Pumpkin Pie

For Thanksgiving, we make two desserts - pumpkin pie and pecan pie.  They are both so tasty - my favorite is pecan, but I love the pumpkin too.

Ingredients:

• Pie Crust
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup Crisco
• 3 tbsp. water
• Pie Filling
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 15 oz. cans pumpkin
• 1 1/8 cups sugar
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp. ginger
• 3/8 tsp. cloves
• 2 1/2 cups evaporated milk
• Whipped Cream
• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Makes 1 10-inch pie.

To make the pie crust, sift together the flour and salt.  Take out 1/4 cup of the flour-salt mixture and mix with the water to make a paste. Add the Crisco to the remaining flour-salt mixture. Cut the Crisco in until the pieces are the size of small peas.

Add the flour paste to the Crisco-flour mixture.

Mix thoroughly until the dough comes together and can be shaped into a ball.

Roll the dough out about 1/8 inch thick.

Place the crust into the pie pan, pressing it to the sides and bottom.

You can shape the edges to make these look pretty - we chose to pinch together the edges to form points.

Mix the pie filling ingredients together.

Pour into the pastry shell.  Bake at 425ºF for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350ºF and continue baking for 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

When you're ready to serve the pie, make the whipped cream by beating the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (about 1 minute).

Top the pie with whipped cream and serve!

What desserts do you make for Thanksgiving?

Cornbread Dressing

I'm continuing with sharing some of our Thanksgiving recipes - today's is for my family's cornbread dressing.  Unlike stuffing, this side dish is cooked outside the bird.

   

Ingredients

• Cornbread
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/3 cup bacon fat
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• about 1/2 loaf of white bread
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 eggs
• 4 tbsp. sage
• salt 
• pepper
• 1/2 cup milk
• turkey juice and giblet broth

To make the cornbread, mix all the ingredients above until well blended. 

Pour into a greased and floured 9-inch cake pan or muffin tins. 

Bake at 425ºF for 20 minutes.

Tear the bread into small pieces and drop into a large bowl.  Crumble the cornbread into the bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together by hand.

The mixture should be very moist - add enough broth or turkey drippings to make it moist and stick together.

Press into a greased 13"x 9" pan and bake for one hour at 350ºF.

You can add more broth or turkey drippings as it cooks if you need to.  Serve with giblet gravy and enjoy!

Does your family make dressing or stuffing??

Giblet Gravy

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving weekend.  We were busy - Sunday was my birthday too!  As I said last week, I'm going to be posting some of our Thanksgiving recipes and today I'm posting the recipe for our giblet gravy - we put it over the turkey, the mashed potatoes, and the cornbread dressing (which I'll be putting up the recipe for soon).

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• Turkey giblets and neck
• Turkey juice
• Water
• 1/4 cup flour

Poach the giblets and turkey neck for about an hour.  Take out of the broth, keeping the broth. Pick turkey off the neck and dice the giblets.  Hard boil the eggs (allow the eggs to cook 10 minutes in boiling water).  Peel the eggs and chop them into small bits.

Add some turkey juice from the cooking turkey, about 1 cup water, and 1/4 cup flour to the turkey broth from poaching the neck and giblets.  

Boil until thickened, then add the chopped eggs and diced giblets.  Keep warm over low heat until ready to serve.

Cranberry Sauce

Hi y'all!  Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.  My mom and I made a ton of tasty food, and I'm going to be sharing some of our recipes.  Today is cranberry sauce - we use fresh cranberries and it tastes so much better than the canned type!  We basically use the recipe on the back of the Ocean Spray cranberries bag, but we add a little tangerine zest.

Ingredients:

• 2 12-ounce fresh cranberry packages
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• zest from 2 tangerines

Yield: approximately 5 cups

Combine the sugar, water, and cranberries in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and boil gently for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The sauce should begin to thicken.

We run the sauce through a food mill so it is smooth and not chunky.  If you don't have a food mill, you can use a wire strainer and mash the sauce through with a fork.

Allow the sauce to cool and refrigerate until you're ready to serve it.

Enjoy!

Hurricane Recipe

Today I'm sharing the recipe for a Hurricane.  This potent cocktail, created by Pat O'Brien in New Orleans, is more associated with Mardi Gras than Thanksgiving, but given its strength, it might come in handy when dealing with family gatherings.  I got the classic recipe from Beach Bum Berry Remixed - it's a great recipe book for tropical cocktails.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz dark Jamaican rum
• 2 oz passionfruit syrup
• 2 oz lemon juice
• 1 cup crushed ice

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.

Pour into a hurricane glass (or a tiki mug) and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'll be putting up some of our Thanksgiving recipes later this week (and next).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are a classic and today I'm sharing my recipe for this tasty favorite.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup Crisco
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 12-ounce package (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Yield: Approximately 36 cookies.

Beat butter, Crisco, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Gradually beat in the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir in the chocolate morsels and nuts.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 375ºF for 10 minutes.

Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets on wire racks for 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks until they cool completely.

Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie

A week ago, it was my mom's birthday.  Along with crab cakes eggs benedict and crawfish étouffée, I made her Key Lime Pie.  It was so tasty!  I got the recipe for the graham cracker crust from Betty Crocker's Cookbook and I followed the instructions on the back of the Nellie and Joe's lime juice bottle to make the filling.

Ingredients

• Graham Cracker Crust
• 12 full graham cracker sheets, crumbled
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• Pie Filling
• 2 14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime juice
• Whipped Cream
• 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Makes 1 10-inch pie.

To make the graham cracker crust, mix the crumbs, sugar, and butter.

Press the mixture firmly and evenly against the bottom and sides of the pie pan. Bake at 350º for 15 minutes.

To make the pie filling, combine the milk, egg yolks, and lime juice.

Blend until smooth.

Pour the filling into the pie shell.

Bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes.  Allow the pie to stand for 10 minutes before refrigerating.  Chill the pie until cold.

When you're ready to serve the pie, make the whipped cream by beating the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form (about 1 minute).

Top the pie with whipped cream and serve!