I know the season for pumpkin is melting away faster than the snow in California. But if you're like me, you bought way tooo much pumpkin over the fall months. I cracked open the cans, used what I needed and stored the rest in the freezer for a rainy day.
Well, rainy days are few and far between here in the desert. In fact, it's still close to 80° here in Arizona....
Enter warm and frosty pumpkin treats!
You'll remember I raved about the pumpkin crème brûlée we had for Thanksgiving (not to toot my own horn, but this was pretty dang good). It was creamy, thick and tasted like a mini serving of pumpkin pie with a thick buttery and sugary crust on top. I recently watched the movie Amélie and was reminded of my favorite line (promise this is going somewhere):
"Amélie is a shy young woman with a pronounced taste for all life's small pleasures : immersing one's hand in a sack of grain, craking the crust of a crème brûlée with the back of a teaspoon or skipping stones on the Canal St-Martin."
Cracking the top sugary layer of a crème brûlée into a million tiny shattered pieces is one of my favorite things in life. Seriously, it's my favorite dessert, ever. It is with this in mind, I present to you my Thanksgiving dessert, and a recent apératif.
Pumpkin Crème Brûlée (adapted from Emeril Lagasse, I may or may not have said "bam" while preparing):
Ingredients:
- 2 c heavy cream
- 1/4 c light brown sugar
- 1/4 c sugar, plus 4 t
- 8 large egg yolks
- 1/2 t vanilla extract
- 1/4 t ground cinnamon
- 1/8 t grated nutmeg
- 1 c canned cooked pumpkin
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Arrange 8 (1/2-cup) ramekins or custard cups in a large metal baking pan.
In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Bring to a bare simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until frothy and lemon-colored. Slowly add 3/4 cup of the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly. Add the egg mixture to the remaining hot cream, and whisk. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin, and whisk until smooth. Divide among the prepared custard cups.
Add enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake until the custards are just set in the center but not stiff, 45 minutes to 55 minutes. Remove from the oven and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours or overnight.
Sprinkle each custard with 1/2 teaspoon of the remaining sugar (I used a special crème brûlée praline-flavored sugar, it made the taste super buttery and gave it that extra step above regular sugar). Using a kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar. Place on small dessert plates and serve.
...Heaven in a ramekin!
Now prior to dinner tonight, I continued my pumpkin spice flavoring tradition to rid my freezer of canned pumpkin. Enter my pumpkin apéritif (pre-dinner drink in the French tradition):
Pumpkin Pie Spice Martinis
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 2 t pumpkin pie spice, divided
- 2 t granulated sugar
- 2 c skim milk
- 2 t pumpkin puree
- 2 c pomegranate cranberry juice
- 4 oz. clementine vodka
- ice
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar, 1 t pumpkin pie spice, and 1/2 c water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and bring it to a boil. Remove from heat and cool for 30 minutes. Syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Mix together the granulated sugar and remaining 1 t pumpkin pie spice and put it onto a shallow plate. Pour 2 tablespoons of the simple syrup onto a plate. Dip the rims of 4 martini glasses into the syrup, and then in the spiced sugar. Set aside.
In a cocktail shaker, combine the milk, pumpkin puree, juice, vodka, half the simple syrup and ice and shake until well blended. Pour into the prepared glasses.
**I realized halfway through I was missing a liquid base. So that's where the pomegranate juice comes in, but it's masked behind the creamy texture of the pumpkin puree and the frothiness of the milk. Pumpkin pie spice simple syrup seriously might be my favorite flavor ever!! This all combined to make a martini that essentially tasted like pumpkin pie... but with alcohol :)
Does life get any better than that?! (Note: I couldn't consume too much, it was quite rich. This is simply meant to be for sipping as an apéritif -- before eating)
Mix together the granulated sugar and remaining 1 t pumpkin pie spice and put it onto a shallow plate. Pour 2 tablespoons of the simple syrup onto a plate. Dip the rims of 4 martini glasses into the syrup, and then in the spiced sugar. Set aside.
In a cocktail shaker, combine the milk, pumpkin puree, juice, vodka, half the simple syrup and ice and shake until well blended. Pour into the prepared glasses.
**I realized halfway through I was missing a liquid base. So that's where the pomegranate juice comes in, but it's masked behind the creamy texture of the pumpkin puree and the frothiness of the milk. Pumpkin pie spice simple syrup seriously might be my favorite flavor ever!! This all combined to make a martini that essentially tasted like pumpkin pie... but with alcohol :)
Does life get any better than that?! (Note: I couldn't consume too much, it was quite rich. This is simply meant to be for sipping as an apéritif -- before eating)
