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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Pies and Pumpkin Cookies

I know thanksgiving has passed, but it is still November, and I'm not quite ready for the official beginning of the holiday season. I was home at my parents place for thanksgiving, and these were the pies my mom and I made. My mom always makes the pie dough, and the pumpkin filling, and my job is to make the cherry filling on the stove top, and decorate the crusts, which is my favorite part. I'm never quite sure what each year's design will be, so as they say on Project Runway it all comes together 'organically'. This year we added some wheat flour to the pumpkin crust hence the darker color. I used a maple leaf cookie cutter for the border. For the yummy cherry I went with a cherry tree of life sort of design with my traditional pinched crust border.
The pies were disappearing, so on Saturday I made a recipe that was printed in the Chicago Tribune, Mimi's Pumpkin Cookies. They were easy to make, and soooo delicious with their spicy pumpkiny goodness, and their brown sugar icing. I did make one change to the recipe. I substituted 1 cup of coconut oil for the 1 cup shortening. Everybody said 'Mmmm'..... I'll definitely make them again some day.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel good just looking at this comfort food! What a beautiful design on the pie crust. You've inspired me to make a pie and try out a design of my own.

Anonymous said...

I love that pie!! You know, with the tree in it. You are so creative! You give me ideas for this Christmas hols!

Angela Matteson said...

Thank you both!! The real homemade stuff is so much better than anything from Baker's Square or the frozen stuff. This year I couldn't help but think of Ned the pie maker from 'Pushing Daisies' as we baked. He's so cute and sweet, and those pies on the show always look so good! :)

For a perfect flaky crust make sure to use ice water, and instead of rolling it out on a cold marble stone, we found rolling it out on a large floured cloth works better because it never sticks.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the tip, Angela! I think I shall use a very sharp knife too! :)

Pickledog said...

Mmmm.. the pies are pieces of art! Everything looks amazing, and the stenciled crust is a such a great idea I don't think I've seen that before.

Eugenia Gina said...

waaa the pie is beautiful! I won't eat it, i'll frame it :D!

Tricky Trev said...

Awesome -a! I wanna destroy your art with my teeth! They look delectable. Those cookies look crazy-good. Mmmmmm.