Pumpkin Spice Latte Chiffon Pie

While I was making the Pum-conut Pie last week, this pie came into my imagination.  My mother makes an exceptional Pumpkin Chiffon Pie.  The one year that she didn't make it for Thanksgiving, it didn't really feel like Thanksgiving, and being the ungrateful jerk that I am: I told her so.

Last year, when I made all the pies for Thanksgiving, I knew that I needed to get the recipe from her.  There were only three changes to her recipe to make it a Pumpkin Spice Latte Chiffon Pie, and that was to swap the 1/4 cup of water with 3 shots of espresso from Starbucks, I substituted my blend of spices for the tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice, and I also modified the whipped cream to have it be a little more enduring than plain whipped cream.

Ingredients:

1 envelope of unflavored gelatin

3 shots of Starbucks espresso

3 eggs, separated

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1 1/3 cups of pumpkin

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon of allspice

1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon of mace

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of milk

1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar

6 tablespoons of granulated sugar

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1 packet of Whip it

1 packet of vanilla sugar

Directions:
Soften gelatin in cold espresso.  Beat egg yolks; add brown sugar, pumpkin, spices, and salt.  Mix well.  Stir in milk.  Cook over medium heat, stirring, until it begins to boil.  Cook for 2 minutes, continuing the stir.  Remove from heat; add gelatin; mix.  Cool.  Add cream of tartar to egg whites; beat until fluffy.  Gradually add granulated sugar, beating until stiff, but not dry.  Without washing beaters, beat pumpkin mixture until smooth.  Gently fold in egg whites.  Pour into a blind-baked crust; chill.  Beat whipped cream with Whip it and vanilla sugar until you get stiff peaks.  Spread over filling and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice, or a mixture of half the quantities of the spices used in the recipe.

This pie tastes better than a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks.  There is something about the latte that tastes a little soapy or cosmetic to me.  That is not found in this pie at all.  The espresso is noticeable, but not over powering, and provides a nice contrast to the other flavors in the pie.  This pie, however, is very rich and should be cut into eight slices instead of six.

WARNING:  If you eat this pie in public, you may be mobbed by twenty-somethings wearing Ugg boots, chunky sweaters, and tights as pants.

Piece out!
Justin

Pum-conut Pie

Last weekend, I was driving through Richmond, IL, on my way home from picking apples at an apple orchard.  I noticed that one of my favorite antique stores is closing and was having a huge sale.  I bought two vintage Pies by Fasano pie tins and four cookbooks.  One of them was a community made recipe book from Delavan, WI, from 1980.  My husband is from Delavan, and went to school with the kids of the majority of the recipe providers, or shopped in their husbands' shoe stores, etc.

Anyway, another cookbook that I picked up was the Pillsbury's Bake Off Dessert Cook Book from 1968.  The one recipe that really caught my eye was the Pum-conut Pie, so I decided to give it a try.  It is basically a pumpkin pie with shredded coconut.  So here is what I did...

Ingredients:

2 eggs

3/4 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of mace

1/4 teaspoon of ground clove

1 can of pumpkin

1 can of evaporated milk

3/4 cup of shredded coconut

Directions:
Beat the eggs.  Add sugar, salt, and spices.  Stir to combine.  Add pumpkin.  Stir to combine,  Add evaporated milk.  Stir to combine.  Add 1/2 cup of shredded coconut.  Stir to combine.  Pour into a prepared crust.  Bake at 425oF for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of coconut and bake for another 10 minutes.  Allow to cool entirely before eating.

This pie was totally ok.  The chewiness of the coconut was a nice addition; however, this pie lacked any real wow factor.  But the concept does has potential.  I may revisit it as a pumpkin chiffon pie and see if that had the wow factor I am looking for.

Piece out!
Justin

RLHS 2015 Pie Baking Champion

Two weeks ago, the staff of the school where I teach had a chili cook-off/pie bake-off/costume contest.  I decided to go with the Taffy Apple Pie.

This time, I precooked the apple filling to avoid having a crust dome.  In a saucepan, I combined the apple slices (this time using 3 Granny Smith and 3 Gala), 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and two tablespoons of Pie Filling Enhancer.  I cooked it over medium heat until the apples softened.  Then I stirred in the peanuts and put it onto a sheet of foil on a sheet pan to cool.

If you do this, let it cool ALL THE WAY.  I did not and the filling started heating the crust before I could even get it in the refrigerator to set up.  Needless to say, my crust did not hold its shape.  However, I did not have a crust dome.  So, the plan worked...  kind of.

Anyway, my Purple Pieman from Porcupine Peak costume came in second.  But, my Taffy Apple Pie took first place by one vote.

So, I got this sweet apron.

Piece out!
Justin