Pumpkin Pie with a Graham Cracker Crust

Pumpkin pie is such a traditional fall treat. It makes the apartment smell so wonderful. For my pumpkin pies, I like to use a graham cracker crust. Also, instead of the traditional evaporated milk, I like to use sweetened condensed milk and then omit any other sugar from the recipe. I think the sweetened condensed milk makes the pie fluffier. Even though I'm not adding any sugar to the pie itself, I like to add some brown sugar to the top of the pie, kind of like a streusal topping. A nice addition to the streusal topping could be walnuts. You'll see in the picture to the left that I did not spread the topping all over the pie, but that is definitely something you could do. Also, one last thing, I never measure any of the spices I add; I think that's a bit boring. I also usually only use cinnamon and nutmeg in my pies; I just don't like the taste of ginger. And if you have fine sea salt, use that.

Graham Cracker Crust:

1.5 cups finely ground graham crackers
6 tbs butter- melted
1/3 cup sugar

Use a rolling pin to mash the graham crackers. Put them in a bowl and add the sugar. Finally add the butter to this mixture and blend with spoon until all the dry ingredients are coated with butter.
Press into a 9" pie plate.

Bake this at 375 degrees for 7 minutes. 

Pie Filling:

(Recipe courtesy of sparkpeople.com username jkaplan86, but with my substitutions)

15 oz pumpkin (not pie filling)
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 425.
Mix all ingredients together. Place in the already baked crust.
Cover the crust with a thin strip of foil so it does not burn.
Bake at this temperature for 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 35-40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
After about 30 minutes in the oven, remove the foil and add the streusal topping. Before doing this, however, stick a knife in the middle, it should look fairly clean. You don't want to take the foil off and put the topping on too early.

Enjoy with whipped cream /or vanilla ice cream!

Apple Crumble Pie

Yesterday we did the quintessential fall activity...apple picking and pumpkin picking. I even got a mum. So of course I had to make an apple pie. I don't like apple pies with a top and bottom crust so instead I make apple crumble pies with a bottom crust and a streusal topping.

I'm not a master homemade crust maker at all, but I refuse to buy pre-made crusts. My crusts never come out looking pretty, but they always taste alright, so I suggest you try making your own crust because it really isn't that hard.

After much experimentation, this is my recipe for a single crust pie:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup shortening
pinch salt
enough water to form a ball

Combine the flour, salt, and shortening with a pastry blender or your hands:)
Put in a little water at a time while working to form the dough into a ball. Use as little water as possible to form the ball.

After forming the ball, it's a good idea to refrigerate it for a little bit because that makes it easier to roll out, but that's totally up to you.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and transfer to a 9" pie dish leaving a 1" overhang. Make a pretty edge with the overhang if you want.

Here's the pie recipe:

5 cups apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced- add some lemon juice to prevent browning. Put in a bowl
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Topping:
1/3 cup white sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons butter

Here's an alternate topping recipe:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C.) 
• Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over apples. 
• Put this mixture in the pie dish
  
• Make the topping recipe of your choice. For both recipes, you will combine the dry ingredients and cut in the butter to make a crumbly topping. 
• Spoon topping over apples. Be sure to cover all the apples.
  
• Cut a thin strip of foil. Cover the edges of the pie crust with the foil and bake like this for the first 30-35 mins. Take the foil off and bake for the remaining time (about 5-10 mins). The top should be browned and the apples soft to the touch.

Here's how it should look when it goes in the oven:

You should let the pie cool all the way before serving so the juices soak up. You don't want to freak out when you think you've made a pie that's too liquidy! Don't forget the ice cream!