10/19/10

TWD: Caramel Pumpkin Pie


Just like most food bloggers in Fall, I have the pumpkin bug. I tried to tell myself that I'd hold off until the weather felt more like Fall, but let's face it, in New Orleans that might not happen until late November! So I was delighted when I saw that Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs had chosen Caramel Pumpkin Pie for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe! Of course, when I went to the store to buy the pumpkin puree I had to pick up a few extra cans and even though I didn't snap any pictures I ended up making these delicious Pumpkin Scones from Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles (they are easy to make and amazing, please make them soon) for Eloise's baptism brunch last week:

That's my mom doing the baptism! She's an Episcopal priest which works out nicely because Eloise didn't wiggle around or fuss for her "GiGi" while she poured the water on her head the way many babies do!

Then when I woke up on Saturday morning at 4:30 am with my little early-risers I decided to make this Pumpkin Bread from AllRecipes- I have tried a few other pumpkin bread recipes but this one really is the best, very moist and very spicy.


Anyway, onto the pie! I really like pumpkin pie, but it's never been a family favorite for Thanksgiving: my dad likes it, my Uncle Bobby likes it, and that's about it. So I've made a plain old back of the can Libby's Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving once or twice but it never gets eaten the way that pecan, apple, and cranberry pie do. I was excited to try a different pumpkin pie recipe, especially because Dorie describes the pie as a more sophisticated and unusual pumpkin pie because of the very dark (almost black) caramel that is mixed into the usual pumpkin pie components. I really liked this pie, and so did Eloise, but Helen and Derrick didn't even touch it, so we ended up with quite a bit that didn't get eaten. The pie is still pumpkin-y but it has that smokey, sweet-bitter burnt sugar flavor too. Two things that surprised me about this pie were that 1) the caramel does not taste very sweet on it's own so I was concerned that the pie would be very bitter, but the pie itself has a wonderful flavor- no need to worry! 2) Dorie says that the pie shouldn't jiggle at all and that a knife will come out clean when the pie is done. My pie took about 7 extra minutes to bake and then I went ahead and pulled it out even though it still jiggled and the knife was not completely clean and the consistency of the pie was perfect once it had time to cool.

The thing that impressed me most about this pie was how crisp and flaky my crust stayed! Even with a partially baked crust, I've never really been able to keep the crust on my pumpkin pies from getting soft- but Dorie's Good For Almost Anything Pie Crust did the trick! I would definitely make this again and I'm going to try the almond streusel topping from the playing around section!

7 comments:

Tia said...

great pictures! especiailly the girls with the pumpkins. just precious!

Cindy said...

First off thanks for the pumpkin recipes--I'll give them a try!
I was also impressed with the flakiness of the crust. I have never eaten the crust of a pumpkin pie--too soggy. Glad I made this recipe. Your girls are darling, love pumpkin photos! Have a great day!

The Mortensens said...

I am glad that you liked this pie even though you are not a big pumpkin pie fan. I really liked the streusel. Maybe you could convert some family members to at least trying pumpkin pie if is has streusel on it!

Thanks for baking along with me this week. I can wait to try your All-Delicious, All-American Apple Pie next week!

Jacque said...

Ahh, how sweet your baby looks being baptized... and go grandma! My mom is a Lutheran minister and she baptized all four of her grandbabies. It's a sweet thing to do.

Anyway, nice job on the pie and all of your delicious sounding pumpking desserts.

Valerie Gamine said...

You have an adorable family! :~)

And your pie looks scrumptious, that crust is perfect.

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Love the family pictures and all of the pumpkin-y goodness that you feature in this post. How cool that your mother baptized your baby! And the pie is pretty nifty too.

TeaLady said...

Beautiful pie. This was so deep in pumpkin flavor it was hard not to eat it all at once.

GIGI is what my Granny name will be when the 9 month old is old enough to say it. Love that!!!

She is a lucky grandma!!