6 November 2010

Pumpkin Pie a la Gayle Hunnicutt

As it was bonfire night last night (and I was having friends over) I decided to continue my Halloween baking theme and make a Pumpkin Pie. I know this is American and usually made for Thanksgiving but what the hey.
A friend mentioned that she had a recipe that her and her mother had been using for years so I decided that it was best to use something that was tried and tested. When I got the recipe it turned out to be Gayle Hunnicutt's Pumpkin Pie. The name was familiar so I checked her out online and it turns out she was an American actress who had a brief Hollywood career then married David Hemmings and moved to London. Not sure what her qualification are for making Pumpkin Pie! But I digress.
The recipe calls for a 12inch pastry tin and a pastry case to go in it. So I made some shortcrust pastry (from Gary Rhodes) and blind baked it in readiness.

Ingredients:
1 medium Pumpkin (I used my Libbys pureed Pumpkin rather than roasting and pureeing the Pumpkin as the recipe calls for, much easier. I used a 425g tin)
4oz caster sugar
2oz light soft brown sugar
half tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
half tsp ginger
quarter tsp nutmeg or allspice (I used nutmeg)
zest of an orange and a lemon
one eight tsp ground cloves (seems a bit pointless so I left it out)
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp Molasses (I had treacle so used that)
300g soured cream (it really said 2x5oz cartons of soured cream but I converted it to make it easier)
2 and a half oz cream cheese
Basically this is a "put everything in a bowl and mix recipe", very easy. So I did just that and put the mixture in the pastry case and put in the oven (170C) and started to clear up. As I did this I noticed the two eggs that were supposed to in the mixture! As it had only been in the oven for a few minutes I whipped it out and scraped the mixture back into the bowl and added the eggs. Disaster averted. Back in the oven it went for about 40 minutes (it's ready when a knife comes out clean).
Sometimes I'm just a bit of a klutz, I think I'm reading the recipe thoroughly but then I miss something, it happens a bit too often! But it never seems to make much difference, the cakes seem to turn out (most of the time). And now, writing up the recipe here I've discovered that I forgot to add the caster sugar! You see, klutz.
I served it with cream and pretty much all the plates were cleared, no one said "you know what this is missing? caster sugar". I have to say it wasn't my favourite dessert in the world, not sure I will make it again but not sure that the missing caster sugar was the culprit. It might have made it a bit sweeter but it wasn't the sweetness I didn't like, not sure I can put my finger on it. So, note to self, read the recipe through a few times and maybe check off the ingredients as you go along!

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