Monday, November 18, 2013

Maple Pumpkin Pie

Maple Pumpkin Pie

This weekend, we continued our annual Friendsgiving tradition.  Our first Friendsgiving was my senior year of college, when my (still) roommate and I hosted everyone at our apartment.  It was a great way to kick off the holiday season.  When we moved to Chicago, our friends started organizing a Friendsgiving at their apartment.  The tradition has grown - we had over 30 people this year!

Friendsgiving for us is potluck-style.  We have a sign up and everyone brings one of their favorite dishes.  We had so much food this year: 2 turkeys, tons of mashed potatoes, salads, sweet potatoes, challah, cranberry sauce, stuffing, yams, brussels sprouts, and traditional polish sausage.... followed by cookies, cake, ice cream and at least 5 pies for dessert!  The best part was that my friends are some of the best cooks I know.  Everything was unbelievably delicious!

Maple Pumpkin Pie

I brought challah, pecan pie, and this maple pumpkin pie.  I love this recipe because... well obviously I'm obsessed with anything maple.  But seriously, it's a great twist on a classic.  It isn't a huge deviation - it still has that traditional pumpkin pie flavor - but with a little hint of maple.  I have to confess, I used store-bought crust this year... but I feel so guilty about it and disliked the taste so I don't think it's ever going to happen again!  Still, it made assembly super easy.  I promise anyone can pull this off for Thanksgiving!

Maple Pumpkin Pie

Maple Pumpkin Pie
from Real Simple

Ingredients
1 piecrust (store-bought or homemade)
2 large eggs
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
1 c heavy (whipping) cream
1/2 c pure maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Instructions
1. Set the oven rack to the lowest position. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Place a pie tin on a baking sheet and place the pie crust in the tin. Crimp the edges, if desired.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, cream, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, salt and cloves. (I added a little bit of pumpkin pie spice too because I had it on hand.)
4. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the pie crust. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until the center is set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving (I like pumpkin pie chilled so I keep in the fridge until I'm ready to serve it) and serve with whipped cream.