The Pumpkin Pie Post

Some say it might be obligatory, it being Thanksgiving and all.  Either way, here it comes:  my pumpkin pie post.

Recently, I’ve been pinning the heck out of things on Pinterest.  (I’m on there as Foodie Interrupted – follow me and you will see proof of my obsession.) I kinda feel like I’m a serial re-pinner.  I oogle over peoples boards of food dishes and fun  crafty projects and re-pin away.  I do this, of course, because I will make every single one of those dishes and crafts one day.  I swear.  No, really…  Well, one of the things I pinned recently was a cinnamon roll pie crust.  With this pie heavy holiday upon us, I thought this was a perfect fit, so I went for it.  I also needed something to take to the in-laws and who better to experiment on?  (Besides, I was asked to bring the pumpkin pie.)  My crust didn’t look as pretty as the original one I pinned over at Pinterest, but I was still very happy with it.  Here’s a pic of the cinnamony goodness:

The cinnamon roll crust only goes to the top edge of the pie plate so I decided to get all fancy and make a nice leaf crust around the top.  You don’t have to do this at all but I thought it looked better and there may be some crust lovers in the crowd that this move would please.  Please note that I sort of did the fancy schmancy leaf thing as an afterthought, so when you read my directions for adding it – BE CAREFUL!

I have not actually made pumpkin pie in a few years, somebody else is usually in charge of that!  I generally don’t have a set in stone recipe, either.  I know, who doesn’t have a pumpkin pie recipe, right?  Well, this girl doesn’t.  I contemplated doing something different with the pie filling but since I had already done the cinnamon roll crust, I didn’t want to mess too much with the filling.  Sometimes, less is more.  I was already sweating bullets debating whether or not to add more cinnamon to the filling with the given crust and concerned about serving a ‘cinnamon pie with a hint of pumpkin’ to my in-law family.  Well, what I ended up making worked, it was a good pie.  Foodie Jr. and Baby Foodie woofed this pie down.  Baby Foodie even screamed at his big brother to share more.  Brothers fighting over pie, who woulda thunk it?

This could be one of the worst iphone food pics in the history of the world.

CINNAMON ROLL PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie shell, pre-made or homemade is fine

1 TBS Butter, melted

Cinnamon, enough to sprinkle all over single pie crust

15 oz. of Pumpkin (canned or fresh – I used canned Organic)

1 Cup Evaporated Milk

1/2 Cup Whole Milk

2 Eggs

3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp (scant) Cinnamon

1/4 Tsp Ground Ginger

1/4 Tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/8 Tsp Ground Clove

Directions:

1.  Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Place pie crust on a lightly floured surface and brush with melted butter.  Sprinkle cinnamon all over the entire crust – as if you were making cinnamon rolls.

3.  Tightly roll the pie crust up and cut into 1/2 inch segments.  Line a 9 inch pie plate with the cinnamon rolls by placing them flat side down and pressing them into the dish, all the way to the edge.

4.  For the pie, place all remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and blend together very well – I used a hand held egg beater and it worked great.

5.  Pour the pumpkin mixture into your pie shell and bake in the oven for about 40-45  minutes (ovens will vary.)

6.  Remove pie and cool before serving.

NOTE:  If you wish to make the additional leaf crust: Use any extra pie crust you have and cut leaves out (I used the Wilton cut-outs.)  Keep them refrigerated and then dip them in an egg wash and add to the edge of your pie, the last 10-15 minutes of cooking.

Cajun Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

Happy Halloween!  We did our pumpkin carving last night (kudos to Mr. Foodie for his Ninjago pumpkin) and like everyone should, we roasted the seeds.  Foodie Jr. isn’t a big fan of the pumpkin seeds, so Mr. Foodie and I agreed that it would be a yummy twist to do Cajun spiced seeds for us, since we like a little heat.  I didn’t so much use a recipe for this, as much as I eyeballed it, but I did put in some basic amounts.  I suggest you just play with yours –  to your liking.  Wishing all of you a happy and safe Halloween night – lots of treats and not so many tricks!

CAJUN SPICED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Ingredients:

-Seeds from one pumpkin, cleaned and dried (They say a regular sized pumpkin will yield about a cup to a cup and half of seeds, we got about a cup out of ours.)

~ 1-2 Tsp of your favorite Cajun Seasoning Blend

~ 1-2 Tsp Paprika (per your taste, mostly for color)

~1 Tsp Worcestershire Sauce

~1 -2 TBS Olive Oil

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2.  In a small bowl, combine all your ingredients and toss well, making sure the seeds are evenly coated with olive oil and seasonings.

3.  On a foil lined cookie sheet (you can also spray with cooking spray, but not needed) spread seeds in an even, single layer.

4.  Bake for about 45-55 minutes, turning seeds once about half way through cooking time.

Iced Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies

Fact:  I am a firm believer that homemade baked goods are the way to go.  However, I am also a believer that sometimes you just gotta take a short cut.  Last night was definitely a short cut kind of night.  I am a class mom for Foodie Jr.’s kindergarten class and was running around like a chicken with its head cut off prepping and packing for his big Halloween shindig at school today when I realized that I should probably make a little something for his teacher.  And while I was at it, I figured Mr. Foodie’s staff at work probably should not get neglected either.  So off to my pantry I went…

After much hunting and pecking, I decided to make some pumpkin cookies from a yellow cake mix I had in the pantry.  Ideas went swirling around in my head – Oats or no oats?  Chocolate chips?  White Chocolate Chips?  Butterscotch Chips?  Nuts or no nuts?  Frosting?  Icing?  Plain?   Decisions, decisions.  I actually have an iced pumpkin cookie recipe that I have used forever but seeing that it was almost 10 p.m., that recipe was not happening, hence the quick and easy shortcut.  Both Mr. Foodie and I were pleasantly surprised with the final product.  Foodie Jr.’s teacher loved them, well she ate the whole plate right in front of me so either she is really polite or she really did like them!

This recipe made just over 30 cookies.   It was easy to throw together and really just a no hassle dessert.  The best part is that you can probably just interchange a bunch of ingredients, keeping the general ratios the same, and come up with other simple cookies to do in a pinch.

ICED PUMPKIN BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES

Ingredients for Cookies:

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

1/4 Tsp Ground Ginger

1/4 Tsp Allspice

1/4 Tsp Nutmeg

1 15 oz. Can of Pumpkin (I really like the Organic from Trader Joe’s)

1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts

1 Egg

2 Tsp Vegetable Oil

1/2 Cup Butterscotch Chips

Ingredients for Icing:

Powdered Sugar (I used a heaping cup and it was enough to ice all cookies)

Spiced Apple Cider

Directions:

1.  Pre-heat oven to 350 Degrees.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

2.  Combine cake mix with spices and walnuts in a large bowl.

3.  In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, egg and oil.

4.  Add pumpkin mixture to dry ingredients and stir until well combined.

5.  Add butterscotch chips to batter and mix.

6.  Drop by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

7.  Allow to cool on wire rack.

8.  While cookies are cooling, place powdered sugar in a bowl and add spiced cider in small (tablespoonish) increments, stirring until you get a desired glaze consistency.  Ice the cooled cookies and let the icing set a bit before serving.