Thanksgiving Pie (Pie Club Edition)

I admit to having struggled to select a pie this week. I went through scores of online recipes in the hope of finding just the right one. It seemed that every one that appeared promising ended up being rejected for one reason or another. In the end, I did not select a pie at all. The pie selected me.

With the difficulties that I was having picking a pie and the treacherous layer of ice on the roads on Sunday, I decided to walk around the kitchen in search of inspiration -- and a pie that could be made from ingredients already in-house. I did hope to keep to a holiday theme since I knew that this pie would be going to work for consumption and it is, of course, Thanksgiving week. Lo and behold... inspiration in gourd form. A butternut squash sitting on the counter was begging to be utilized. There has to be a recipe out there for butternut squash pie, I thought. There was. Inspired by several, I made up my own. The result was a pastry crust filled and baked as follows:

Ingredients

4 cups butternut squash - peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ginger (I used fresh grated)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 large eggs

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup milk

There are several "combo" ingredients that could easily be replaced by a single ingredient. I used what was on hand. For example, the cream and milk could instead be 1/2 cup whole milk, or half-and-half.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Steam squash in a steamer basket and sauce pan until tender (approx. 12 minutes).
3. While the squash is steaming, combine the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl
4. Move the steamed squash to a food processor and process for about 1 minute, until smooth.
5. Whisk the eggs together, slowly incorporating about 1/2 cup of the warm squash puree.
6. Add the egg mixture back to the food processor, along with the dry ingredients, again processing for about 1 minute until completely combined
7. Pour the filling into an unbaked pastry crust
8. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the center is just set.
9. Cool on wire rack for 2 hour, then refrigerate to cool completely.
10. Garnish with cinnamon-spiked whipped cream

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The end result was a tastier, richer and smoother version of a standard pumpkin pie. I can not think of a reason that I would make a pumpkin pie again. This was much, much better.

The Saturday is our family get together for Thanksgiving. The plan is two pies for the holiday and now that pie club at work is back in full swing, I am probably required to show up on Monday with one too. A big week and big opportunity to add to the list here. I have a pie in mind for Saturday that I am particularly excited about. I hope it lives up to my internal hype.

Number 17

If the name of this post is any evidence, I am acutely aware of the countdown as I slowly approach "done" on my pie-making venture. And yet, I am finding that there is something about it all that I really missed during my hiatus. I guess that for me there is some comfort in the repetitive acts of selecting and creating pies every week.

Mocha

I made a mocha pie at the request of a frequent pie eater at work.

This pie is difficult for me to rank as I am currently on a self-imposed, restricted diet that did not allow me to taste the pie -- therefore the difficulty. So, its rank will be based on feedback received, which was generally positive, visual appeal, and my own perception of the execution.

Overall, I was pleased with the end product, but there were, as always, a few miscues worth noting. Namely:

• I made too much graham cracker crust for the pie plate that I ended up using. That plate is eight and one-half inches in diameter rather than nine, and so the resulting crust was awfully thick.
• Based on the feedback, the coffee flavor was not very prominent (keep in mind that some of the eaters are coffee junkies). If I were to make this recipe again, I would incorporate additional espresso powder -- likely in both the main filling and the whipped cream topping

All in all, I think it was a good pie, and a smooth transition back to being in the game. One more ramp up weekend to come, and then the pressure of Thanksgiving week pie(s) begins. I am anticipating knocking several of the still remaining sixteen off over the next couple of weeks. I am looking forward to it.

Jeopardy

Answer: What is 413?

Question: How many days will it take before the weight of not making all fifty-two pies becomes too much for me to bear and I make the final eighteen?

Here we are, just over a year later, and I am claiming to be back on the wagon. I have made an occasional pie in that time, but infrequently, and nearly always a repeat of one of the original thirty-four. In those days, I have had occasion to think long and hard about whether or not to finish the game. Now, 413 days later, it seems as though I am ready to do just that.

This past weekend, we were lucky enough to be invited to a paella party thrown by Diego and Sharon. If you have never had real-deal paella, believe me, you should! It was fantastic. I volunteered -- truth be told I was voluteered -- to provide the dessert. And thus, the origins of this post...

Lemon Meringue

Two pies were on the docket for paella night. Given the opportunity, it seems that I will always make a double crust rhubarb-pineapple, so that was the first. Second, I made a lemon meringue, which is similar to a prior pie (clementine meringue), but a classic in its own right.

An interesting twist for both of these pies is that there were some dietary restrictions (essentially no cow dairy), which meant modifications to my standard crust recipe (of course I have my own twists on that recipe, too). I substituted a couple of other fats, replacing about half of the butter with butter-flavored Crisco and the other half with coconut butter. All in all, it did not turn out bad (I have made, and eaten, worse crust), but I am even more firmly of the opinion that there are times where there is simply no substitute for the flavor that butter provides. An alternate option would have been to use goat or sheep butter. Perhaps another time I will try one of those.

To make a long story marginally shorter, here's the only surviving picture of the lemon meringue pie. I think that it turned out quite well. Other attendees enjoyed it too, or they were just nice enough to lie to me and claim that they did.

The recipe that I used for the filling came mostly* from here. Keep in mind that the name of the blog there is gotnomilk.wordpress.com. It turns out that one of the ingredients in the dairy-free pie is margarine. It turns out that most margarine -- Land O'Lakes anyone? -- includes some dairy. It turns out that I am a complete idiot (I know what some of you are thinking... You finally realized that?). So, I was genius enough, after being told no dairy, to serve... dairy. Lucky for me, in this small amount, there was not an issue the other night. But, talk about feeling like a fool. I sure hope to not make that mistake again.

* As usual, I insisted on messing with someone else's recipe in a valiant attempt to ruin it. So, with a nod to the all-powerful Martha and this recipe, I included some freshly grated ginger. In this case, I think it was a good choice and really improved the overall flavor.

I hope and plan to be back in a week with the next installment. I do have a backlog of pies that have been suggested to me to make, so making selections should not be difficult, at least for the next few weeks. Until then, enjoy what is left of the beautiful fall weather.