a very early 18th century cookbook. He even went to far to purchase and install a very high tech, for the day, wood cooking stove. It had all the bells and whistles that included a water reservoir to heat water either for cooking, washing dishes, washing clothes or Saturday night bathtub use.
I have been testing,yeah that's a good word, testing the time honored family recipe for pumpkin pie.
I made two pies for Thanksgiving and froze one for later use. For this recipe I had used the usual peel and stick pie crust. I was not happy with the doneness of the crust for this bake and decided to change things up next time. I also dragged out the frozen one and donated it to the Tuesday morning garbage pick up. Enjoy!!
I had also substituted the 1 1/2 cups of sugar with same amount of Splenda. Results? It tasted half as sweet and was distinctly missing something in the flavor as a result.
This time I decided to pre-bake the pie crust. I unrolled the pie crust in the very large glass pyrex plates. I put fork marks all over the bottom of the pie and decided to sit the smaller pie plates on top of the crust as it baked. I prepared two of these and baked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. They were still light brown and I left them in another 15 minutes. I allowed the plates to cool. The results were less than satisfactory. I should have gone with a bag of dried beans because the crust actually stuck to one plate and I had to scrape bits back into the bigger plate. Also for some reason one crust shifted a bit so that there was zero crust on one side and it skewed very high on the other side. But I will try pre-baking again.
Now I had decided to use tofu this time. I also snagged a pint of black treacle syrup to use as sugar. I mixed with together with the 2 cups of pumpkin, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup of almond milk and the appropriate amounts of cinnamon and allspice.
I used the small mixer to stir this all together. I did not like the texture of the tofu. I should have processed the tofu in a blender to get it past the cottage cheese looking stage. The taste was very nice, it was pumpkiny, sharp molasses and spiced well. I poured the mix into the two pie plates and patted it down like a very thick mix. It looked like a cross between a brownie and a chocolate cake. I checked it at 45 minutes and it was not done. I let it go another 15 minutes and then turned off the oven.
I sliced and tasted a piece with some whipped cream on top. This is a weird looking pie, it truly looks like a chocolate cake pie with bits of cottage cheese on top. I gotta fix the optics on this and I will have a much smoother pie next time. And maybe cut back on the black treacle and use half Splenda. I froze the other pie. And I am officially sick of making pies.
Today I plan to get the dressing out of the way. Last night I pried out a bag of frozen turkey stock and it is half thawed this morning. I will chop up a whole onion, add the usual spices. I have some fresh frozen Rosemary that I will toss in, if I remember and I might put on my lighted helmet thingie and go looking in the bottom cupboard for a can of hominy. This should be tasty. Husband really loves my dressing.
The meat dish for Christmas dinner is some tasty looking deluxe version of chicken sticks. Pass the toothpicks please.
I have been testing,yeah that's a good word, testing the time honored family recipe for pumpkin pie.
I made two pies for Thanksgiving and froze one for later use. For this recipe I had used the usual peel and stick pie crust. I was not happy with the doneness of the crust for this bake and decided to change things up next time. I also dragged out the frozen one and donated it to the Tuesday morning garbage pick up. Enjoy!!
I had also substituted the 1 1/2 cups of sugar with same amount of Splenda. Results? It tasted half as sweet and was distinctly missing something in the flavor as a result.
This time I decided to pre-bake the pie crust. I unrolled the pie crust in the very large glass pyrex plates. I put fork marks all over the bottom of the pie and decided to sit the smaller pie plates on top of the crust as it baked. I prepared two of these and baked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. They were still light brown and I left them in another 15 minutes. I allowed the plates to cool. The results were less than satisfactory. I should have gone with a bag of dried beans because the crust actually stuck to one plate and I had to scrape bits back into the bigger plate. Also for some reason one crust shifted a bit so that there was zero crust on one side and it skewed very high on the other side. But I will try pre-baking again.
Now I had decided to use tofu this time. I also snagged a pint of black treacle syrup to use as sugar. I mixed with together with the 2 cups of pumpkin, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup of almond milk and the appropriate amounts of cinnamon and allspice.
I used the small mixer to stir this all together. I did not like the texture of the tofu. I should have processed the tofu in a blender to get it past the cottage cheese looking stage. The taste was very nice, it was pumpkiny, sharp molasses and spiced well. I poured the mix into the two pie plates and patted it down like a very thick mix. It looked like a cross between a brownie and a chocolate cake. I checked it at 45 minutes and it was not done. I let it go another 15 minutes and then turned off the oven.
I sliced and tasted a piece with some whipped cream on top. This is a weird looking pie, it truly looks like a chocolate cake pie with bits of cottage cheese on top. I gotta fix the optics on this and I will have a much smoother pie next time. And maybe cut back on the black treacle and use half Splenda. I froze the other pie. And I am officially sick of making pies.
Today I plan to get the dressing out of the way. Last night I pried out a bag of frozen turkey stock and it is half thawed this morning. I will chop up a whole onion, add the usual spices. I have some fresh frozen Rosemary that I will toss in, if I remember and I might put on my lighted helmet thingie and go looking in the bottom cupboard for a can of hominy. This should be tasty. Husband really loves my dressing.
The meat dish for Christmas dinner is some tasty looking deluxe version of chicken sticks. Pass the toothpicks please.
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