This recipe for a "Thanksgiving Twofer" pie (chosen for TWD by Vibi from La Casserole Carrée ) was one of the recipes I noticed on my first flip through of Dorie's book Baking From My Home To Yours, way before I had even heard of Tuesdays with Dorie. I thought it sounded like a fun recipe and wondered when I would get the chance to try it. It was worth the wait!
I like pumpking pie, and I love pecan pie, so this was a win win pie for me. I would say I'm a huge pumpkin fan, I love pumpkin in sweet and savory dishes; pastas, soups, breads, pancakes, whatever. My oh-so-picky husband oh the other hand, absolutely loves pumpkin pie, it's his second favorite pie next to apple, but does not like pumpkin in most other recipes, and he hates it in savory dishes. He also doesn't like pecans, at all. Isn't it funny how our tastebuds are all so different?
Even though I had my eye on this recipe for a long time I put it off until Monday to make it! I guess I was debating about serving it for Thanksgiving, but not wanting to make the whole pie because hubby doesn't like pecans. I decided to halve the recipe and make little bitty Twofer pies in a muffin tin. Halving the recipe was fairly easy, I used one egg for the pumpkin pie filling and one egg for the pecan pie filling, and just halved the rest of the ingredients. I decided not to use Dorie's crust this time around, I used it for the TWD blueberry pie and the TWD summer fruit galette and wanted to try something new this time around. I ended up using Martha's recipe which also starts out in the food processor. I appreciate that it was very easy to make in the food processor and also very easy to roll out.
For baking I just guessed on the time and temperature, and it worked perfectly! I used a muffin tin for the pies and pre-baked the crusts for ten minutes. Then after filling the pies I put the muffin tin on a single ply cookie sheet to prevent over browning on the bottoms. I baked the pies for 15 minutes at 350, then slid the muffin tin off of the cookie sheet straight onto the oven rack and baked for an additional 5 minutes (still at 350) -- my oven did it's magic and these little bitties were perfect!
I let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before carefully removing them to a wire rack to cool completely. The kids loved them as a special treat and I have to say I did too! I made a few with no pecans (just the pecan pie filling) for my husband and one year old.
This recipe is everything I had hoped it would be, I loved the combo, it wasn't too 'pumpkin pie-ish' -- more like a pecan pie with a hint of pumpkin. I can see making these little pies again for sure!
They were cute and 'rustic' but not the prettiest pies ever...
a little whipped cream can take care of that no problem-o :)
Thank you Vibi, from La Casserole Carrée , for our TWD pick this week! Please visit Vibi's website for the complete recipe for Thanksgiving Twofer Pie. I hope all of my TWD friends have a wonderful holiday, see you next week when we tackle some holiday cookie baking!