Chinese five spice pumpkin pie

Your pie maker's loveliest assistant came home recently with not one but two sugar pumpkins. Your piemaker has already baked his way through Ken's supply of interesting recipes, so he borrowed the ratios from the "Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie" recipe reproduced therein, with a few changes.


Start by rolling out a standard whole wheat crust into a standard 9" pie plan. I didn't this time, but you ought to partially pre-bake it (Ken's got great directions for this).

While that's happening, combine in a bowl:
1/2 Cup brown sugar
2 T Chinese 5 spice powder
2 Cup pureed pumpkin
3/4 Cup half and half cream
2 large eggs, gently beaten


Pour the mixed ingredients into a somewhat cooled pie shell and bake at 350F for about 40min, or until the sides are slightly puffy and the center jiggles like jelly.

Let it cool completely before serving!

Two weeks in pie making.

Your pie maker was going to write a "This Week in Pie Making" last week about the non-fallout from the DoS document dump. The gist of it was that SecDef Gates caught the essence of problem in this quote:

Now, I've heard the impact of these releases on our foreign policy described as a meltdown, as a game-changer, and so on. I think -- I think those descriptions are fairly significantly overwrought. The fact is, governments deal with the United States because it's in their interest, not because they like us, not because they trust us, and not because they believe we can keep secrets. Many governments -- some governments deal with us because they fear us, some because they respect us, most because they need us. We are still essentially, as has been said before, the indispensable nation.

So other nations will continue to deal with us. They will continue to work with us. We will continue to share sensitive information with one another.

Is this embarrassing? Yes. Is it awkward? Yes. Consequences for U.S. foreign policy? I think fairly modest.

The reason for this indispensability is largely because of our very large and powerful economy. The same one that mortgaged its future to pay for benefits for current workers on the assumption that it could refinance that mortgage with future productivity growth. Well, it almost worked. Fortunately, the tax cuts passed right before we got into two land wars in Asia are going to expire soon, and we'll avoid the worst sovereign debt projections from the recent deficit commission. Oh, wait.



Interests in the US ranging from the largest banks to public service unions seem bet on busting-out the US credit rating. The President we elected with a broad mandate to be an Andrew Jackson or an FDR has instead turned out to be a Woodrow Wilson. Mark Lilla does an excellent job explaining the cultural economic forces that have pushed us into this corner.

Not all of the news is bad. The body politic seems to have a lost its sense of history, but GE seems to have found theirs. It is possible for a strong personality to ram through unpopular cuts in a state budget and keep enough popularity to continue to govern. GOP Senators publicly endorsed raising the gasoline tax (among other deficit-reducing items), and car-crazy California voted convincingly to stick with their carbon reduction plans. Heck, maybe this latest capitulation was a subtle export-boosting, emissions-reducing plan devised by expert economists.

Butterscotch Pumpkin Pancakes

Here's why you should plan to stay at the Fuzzy Wups B^n next year:



Leftover pie ingredients become breakfast. Last night I made a Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie and a Butterscotch Pecan Pie (using my 12" pie plate and extra butterscotch and pecans). Also, I make several pies for the holidays. You should come next year.

Combine in a large bowl:
2 Cups white flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Pinch of salt


In a separate bowl, combine:
Leftover cooked pumpkin
Enough milk to get 2 cups milk & pumpkin
2 eggs

Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, then stir in:
Leftover butterscotch chips

Cook like normal pancakes and serve warm.

Cider-infused Winter Squash Pie

'Tis the season for winter squash and apple cider. Also, sweet potatoes, one of my favorite pie ingredients. I had leftovers after chopping for dinner, and some Trader Joe's spiced cider. This is a revision of one of Ken's that I made several years ago, but revisited since we're doing two new ones for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

Prebake a crust in a 9.5" pie plate.

In a small pot combine and boil until tender:
1/2 Cup diced sweet potato
2 Cups diced butternut squash
1 Cup spiced cider.


Once soft, puree in a food processor. Save the cider/squash-water mix and add enough milk to make 2 Cups
(1 Cup milk).

Bring it to a soft (not rapid) boil and stir in
1/4 Cup fine cornmeal
and stir continuously until thickened, like thin oatmeal.

Allow this to cool, then mix into a bowl with
1/2 Cup sugar
1/4 Cup molasses
3 eggs
1 t salt


Stir in 1.5Cups of the squash puree, then pour into the cooled pie crust. Bake at 350F until the sides get puffy and the center jiggles.