Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie with Hard Sauce

I have a confession to make.  I don't like pumpkin very much.  Not pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins.  Not even pumpkin spice coffee at Starbucks.  I always feel out of place this time of year when everyone is all about pumpkin baking.  For me, the fall season is about apples.  However, there is one exception to my disdain for pumpkin pie.  It is a pie recipe my Mother used to make for us while growing up.  It is one of the most delicious Thanksgiving desserts we had and I feel it's a perfect compromise for the requisite pumpkin items on a Thanksgiving table.  My people from Buffalo will be well familiar with the John's Flaming  Hearth Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie with Hard Sauce.  John's Flaming Hearth was a Buffalo area restaurant, which has since closed.  But it's legacy is this pie and I'm forever grateful!

It's pretty easy to prepare and put together.  Here are the ingredients:

John's Flaming Hearth Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie with Hard Sauce

1 quart vanilla ice cream

1 pie shell, baked and cooled completely

1 cup cooked or canned pumpkin

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

additional whipped cream, for garnish

Spread slightly melted ice cream in pie shell.  If you are using a pie plate that is not very deep, you may want to use less than 1 quart of ice cream).  

Place pie shell with ice cream in the freezer until it is completely hardened.  In a mixing bowl, blend the pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices together.  

In a separate bowl, whip 1 cup of heavy cream until stiff.  Fold whipped cream into pumpkin mixture.  

Smooth the mixture over the ice cream layer of the pie.  

Place pie in the freezer and remove it 15 minutes before you are ready to serve it.  

To Make the Hard Sauce:

1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/4  hot water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, corn syrup, and hot water in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and continue to boil until it starts to thicken.  Don't let it become too thick.  

Let cool and add vanilla.  Drizzle on top of whipped cream garnish.

Oh, just looking at the pictures makes me want a slice!  I want to give a quick word about the syrup.  My Mother did not add it to the pie so this was my first time making and working with it.  It becomes HARD pretty QUICKLY!  I kind of almost broke a tooth biting into a piece.  I think, rather than drizzling it, it would be better to make some kind of artsy shapes on waxed paper, peel them off, and place them decoratively around the plate and on the pie....more of a hard candy garnish instead of something that looks warm and syrupy.  I could not even get the pooled bit of sauce off of the plate!  

Cleanup can be a challenge, also.  I filled the saucepan I made the syrup in with HOT water, put everything that came into contact with the sauce (spoon, bowl, etc.) into the pan and let it steam with the lid on it.  After three rotations of this my kitchen tools were finally free of hard sauce!  I think the pie is just as tasty without it, so you can make your own choice whether the serve it that way or not.  Some cinnamon sprinkled on top of whipped cream could give the pie some extra flourish without the hassle.

Regardless, I love this pie and look forward to it every year!  When I host Thanksgiving for my Husband's family it is always on our dessert table.  I hope you give it try and enjoy it, too.  Happy Holiday!!

Autumn Leaves Are Gently Falling on Chocolate Trees!

That is, they are gently falling from chocolate trees onto plush buttercream grass!  Oh, how I love October - the changing of leaves, crisp days and nights, hats and scarves, Halloween, my birthday and, of course, new baking possibilities!  Apples, pumpkins, and cider...oh, my!  So many recipes, so little time.  Where should we start?  I say with the bright colored leaves of fall!

Awhile ago, as I always seem to be, I was browsing through fall baking ideas.  I fell in LOVE with  the chocolate trees I found here.  All you need is chocolate and Autumn Leaves Quins...which, as it turns out, are not so easy to find.  Eventually, I ordered them from Amazon.com.  They took a bit of time to arrive, but when they did I was hardly able to contain myself.  I baked up some cupcakes immediately, melted the chocolate, placed waxed paper on the counter (any flat surface will do), and started on the trees.

Once you have melted the chocolate, pour it into a plastic pastry bag or Ziploc baggie.  Cut the end (or corner of the bag if using a Ziploc) off a little at a time.  You can always make a bigger whole, but cannot make it smaller!  I learned this the hard way when I cut too much off the end and had a flood of chocolate flowing everywhere.  Next time, I will use a funnel to pour the chocolate into a squeeze bottle for more control over the flow.  I'm still orienting myself with pastry bags in general!

Make the rough shape of a tree and a few branches on the waxed paper:

Next, take a toothpick to make a thicker trunk and whimsical branches.  Be sure to use enough chocolate to make a sturdy tree trunk because you want the tree to be strong enough to stand on it's own once placed in the cupcake.  Also, do not worry about smoothing the chocolate perfectly.  The swirls and texture will make the hardened chocolate look more tree-like.

While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle some of the Autumn Leaves quins on the branches.  Work on one tree at a time.  The leaves will stay on the branches nicely once the chocolate hardens.

While the trees are setting, approximately 10-15 minutes, begin frosting the cupcakes.  I mixed up some buttercream icing, but you can use canned frosting if you prefer.  Dye the icing green using gel or liquid dye.  You can spread the icing on the cupcake as your normally would, but I bought an icing tip shaped to create the effect of grass (as well as many other things).

Once the cupcakes are frosted, carefully peel a chocolate tree off of the wax paper.  Start with the trunk and work your way up.  Go slowly, especially with the branches, and there should be no breakage.  Look at how lovely the leaves look!

After you've lifted the tree, push it into the center of an iced cupcake.  Repeat this process until you have created an entire forest.  The result is magical!  Wouldn't these be cute at place settings on a Holiday table?

HAPPY FALL  EVERYONE!!!