Mini Mascarpone Pumpkin Pies

 I've been wanting to make mini pumpkin pies for a while and after  picking up a tub of mascarpone at a great price (that stuff is super expensive!) and looking for inspiration on what to do with it I stumbled upon this recipe which is fantastic.

For the crust I used my trusty recipe, pie pastry is the easiest thing in the world to do, if you're not making your own crust I HIGHLY recommend it.  There is no waiting around for butter to thaw or anything, it's just cold butter right out of the fridge, cut it into small cubes, assemble your ingredients and roll up your sleeves. 

Pie Pastry: 

- 1 cup cold butter cut into small cubes using a knife. 

Put the butter in a large bowl. 

In another bowl mix: 

- 2 1/2 cups flour

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/8 tsp baking powder (you can leave this out if you want a less "fluffy" pastry) 

Now assemble the wet ingredients: 

- 2 tbsp lemon juice (some people use vinegar too, I haven't tried it) 

- 1/4 cup ice water (or mix half milk in there, or do full cold milk, it yields a more tender crust)

Have another 1/4 cup of liquid on standby because you may need more and only use up to 1/2 cup in full of liquid. 

Add the flour mix to the butter and work with hands until mixture resembles wet sand or butter is incorporated well and no more than a small pie size. 

Add liquid and press dough together with hands and press down in the bowl to form a "dough" .. mold it into a patty and wrap with plastic. 

Set in the fridge until ready to use.  Pastry freezes perfectly too!  Any leftovers just wrap it well in plastic or put it in a zip lock bag and throw it in the freezer for future use. 

Filling: 

This recipe makes enough for 1 large pumpkin pie but I had alot of filling left when making the small pies so maybe half the recipe for the filling, or double the pastry if you want to make 2 muffin pans of mini pies (24) 

filling

1 cup canned pure pumpkin

1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese

Beat pumpkin and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and next 7 ingredients and beat until blended. Add mascarpone cheese and beat just until mixture is smooth. Transfer filling to prepared crust.

For instructions on filling the cupcake tins with pie crust refer to my older mini cherry pies post here with full photo sequence on how I went about it.

There is no need to cover the pies so just chill the pan with pastry cups for 10 minutes or so in the freezer and then fill with pie filling and bake.  

I baked at 350-375ish until pastry was done, about 30 minutes or so. 

For non pumpkin lovers I threw some little applies pies in between ^_^

Enjoy!

Good Eats

Lately it's been so cloudy, as if winter is trying to drag us as far as it can before spring time.  As usual  the lighting is horrible but the good news is that it gets darker much later in the day!

These are a few dishes I've enjoyed making (and eating) in the last week or so.

Grandma's famous meat goulash recipe, my oven fries and fresh squeaky cheese curds come together in this Canadian favourite: Poutine!

Here's another dish that surprised me because it came together in 2 pots almost like a 15 minute meal! 

I started with white jasmine rice, set that on the back burner. 

1 1/2 cup rice

2 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups water

Bring to a boil, set on low, cover and let it cook until fluffy and liquid is absorbed. 

Stir fry: 

-1 lb ground beef, lightly seasoned with salt and rolled into tiny meatballs (do it really quick, even use a spoon or melon baller to scoop off bits)

- 1 container of button or cramini mushrooms, sliced

- 1 bunch of broccoli, stem removed and florets cut very tiny to cook evenly

- 1/3 head of cauliflower, same thing, cut into bite size pieces

- Snow peas or snap peas, a bunch of them

(baby bok choy or shanghai bok choy works great here too, anything you like, as long as it all can cook around the same time frame) 

- Fresh ginger, grated, about 1/2 tsp

- Fresh garlic, grated, about 1/4 tsp

Directions: 

Fire up the pan/pot, I use a large pot so that things don't splash.  Start frying mushrooms in a bit of oil, they like to cook in high heat and very quickly.  Lightly season with salt and remove to set aside. 

Add all the greens, season lightly with salt and add a bit of water to the bottom of the pot, cover and steam. This is done in less than 10 minutes.  Keep your veg a little crunchy for better texture. As soon as you can poke a knife into the stalky area of the broccoli or cauliflower you know it's done. 

Add to mushrooms or set aside separately. 

Make sure your pan is dry and then add a little oil to pan again, about 1 tbsp and fry meatballs until almost done through.  

Add: 

1 tbsp soy sauce

Fresh ginger, fresh garlic

A splash of rice wine vinegar

1/2 tbsp brown sugar 

1 tbsp apricot jam (I used a kind of puree in a bottle, mainly used for drinks) 

If you have a korean BBQ sauce on hand, the kind with the pear in it just use that, a couple of tbsps. 

Swirl the pan so that everything bubbles away and coats the meatballs.  

Remove and assemble bowls with rice, stir fry, and some meatballs. 

Garnish with green onion, and for a little spice add a drizzle of Sriracha! 

Enjoy! 

... and of course Goulash is just great on noodles!

Red Dragon

Here's a cheese I loved so much that I simply had to write about it! RED DRAGON! I think since my last post about cheese I pretty much established that my taste in cheese is savoury, tangy and strong.  

I've noticed through my visits to quite a few cheese shops and my exploration (thus far) into the "Cheese world" that many of our Middle Eastern cheeses are kinda left out, unknown, undiscovered and that's a little sad to me but of course that doesn't mean I'm missing out on them, a trip to an Arabic Grocer solves that problem! And you can always find a local Arabic or Turkish store in your area and see what you come across, you may find something entirely new!

 These are the cheeses that I grew up with and love, the ones I remember always having in our fridge, from all the different varieties of crumbly, soft and creamy fetas to string cheeses, strong hard almost Romano style Egyptian Cheese and lavishly shaped braids soaked in brine, my father often couldn't resist bringing buckets of these cheeses over the boarder with him from Turkey on his way back home from his travels.

Let's get back to Red Dragon, I picked this cheese up from Country Cheese in Durham, Ontario.  A very cozy little gem of a place. They like to focus on local and "home grown" cheese especially, which I think makes them quite unique but they also carry quite a variety, and seem to be offering more and more everytime I drop in. 

Red Dragon I'm told is an English cheese, it has mustard in it, a grainy mustard too for some texture and has that sharp dijon almost horseradish after taste.  Anyone who loves mustard or horseradish will love this.

It's a creamy medium textured cheese which is what I love about it so much because it melts so beautifully (we're not talking melting or anything) just on your tongue, it's as good in flavour as a condiment/sauce/ spread in itself paired with some roast beef in a sandwich, it's really all you need.  Creamy, pungent and oh so delectable!

I was craving some roast beef as soon as I left the shop but I had some lamb in my shopping bag and whipped up some home-made burgers which I grilled.  

Lamb appreciates some tanginess so this was perfect!

If you're wondering about the pickled okra, it's so easy to make, you'll find the recipe here on my blog and it's probably my new favourite pickle. 

Road Trips

For the last two weekends we have been hanging out west of the city in St.Jacob's, which is always terrific of course with the farmer's, flea and antique markets! There is never a dull moment and here is a little photo gallery of the "day"
We discovered a cool maple syrup museum, along with a railroad museum and much more all in one building on the main road in the town of St. Jacob's.... there are galleries, shops, pottery shops, quilting, tons and tons of fantastic stuff to browse and buy.

Such a fun time!  I'm looking forward to going to my first maple syrup festival this spring and I promise (as always!) there will be pics! 

A piece I picked up at one of the two antique markets in St.Jacob's close to the farmer's and flea market buildings.   This will be beautiful on my kitchen table!

My sisters love Little Caesars but I've never had it before so we indulged ourselves in two pizzas late in the evening after the long day out.

Jappie lounging on the sofa :) Cute as ever.

We just had to make another trip out at midnight to get some McDonald's ice cream - it's a bit of a ritual of ours :)

Here's a little field mouse I found in the morning before leaving my home, he seemed to have passed away of natural causes but I think he deserves a little tribute and since I had to run out so quickly (running late) I gently placed him in the bed of flowers. May the little sweet baby rest in peace.