Thanksgiving 101 (26 page)

Pumpkin-Hazelnut Pie

Turn to this pumpkin pie when you want to stray from the beaten path of tradition. To tell the truth, this one isn’t an enormous diversion, just enough to make your guests appreciate the undertone of ground hazelnuts. If you wish, sprinkle each portion with minced crystallized ginger and finely chopped, roasted and peeled hazelnuts.

FILLING

TOPPING

1.
Following the instructions, line a 9-inch pie pan with the pie dough and flute the edges. Line the pastry shell with aluminum foil. Freeze for 20 minutes.

2.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and place a baking sheet on the rack. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

3.
Fill the foil with pie weights or dried beans. Place the pastry shell on a baking sheet. Bake until the edges of the crust look set, about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and lift off the foil and beans.

4.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Process the hazelnuts, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in a food processor with the metal chopping blade until the hazelnuts are powdery. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the pumpkin, half-and-half, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. Whisk well.

5.
Pour the filling into the hot crust and return to the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until the filling is puffed with a 1-inch diameter area in the center that remains unpuffed, about 45 minutes.

6.
Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Cover the pie and refrigerate until chilled. (The pie can be prepared 1 day ahead.)

7.
To prepare the topping, whip the heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla until soft peaks form. Transfer the cream to a pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch fluted tip. Pipe 8 large rosettes around the edge of the pie. (Or spread the cream over the filling in a thin layer.) Serve chilled.

Note:
Many markets now sell toasted and peeled hazelnuts. If you have hazelnuts with their skins, bake them on a baking sheet in a preheated 350°F oven, stirring occasionally, until the skins are cracked and the nut beneath the skin looks toasted, about 10 minutes. Wrap the nuts in a clean kitchen towel and let stand for 10 minutes. Using the towel, rub the nuts to remove the skins—do not be concerned if some of the peel remains on the nuts.

Down-Home Pecan and Bourbon Pie

Pecan pie is another one of those American desserts that seem to have been around forever. Pecans are a native nut, grown on the estates of Washington and Jefferson. But Jean Anderson, in her
American Century Cookbook
, says that she cannot find a cookbook reference to pecan pie until the 1940s. Food historian Meryle Evans believes the first instance of the modern version shows up in 1925, and thinks it may have been the invention of Karo syrup home economists. (Older recipes are made with brown sugar without corn syrup.) Karo was introduced in 1902, during the early-twentieth-century American food revolution, when canned and bottled products were replacing homemade goods with alarming speed. Consumers were anxious to try these new foods that promised to increase their leisure time. Product-sponsored cookbooks were all the rage, and when a new recipe showed up on the back of, for example, a corn syrup can, it could quickly gain fans.

This version is less sweet than most. A little bourbon works wonders, cutting through the richness and adding a gentle aroma. If you have kids around, you can leave out the bourbon, and still have a darned fine pie. There are two schools of thought about the pecans. One camp uses coarsely chopped pecans, so the pie is easier to slice. The opposition places the whole pecan halves in concentric circles in the piecrust before pouring in the filling, so the pie has a beautiful symmetrical design after baking. For the nuttiest filling, sprinkle chopped pecans on the crust, then top with the pecan halves. Just have a good sharp, thin-bladed knife handy for slicing.

1.
Following the directions, line a 9-inch pie pan with the pie dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Freeze for 20 minutes.

2.
Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and place a baking sheet on the rack. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

3.
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the corn syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, bourbon, and vanilla, and whisk until well combined.

4.
To gauge exactly how many pecan halves are needed to decorate the pie, arrange the pecan halves in concentric circles on a 9-inch round space on the work surface. Gather up the pecan halves and set aside. Finely chop the remaining pecan halves and sprinkle in the crust. Place the unchopped pecan halves on top. Carefully pour the filling into the crust.

5.
Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven, and place the pie on the sheet. Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Continue baking until the topping is almost completely puffed and a knife inserted 1 inch from the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 more minutes. Cool completely on a wire cake rack. (The pie can be baked up to 2 days ahead, covered tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerated.) Serve at room temperature with the whipped cream.

Florida Sweet Potato Pie

Down South, sweet potato pie holds the place of honor in many homes as the favorite Thanksgiving dessert. But if candied yams were served at dinner, a sweet potato pie might be overkill, even south of the Mason-Dixon line. One year, I solved the problem by serving small slivers of this pie as a side dish, figuring that it’s no sweeter than the usual recipes you often find next to the turkey on your plate, and my guests loved it. Oranges, in the form of marmalade, give this version a special fillip. After all, Florida is a Southern state.

1.
Following the directions, line a 10-inch pie plate with the pie dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and freeze for 20 minutes.

2.
Position racks in the center and bottom third of the oven and place a baking sheet on the bottom rack. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

3.
Pierce the yams a few times with a fork. Place them on a baking sheet and place on the center rack. Bake until the yams are tender, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and cool slightly.

4.
Meanwhile, remove the plastic wrap and line the pastry shell with aluminum foil, then fill with pie weights, dried beans, or raw rice. Bake on the hot baking sheet until the pastry seems set, about 12 minutes. Remove the foil and weights. Leave the oven on.

5.
Peel the yams and transfer to a medium bowl. Add the butter and mash with a handheld electric mixer set at low speed until smooth. Beat in the orange marmalade, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, then beat in the eggs-yolk mixture and the half-and-half. Pour into the pie shell and smooth the top. Arrange pecan halves around the edge of the pie.

6.
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Continue baking until a knife inserted into the center of the filling comes out clean, about 45 minutes more. Transfer to a wire cake rack and cool completely. (The pie can be baked up to 2 days ahead, covered in plastic wrap, and refrigerated.) Serve at room temperature with the whipped cream.

Dark Chocolate Cream Pie

Everyone knows that pumpkin, apple, and mincemeat pies are Thanksgiving favorites. I was surprised to hear how many of my friends included chocolate cream pie in their lineup. In my family, Mom’s chocolate cream is the most beloved of all her pies. The chocolate flavor, of course, will be impacted by the brand of chocolate used. I prefer chocolate with a cacao content of about 60 percent, an amount that is often listed on the label. The higher the cacao
content, the more bitter the chocolate, but that’s the way some folks like it.

1.
Following the instructions, line a 9-inch pie pan with the pie dough and flute the edges. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Freeze for 20 minutes.

2.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and place a baking sheet on the rack. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

3.
Remove the plastic wrap and line the pastry shell with aluminum foil, then fill with pie weights, dried beans, or raw rice. Bake on the hot baking sheet until the pastry seems set, about 12 minutes. Lift up and remove the foil and weights. Continue baking until the pie shell is golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire cake rack and cool completely.

4.
When the pie shell has cooled, in a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat 2½ cups half-and-half, the granulated sugar, and the salt, stirring often, to dissolve the sugar, until tiny bubbles appear around the edges. Remove from the heat.

5.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the cornstarch over the remaining ½ cup half-and-half and whisk until dissolved. Whisk the yolks in a medium bowl, and gradually whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Gradually whisk in the hot half-and-half mixture, and return to the rinsed-out saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a flat wooden spatula (to keep the custard from scorching on the bottom of the saucepan), until the custard comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate, butter, and ½ teaspoon of the vanilla, and stir until the chocolate melts completely.

6.
Pour into the baked pie shell and smooth the top. Butter a piece of wax paper and place, buttered side down, directly on the surface of the filling. Pierce a few slits in the wax paper with the tip of a sharp knife (this keeps a skin from forming on the filling). Cool completely. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

7.
Just before serving, in a chilled medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer set at high speed, beat the heavy cream with the confectioners’ sugar and the remaining ½ teaspoon vanilla just until stiff. Spread the whipped cream over the filling. Serve chilled.

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie:
Thinly slice 2 ripe bananas and place in the baked pie shell before adding the chocolate filling.

Apple Pie 101

For American bakers, apple pie is the holy grail of desserts. A perfect apple pie has a sweet-tart, chunky, mildly spiced apple filling that doesn’t collapse when baked. A number of my friends suggested precooking the apples for the filling—and the trick worked like a charm, as the apples shrink in the skillet, not in the crust. Also, the released apple juices reduce and thicken in the skillet, so the apple flavor intensifies. Allow an hour or so for the apple filling to cool completely before going into the crust.

• A good pie apple isn’t too sweet and has a texture that doesn’t break up when cooked. Some apples, like Jonathan and McIntosh, are best for eating out of hand or cooking into applesauce. Unfortunately, a raw apple won’t reveal what it is like when it’s cooked, even if it tastes delicious. I usually take the advice of the apple stands at my farmers’ market—they often have some wonderful dark-horse, heirloom varieties that I would otherwise pass over. As far as supermarket apples go, Golden Delicious is my favorite. A lot of bakers like Granny Smiths, but they tend to shrink a lot and look gray when cooked. My friend Carole Walter, author of
  Great Pies
  , is partial to Mutsu and Cortlandt apples, separately or together. You can mix two or three varieties—winey Rome and sweet Golden Delicious are another good combination.
  
• For an outstanding apple pie with a crisp, rich, old-fashioned crust, substitute lard for the shortening and butter in the dough.
  
• The filled, unbaked pie can be prepared, without its cream and sugar glaze, covered tightly in plastic wrap and an overwrap of aluminum foil, and frozen for up to 1 month. Glaze, then bake the frozen pie at 375°F until golden brown, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  
• The baked pie can be made upto 1 day ahead, covered with plastic wrap, and refrigerated. Serve at room temperature.