Pumpkin Pie

Here's my pumpkin pie recipe:

Makes 1 9-inch pie or 26-28 mini ones.

I added in 1/2 of a caramel for the mini crusts - I think I'd do a whole one next time.

Combine:

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground clove

1 tsp ground nutmeg

In a mixer with above ingredients, mix in 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree until well blended.

Add 3 eggs, mix well

Add 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk, mix well

Pour pie filling into pie shell(s) over the caramel and then top it with turbinado sugar before baking for 10 minutes on 425 degrees, turn heat down to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes. Bake mini crust for only 20 minutes more.

I whipped 1 1/2 cups whipping cream with 1/2 cup powdered sugar for 5 minutes or so and then removed all of it into a separate bowl. Then I added 4 oz mascarpone cheese with 1/2 vanilla bean scraped and whipped it together until the cheese was smooth in the bowl that used to have the whipping cream mixture in it. Then I added the whipped cream back into the bowl and mixed together. Ummmm, yum!

If the pie is still hot, don't add the cream to it - I just did this for a picture:I put a dollop of cream, more turbinado sugar and also added a caramel apple candy corn on top for funness =)

hApPy ThAnKsGiViNg

It was a day of birds ;)  We saw a variety of them today, a few different species of wild birds, woodpeckers, blue jays and TWO hummingbirds!  I haven't seen that many birds in our yard since September.  Did they sense I was cooking their cousin for dinner?

This is our Thanksgiving feast, most of it was prepared from scratch:

If it's in yellow, then it was homemade: brined Turkey, gravy, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad, roasted cauliflower, caramelized onions, corn, bread, veggies, dip, salami, cheese, jello, pumpkin pie, ice cream & whipping cream.

Will share recipes, just ask and I'll send it to you!  Everything was yummy - it's all about starting with a great recipe =)