pumpkin-banana mousse tart

happy thanksgiving!

thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! family, cooking, eating, food-induced-comas, cheesy family games...love it all!

i love this ina garten twist on traditional pumpkin pie. there are layers of flavors and a delicious crust that beats regular pumpkin pie :) who would've thought pumpkin and banana go so well together?! i think i need to try my hand at a pumpkin-banana BREAD!

although the components may seem cumbersome, TRUST ME--it's worth doing it all from scratch. the payoff is high!

the barefoot contessa loves sugar more than i do, so i've modified some of the measurements, methods, and ingredients (yuck to orange zest):

ingredients:

(crust)

- 14 graham crackers (finely ground in a food processor)

- 0- 1/5 cup white sugar

- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1 stick unsalted butter (melted)

(filling)

- 1/2 cup half-and-half

- 1 can pure pumpkin puree (15 oz)

- 0 - 1/2 cup brown sugar (light or dark), lightly packed

- 3/4 tsp kosher salt

- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

- 3 large egg yolks

- 2 tsps unflavored gelatin

- 1 ripe banana, finely mashed (the riper, the stronger the taste; so pick based on your level of love for bananas)

- 1/2 cup cold heavy cream

method:

1. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter in a bowl and mix well.

2. Pour into an 11-inch tart pan; press evenly into the sides and then the bottom. Bake 10 minutes, 350 degrees and then let cool. (for a pretty presentation, use a springform pan.

3. For the filling, combine the half-and-half, pumpkin, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until hot (double boiler), about 5 minutes. Mix well.

4. Whisk the egg yolks in another bowl, stir some of the hot pumpkin into the egg yolks to heat them (so they don't scramble), then pour the egg-pumpkin mixture back into the double boiler and stir well.

5. Heat the mixture over the simmering water for another 4 to 5 minutes, until it begins to thicken, stirring constantly. You don't want the eggs to scramble. Remove from the heat.

6. In a separate bowl, dissolve the gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water. Add the dissolved gelatin and banana,to the pumpkin mixture double-boiler and mix well. Set aside to cool.

7. Whip the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form.

8. Carefully fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture and pour it into the cooled tart shell.

9. Chill for 2 hours or overnight.

10. Share and enjoy!

What did you bake this Thanksgiving?

Brown Sugar-Nutella Cupcakes

I loveee these cupcakes! They're super simple, dense, moist and delicious! I first came across the recipe on Raspberry and Eggplant, but since have tailored it for myself.

I recently found that topping the cupcake with 1-7 fresh raspberries makes it soo much more fresh and bright tasting.

MAKES ONE DOZEN CUPCAKES:

1. Cream in mixer (2 minutes, medium, kitchenaid paddle attachment):

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temp)

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2. Incorporate 2 eggs (room temp) in butter/sugar mix

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3. Dry ingredients

1.5 cup sifted flour

2 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp salt

4. Wet ingredients (whisk together):

½ cup yogurt

½ cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

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5. Add half of dry ingredients (incorporate)

6. Add all of wet ingredients (incorporate)

7. Add remaining half of dry ingredients (incorporate)

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8. Fill cupcake wrappers

9. Bake 16-18 minutes, 350 degrees

10. Cool on wire rack

11. Frost with nutella and raspberries

** fancy alternative: for some crunchy texture add 1-2 teaspoons of ½ cup ground hazelnuts and 2 tbsp. ground, raw sugar mixture to each cupcake wrapper before you pour batter (pictured up top)

What's your favorite cupcake recipe?

raw strawberry pie

a few weeks ago, jo, hoodes and i assembled a strawberry pie. i saw the recipe in domino mag a while ago, and have been meaning to try this fresh, summery dessert! i love recipes that can do double duty...a big batch of the crust can be modified and used to make homemade larabars. here is my adaptation of this adaptation :)

ingredients:

- 2 pounds fresh strawberries, tops removed, quartered (the more strawberries the better.)

- 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (1/2 lemon)

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

- 2 cups almonds, ground

- 1 3/4 cups pitted medjool dates

method:

1. in a bowl, combine strawberries, lemon juice, and brown sugar. Mix well and put in refrigerator.

2. grind the almonds and put them in another bowl and start working on dates. (if you are like me and without a food processor, you could go ghetto and 'grind' the almonds a la peanut butter jar lol!) Remove pits, flatten the dates and mince them into little bits. Place minced dates into the bowl of ground almonds.

3. use your hands to mix and knead the dates and almonds together into a dough. Form a ball.

4. place the date-almond ball into a pie pan (if you are worried about things sticking, put a little bit of canola oil on the pie pan and grease thoroughly) and mold it into the pie pan as best as you can. Take the strawberries out of the fridge, and using a slotted spoon, pile berries into the crust, leaving liquid behind. (you can use the liquid later in a sparkly drink or perhaps reduced down to a glaze..?)

5. place pie in the fridge to set for two hours.

6. enjoy the awesomeness of fresh strawberries, lemon juice, and sweet sweet dates!

happy (rainy) summer!