Praline Bottom Pumpkin Pie©

The first year I was married, we were spending Thanksgiving with my husband's family.  I offered to make the pumpkin pies since I thought the recipe looked fairly easy if you could get past the pie crust (which I figured I'd buy).  The filling looked like it would be difficult to screw up.   The recipe called for evaporated milk, and of course you had to have whipped cream for garnish.  I didn't have evaporated milk like the recipe called for, and I didn't have whipped cream, so I sent my husband to the store the night before to pick up both for me.  He came home with only half and half instead, thinking I could kill two birds with one stone.  As little as I knew about cooking, he was not a cook at all--remember, this was the early 1970s and back then most men weren't comfortable in the kitchen, at least in my experience.  His domain was the grill, but that was about it.  He would surprise me once in a while on Sunday mornings with bacon, potatoes and eggs which he cooked all in one pan. It was a surprise all right. He never drained the bacon grease from the pan before adding the eggs and potatoes.  He covered the entire concoction with ketchup, so I don't think he noticed all the grease.  Needless to say, it wasn't a real favorite of mine (but I never told him.  I appreciated the fact that I didn't have to fix breakfast, and that he was at least trying to cook.  I'm sure he granted me the same courtesy for some of the first meals I'd prepared).

Lest I digress and go on about newly married courtesies, or breakfast foods (I'll save that for another day), let me say that at first I was upset and worried that the pies wouldn't turn out.  Back then, I had a very low anxiety trigger and I tried not to panic (reference the "Easter Eggs" post). I wasn't too worried about the whipped cream because we could stop at the store the next day and pick some up on our way to the in-laws.  I knew half and half wouldn't whip, BUT, I thought, maybe I could use it in the filling.  I wasn't really sure what evaporated milk was at that time, but it always looked funny to me; it was kind of yellowish, and I remembered it smelled tinny and weird.  I knew what half and half was.  Remember, I had a grandmother that taught me to love all products made from cream [she buttered both sides of my toast, pancakes, french toast, etc.  :-) ] . When I tasted the custard after adding the half and half, I knew it was probably better than it would have been with evaporated milk. It tasted fresh instead of having that tinny taste from the evaporated milk.  And it was creamy (always a good thing).  It was good enough to pour in a glass and drink. 

I've used half and half ever since (or sometimes whole cream when I'm in a very nostalgic mood and missing my grandma--don't tell anyone)!   I think it makes a wonderful filling.   And I've always made it with just brown sugar instead of half granulated and half brown; I think it gives it a fuller flavor.  I've never used cloves like the recipe called for.  For those first pies 40 years ago, I didn't have any cloves on my new bride's spice shelf.  But I did have nutmeg, so I substituted nutmeg for the cloves, and because I liked the flavor so much,  I've never even tried adding cloves.  Fresh nutmeg definitely makes a difference, too.  My husband's family loved the pies, and it was just assumed after that that I would make the pies for every Thanksgiving Dinner.  In fact, my brother-in-law, who is a chef and has owned restaurants all over the country, included my reworked recipe on his menus under the offering, "Sis's Pumpkin Pie."   After that first experience, I also started making my own pumpkin from pie pumpkins.  (I obviously had a lot of time on my hands and I had visions of becoming a Martha Stewart.  Of course, I didn't even know who Martha Stewart was back then.)

What started out as what I thought was going to be a disaster, taught me a very important lesson.  I had good instincts about recipes and food.  I could imagine what the substitutions would taste like.  I didn't have to follow a recipe to the letter.  I could create my own version.  This is the only pumpkin pie I've made for 40 years.  I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to share the recipe. The praline bottom gives you the taste of pecan pie without all the sugar and richness of pecan pie.  Because I believe that good recipes should be shared, I'm posting it here.  You can either put in the praline bottom or not; it's wonderful either way. And don't think you have to put it in a crust.  If you don't want the heaviness of pie crust, simply make the praline bottom in either a casserole dish or individual ramekins, top with the pumpkin custard and adjust the baking time.    Either way, I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.


Praline Bottom Pumpkin Pie ©

Prep Time:  15 min.

Cooking Time:  55 min.                     
Yield:  8 servings

Ingredients:

**1 unbaked 9 or 10-inch pie shell

For Praline Bottom

1/3 c. chopped pecans
1/3 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. softened butter

For Pie Filling
2 large eggs (make sure they're large, the last time I purchased "large" eggs they were more like medium-small--personally I prefer "Jumbo" which are now what used to be "large")
¾- 1 c. brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground nutmeg (freshly ground is best)
1 Tbsp. flour
1 can (15 or 15-1/2 or 14-1/2) pumpkin
14 oz. half and half

For Garnish (optional) 
Whipped cream, Chopped pecans

Directions

Heat oven to 425° F.

For  Praline Bottom:

Mix together ground pecans and brown sugar.  Blend in softened butter.  Gently press the praline mixture into the bottom of the pie crust.  Place on middle rack of oven and Bake for 10 minutes or until the praline is bubbling but not hardened.  Remove from oven and place on rack to cool slightly.

While praline bottom is baking, Beat eggs in large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg, and flour. Mix until sugar and spices are incorporated into the eggs.  Stir in the pumpkin.  Gradually Add the half and half.  Pour into the praline bottomed pie shell.

BAKE in preheated 350°F oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream and/or pecans, if desired before serving.  ENJOY! 

 

** If you don’t want to make this recipe as a pie (for your gluten free friends), just follow the same directions except omit the crust and the flour in the filling.  Bake in a casserole dish or individual ramekins.  Baking time will be reduced to about 5-7 min. for the praline, and 20-25 min for the pumpkin custard in a casserole dish, 15 min if you bake it in ramekins.

©1972, 2012 Praline Bottom Pumpkin Pie by Kathy Striggow
©2012 by Kathy Striggow

How to Boil an Egg©

I couldn't cook to save my life when I got married. And since I went straight from my childhood home into marriage, I didn't have a chance to experiment by being on my own and having to cook for myself. One of my earliest experiences as a home cook happened the day before my first Easter as a married woman.

My husband and I married on a carefully planned date in mid-March (between the end of college basketball season and the opening day of the professional baseball season), and Easter was only about two weeks after the wedding. I thought it would be a nice surprise for my husband if I made eggs for us to color for our first Easter together.  So while I was at the grocery store the week before Easter I purchased about 3 dozen eggs. After my husband left for work that Saturday afternoon, I placed the eggs in a dutch oven, covered them with water, set them on the burner and turned the stove to "hot" as I had seen my mother do countless times.

Not long after the water began steaming, I heard these high pitched noises coming from the pot. I wasn't sure, but I thought they sounded like peeps. I picked up the lid and saw there was nothing in the pot except eggs and water, as I expected. (I probably didn't even salt the water as I would do now, of course.)  I put the lid back down on the pot and the chirping noise continued. And it was getting louder.  I looked in the pot again; nothing there but eggs and water.  Now I was beginning to worry.  My mind was racing for an explanation, all the while conscious that the water was continuing to increase in temperature. Could the farmer who sold the eggs to the grocery store actually have put eggs in the cartons that were ready to hatch, instead of unfertilized eggs?

I called my mother. Of course, she wasn't home; and since my father had never boiled an egg, he couldn't explain the noise. By this time I had taken the eggs off the heat because I didn't want the responsibility for the homicide of 3 dozen baby chicks on my head. I looked back in the pan. The water was still steaming. And I still heard peeping. Maybe it wasn't too late. I had to make a hasty decision. I couldn't stand the thought of having our family cracking those eggs open on Easter Sunday and finding dead baby chicks. So, I thought I'd just chalk this up to experience and make sure the next time I bought eggs, they weren't directly from a farmer. I decided to cut my losses. I drained the eggs and wrapped them carefully in newspaper.  I placed the package inside a brown grocery bag and carefully folded down the top, stapled it together and placed the bag into a cardboard box. Snug and soft. I carried the box out to the trash and laid it gently inside the dumpster. At least they were given a decent burial. I didn't think it would look good to the neighbors if I started digging up the back yard to bury the box. Besides, I didn't have a shovel and the ground was still frozen from the cold winter we'd just had.

I put my coat on, grabbed the car keys and left for the grocery store. Back then (in the early 1970s), eggs were only about 39 cents a dozen, so I wasn't being extravagant by disposing of those other eggs and starting over. As I drove to the store, my over-active imagination thought of endless possibilities with those eggs. What if I'd left them in the refrigerator and not made boiled eggs that day? Would they have hatched? What would I do with 3 dozen baby chicks? What would I tell my husband? He didn't even want a dog. Our apartment wasn't big enough for the two of us, let alone 3 dozen baby chicks. Certainly there was a different shipment of eggs at the grocery store than the ones I'd purchased a few days before. Or so I hoped. I hedged my bets and instead I went to a different grocery store where I carefully checked out the egg distributors. Some were the same, but some were different. I picked up 3 dozen eggs in styrofoam containers that looked like they came directly from a factory and not some farmer's chicken coop. I also checked the date on the carton to make sure that the eggs weren't too fresh. I wanted to be certain that if I decided not to boil all the eggs and left some in the refrigerator, they were already past their hatching time.

I got home and again put the eggs into the dutch oven, covered them with water and put the pot on to boil (still no salt). About 7 minutes into the process I heard, "peep, peep, peep." This couldn't be happening. Did anyone check eggs to make sure they weren't fertilized before they placed them in the refrigerated section at the store? What did I do now? What should have been a half an hour process was now going on 3 hours. I looked into the pot. Eggs and water. More peeping. Finally, I decided I had to find out if it was normal. But who would I call? Certainly not the police. I was pretty sure there wasn't any statute or local ordinance against chick killing. But maybe it did qualify as cruelty to animals. Did farm animals count the same as domesticated animals for those laws? I wasn't aware of any PETA groups protecting chicks. How about the Humane Society? I never heard of anyone adopting baby chicks from the Humane Society. I didn’t know where to find that out. Remember, at that time there was no internet, Ask.com or other source for instantaneously obtaining obscure information. And time was of the essence here.

I was sure the police would think I was either silly or stupid if I called them. But maybe they didn't grow up on farms and they didn't know either. I then thought of someone who did grow up on a farm, and was probably one of the best cooks I'd ever known. But because I was hesitant to call that source directly, I decided to call her son. He hated it when I interrupted him at work, but I knew I had no other choice. I wasn't going to make a fool out of myself by calling my mother-in-law of only two weeks and reporting "peeping" eggs. Surely she'd think I was a dolt, thereby giving her proof that I really was as inept in the kitchen as she probably thought I was. So, I called my husband. Forget the surprise of coloring eggs. I was afraid I was killing chicks. This was surely an important reason for interrupting him at work. He didn't laugh at me (a wise decision for a new husband), and he listened calmly as I related to him, rather frantically I'm sure, the saga of the peeping eggs.

By that time, I had removed the eggs from the burner again (just in case). He didn't answer me immediately, so I closely examined the eggs again. Finally, he said that maybe the peeping sound was normal. He suggested that perhaps because the eggshells were porous, the hot water expanded the pores in the shells thereby letting air escape which created the hissing sound. Thus, the peeping noise.  I still wasn't sure, but I thanked him, took a deep breath and put the pot back on the burner. I turned the water back on, this time with the lid off, and watched as the water reheated. Sure enough, there were little bubbles coming out of the shells. And though I couldn't be sure, I thought the sound coincided with the continuous bubbles escaping through the shells.

Our Easter eggs that year were more than a little overdone. Yes, there was a gray-green ring around the yolks. In fact as I remember it, I'd say there was more gray-green to the yolks than yellow. Probably that action of putting on the heat, taking off the heat, putting back on the heat didn't help.  I have since learned how to make the "perfect" hard boiled egg. And I still make eggs for coloring at Easter time. But it's not nearly as exciting as that first experience. I still can't make hard boiled eggs without hearing that "peeping" noise and envisioning those baby chicks trying to escape. At least that's how I see it!

©2012 How to Boil an Egg by Kathy Striggow

The Perfect Hard Boiled Egg

The Perfect Boiled Eggs

Yield: 6 soft- or hard-boiled eggs

Preparation Time (includes cooking and cooling time): Appx. 9 minutes for soft-boiled, 14 minutes for hard-boiled

Ingredients

6 Large Eggs,with no cracks in the shells¹
1-1/2 tsp. salt

The Perfect Soft-Boiled Egg

Directions

1.  Place the eggs carefully in a small saucepan and cover with cold water². Water should be at least one-inch higher than the eggs.

2.   Add salt to the pan and cover.

3.   Over high heat, bring the water to a boil.

4.   Once the water has reached the boiling point, turn off the heat but leave pan on the burner for one minute.

5.   After one minute has elapsed, remove the pan from the burner and set aside, keeping the pan covered.

6.   Let the sit untouched for the following times depending on the level of doneness you want your eggs:

Five minutes for soft-boiled eggs and

Ten Minutes for hard-boiled eggs

 

7.  Keeping the eggs in the pan, drain off the hot water and cover the eggs completely with cold water and ice cubes. (Fill pan to the top with ice cubes and run cold water over the top until the pan is filled.)

8. Replace ice as necessary to keep water ice cold.

9. When the eggs are completely cooled, remove them from the pan and dry them.

10. When the eggs are completely cooled, remove them from the pan and dry them with paper towels.

11. If you are using immedicately, peel and use them, or store them in an air-tight container and place in the refrigerator.

¹Older eggs make the best hard-boiled eggs as the whites separate from the shells easier when peeling.
²Always start the eggs in cold water. Do not place the raw eggs into boiling water as the yolk and the white will not cook evenly.

©2012 The Cook in Me: How to Boil an Egg by Kathy Striggow