TOM'S BIRTHDAY PIE
Most people have cake for their birthdays. But Tom has never been a fan of cake, nor cookies. What he loves most in this world is pie. Any type of pie. So for his 35th birthday, I decided to make him a pumpkin pie with spiced walnut streusel. He had asked for a normal pumpkin pie, but I felt that was a little too easy and boring, so after a tip from Leah, I turned to Epicurious to look for some more interesting ideas. That's what lead me to the spiced walnut streusel. I was also happy to make the pie because it gave me the opportunity to use my Cuisinart and to try out Martha Stewart's pumpkin pie recipe.
I didn't detail the whole process for you guys, but I made the crust, rolled it out, made the filling and streusel and stuck the whole thing in the oven. It wasn't that difficult, no lattice crust, double crust or anything. Here's where I did stray. Rather than using the recipe for pie crust and pie filling from Epicurious, I used Martha Stewart's recipes. But you'll notice that because the walnut streusel topping was already spiced, the Epicurious pumpkin pie recipe didn't contain any additional spices. The Martha Stewart recipe, however, did. I worried for a few seconds that the pie would end up over spiced, but Tom had also said he liked pumpkin pie the most because of all the spices.
Here's the finished product. You may be able to tell from the picture that the interior is still a bit gooey and soft, despite my efforts to cool and chill it before I sliced. It's probably firm now that it's spent a night in the fridge.
I didn't detail the whole process for you guys, but I made the crust, rolled it out, made the filling and streusel and stuck the whole thing in the oven. It wasn't that difficult, no lattice crust, double crust or anything. Here's where I did stray. Rather than using the recipe for pie crust and pie filling from Epicurious, I used Martha Stewart's recipes. But you'll notice that because the walnut streusel topping was already spiced, the Epicurious pumpkin pie recipe didn't contain any additional spices. The Martha Stewart recipe, however, did. I worried for a few seconds that the pie would end up over spiced, but Tom had also said he liked pumpkin pie the most because of all the spices.
Here's the finished product. You may be able to tell from the picture that the interior is still a bit gooey and soft, despite my efforts to cool and chill it before I sliced. It's probably firm now that it's spent a night in the fridge.
Even though we wouldn't admit it until later, he didn't love the streusel topping. He would've preferred a plain pumpkin pie with some whipped cream. I thought it turned out pretty well, but I haven't a made fresh pie crust in a long time and need to work on my technique. For those of you who did receive some slices, please feel here to add a comment and let me know what you think.
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