Do you have everything ready to go and planned out for tomorrow? I'm in charge of dessert for our dinner, unfortunately the hubby has to work tomorrow night but the girls and I will be joining my family at my brother's house. I've been trying to decide what kind of pie to make and you know me, I always like to come up with new creations.
Pumpkin and pecan seem to be pretty traditional pies gracing the Thanksgiving day tables. I wasn't sure if this would work but I decided to combine the two into one pie. I baked it while the kiddos napped today and had the hubby give it a try, he said it was better than my regular pumpkin pie. Yay!
I have say this is genius, it really is. The fillings meld together while baking and you really do get the texture of pumpkin and pecan pie all in one. All with a crunchy pecan layer on top. It's absolutely delicious! Again I used eggnog in my pumpkin filling, just because I really love the extra creaminess and flavor from it. If you don't have that on hand or rather skip it, try heavy cream or evaporated milk.
I know it's getting late in the game, but if you're seriously still searching for a dessert; give this pie a try! It's sure to become a new favorite.
Pumpcan Pie
Ingredients:
1 unbaked pie crust
Pumpkin filling:
1 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup eggnog
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
Pecan filling:
1/2 cup corn syrup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1-1/2 cups pecan halves
Directions:
Roll pie crust out onto floured surface, place into 9-inch pie plate. Trim edges and crimp pie crust. Set pie plate aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
To make pumpkin filling: In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix together well. Set aside.
To make pecan filling: In a large bowl combine all ingredients except pecans, whisk until mixture is smooth. Set aside.
Pour pumpkin filling into prepared pie crust. Sprinkle pecan halves over pumpkin filling, in a single layer. Then pour pecan filling over the pecans. If you have any pecans floating to the top, press them back down using your fingers,
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Then decrease temperature to 300 degrees and bake for another 40 minutes. Filling will be set and slightly puffed, a knife inserted in middle should come out clean. Let cool until room temperature before serving.
Inspired by: Baking: From My Home to Yours
In other fun news, we picked up our first beef purchase today! This is something I've wanted to do for a long, long time and just finally did some research on local farms in our area and was able to locate one. The particular farm we chose is fairly close to home, about 35 miles or so. The family operates a certified organic farm, which means the beef we purchased is treated humanly, not given antibiotics or hormones. They're pasture raised and grass fed. All important qualities I'm looking for in my meat. To be honest, last night was the first night I had probably ever tasted grass fed beef and it was crazy how good the hamburger tasted, plain even. It had so much more flavor than what I typically buy from our grocery store and I hadn't even added seasonings at that point.
So anyways, I'm really excited to have our freezer stocked with meat for awhile. We'll be purchasing pork later in the winter when it's available and I've already got a good amount of poultry from our CSA farmer. It feels good to be able to provide my family with nourishing meat and support local farmers at the same time.