Monthly Archives: November 2012

Individual Pumpkin Pie Crisps

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Look at that guy. He is being a tease. He’s saying, “take off my crumb topping!!! Find out what lies beneath!” Here’s what lies beneath: pumpkin. I have a real problem, and I’m embracing it. Fair warning for the onslaught of pumpkin/sweet potato/anything round-and-squashlike recipes coming up. I had half of a can of pumpkin and a cup of crumb topping left from various baking adventures, so I decided to find a way to combine them. Some random fiddling and throwing of ingredients into a pretty bowl- and 30 minutes later, these. (There were 4. One was already empty and sitting in the sink. Oops)
I made them individual size because sometimes you just want a whole pie to yourself. Totally natural. I encourage that. If this were the real size of pies, then I would have consumed two whole pies today. Tis the season! Also, these are ramekins. I include that because I had no idea until about a year ago, I just called them “those little pudding holders,” and still am not exactly sure how to say it. What a weird, weird word. But a beautiful mechanism for pie-eating glory! They have a ginger snap crust that gets nice and dark when cooked up, a pumpkin middle that’s somewhere between the consistency of pie and cake, and an addictive crumb topping. My kind of afternoon.

Individual Pumpkin Pie Crisps

makes enough for 4 ramekins

1/3 cup crushed ginger snaps

1/4 tsp cinnamon

dash of cloves

1 Tbsp butter

1 cup pumpkin puree

3/4 tsp cinnamon (separate from before)

1/4 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup almond milk

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 cup of this crumb topping

Whoa. That looks like a lot of ingredients but it’s really not, I promise! There’s just a lot of autumn in there. Aka spices. First, preheat the oven to 350°F and spray the ramekins with non-stick cooking spray. Combine the ginger snap crumbs, butter, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl, and press into the bottom of the ramekins.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, and mix until combined. Divide into four even portions and scoop on top of the ginger snap crust, smoothing out the top. Put a hearty layer of crumb topping over it, and they’re all set for the oven!

Put the ramekins on a cookie sheet, and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges are a bit bubbly. Let cool for about 10 minutes, and then consume entire pie by yourself. Enjoy!

I just don’t think I could live in a world without pumpkin. Especially the pumpkin that gets put on a fork and goes into my mouth. But the visual kind and the stuffed animal kind (wow I don’t have one of those, all I want for Christmas now) and the kind that are on socks and the kind that sit decoratively in cornucopias. If it’s not obvious…I have a serious crush.

Cranberry Pear Crumble

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After a billion year long hiatus, being home on Thanksgiving break means it’s definitely time to get back on top of this blog thang. The past 3 months have included undocumented noms such as gluten-free ginger cookies, gluten-free vanilla cupcakes, PBR cupcakes, fall-flavored rice pudding, pumpkin applesauce, and more. One day they shall be engrained in HTML (high technology memory lane amirite) but for now, use your imagination.

Due to the fact that it is mid-fall and all I want to do is take a bath in mashed sweet potato, it’s a bit weird that this crumble is the first thing I’m posting. Especially because in the 48 hours I’ve been home so far, I’ve made pumpkin rolls, pumpkin pancakes, apple cider glazed sweet potatoes, sweet potato pizza, and pumpkin/craisin/choco chip cookies. I don’t have a problem, I swear. In my mind, pear + cranberries = total winter foods. I mean, I guess cranberry sauce is a thing on Thanksgiving, but still. They’re even red and green! Or…magenta and fern-colored. (Disclaimer- yes, the pear in the picture is red but that’s because I was too eager beaver and didn’t take a picture of the green ones). But despite all that, I made this for my mom and I the other night and here is what it looks like now.
…No shame.

This comes together really easily- you just toss the pears and cranberries together with some delicious things, add a ton of crumb topping, and stick it in the oven. The one thing is that the recipe called for a TON of crumb, so there was about a cup left over. I’m working on some way to use it up because everyone knows that’s the best part- butter, brown sugar, cinnamon…I melt. And it gets all crispy crunchy in the oven and smells like someone cut open an elm tree in October somewhere on a farm in Massachusetts. Also, this can easily be made vegan by using the topping from the Summer Berry Crumble I posted a while ago.

Cranberry Pear Crumble adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes 1 8×8-inch dish

For the filling

4 ripe but firm pears (I used d’anjou)

1 cup fresh cranberries

3 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

For the crumb topping

1 1/3 cup flour

1 1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup oats

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed, at room temp


 


Preheat the oven to 350°F and set aside an 8×8 baking dish. First, peel and cut the pears into large chunks and place in baking dish. Then, pour the cranberries on top. Top with sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice, mix together, and set aside white you make the topping.

To make the topping, first whisk together the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and oats. Add the chunks of butter and mix in with your fingers or pastry cutter until it’s well incorporated and the butter bits are the size of coarse breadcrumbs. Add about 3/4 cup of the topping mixture to the filling and toss together. Place more crumb topping over it until you can see no fruit and it looks like a fluffy bed of brown sugar crumble.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the edges are bubbly and you just can’t take it any longer. Let it cool for about 10 minutes, and then eat up! Ice cream and/or whipped cream not necessary, but encouraged. Enjoy!

So good. If you need a break from all the pumpkin things around, (I do not, but I accept that some people may be more sane than I am) make this right away! The supermarkets are brimming with bags of fresh cranberries. Here’s a picture of the final product- a day later, though. Ate too quickly to take a picture the first time. This is a theme in my life.