Pumpkin Pie Dip

The current WC Ingredient Challenge ingredient is Pumpkin.  Yum!

I didn’t want to do a traditional pie, bread or muffin, so I went searching for something new and different.  I found this recipe for Pumpkin Pie Dip on RecipeZaar.  It was wonderful!  I even used fat free cream cheese and you’d never know it.  The dip was wonderfully smooth and creamy.  It was so delicious and perfect with a side of granny smith apple and ginger snaps.

INGREDIENTS
8oz. Cream Cheese
2C. Powdered Sugar
1 15oz. Can Pumpkin Pie Mix
1t. Ground Ginger
1t. Ground Cinnamon
Assorted dippers

DIRECTIONS
Beat cream cheese and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add pie filling, cinnamon, and ginger, beating well.

Cover and chill 8 hours.

Serve with gingersnaps and apple slices (or dippers of your choice).

–

Husband Rating – N/A – “Bella made this for a picnic, and with real cream cheese…so I couldn’t eat it.”

Read Full Post »

Our First Apple Pie

Fall is, without a doubt, my favorite season.  Every year I look forward to the cooler weather, baseball playoffs and of course fall food!

Apple pie is one of our favorites but we’ve never tried making one until today.  I’m not sure what we were waiting for.  The crust was so flaky and the filling was just sweet enough (and not overly sugary like most store bought pies).  Christopher made the crust all by himself while I did the filling.  It might not be the prettiest pie you’ve ever seen, but we’re pretty proud of it!

The pie crust recipe is from my Grandmother and I found the filling recipe on AllRecipes.com.

At the suggestion of my Grandmother, I substituted the flour in the filling recipe for cornstarch.  Worked beautifully!

INGREDIENTS
Crust
2C. + 2T. All-purpose flour
1t. Salt
1/3C. Crisco
1/4C. Vegetable oil
1/4C. Ice cold water
Extra flour for rolling

Filling
5 Apples – I used 2 Braeburn and 3 Granny Smith
1C. Sugar
2T. Flour (or cornstarch)
1/2t. Cinnamon
1/4t. Salt
1T. Lemon juice
1T. Water
2T. Butter (cut into 4 small slices)

DIRECTIONS
To prepare crust
Combine flour and salt.  Cut in Crisco with a pastry blender.  Add vegetable oil and mix with a fork until just combined.

Mix in cold water and incorporate with hands.  If the dough isn’t moist enough, just add more water a little at a time.

Divide into 2 balls.  Roll on floured board or between 2 pieces of wax paper.

For the filling
Peel, core and slice the apples.  Add to a large bowl with lemon juice.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except butter, and stir to combine.

Add to the pie pan (after the first layer of dough is down) and top with butter before putting on the second layer of dough. Crimp edges and perforate to allow steam to escape.

Cut long strips of tin foil and place them around the edge of the pie.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and return to the oven for an additional 15 minutes.

Allow to cool at least 1 hour before serving.

Enjoy!

–

Husband Rating – 4.5 out of 5 – “Near perfection, I made the crust!”

Read Full Post »