Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

There are many reasons I'm grateful to have married into my husband's family, and this pie is one of those reasons!  It has graced their Thanksgiving table for years, and it has now become a traditional part of our Thanksgiving feast.  While I am not a pumpkin pie lover, the cheesecake layer in this pumpkin pie changes everything.  Now I look forward to this delicious pie every year.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
Ingredients:
1 unbaked pie crust
Cream cheese layer:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Pumpkin layer:
1 1/4 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Dash salt
1 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put the pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate and trim and crimp the edges.

2. To make the cream cheese layer: Combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla; beat with electric mixer until well mixed.  Add the egg and mix well.  Spread into the pie crust.

3. To make the pumpkin layer: (Rinse off beaters.)  Combine all ingredients and mix with electric mixer until well combined.  Slowly and carefully pour over the cream cheese filling so that all of the pumpkin mixture stays on top of the cheesecake layer.

4. Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until the middle just slightly jiggles when shaken.  (If the pie crust edges start to brown too quickly, cover them with foil or a silicone pie shield.)  Cool completely.  Slice and top with whipped cream to serve.

Source: from my mother-in-law, Beth

No-Roll Sugar Cookies {with Eggnog Icing}

Cookie exchanges are one of my favorite types of gatherings during the holidays.  It gives me a reason to make cookies and I get to try everyone else's delicious creations.  This year a friend of mine brought some sugar cookies with eggnog icing to an exchange.  The cookie was buttery and tasty, and I loved the unique holiday flavor of eggnog in the icing.

But the best part about these cookies is that you can bake up some sugar cookies without having to chill and roll out dough.  I often like the idea of decorating cookies with my kids, but when it comes down to taking the time and effort to mix up dough, chill it, roll it, stamp out shapes with cookie cutters, and clean up all that mess....cookie decorating doesn't happen very often for us.  But if we can do without fun shapes and be happy just decorating round cookies, I may be able to swing cookie decorating a little more often with this recipe.  Some of the cookies deflated a bit, but some of them stayed thick and puffy.  While these cookies don't have quite the same texture and smooth surface of roll-out sugar cookies, it's sure nice to be able to bake sugar cookies without it taking hours.  My kids had a great time covering some of these with frosting and sprinkles, and I enjoyed drizzling some with eggnog icing.

No-Roll Sugar Cookies
Yield: about 30-35 cookies, depending how big you make them
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for rolling
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with one rack in upper third and another rack in lower third.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 4 minutes.  Add egg and vanilla; beat well to combine.

3. With mixer on low, add half the flour mixture, followed by sour cream, then remaining flour mixture; mix just until smooth.  (Dough will be stiff; you may need to finish mixing it with a wooden spoon.)

4. Line two baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment paper.  Roll dough into small to medium-size balls, then roll in sugar and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets.  Bake until edges of cookies are just firm and tops are barely beginning to brown, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through baking time.  Allow to cool 2 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack.

Source: from Everyday Food, April 2007 via www.marthastewart.com via my friend, Wendy

Eggnog Icing
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons eggnog
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Nutmeg to taste

Directions:
In a medium bowl, stir together powdered sugar and one scant tablespoon eggnog.  Stir in the vanilla.  Stir in additional eggnog until desired consistency is reached.  Add nutmeg to taste.  Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Source: from my friend, Wendy

Pear Pomegranate Salad

A friend of mine brought this delicious salad to a baby shower and then kindly sent the recipe along to me.  The recipe comes from the talented ladies at Our Best Bites.  I bought my very first pomegranate to make this salad and now I am quite enamored with the fruit.  The seeds are an absolutely gorgeous color.  And the longer I live the more convinced I become that candied pecans are a magical ingredient to give most any green salad a gourmet flair.

Pear Pomegranate Salad
Ingredients:
For the salad-
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar
10 oz spinach and spring mix (or one head romaine lettuce (chopped) mixed with 6 oz of baby spinach)
Seeds from one pomegranate (about 1 cup)
2 pears that are still a little firm, cubed or thinly sliced
4 oz crumbled feta cheese
Juice of 1 lime

For the Sweet Red Wine Vinaigrette-
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil

1. Prepare a sheet of parchment paper or foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Combine pecans and sugar in a small nonstick skillet.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar melts and coats the nuts (about 10-15 minutes).  Quickly spread the nuts onto the parchment paper or foil and set aside to cool.

3. Toss together the spinach, spring mix (or lettuce, if using), pomegranate seeds, pears, and feta cheese.  Drizzle the lime juice over the top and toss again.  Stir in the cooled pecans.

4. To make the vinaigrette, combine the vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt and black pepper in a blender and process on high.  Lower the speed, and while the blender is running, add the oil in a steady stream.  Dressing may be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.  Shake well before serving.

Source: slightly adapted from Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites by Sara Wells and Kate Jones  

Sweet Crescent Rolls

These rolls have been part of our Thanksgiving dinner for the last couple of years.  I love the texture and flavor when they are made with part white whole wheat flour, part all-purpose.  Since this makes quite a large batch it's nice to know these can be frozen either baked or unbaked.  It's been great to pull out unbaked frozen roll dough already shaped into cute little crescents on Thanksgiving morning and let them calmly hang out on the counter to thaw and rise while we work on other parts of the turkey day feast.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water
2 scant tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 cups milk, lukewarm
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), very soft
6 1/2-7 cups flour (I like 4 cups white whole wheat, 2 1/2-3 cups all-purpose)
2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten, optional
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions:
1. Mix water and yeast in large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer.  Stir until dissolved.  Add milk, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, 4 cups of flour and the vital wheat gluten, if using.  Mix until smooth.

2. Add additional flour until "tacky" to the touch.  Knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes).  Transfer to a large greased bowl and cover.  Let rise until double in size (about 1 1/2 hours).

3.  Gently punch down to deflate.  Divide dough into 5 equal portions.  Roll each portion into a circle about 8 inches in diameter.  Cut into 8 wedges.  Brush with melted butter, then roll up each wedge into a crescent shape.

4.  Optional Freezing instructions: At this point the unbaked crescents can be put on a baking sheet lined with parchment, covered with a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of foil, and frozen.  When rolls are completely frozen, transfer to a large freezer bag.  About three hours before you want to bake the rolls, remove them from the freezer.  Place rolls on baking sheets (either greased or lined with parchment paper or silicone liners), cover with greased plastic wrap and allow to thaw and rise until about double.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Baking instructions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place on baking sheets (greased or lined with parchment paper or silicone lines) and cover with greased plastic wrap.  Allow to rise until double in size (about 45 minutes to 1 hour).  Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Source: adapted slightly from food.com via my friend, Sandy B.

Pumpkin Steamer

Hot chocolate is my go-to hot drink in the winter, but sometimes it's fun to change things up a bit.  This pumpkin drink is so full of fall flavor.  It's a lot like a pumpkin pie in liquid form.  This was a great way to use some leftover pumpkin and sweetened condensed milk that were hanging out in my fridge after Thanksgiving.  I didn't have any gingersnap cookies, but if I had, they would have gone perfectly with this drink.

Pumpkin Steamer
Ingredients:
3 cups milk (2% or whole)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*
2 teaspoons vanilla
whipped cream (for garnish)
cinnamon (for garnish)

Directions:
1. Blend all ingredients (except the whipped cream and cinnamon) together in a blender until smooth and frothy.

2. Pour into a medium-sized saucepan and heat on medium high, stirring constantly until warmed through.

3. Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream and cinnamon.

*Instead of pumpkin pie spice I used 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, a pinch of ground cloves, and a pinch of ground ginger.

Source: from my friend, Wendy, also on www.favfamilyrecipes.com