Recipe: crustless pumpkin pie
Manisha had asked what I do with leftover turkey. I personally prefer the leftover turkey to the centerpiece turkey. This afternoon I had a turkey reuben sandwich (it’s just a reuben with turkey instead of corned beef) and Jeremy had an open-face hot turkey sandwich bathed in gravy. I’m debating what to do with the carcass – green chile stew?
I’m glad I got all of the cooking out of the way because today I went to have my root canal finished up at the dentist’s and OMFG!!!!! It hurt like a beyotch. I’m talking about the worst pain I have experienced in my life (and I have a fairly high threshold for pain). I’ve had a root canal before and I didn’t feel a thing, but today… They warned that if it hurt during the root canal, I would experience a lot of pain afterward when the numbing wore off. But my tooth doesn’t hurt at all now. They suggested chewing on soft foods.
freshly ground spices and brown sugar
A favorite soft food of mine is pumpkin pie. As I said in the previous post, I couldn’t care less about the crust when it comes to pumpkin pie (as opposed to pecan pie which desperately needs something to offset all of that sweetness). When I cook a big meal, I am very ambitious at the start. Something usually hits the cutting room floor by mid-day because I’m either too harried or too tired to get to all of it. This time, I tried to save future-me the trouble of nixing anything by keeping dessert very simple: crustless pumpkin pie. And I used canned pumpkin to further reduce my cussing frequency.
mixing cream into the pumpkin and eggs
Libby’s pumpkin pie recipe is always a standard and yet it leaves me wanting for something with a little more punch to it. I like the spices and settled on the Sugar and Spice Pumpkin Pie recipe featured on the cover of this year’s Thanksgiving Fine Cooking issue (Oct/Nov 2008). Not making the crust did save me some time, which I then frittered away by hand-grating all of the damn spices.
combining the spiced sugar with the pumpkin mixture
No matter the mess it made, the wonderful aroma was worth it as I mixed the ingredients together. This recipe calls for heavy cream, which is totally bonus in my book. I wonder if I should have named this here blog Use Real Cream instead? So if you actually grate fresh spices properly and don’t have to photograph the process, then I think slapping this recipe together takes less than 5 minutes.
divvied up in ramekins
I baked the pumpkin filling in ramekins because my intention was to serve them in the ramekins with a dollop of whipped cream. I wasn’t sure how well it would hold its shape if I baked it in a pie plate. When I pulled them out of the oven, I realized I had forgotten about something:
shrinkage
But that was okay. After letting them cool, I made sure to loosen the sides and place plastic wrap over the top. Then I turned the ramekin upside down and thwacked it down on a thick towel on the counter. After unwrapping the plastic from the ramekin, I inverted the pumpkin thingy onto a serving plate. Not too shabby and it held its shape relatively well. For garnish, I added a blob of whipped cream and sprinkled chopped crystallized ginger on top. Jeremy and I quite like this new version of pumpkin pie.
most excellent
Crustless Pumpkin Pie
[print recipe]
adapted from Fine Cooking October/November 2008
15 oz. pure pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp brandy
3/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp freshly ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp table salt
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch of freshly ground cloves
cream:
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsps packed light brown sugar
1 tsp ground ginger (freshly grated is good)
1 tsp brandy
Heat oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, egg yolk, cream, and brandy. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, ginger, cinnamon, slat, nutmeg, pepper, and cloves. Whisk the sugar mixture into the pumpkin mixture. Divide the filling among 6 ramekins (3-inch diameter is what I used). Bake until center is slightly jiggly and wet, about 1 hour (I baked for 70 minutes, but I’m at high elevation). Let the pie(s) cool completely on a wire rack and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Whip the cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks (2 minutes). Add the sugar, ginger, and brandy and continue to whip until medium-firm peaks, about 30 seconds more. Serve with pumpkin pie.
Makes 6 3-inch ramekins.
November 25th, 2008: 9:08 pm
filed under baking, dessert, holidays, recipes, sweet
