Recipe: Fabulous Thanksgiving Pies!

Here are the recipes for the fabulous desserts we made this year for Thanksgiving - Pumpkin & Cornmeal Cake with Orange Syrup, Cranberry-Apple Crumble, Pecan Chocolate Tarte and of course Pumpkin Pie!


Pie Crust!

-The key I think is not making the dough too wet. Pinch some of the dough together even when it looks loose and if it sticks to itself it is OK. I also put a lot of flour on the work surface and on top of the dough so it wouldn't stick. To transfer to the pie pan, I rolled it around the rolling pin then unrolled on top of the pan.

-We chilled the disks in the fridge for 1 hour, wrapped in plastic wrap, before rolling out fully and filling.

http://www.marthastewart.com/283515/basic-pie-dough

Pumpkin & Cornmeal Cake with Orange Syrup

-I poured the orange syrup over the whole cake rather than waiting to put on individual slices

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/pumpkin-cornmeal-cake-orange-syrup.aspx

Cranberry-Apple Crumble

-I used chopped almonds rather than pecans.

-I added extra butter as the crumble texture was too flour-y.

-I used 2 tart apples and 2 sweeter (Gala?) apples.

-We cut fresh cranberries into quarters.

-I added ground nutmeg, ginger and cloves.

-I used more sugar with the apples than what the recipe called for.

http://www.marthastewart.com/332796/apple-cranberry-crumble

Pecan-Chocolate Tarte

-I used the basic pie crust recipe above, not the one in this recipe.

-I used vanilla extract rather than the whole bean.

-The key here is we added 1 tablespoon each heavy cream and creme fraiche directly to the batter!
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pecan-and-Chocolate-Tart-with-Bourbon-Whipped-Creme-Fraiche-51123160

Pumpkin Pie

-I used the recipe on the side of the large can of pumpkin!

-FYI In all of these recipes, I stirred/mixed/whipped etc. everything by hand, but I am sure you can also use the machines as the recipes suggest!