Pumpkin Pie

The pie in question

This is a fairly old-fashioned pumpkin pie. I don't start with a can of anything. I don't use a pre-mixed "pumpkin pie spice". I don't pull a crust out of a box or remove shrink wrap. This recipe starts from the basics and builds the pie completely from scratch. I've had plenty of pumpkin pies that are made with "pumpkin pie spice", canned pumpkin, and a store-bought crust. They aren't bad pies, but you can get pies every bit as good or possibly even better these days by just picking one up already made at the grocery store. So save yourself the work and go all-out pre-made if that's your thing. However, if you like it old school, this recipe may work for you. Warning, this is not the mechanically-smooth, industrially-light pie that you will get from canned pumpkin. It's got a good deal more body and a coarser texture. If you insist that your pumpkin pie have the sort of texture that is appropriate for a 1950s "Christmas of the Future" brochure, it may not be your cup of tea. If you like hearty, old-fashioned fare made the old-fashioned way, give it a go. This is a multi-stage recipe. Don't let that bother you. Just be sure to read it through all the way before you get started.

Mashed Pumpkin

Mashed Pumpkin
Pumpkin (sugar/pie type)	1

Cut out pumpkin top, cut in half lengthwise, scrape out seeds (you can toast those later if you like pumpkin seeds). You can also break off the stem and cut in half, but that requires a pretty stout knife or cleaver to get through the stem remnant. Lightly rub outside with oil and put into lightly-oiled glass baking dish. Bake until skin just starts to brown. Remove from oven, allow to cook until skin starts to be loose. Peel off skin and mash (my preference), run through a blender, push through a sieve, or whatever gets it to the consistency you want.

Crust

Crust Ingredients
Butter	3 oz (weight)
Lard	1 oz (weight)
Flour	6 oz (weight)
Salt	½ teaspoon
Ice Water

Put one oven rack on the lowest level, with a cookie sheet. Put the other oven rack on the next highest level. Both racks should be below the middle of the oven. Just do it now, so you won't forget until everything's hot and it's too late.

Chill butter and lard in freezer 30 min. Cut into small pieces. Cut into flour with pastry blender until the mixture is a bit coarser than coarse cornmeal. Add water by tablespoon and mix by hand after each tablespoon until dough barely can come together and stay after being squeezed. Form into ball and put in ziploc. Squash into disk and refrigerate at least an hour. Once the dough is "relaxed" or "conditioned" or whatever the chilling does (it does make a difference), take the dough out and roll out until it will fit into a 9 to 9½ inch pie pan. Put crust into pan and put in the refrigerator for later.

Filling

Filling Ingredients
Brown Sugar	½ cup
Maple Sugar	¼ cup
Salt	½ teaspoon
Cinnamon	1 teaspoon
Ginger	1 teaspoon
Mace	½ teaspoon
Nutmeg	½ teaspoon
Allspice	½ teaspoon
Eggs	3
Egg white	1
Half & Half (equal parts milk and cream)	1¼ cups
Mashed Pumpkin	1 (between 2–2¼ cups
Egg Yolk + dash salt, whisked together	1
Pie Crust	1

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix sugars, salt, and spices. You may need to crush lumps in the sugars. Whisk in eggs and egg white. Whisk in half&half. Whisk in pumpkin. Take crust in pan out of refrigerator, dock it (that means poke a whole bunch of little holes in it with a fork, all over the bottom and sides) and brush with egg yolk. Bake for 3 minutes. Take out of oven and pour in filling. Return to oven and bake until done (usually 40–45 minutes). You can consult this article for more information on how to see if your pie is done. Remove and allow to cool on rack. Do not cut until fully cooled. Do not try to fast-cool in the refrigerator. It will mess up the pie's texture.

Walnut Kiss Cookies

Many years ago, my mother made a particular cookie for Christmas. All I could remember was that it had walnuts and a chocolate kiss. Unfortunately, she no longer had the recipe, and she didn't even remember the cookie at first. So it was up to me to come up with something. This is what I developed, combining "Hershey Kiss cookie" recipes with some Persian traditional recipes. Why Persian? Because I was convinced that this cookie had no flour. Blame faulty childhood memories. Nevertheless, I persisted, and I made it work. I cannot find anything quite like it online.

Ingredients
Egg Yolks	12
Sugar	1 1/2 cup
Vanilla	1/2 teaspoon
Cardamom	1 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon	1 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander	1 1/2 teaspoon
Ginger	1 1/2 teaspoon
Allspice	1 1/2 teaspoon
Walnuts (or walnut meal)	18-20 oz
Hershey's Kisses, "Special Dark"	around 90, more or less may be needed
Confectioner's sugar	as needed for coating

If you haven't found walnut meal, grind walnuts to a cornmeal-like consistency and set aside. You can use a blender or a spare coffee grinder. Be careful, if you grind too much, you will get walnut butter. Even if done properly, it will be sticky. Or you could just go buy walnut meal. When I came up with this recipe, I had no idea the stuff was available. I recommend you use the walnut meal it if you can get it fresh. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together until similar to pudding in texture. Add vanilla and spices and whisk together. Add ground walnuts (or walnut meal) and mix with a spoon or spatula. This is your dough.

Unwrap the kisses! (If you have little kids helping you, it is important to make this step clear.) Grab a kiss. Grab a roughly equal amount of the dough. Roll then both together between your hands until it comes together as a smooth ball. Do this over the bowl of dough, you will probably drop dough. You want it to be about 1 1/4 inches across, but you don't have to be fussy. Don't press too hard or the kiss will poke out. Once in a while, you'll have enough dough stuck to your hands to just pick up a kiss and roll a cookie. Go ahead and do that.

Unbaked Cookies

Baked and Awaiting Powder

Powdered in Christmas Style

Bake on cookie sheets (with parchment paper, if you like) at 350°F for 10 minutes, then turn sheet around and bake another 5-10 minutes. It depends on how "done" you want them. I prefer 10 minutes followed by 10 minutes. If using two sheets on different oven racks, switch the sheets on the racks when turning them around. Remove from oven and cool briefly on sheet. Cookies will spread and may rise somewhat. Coat with powdered sugar. I like to use a zip-lock bag and shake the cookies in the sugar. Cool on a rack and coat again with powdered sugar once cooled. This step matters. Using milk chocolate kisses would make this more child friendly.