The Hunger Struck - Confessions of a Food Fanatic.

Staying true to this years traditional thanksgiving menu, I couldn’t fathom having anything but apple and pumpkin pie. While I had thoughts early on of pecans and all of the different varieties of pies I could have potentially made with them,  I just couldn’t bring myself to this sort of nonsensical experimentation. There was too much at steak and the risk of failure was just too great. Not to mention that nothing about pecan pie says Canadian harvest, no pecan pie was way too American for my thanksgiving dinner.

You have to be careful with desserts and by this I mean because they come at the end of a meal they have the power to either be the perfect end to a perfect meal if they are a success following a successful meal, redeem the meal if they are a success and the meal wasn’t, or depreciate an incredible meal if they are disastrous.

To avoid any negative results, if the recipe allows it, I try to make the dessert course the day before. It really make everything so much easier on the day and if you are like me and enjoy the challenge of a completely home made meal I would recommend doing as much in advance as possible. These pies were both made the day before and both held up beautifully until we ate them the following evening.

Traditional Apple Pie

8 cups thinly sliced and peeled granny smith apples

1/2 cup plus 4 tablespoons white granulated sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon, plus 1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 egg

2 tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes

1 top and bottom pie crust, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl combine sliced apples, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, flour, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix the apples around with your hands to ensure that they are all well coated. Pour apples and juices into the prepared pie crust, dot the top with the butter cubes and gently lay over the top crust, making sure to cut a few holes for the steam in the top.

Don’t worry if the crust breaks a bit just gently patch it back together, fortunately the rustic look is always in style with apple pie, at least as far as I’m concerned. I always find that the extremely pretty pies are the ones that never taste as good anyway.

Beat egg and brush on the surface of the pie with a pastry brush.

Combine the remaining 4 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle the sugar cinnamon mix all over the top of the pie crust.

Place on a heated baking sheet and bake for 45 – 55 minutes or until the juices bubble out and the crust is a nice golden brown color.

Serve with maple whipped cream (recipe follows).

Jamaican Spiced Pumpkin Pie – recipe adapted from Fine Cooking

1 15oz. can of pure pumpkin puree

1 1/4 cups unsweetened full fat coconut milk

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

4 large eggs at room temperature

2 tablespoons spiced rum

1 blind baked pie crust

You will want your oven to be heated to 425 Fahrenheit and have your blind baked and cooled pie shell ready. In a large bowl whisk the first 7 ingredients together until smooth and completely combined. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and then add them to the pumpkin filling and add the rum and mix until smooth.

Place your blind baked pie crust on a cookie sheet and place in the oven. Pull the rack out and with a ladle or measuring cup pour the pumpkin batter into the pie crust. I find that this is much easier than filling the pie and then transferring it to the oven, this way you can also fill it right to the top and not worry about spilling.

Bake the pie for ten minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 and continue baking until the center of the pie is firm and doesn’t jiggle, 45 – 55 minutes.

Transfer pie to a cooling rack and let cool completely before serving.

Sever with maple whipped cream (recipe follows)

The Crust – makes 2 pie crusts, or a top and bottom for an apple pie.

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup  shortening, as cold as you can get it

3-6 tablespoons ice cold orange juice

When  I have previously made pies, I find that I’m always a little short when it comes to the top crust. To be safe this time around I made the above recipes twice (doubling it in my small food processor was not an option) which was more than enough for the apple pie, with top and bottom crust as well as for my extra large pumpkin pie. This left only a little over what I used, maybe half of one crust, which is easily saved in the freezer for another occasion-like an impromptu galette for a last minute dessert.

First, combine the flour and salt in a food processor. Cut the shortening into the flour and pulse until the mixture resembles medium sized peas, be careful not to over mix as you want chunks of the shortening throughout the dough as this is what gets you really flaky crust. Add in one tablespoon of the ice cold orange juice at a time, until the mixture just comes together. You want to make sure it sticks together but is not too moist.

Remove the dough from the mixer, divide into two equal pieces and form into disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to 2 days before using.

When you roll out the dough, it really helps to use parchment paper and lots of flour. I’ve read many recipes that tell you to be careful with the amount of flour you use, I just wanted to point out that when I make this recipe I use a lot of flour and have never experienced any negative side effects from doing so. This dough, though still needing to be handled with some care, is a little more forgiving than your average butter dough, which is ultimately why I come back to it time and again.

When you use this dough for a one crust type pie, which requires that you bake the crust for a short period of time prior to adding in your filling aka blind baking, I find that it’s really important to chill your crust once its rolled out and in the pan before you bake it. This will help to insure that the fat in the crust is ice cold before it goes into the oven, which will in turn insure that you have the flakiest crust possible.

Maple Whipped Cream

1 1/2 cups cold whipping cream, preferably organic

maple syrup to taste

Whip the cream until it forms peaks and add in the maple syrup. I added about 1/4 cup, I was in the mood for a sweater cream this time around  as I used sour apples in my apple pie and I didn’t find the pumpkin pie to be that sweet.

Refrigerate until ready to use. Can be made up to 6 hours in advance.