This is my first blog post ever, so bear with me...
After many Thanksgiving pie fiascoes (impossible pie crusts, overflowing pies, etc.)...I decided, in an attempt to perfect my pie making skills, to take a class at the Institute of Culinary Education called Great Harvest Pies. Quick plug for the ICE (http://rec.iceculinary.com/), if you get a chance and it is in your budget definitely take a class there. Their classes are hands on and the teachers are very knowledgeable - you will have fun and learn a lot! So, I emerged from this class as a pie making master and with a delicious pumpkin pie and pecan pie in my hands. BUT the true test was going to be whether I could replicate the results on my own this Thanksgiving...
The answer was YES! Not only was this pie gorgeous, but it was also delicious!
Flaky Pie Dough
(recipe courtesy of Nick Malgieri 1996)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick cold unsalted butter
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
Combine flour, salt and baking powder in food processor work bowl fitted w metal blade. Pulse 3 times. Cut butter into 1-tablespoon pieces and add to work bowl. Process, pulsing repeatedly until mixture is fine and powdery, resembling coarse-ground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible (about 15 pulses). Scatter 2 tablespoons of water on butter and flour mixture and pulse 5 or 6 times - dough should begin holding together. If mixture still appears dry and crumbly, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of water.
Scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a disk. Sandwich disk of dough between two pieces of plastic wrap and press it into a 6-inch disk. Refrigerate the dough until firm, at least one hour.
This dough is so easy to work with - my only suggestion would be to make the dough the night before, so that it is nice and cold when you are ready to work with it. You may even want to have a couple batches and throw them in your freezer so you are pie ready at all times!!!
I used the spare pie dough to make cute little leaves to decorate the pie with.
Williams Sonoma sells pie crust cutters (and they are on SALE for right now!).
Thanksgiving Day Pumpkin Pie
(recipe courtesy of Nick Malgieri 1996)
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1 1/4 cups light cream or half and half
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set a rack in the lowest level. For bottom crust, lightly flour the work surface and the dough and roll it to a 12-inch disk. Fold dough in half (I prefer quarters) and place in pie dish; unfold the dough and it firmly into the dish. Trim away all but 1/2-inch excess dough at edge of dish Fold dough under and flute edge (here I like the look of pressing a fork around the edge of the dough - see picture above).
For filling, scrape pumpkin into a bowl and whisk in eggs and yolks. Whisk in remaining ingredients in order, whisking smooth between each addition. Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.
Bake the pie for about 1 hour, until the crust is baked through and the filling is set (if you give the pie a gentle wiggle the filling should not move very much). Cool the pie on a rack.
Helpful hint: After you put your dough into the pie dish put the dish into the freezer until you are ready to fill. This will prevent the crust from shrinking when you put it in the oven. If you are making the leaves for decoration, put those in the freezer as well on a cookie sheet and then just pop them in the oven for the last 10ish minutes with your pie.
