Pumpkin pie

Last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving and I baked my first ever pumpkin pie for the occasion!

As a French national, pumpkin pie is a very foreign concept to me, so I had to research how to go about this. It turns out there are a gazillion recipes. Some use sweetened condensed milk, some use cream, the spice blend varies from baker to baker… I chose to use sweetened condensed milk because, well, I just LOVE the stuff! I also made it my own by adding some cloves, vanilla extract and allspice.

Here's how you can make it.



INGREDIENTS (one 9" pie)
- 1 can condensed sweetened milk
- 1 1/2 cups pumkpin puree
- 2 jumbo eggs
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- 1/8 allspice
- 1/4 tsp salt
- a dash of vanilla extract
- 1 single pie crust (click here for recipe)



RECIPE:
- preheat your oven at 350F
- roll out the pie crust and place it in a pie dish, trim to size, line it with parchment paper, baking weights (I used rice that I keep and reuse especially for this) and blind bake crust for 30 min 350F

Note: keep the trimmings, they may come in handy to doctor the crust back into shape if the dough shrinks during blind baking!
- when the crust has baked for 30 minutes, let it cool at room temperature while you prepare the filling. - to make the filling, mix all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth

- pour into pre-baked crust, lower the oven to 320F and bake another 60 min

Note: the pie is ready when a toothpick comes out of the filling dry
- serve at room temperature with freshly whipped cream and enjoy!

Apple cheddar pie

I went apple picking a couple of weeks ago. I bought cheddar at the farm store.

'Nuff said.



INGREDIENTS:
- a double pie crust (recipe coming soon)
- 3 lbs of apples
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 2 tbsp of corn starch
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- a pinch of ground cloves
- a pinch of salt
- 4 oz sharp cheddar
- not pictured: 1 egg, whisked with a tbsp of water
- optionnal: a pinch of granulated sugar


RECIPE:
- preheat your oven at 425F
- peel, core and slice the apples thinly (I used a mandolin for perfect uniform slices)

Note: if you want, you can sprinkle a little lemon juice on the apples here to keep them from browning too much
- add the sliced apples, sugar, starch and spices to a large bowl and mix until the apple slices are well coated with the spice mixture

- roll out the first crust, place in a buttered pie dish and grate the cheddar

- pour the apple filling into the dish, sprinkle a healthy dose of grated cheddar on top and cover with the second rolled crust

- trim the excess dough (leave about 1 inch of dough around the dish), press the top and bottom dough together so they seal, tuck the dough under and crimp away!

- with a sharp knife, make a few slits on top the the pie crust to allow steam to escape during baking, brush over with a little egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar

- bake at 425F for 25 minutes, then lower the heat to 350F and bake for an additional 30 minutes
- ta-da!!!

Ras el hanout - Moroccan spice blend

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp ground allspice (I only had berries, so I ground them with a pestle and mortar)
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves

RECIPE:
- don't blink, you might miss it...
- ready?
- mix everything together!