Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

Culinary Adventures: Mexican Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie: a spicier and richer version of the classic fall favorite.

 

Paddy and I are both big fans of spicy chocolate, and I wanted to shake things up a bit for Thanksgiving this year. I found this recipe for Mexican Chocolate Pumpkin Pie in Better Homes and Gardens magazine, and decided to try it out. I changed it up a bit, using pre-made chocolate cookie pie crusts, dividing the recipe into two (the cookie pie crusts were pretty shallow) and tripling the chocolate ganache recipe. It turned out fantastic and our families loved it.

Better Homes and Gardens Mexican Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Recipe:

  • 1 recipe Baked Piecrust (I subbed out a pre-made chocolate cookie crust
  • 1 3.1 ounce disc Mexican chocolate or 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped plus 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon mild chili powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 15 ounce can pumpkin
  • 4 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup half-and-half or light cream
  • 1 recipe Chocolate Ganache*
  •  Grated chocolate (optional)
  •  Chili powder (optional)

Directions

  1. Prepare Baked Pastry Shell; set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small saucepan heat the chocolate, cinnamon and butter over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, just until melted; set aside to cool. In a large bowl combine the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, salt, 1/4 teaspoon chili powder, and cayenne. Stir in the pumpkin and eggs until combined. Gradually stir in half-and-half until combined.
  2. Stir 1 1/2 cups of the pumpkin mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture. Pour chocolate mixture into baked pastry shell. Gently pour remaining pumpkin mixture over the chocolate layer. If necessary, cover edges of pie with foil to prevent overbrowning. Bake for 60 minutes or until edges are puffed and center appears set. Cool on a wire rack. Chill within 2 hours. Serve with Chocolate Ganache. Sprinkle with grated chocolate and chili powder, if desired.
CHOCOLATE GANACHE: (I tripled this recipe to make enough for two pie toppings)

Chop 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate and place in a small bowl. Heat 1/4 cup whipping cream to a simmer and pour over chopped chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Immediately spoon over center of cooled pie.

The Mexican chocolate I used I found at the little Mexican tienda across the street from our house. We live in a pretty culturally diverse neighborhood, so it was pretty easy to find. If you don’t have any Mexican grocery/variety stores in your area, you could try using regular chocolate and adding in cinnamon and cayenne, but it probably won’t turn out entirely the same.

Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie
Mexican chocolate

The chocolate comes in disks inside the package. The recipe called for one disk.

Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie
Mexican chocolate

The filling wasn’t so different from a regular pumpkin pie, aside from mixing part of the pumpkin filling with the Mexican chocolate for the bottom layer, and adding a few extra spices. It was pretty easy.

Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie
Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie –the chocolate/pumpkin layer on the bottom
Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie
Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie –pumpkin layer
Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie
Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie –pies ready to go in the oven

The pies came out the consistency of a regular pumpkin pie, and when they were cool I made the chocolate ganache and poured it over the tops. Once the ganache was cool, I grated part of a chili chocolate bar and sprinkled it on top. I used the local Seattle Theo Chocolate chili bar.

Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie
Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie
Mexican Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Mexican Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

Paddy says he expects Mexican chocolate pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving now. I will try to accommodate, but I do love trying a new recipe every year!

 

 

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Culinary Adventures: Spiced Apple Rings

Making homemade spiced apple rings–an awesome relish tray addition to your family’s holiday dinner

My Grandma always added store-bought spiced apple rings to her relish tray for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners. My Mom never bought them, they were only something we ate on Christmas Eve at Grandma’s with her Christmas pot roast. Blood red, perfectly round, spicy rings that I never got to eat anywhere else.

When I told my Grandma that I was going to try and make spiced apple rings, she told me that she’d never considered making them from scratch, despite all the canning that she does. She was curious to see how they turned out. She said that she didn’t think anyone else liked them but her, and stopped buying them eventually. She was happy that somebody else enjoyed them at her holiday dinners.

Well Grandma–you’re getting homemade spiced apple rings for Christmas this year.

I used this recipe found at Food.com. It says it makes 8 pints, but I bought a pack of 12 wide mouth pint jars and it filled them all. Also–total time 1 hour my ass. More like three.

I knew going into it that mine were not going to be perfectly round, nor blood red. I’m sure a lot of artificial red #5 dye goes into those store bought spiced apple rings. I also didn’t have an apple corer, despite searching for one at the local Fred Meyer.

**If this is your first time canning, PLEASE read all the instructions in the Ball canning guide. There is a lot that can go wrong if you don’t know what you are doing.

 

Ingredients:

  • 12 lbs firm tart apples, no more than 2 1/2-inch diameter
  • 12 cups sugar
  • 6 cups water
  • 1 1/4 cups white vinegar, 5
  • 3 tablespoons whole cloves
  • 3/4 cup red hot cinnamon candies or 8 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 teaspoon red food coloring (optional)

**Whitney’s note: Also get a squeezy bottle of lemon juice, you’ll need it to keep the apples from browning.

Directions:

  1. Wash apples. Peel and slice one apple at a time. Immediately cut crosswise into 1/2″ slices, remove core area with a melon baller and immerse in ascorbic acid solution to keep the apples from discoloring.

If you have an apple corer, this will probably go a lot smoother for you than it did for me. I cut the cores out of the apple slices by holding a knife in them and turning the slice around as I cut. If you can find an apple corer, buy it. It will be worth it.

I used Granny Smith apples, this is definitely a recipe you want to use tart apples for.

how to make spiced apple rings 466

how to make spiced apple rings

Place all the apple rings in bowls of water with lemon juice to keep them from browning. They will start to brown really fast so get them right into the lemon water immediately after cutting.

how to make spiced apple rings

2. In a 6 quart saucepan, combine sugar, water, vinegar, cloves, cinnamon candies, or cinnamon sticks and food coloring (if using).

The recipe told me to throw everything in the pot and boil. I threw in a couple cinnamon sticks along with the red hot candies for extra cinnamon flavor. I did add the optional tsp of red food coloring.

If I were to do this recipe again, I would put the cloves in a “teabag” made from cheesecloth. They were just floating loose and when I was pouring liquid into the jars it was hard to keep all the cloves out. I suppose they could add extra flavor during processing and while the spiced apple rings are jarred, but it was kind of annoying. People also aren’t so into picking hard woody things out of their apple rings at the dinner table.

3. Heat to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves then lower heat and simmer 3 minutes.

how to make spiced apple rings

4. Drain apples and add to hot syrup, and cook for 5 minutes.

how to make spiced apple rings
I wasn’t sure that cooking the apples for a whole five minutes prior to adding them to the jars was a good idea, because they kept cooking while I was canning. You don’t want mushy apple rings. Doing this recipe again, I would just steam them covered on low heat for 2 minutes, and then start the canning process.
how to make spiced apple rings

 5. Fill prepared jars with apple rings and hot flavored syrup, leaving a 1/2″ headspace.
how to make spiced apple rings
I found that the best tool for taking apple rings out of the pot and into the jars was a BBQ fork. I stacked the rings into the jars (doing my best to pick out the cloves as I went–again, cheesecloth recommended) and poured the syrup in on top. I pressed the rings down with a spoon to allow the syrup to fill all the spaces between the apples and remove the air bubbles. Do this until you have juice saturating the spiced apple rings, about 1/2 inch below the top of the jar and the air bubbles are removed.
how to make spiced apple rings
6. Check for air bubbles and add more liquid if needed to maintain the 1/2″ headspace.

7. Process pint or quart size jars in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

Adjust time according to your altitude. NOTE: This can also be pressure canned. Pressure Canner – Hot pack pints or quarts and process for 8 minutes at the pressure specified according to your altitude and / or style of canner.

I live close to sea level, so I did 10 minutes processing time (starting the timer when the water started boiling) and 5 minutes cooling time (taking the lid off the canner and turning off the burner) as recommended in the Ball Canning guide for their recipes. They recommend 20 minutes water bath processing for higher altitudes. I’m not sure if my processing time was 100% correct, so I would recommend consulting Ball instead of trusting me.

how to make spiced apple rings

All of the jars sealed, but there were a couple that had such large rings in them that the syrup didn’t cover all of the apples. I put those in the fridge to eat soon, just in case something went wrong. I tasted the couple that didn’t fit into the jars, and they tasted great. I’m looking forward to having homemade spiced apple rings at Thanksgiving dinner this year.

how to make spiced apple rings

 

Culinary Adventures: Pumpkin Chiffon Pie with Orange Cream

Culinary Adventures: Pumpkin Chiffon Pie with Orange Cream –giving the traditional Thanksgiving pumpkin pie a fancy makeover

I had a discount subscription to Woman’s Day Magazine last year, which I’m not a big fan of (I was only in it for the recipes, which aren’t that exciting). I did really enjoy their pie recipes in last year’s Thanksgiving issue though–particularly the Pumpkin Chiffon Pie with Orange Cream.

I’d never made a chiffon pie before, and it conjured up images of 1950’s housewives in pastel dresses and aprons, tediously whipping up something that fluffy could easily be ruined or deflated with any slight error. Fortunately, the Pumpkin Chiffon Pie wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought, and the flavor on this pie is amazing. Half the deliciousness comes from the gingersnap cookie crust.

You will definitely need electric beaters and a food processor, and there are quite a few steps/parts to this recipe, but overall it was pretty easy.

Recipe found at http://www.womansday.com/recipefinder/pumpkin-chiffon-pie-orange-cream-recipe-wdy1113

Ingredients:

  • 5 ounce(s) (about 40) vanilla wafer cookies, such as Nilla Wafers
  • 5 ounce(s) (about 19) gingersnap cookies
  • 6 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 envelope(s) (2 1/4 teaspoons) powdered gelatin
  • 3/4 teaspoon(s) ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon(s) ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon(s) ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon(s) ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon(s) kosher salt
  • 2/3 cup(s) granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 1 large egg white
  • 1.50 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract
  • 2.50 cup(s) heavy cream
  • 1 can(s) (15-ounce) pumpkin purée
  • 1 navel orange

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In a food processor, pulse the cookies to form fine crumbs (you should have about 2 cups). Add the melted butter and pulse to combine.
  2. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of a 10-inch pie dish. Bake until the edges of the crust are beginning to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
  3. Meanwhile, pour 1/4 cup water into a medium saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top and let stand for 5 minutes. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the gelatin dissolves, about 2 minutes.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, salt, and 1/3 cup sugar. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/2 cup heavy cream and mix to combine. Add to the gelatin mixture and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the mixture thickens (it should thickly coat the back of a spoon), 15 to 18 minutes. Stir in the pumpkin and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool to room temperature, 45 to 50 minutes.
  5. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until thick and foamy. Gradually add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar (1 tablespoon at a time) until stiff glossy peaks form, about 3 minutes.
  6. Stir 1/3 of the egg white mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Gently fold the remaining egg whites into the pumpkin mixture until no white streaks remain. Spread the filling evenly into the cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.
  7. Twenty minutes before serving, make the orange cream. Cut the orange in half and squeeze 1 tablespoon of juice into a large bowl. Add the remaining 2 cups cream and, using an electric mixer, beat until stiff peaks form. Top the pie with the cream, then grate the zest of the remaining orange half over the top.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie with orange cream

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie with orange cream

The Pumpkin Chiffon Pie was delicious. I’m not the biggest pumpkin pie fan, but this one is now added to my Thanksgiving pie rotation from now on. Why make boring pumpkin pie when you can make Pumpkin Chiffon Pie? It was so fluffy and the contrast with the crunchy gingersnap cookie crust was perfect. The orange cream is very subtle, not too overpowering.

Hopefully you won’t have a whipped cream incident like I did.

 

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie whipped cream accident