Kitchen Adventures 5.3

I don't feel like I did much cooking or baking in October, possibly because I was at home two weekends and running around like crazy the rest of the month. However, at the end of the month I had several baking opportunities, which made me happy. :)

The first opportunity was our monthly birthday party at work. Each month we celebrate everyone that has a birthday with one party.. We barely fit it in this month with craziness at the end of the month, but we did squeak it in. I try to ask our birthday honorees what they want each month since there is no point in me making something that they won't even like.

This month's contribution came from one of our best student workers. We had been talking about pumpkin custard from Rusty's and she said she had never had pumpkin pie before. She is from an Asian-American family, so even though they have turkey at Thanksgiving, most of the rest of the food is traditional Asian dishes. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday item, she said pumpkin pie, so that's what I made.

After beginning the preparations for it, I realized that I had never actually made a pumpkin pie before, so I had a few worrisome moments while getting everything together, but it all turned out well in the end. The only flaw was the crust. I used a fancy pie shield to protect the crust from burning, which worked fine until I went to remove it 15 minutes prior to the end of baking time and it took off about one-quarter of the crust edge. So, it didn't look quite like it should, but it still tasted good, and I ate the crustless pieces since I don't like crust anyway!

This recipe came straight from the Libby's pumpkin can. I had a tough time finding pumpkin at the store, so I hope there is not a shortage like there was last year

Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell (I used a refrigerated one)

Directions:
1. Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
2. Pour into pie crust.
3. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake 40 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Top will begin to crack a little when close to done. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately after cooled or refrigerate.