Oct 18, 2008

spiced whipped cream with a side of pumpkin pie

This year, I made two important discoveries about pumpkin pie. The first was that you can eat and and revel in it all year round, not just while coloured leaves cling tenuously to their branches. The second was that whipped cream becomes infinitely more delicious when you throw in some spices.

Spiced Whipped Cream
3/4 cup whipping cream
2 tbsps sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
splash vanilla

Beat all the above together until peaks are formed in the whipped cream. Ideally, you have an electric beater, otherwise, you have a group of willing diners with strong biceps and a whisk. Serve with pumpkin pie and let autumn dance across your taste buds like a ballerina across the stage.

Pumpkin PiePreheat oven to 375˚ F, with rack placed in the middle
Pie crust (I usually buy one, but I have eaten this all-butter crust recipe and it was great)
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
2 cups freshly cooked or canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves or allspice
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together all of the above ingredients. Pour into the crust. Put in the oven!

Cooking time can really depend--in the Joy of Cooking Irma tells us that it is ready when "the filling seems set but quivery, like gelatin, when the pan is nudged, 35 to 45 minutes." In my experience, it takes quite a bit longer than that, more like an hour for it to be fully cooked.

After you have deemed it fully cooked (sticking in a fork for wetness helps), let it cool completely on a rack. Serve warm or cold, but definitely with spiced whipped cream.

2 comments:

beeks said...

i need this. oh my god.

square-cesca said...

Thanks for this! Spain has a shocking (or perhaps not so shocking) lack of pumpkins. But I will hunt them down, chop them up, and put them in a pie. Because no one, not even the Spanish, should die without tasting pumpkin pie.