Pi day Pie
I finally made a pie on Pi day!
I had a kabocha squash and almond meal so I made a pumpkin walnut pie with almond meal crust and candied orange peel.
I tried following a recipe for almond meal crust but all I could find online was "paleo diet" and "gluten free" recipes, most of which called for ingredients I consider to be pretty exotic for where I live. For one thing, many of them called for almond flour, not almond meal. And then they called for fats that are expensive in my area -- coconut oil, palm oil. And tapioca flour. Most were sweetened and some were sweetened with artificial sweeteners.
So I gave up and did this. I melted a half cup of butter in the microwave and stirred almond meal into it until I had a solid lump. It was somewhat over two cups of almond meal by then. I sprinkled a little cinnamon and a couple of tiny drops of almond extract on it and mixed them in too. I pushed that into a big pie plate and put it in the oven at 350 while I dealt with the squash. I had roasted that earlier, and now I scraped it out of its skin and put it into a blender with almost a cup of heavy cream. There was almost 3 cups of squash before blending. I blended that together until it was smooth and uniform, then turned it out into a bowl and stirred in four "jumbo" eggs (they are huge), maybe half or three quarters of a cup of brown sugar? and sprinkles of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. Pulled the somewhat dried crust out of the oven and poured the filling in. Plopped a couple of cups of walnuts and about three tablespoons of minced candied orange peel into it and put it back in the oven for a really long time until I couldn't stand waiting anymore. The knife did not quite come clean when I pulled it out, but the edges of the pumpkin part were a bit browned.
It could be sweeter. It might be better if it was.
But it's pretty nice all the same. And it is a Pie for Pi day.
How do you even spellcheck this joint? Used to be a button around here somewhere, I could swear.
I had a kabocha squash and almond meal so I made a pumpkin walnut pie with almond meal crust and candied orange peel.
I tried following a recipe for almond meal crust but all I could find online was "paleo diet" and "gluten free" recipes, most of which called for ingredients I consider to be pretty exotic for where I live. For one thing, many of them called for almond flour, not almond meal. And then they called for fats that are expensive in my area -- coconut oil, palm oil. And tapioca flour. Most were sweetened and some were sweetened with artificial sweeteners.
So I gave up and did this. I melted a half cup of butter in the microwave and stirred almond meal into it until I had a solid lump. It was somewhat over two cups of almond meal by then. I sprinkled a little cinnamon and a couple of tiny drops of almond extract on it and mixed them in too. I pushed that into a big pie plate and put it in the oven at 350 while I dealt with the squash. I had roasted that earlier, and now I scraped it out of its skin and put it into a blender with almost a cup of heavy cream. There was almost 3 cups of squash before blending. I blended that together until it was smooth and uniform, then turned it out into a bowl and stirred in four "jumbo" eggs (they are huge), maybe half or three quarters of a cup of brown sugar? and sprinkles of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. Pulled the somewhat dried crust out of the oven and poured the filling in. Plopped a couple of cups of walnuts and about three tablespoons of minced candied orange peel into it and put it back in the oven for a really long time until I couldn't stand waiting anymore. The knife did not quite come clean when I pulled it out, but the edges of the pumpkin part were a bit browned.
It could be sweeter. It might be better if it was.
But it's pretty nice all the same. And it is a Pie for Pi day.
How do you even spellcheck this joint? Used to be a button around here somewhere, I could swear.