Black-Bottom Pumpkin Pie, served lovingly

The way to my Hubby’s heart during the recent season for honoring our beloved ones wasn’t a dessert of strawberries (he’s allergic) or cherries (he doesn’t like) or anything red-themed. Just give him something pumpkin-y, thank you. He doesn’t mind that pumpkin is more often associated with that Other Holiday.

So his crown-jewel dessert was Black-Bottom Pumpkin Pie, which Hubby has proclaimed must be on the dessert table for all holidays from now on. How can you beat a crust of crushed graham crackers, gingersnaps, and pecans, with a layer of chocolate chips and toffee bars over that?

Then, the filling—a pumpkin cream layer, much like that of a banana cream or coconut cream pie. A whipped topping, with maple syrup stirred in, crowned the whole thing—chocolate shavings added.

Love at first sight, and then the second, and during multiple servings thereafter.

Black-Bottom Pumpkin Pie

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup cinnamon graham cracker crumbs

1 cup crushed gingersnaps

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

2 cups whipping cream, divided

2 (1.4-ounce) chocolate-covered toffee candy   

     bars, finely chopped (such as Heath bars)

3/4 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

4 egg yolks

2 cups milk (I used skim)

1 cup canned pumpkin (I used 1 cup fresh pumpkin puree)

1 tablespoon vanilla-bean paste (vanilla extract may be substituted)

1/2 cup maple syrup

garnish: semisweet chocolate shavings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant; stir halfway through. Cool 10 minutes. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, next 2 ingredients, and toasted pecans until blended. Press crumb mixture on bottom, up sides, and onto lip of a lightly greased 10-inch pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until crust is lightly browned. Transfer pie plate to a wire rack and cool completely (about 30 minutes). Microwave 1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels and 1/2 cup whipping cream in a small microwave-safe bowl at high 1 minutes or until melted. Stir at 30-second intervals. Spoon chocolate mixture over bottom of pie crust; sprinkle candy bars over chocolate mixture. Cover and chill 1 hour or until chocolate mixture is set. Meanwhile whisk together sugar and flour in a heavy 3-quart saucepan; add eggs, egg yolks, and milk. Whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until a pudding-like thickness is achieved. (Mixture will just begin to bubble and will hold soft peaks when whisk is lifted.) Remove from heat; whisk in pumpkin and vanilla-bean paste. Transfer to a bowl. Place heavy-duty plastic wrap directly on warm filling (to prevent a film from forming); chill 30 minutes. Spoon pumpkin mixture over chocolate; cover and chill 8 to 24 hours or until filling is firm. Beat remaining 1 1/2 cups cream at high speed with an electric mixer until mixture is foamy; gradually add syrup. Beat until soft peaks form. Spread or pipe over pie. Garnish if desired. Makes 6 to 8 servings. (Source: Southern Living, November 2012)

A goal accomplished; a Pumpkin Pie baked in tribute

365—the number of days in a year . . . also, the number of today’s blog post. At the outset of my writing The Newfangled Country Gardener, I set a personal goal—to write a year’s worth of blogs. A year doesn’t seem as though it would be too arduous of a commitment, I reasoned. Most anyone could purpose to keep a promise to one’s self for a year.

At that time I didn’t actually reckon that I was talking about blog-post days, not calendar days. To hatch up 365 separate blogs really has taken more than 18 months, since I haven’t posted on weekends. I began my blog on May 16, 2010, in conjunction with the release of my second cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden, to help me promote the book’s premise—that cooking the garden-fresh way is best. I have thoroughly enjoyed trying scads of new recipes—some from my cookbook and many others from a variety of reliable sources—and reporting on them as I heartily recommended them to readers.

With today’s blog numbering 365, I am pleased to report that I have accomplished what I set out to do—even if the time frame has been slightly more elongated than I figured at first. With today’s post I no longer will be making daily entries five days a week—although I’ll never cease my yen for cooking healthy, fresh foods and trying out new recipes. After today I’ll post again frequently but without the necessity of the daily component attached. Hubby no will longer have to rise before each weekday dawn to read my blog drafts to catch potential typos, nor will he have to make daily, last-minute dashes to the grocery to fill in some missing ingredient for me.

I plan to compile all my blog posts into a book—with a recipe for each day of the year. In the near future be on the lookout for this. Please tell your non-blog-reading friends about it, too.

In thinking of the best recipe for blog number #365, I decided on a dish that would pay tribute to Hubby and his tremendous support role in making this daily blog possible. Pumpkin Pie is his all-time favorite food. He lives not for Thanksgiving Day but the day after, in which he can dine on a leftover slice of Pumpkin Pie for breakfast. I felt sure that no one would do Pumpkin Pie better than the queen of domesticity, Martha Stewart, so here is her recipe from www.marthastewart.com. My hero and the hero of this blog—Hubby himself—is shown holding the just-prepared prize in his hands—and dreaming of the Morning-After!

Pumpkin Pie

2 large eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2 teaspoons pumpkin-pie spice

1 (15-ounce) can solid-pack pumpkin, or 1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree

1 cup half-and-half

1 basic pie crust (I used Easy Pie Crust from my first cookbook, Way Back in the Country)

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, pumpkin-pie spice, and pumpkin. Whisk in half-and-half. Prepare pie crust according to your favorite recipe. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line dough with aluminum foil. Fold foil over rim of pie pan. Fill foil-covered crust (on top of the foil) with dried beans or pie weights; bake until crust is firm, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove foil and beans. Cool crust completely before you fill. Pour mixture into cooled pie crust. Bake until set, about 1 hour. Cool on rack at room temperature for about 1 hour; then refrigerate to cool completely. Serves 8. (A tip from Martha: When refrigerating pie, cover the surface first with a paper towel and then plastic wrap. The towel absorbs moisture and keeps the surface free of droplets. It tried this; it works!)

Pumpkin-pecan pie is standout at "drive-by" Thanksgiving feast

We called it our "drive-by" Thanksgiving, but we would take a family Thanksgiving observance any way we could get it.

Earlier this week our son who lives in another state was in town overnight for a business meeting. Wish he'd been able to bring his wife and our two faraway grand preciouses with him, but since he couldn't, Hubby and I decided to round up any of our kiddos we could gather and have an official Thanksgiving feast. We decided it would have to do.

Turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce—the works—was served at this rushed-up event, but all was wonderful and tasty and memorable. Gave us a chance to play "find the real leaf"—a tradition that has been part of many past Thanksgiving dinners. Hubby went out into the yard and brought in a colorful bit of fall foliage. We interspersed it with the traditional artificial decor leaves that accompany our annual autumn centerpiece. As as been our custom for many years the kids (all adults, but who will always be our "kids") searched until they found the authentic one. Winner got to be the first person to be served dessert. (Believe me, with our daughter, son, and son-in-law as contestants, this gets dog-eat-dog competitive!)

How to pick out a menu for our "drive-by"—since I couldn't cook my entire Thanksgiving recipe file, I zeroed in on the things the kids like best. A traditional pecan pie was there, of course—prepared from my grandmother's recipe that's featured in my first cookbook, Way Back in the Country. To appease Hubby I knew I had to have pumpkin represented. That called for Pumpkin-Pecan Pie, featured in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden. It's a blending of the things he likes best. The lower strata of the pie is a pumpkin layer formed from fresh pureed pumpkin. After that bakes for about 25 minutes and starts to set, I pour on a pecan layer. From the surface the finished pie looks similar to pecan, but the pumpkin layer at the bottom forms a surprise. For pumpkin-pie lovers such as Hubby, it's a true Thanksgiving delight.

Adored son blitzed in and out of town; our dinner is history, but we have this unusual Thanksgiving memory to add to our collection. In addition, I've saved and frozen a slice of leftover Pumpkin-Pecan Pie, so Hubby can have his traditional "day-after" pie piece for breakfast on the morning of November 26.

Pumpkin-Pecan Pie

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1/4 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/4 cup brown sugar (1/8 cup if using brown-sugar substitute)

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2/3 cup cooked pumpkin, mashed and drained

2/3 cup milk (I use skim milk)

1 (9-inch) unbaked deep-dish pastry shell

Pecan topping:

2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

2 tablespoons brown sugar (1 tablespoon brown-sugar substitute)

2 tablespoons molasses

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup pecan halves

In a mixing bowl beat eggs, sugars, flour, pie spice and salt until smooth. Mix in mashed and drained pumpkin. Gradually beat in milk. Pour into pastry shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 15 minutes longer. For pecan topping beat eggs in a mixing bowl until eggs are foamy. Add corn syrup, brown sugar, molasses, flour, vanilla, and salt. Pour over filling. Sprinkle with chopped pecans; cover with pecan halves. Continue baking at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until set. Cool completely. Store in the refrigerator. Makes 6-8 servings.

You'll fall big-time for this pumpkin smoothie drink

The headline on the recipe intrigued me--"tastes just like a pumpkin pie in a glass". Now that was a recipe my husband would fall for. Pumpkin pie is his greatest delight. He lives for the morning after Thanksgiving so he can dine on leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast. It's a long-standing (since childhood) part of his holiday tradition. He relishes in the leftover pumpkin pie more than he does the slice at the end of the actual Thanksgiving meal.

This "pumpkin pie in a glass" referred to a recipe for Pumpkin Smoothie. It called for 1/2 cup pumpkin--just exactly the amount I had left over from making the Pumpkin Bran Muffins earlier in the week. At the time I had hoped I could find some good use for this small left-over amount. In my fall recipe binder I uncovered this smoothie suggestion that I had obtained from a back issue of Prevention magazine. We weren't into smoothies at the time, so I had filed it away untried. But now smoothies, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, are Hubby's stock and trade--he makes at least two a day. Time to dust off this tucked-away recipe.

Prevention went on to explain that each 8-ounce cup of the Pumpkin Smoothie offers 100 percent of the daily value for beta-carotine and antioxidant that helps fight cancer. Hubby added one banana (and the blood-pressure-lowering potassium the banana contains) because he thought the addition gave the drink more body.

In the end, he was happy with the drink because he didn't have to wait until Thanksgiving to indulge in pumpkin pie. I was happy because I used up my leftovers. Most importantly our bodies were happy because of the antioxidants.

Pumpkin Smoothie

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (or fresh pumpkin cooked and pureed)

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup crushed ice

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice

1 whole banana, peel removed

Pour all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smoothie reaches desired thickness. Serve chilled.