Pumpkin Pie Bites

Two posts in the same week? I must really be on a roll here...

I tried the Pumpkin Pie Bites Recipe from Bakerella's blog today. They are easy(ish) and cute!

Aidan was up for "helping" measure out the spices.

He was very busy working.

I will admit that this recipe had me looking up and down through the house trying to find my pumpkin cookie cutter that I just bought less than a month ago. I resorted to claiming holiday vandals, but then found them in a bag of "pantry" items that I remember filling, but don't remember putting the new cookie cutters in there. I know the truth deep down, but it's always fun to try the "someone stole it" routine.

I went to use my pumpkin puree I made (gasp) two or three weeks ago. Two or three weeks? Already...ahem, yuck.

You might be able to see that cloudiness in the liquid in the top right corner. If not, well, I wasn't going to risk whether this was still good or not and fortunately I still had a pumpkin on the table.

This added to the time cost, but I quartered and gutted the poor soul and baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes, until it was soft inside. (I used 1 cup of water in the baking dish.)

Then, the handy Black and Decker mini food processor was put to use and voila, fresh pumpkin puree.

So, MUCH later than I'd anticipated it taking, I finally got the filling ingredients together. It looked questionably like soup more than pie filling in thickness....

I checked the recipe again and nope, no flour left out or any thickening agent I can think of. The only idea I have for my difference is my cream cheese is still kind of lumpy...you can see it on the side of the bowl there. I decided to pour it into a microwave safe dish and heat it a little to try and melt the cream cheese. Warning: Improvising Ahead.

By the way, I think I love The Pampered Chef. I couldn't be a consultant because I'd spend too much on myself. We have the little and big glass measuring/mixing bowls like this. I LOVE them, along with most other products they make.

This experiment allowed me to use my new egg-beater whisk. It was only $1 and it looked so cute for breakfast prep...

It might have only been $1 because it won't stand up on it's own, though it looks like it was supposed to. The hen is just too heavy.

The filling makes about 2.5 cups in volume, if you're curious. You can kind of see here the specks of cream cheese. Sheesh. At this point I'm thinking "oh well, I tried".

Then, I tasted it. Yum. I don't care if it looks funny, there is a yummy yummy taste to it.....but not quite the same as regular old pumpkin pie recipes.

I used an unorthodox method to fill the little pies...a funnel and 1/4 measuring cup. Each pie took I'd guess 1/8 of a cup plus a pinch or so. I looked for our cooking syringe, that would have been an even better tool for less mess. A spoon or just plain pouring the batter out would have worked, too though!

Between batches I continued heating and stirring the filling. It got better...but I think next time I try these (there will be a next time) I'll use a regular pie filling recipe and see how that goes.

Overall, they're pretty yummy, pretty original looking, and no one can tell how many tastes you've had before you serve them, unlike a pie. The chocolate she adds on hers look like a delicious touch, but after making my own puree unexpectedly, I was ready to eat.

Fall Fun

Well, dear readers (if I have any left), I have neglected you, once again. (Could I use more commas in a sentence?)

I apologize as usual. Life has been especially busy and I foresee Christmas making it go even faster coming up but I will TRY TRY TRY to keep this blog alive.

I hope everyone had a great, safe Halloween. We had lots of fun here, picking pumpkins, making pumpkin pie, eating roasted pumpkin seeds--and that's just the pumpkin activities. Not to mention Trick-or-Treat with my little dragon.

The Pioneer Woman has saved my life, time wise. I absolutely LOVE this Perfect Pie Crust recipe found in her cookbook. I took a day and made a few batches of both pie crust and sugar cookie dough to throw in the freezer and allow myself some home-made goodies on busier days.

That crust combined with "Mrs. Sigg's Fresh Pumpkin Pie Recipe" (at least I think that's the one I used, I forgot to take note and now I'm not sure anymore!) makes for one (or two if you fill the crusts shallowly) delicious pumpkin pie. Yum. :)

So, back to that pumpkin picking thought...

Aidan found a suitable one...

...and we cut up the rest chosen.

A few Halloween cards were made. These can be done by anyone. I didn't use the Cricut machine at all, just some handy pup-out sticker packages from the scrapbooking companies. Easy, cute, and done.

Visiting a coloring table of the library, the kids colored Halloween themed pages that came from www.printactivities.com this site has all kinds of things to print for kids, with all different themes and skill levels. Very cool.

In searching for my links to make this post, I found a recipe I bookmarked a while back to "try later" as the season got closer. Just in case I forget about it again, I'll share it with you now. Pumpkin Pie Bites, by bakerella.com, which looks to be an awesome blog as well. I've still got some pumpkin puree made from scratch in the 'fridge to use up, and now that I have *new* Halloween cookie cutters, I think this recipe is calling for me, the next time I have an hour free.

As always, thanks for reading. I'm not making any promises about the next posting drought, but I haven't forgotten to SHARE the fun, busy life I'm leading these days. I just get too busy to manage to share it.