Easy Pie #1 - Pumpkin

This pie is called Easy Pumpkin Pie with Press-In Shortbread Crust. I found the recipe in the 2009 fall issue of Martha Stewart Living. It really was easy, and didn't take much time at all to prep. It did however, take a lot of oven time. Which was okay with me since it gave me plenty of time to keep reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Have any of you read this? I am about three-quarters finished and I cannot put it down! I stayed up until 12:30a reading it last night.

Recipe is as follows:

Press-In Shortbread
4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3 tbsp sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 C flour
1 tsp coarse salt

Stir together butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in yolk. Add flour and salt, and stir until mixture is dry and crumbly. Press dough into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake, roating half-way through, just until crust turns golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.

Pumpkin Pie filling
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 C heavy cream
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon*
1/2 tsp ground ginger*
1/4 tsp ground allspice*
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

*I used about a tbsp of pumpkin pie spice instead.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk all ingredients but eggs in a large bowl. Lightly beat eggs in a separate bowl and add to pumpkin mixture.

Pour filling into prepared piecrust. Bake for 65-70 minutes, rotating halfway through, until filling is just set but still a bit wobbly and slightly puffed.
Cool on wire rack completely. It's the perfect pie to make the night before as it takes at least 6 hours to chill.

This pie is DELICIOUS. So good. I think this is my new go-to-pumpkin-pie recipe. The shortbread crust is nice and soft, not crispy like I thought it would be. I think it will be fun to try this with a graham cracker or cream cheese pie crust.

One pie down, three to go!

The Perfect Pies

In honor of it being the month of harvest, I have decided to bake four pies - two simple and two that take a bit more work, all before the long-awaited arrival of Thanksgiving. I know it's cliche, but Thanksgiving and Christmas are my two favorite holiday's. It's such a great feeling to gather with close family and friends and celebrate all the many things we have to be thankful.

Watch for the pie posts this week and next!

Pumpkin Cookies or Happy Harvest

I'm not a huge Halloween fan, but I do look pumpkins and all things flavored pumpkin. My husband and I just got back from a wonderful relaxing vacation in North Carolina. There we made two different kinds of pumpkin cookies and a pumpkin chocolate cake all in ten days.
All three were delicious!

Chocolate-Glazed Pumpkin Cookies
recipe by Martha Stewart
2 cups all-purpose flour, spoon and leveled
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I doubled this)
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 large egg
1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin puree
4 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin-pie spice, and salt.

Using an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until smooth. With mixer on low speed, alternately add flour mixture in two parts and pumpkin puree in one, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix just until combined (do not overmix).

Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto two baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart (they won't expand in the oven). Bake until puffed and edges are golden, 15 to 20 minutes (16 for me), rotating sheets once during baking. Transfer cookies to wire racks, and cool completely.


When cookies have cooled place wax paper or tin foil under the wire racks. Melt chocolate chips in a bowl and transfer to a piping bag or zip log bag with a tiny piece of a corner cut off. Pipe chocolate over each cookie. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm, about 20 minutes.

Happy Harvest!

Craft of the Month

I accidentally started typing "Cake of the Month" with this post and then without thinking changed it to "Craft of the Month". Is this a sign? Should I start a craft of the month? Dare I? I am thinking it's a good idea. And I actually have one for this month. So why not start and see what comes of it!

One of my dear sister-in-law's birthday was this month and it didn't take long to think of what to make her. They are the greatest hosts around and are always having family and friends stay with them or having people over for dinner. So, it was easy for me to decide to make her placemats and matching napkins.

I jazzed up the placemats a bit and made them reversible -

The nice thing about making these is that you can cut them to whatever size you want. Once the fabric is cut, fold over each edge a quarter inch and iron all around. Pin and sew! So easy.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

This chocolate chip cookie recipe is the best I have ever made. And I have made a lot. I even threw out the other "best chocolate chip cookie" recipes I have. They are just that good.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe by Alton Brown

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 C sugar
1 1/4 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 C chocolate chips (I've used milk and semi-sweet and both are delicious)

Preheat oven to 375. Melt the butter. Sift together the four, salt, and baking soda. In a different bowl add both sugars and pour in melted butter. Cream together. Add egg, egg yolk, milk and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Slowly add the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Chill the dough*. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake 6 cookies per sheet - they will expand.

Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate sheet for even browning. I checked my cookies at 11 minutes and they were perfect! Cool on wire racks. (It really does make a difference.

*Helpful hint: Whenever I make cookies I always form the dough into a log, wrap in parchment or tinfoil and chill. This way you can slice the dough for even sized cookies and can store the dough for a few days. I've even been known to freeze extra dough for a yummy dessert for last minute company! :)

You never need a reason to make chocolate chips cookies - especially when they are the best ever! :)

(Cup)Cake(s) of the Month

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of making my dear friend Charissa's wedding cupcakes. This included making almost 800 tiny little flowers, 10 batches of buttercream, 250 cupcakes and a small square cake!

We decided to go with six different flavor combinations. Crazy? Probably. But who can decide between almond, orange, and mocha buttercream? Along with three flavors of frosting were two flavors of cake - vanilla and chocolate.

I had fun making little signs to accompany each flavor of buttercream. I used fall scrapbook paper, twine, cupcake and alphabet stamps, and sticks found in my backyard.

Mason Soap Jar

This is far from an original idea, but I wanted to share with you all the soap jar my hubby and I made this weekend. It was so easy and took only a few minutes to make.

You can use any type of jar with a lid, but I have an abundance of mason jars so that's what we used.

All you need is:

- a jar with a lid
- a soap pump
- a drill
- water proof glue

Wash out the jar and remove the lid -

Drill a hole the size you need for the pump to fit through the top of the lid. Glue the pump to the lid -

Fill with soap and you have a functional vintagesque accent to your bathroom or kitchen -