Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie—Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

Thanksgiving Twofer PieThis pie is not only square, but it is also a twofer: pumpkin and pecan in one. I've often wondered why a pie is usually baked in a round pan. I found this little known fact: colonial women used round pans literally to cut corners and stretch the ingredients (for the same reason they baked shallow pies) according to this link.

Here's a little round-up of square pies or tarts that I found this week:

• Martha Stewart's Blueberry and Buttermilk Tart
• Toast's Square Cherry Tart
• Gourmet's Berry Tart with Ginger Cream
• Gourmet Girl's Key Lime Pie/Tart
• Cook Sister's Pistachio Tarts
• Gluten A Go Go's Lemon Meringue Tart
• Madam Chow's Kitchen's The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart
• Joe Pastry's Caramel-Pumpkin Bars
• Baking Obsession's Milk Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart

In my reading about pies, I found an interesting article talking about how chic it is to make square pies. As it turns out, Rose Bakery in Paris had some custom square tart pans made and filled their bakery with a variety of tarts that were squared. Eric Kayser of Boulangerie Kayser also makes square tarts, which have become very popular. Kayser has published a book called Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts and on the cover is a gorgeous looking square tart.

To bake my pie, I used an 8x8 square pan lined with parchment paper. To remove the pie from the pan, I popped it into the freezer. Then after it was frozen, I removed it from the pan and defrosted it.

It's chic to be square.



Recipe

For the pumpkin filling:
1 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin purée
2/3 cup heavy cream
½ cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons dark rum (I used coconut rum)
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon salt

For the pecan filling
½ cup corn syrup
¼ cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 egg yolk
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1½ cups pecan halves

You can find the recipe for Thanksgiving Twofer Pie in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or here. You can find the recipe for Dorie's Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough here. To see how the rest of the TWD group fared with this week's recipe, click here and then click on each blogger! Thanks to Vibi from La casserole carrée (one of my favourite TWD-ers!) who chose the recipe for this week and will post the recipe.

Thanksgiving Twofer PieTasting Notes
This pie is the perfect combination of pumpkin and pecan and would only be better with some chocolate drizzled on top. But I bet one of the 300+ TWD members did just that!
Q: What do you call what happens when you cut a jack'o'lantern by its diameter?
A: Pumpkin Pi!
Recipe for Next Week (December 2)
Linzer Sables on pages 134-135 chosen by noskos from Living the Life.

My Bucket List
  • Buy a square pie from Rose Bakery in Paris and another from Boulangerie Kayser in Paris.


  • Other pumpkin ideas:
    Pumpkin Chai Tart
    Pumpkin Crème Brûlée
    Pumpkin Muffins

    Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers from the United States!

    An Award
    Cathy from The Tortefeasor has given me an award. Cathy's blog is a must read, filled with humorous anecdotes of her life raising three small children, baking, cooking, and working as a lawyer in her spare time. Check out her collection of Pam and Cooking Light annuals! Impressive.


    Thanks, Cathy. Here are 5 blogs I want to pass this award to (in no particular order):

    1. Gretchen from Canela & Comino is living in Peru as a missionary and documenting her adventure with food and life there. Her beautiful photos and stories feature Peru's food and culture and make you want to visit her kitchen.

    2. Kim from Scrumptious Photography has such beautiful photos that I make sure I don't miss out on one of her posts. Lately she's been telling us about her wonderful trip to Greece so you can travel a bit while you visit her blog too.

    3. Susan's posts from She's Becoming Doughmesstic are always fun to read, plus she's the brainchild behind the Baking Gals, You Want Pies with That and My Kitchen My World. She's an amazing woman!

    4. Bellini Valli from More than Burnt Toast is a fellow Canadian blogger who just launched BloggerAid. Another amazing blogger who always has something brewing in her kitchen and on her blog.

    5. Vera from Baking Obsession has such stunning photography and delicious desserts. Grab a large coffee and catch up on the latest desserts at her blog. Scrumptious.

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    32 comments:

    Stacey Snacks said...

    If it Dorie's recipe, then it's got to be good.
    I made your cheddar crackers and they came out great!
    Thanks, Stacey

    Engineer Baker said...

    I love the little facts you unearth - too neat! I went with bars too, which were much easier to make neat slices of than the pie. Your bars look wonderful.

    natalia said...

    Ciao Shari ! As always you are "scicchissima" ! Your pie is gorgeous !

    vibi said...

    What a nice creation, Shari! It's always nice to be square, isn't it!!!? LOL
    Thanks for participating with me this week and... as for the translator widget, write to me on my blog's mail and I'll be more than happy to send you back the HTML code, for I can't remember for the life of me, where I got it!

    Anonymous said...

    Your square twofer looks great. I love it!

    Vera said...

    Shari, the pie looks wonderful! I love my square pans, they make slicing neater and easier.

    Irene said...

    Yay for square! I love alternating round pans with square and rectangular, it makes it all feel new and exciting. Lovely photo with the cinnamon sticks and the coffee cup.

    Audrey said...

    What a wonderful presentation! I'm glad the pie tastes as good as it looks, too.

    Jules Someone said...

    Very cool! I love the idea of a square pie. Very informative as well.

    Anonymous said...

    Oh I love the food history link! Awesome.

    Jessica said...

    Lovely photos and as always, a good read.

    Di said...

    Your square pie looks pretty cool! And since you took it out of the pan, I bet the first piece came out much nicer than in a round pan. =)

    Anonymous said...

    Very cool. My favorite tarts are rectangular with fluted edges, beautiful.

    Steph said...

    Square, Square! That is such a good idea, especially to add that little wow factor! Your pie looks scrumptious! Happy Thanskgiving

    Anonymous said...

    A square pie...who knew? Well, now we ALL know, thanks to your most informative blog...thanks for sharing all that. It looks gorgeous.

    TeaLady said...

    Pi are squared..... HeeHee. Yours looks lucious no matter what shape it is in. Cannot wait to make this one - tomorrow -. Yummy!!

    doughmesstic said...

    Wow!! Me? Thanks! I strive to be YOU, threaten to kick you off the island, and yet, you give me an award.
    Wow.
    Thanks!!

    Pamela said...

    It looks delicious, no matter what the shape is. I'm giving it a try later this weekend and I am excited about it. Maybe I'll even go square!

    Heather B said...

    Love the square pie! I may have to try more square pies myself!

    dharmagirl said...

    I love your square pie, Shari! I've always been intrigued by Martha's Slab Pie, but have never ventured forth into non-circular pie territory.

    Have a happy thanksgiving!

    Vera said...

    Shari, thank you for the award! I haven't noticed it right away :) And congratulations on your own award, you certainly deserve it!

    P.S. Thank you very much for the reply.

    grace said...

    i'm such a nerd--your pi joke made me giggle way too much. :)
    and, as usual, your creation is amazing.

    Gretchen Noelle said...

    I love your square pie. That may just be the inspiration I need to bake this today!
    Thanks so much for the award - what an honor!

    Manggy said...

    A square pie/tart is so lovely and unique... Plus, there's that lucky bloke who'll get the middle piece with no side-crusts (for crust-haters, lol)

    NKP said...

    I had no idea that the trend was for square pies, I had better get with it!
    It looks lovely, much easier to divide too.
    Happy Holidays to you as well, does this mean we Canadians can celebrate twice?

    The Food Librarian said...

    Your square pie is fantastic! Love the history lesson as well. Thanks! What a perfect treat.

    kimberly salem said...

    thanks so much for the award, shari! :) glad you've been enjoying my greece posts!
    your pie looks so delicious, and the square shape is beautiful. great idea and photos!

    Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

    Thank you so much Shari for this award. I feel truly blessed and will spread my wings and and pass it along. Thank you so much!!!

    steph- whisk/spoon said...

    i love your square pie! and your perfectly placed pecans! :)

    Jaime said...

    lovely square pie! :)

    happy thanksgiving!

    PheMom said...

    I love all the background info! I love the square tarts and rectangle tarts too - there is just something about it. Yours looks great!

    Kimberly Johnson said...

    Your pie looks fabulous! When I wash shopping for a deep dish pie plate I wanted so badly to buy a square one but I thought "Who does that? Who would make a square pie" Who knew I was "that close" to being chic!