THE DARING BAKERS JANUARY 2011 CHALLENGE: BISCUIT JOCONDE IMPRIME/ENTREMET

First off, I want to tell you that while I completed this challenge, I felt it was an epic failure. Ok, maybe that is a bit extreme.  I mean, the cake was edible and quite tasty but it was the whole decorative paste that I somehow managed to mess up.  Sad to say, the design is not visible.  I've learned from my mistake and in the future I hope to recreate this dessert and have total success!

Blog-checking lines: The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert

There are two steps needed to make the cake itself: The Jaconde Sponge and Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste. 

Joconde Sponge

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan
Ingredients:
¾ cup/ 180 ml/ 3oz/ 85g almond flour/meal - *You can also use hazelnut flour, just omit the butter
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 150 ml/ 2⅔ oz/ 75g confectioners' (icing) sugar
¼ cup/ 60 ml/ 1 oz/ 25g cake flour *See note below
3 large eggs - about 5⅓ oz/ 150g
3 large egg whites - about 3 oz/ 90g
2½ teaspoons/ 12½ ml/ ⅓ oz/ 10g white granulated sugar or superfine (caster) sugar
2 tablespoons/ 30 ml/ 1oz / 30g unsalted butter, melted
        *Note: How to make cake flour: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/

Directions:

     1.In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
     2.Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
     3.On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
     4.Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
     5.Fold in melted butter.
     6.Reserve batter to be used later.

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste
YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan
Ingredients
14 tablespoons/ 210ml/ 7oz/ 200g unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups plus1½ tablespoons/ 385ml/ 7oz/ 200g Confectioners' (icing) sugar
7 large egg whites - about 7 oz / 200g
1¾ cup/ 420ml/ 7¾ oz/ 220g cake flour
Food coloring gel, paste or liquid *
   * If you wish to make a Cocoa Décor Paste Variation: Reduce cake flour to 6 oz / 170g. Add 2 oz/ 60 g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture.

Directions:
1.Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
2.Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
3.Fold in sifted flour.
4.Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:

     1.Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
     2.Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.
     3.Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.

     4.Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.
     5.Bake at 475ºF /250ºC until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully.
     6.Cool. Do not leave too long, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.
     7.Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The powdered sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)

This is where I failed... I must have had too thick of a bottom layer on my silpat.

     Preparing the MOLD for entremets:

You can use any type of mold.The suggestions were:
        1.Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.
     2.A biscuit cutter/ cookie cutter- using cling wrap pulled tightly as the base and the cling covering the outside of the mold, placed on a parchment lined very flat baking sheet. Line the inside with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping.
     3.Cut PVC pipe from your local hardware store. Very cheap! These can be cut into any height you wish to make a mold. 2 to 3 inches is good.  Astheroshe store would cut them for her. Cling wrap and parchment line, as outlined above.
     4.Glass Trifle bowl. You will not have a free standing dessert, but you will have a nice pattern to see your joconde for this layered dessert.

Preparing the Jaconde for Molding:
Video: MUST WATCH THIS. This is a very good demo of the joconde and filling the entremets:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca4eLDok-4Q
     1.Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.
     2.Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.
     3.Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. (Use a very sharp paring knife and ruler.)
     4.Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.
     5.The mold is done, and ready to fill.
     *Note: If not ready to use. Lay cake kept whole or already cut into strips, on a flat surface, wrap in parchment and several layers of cling wrap and freeze.

Entremet- Filling Options:
Astheroshe gave several suggestions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e1DsyDtcd0&feature=related
     It is nice to have a completed dessert so you can unmold and see the Joconde working. Fill with anything you desire. Layers of different flavors and textures! However, it needs to be something cold that will not fall apart when unmolded.
     Suggestions:
     Mousses, pastry creams, Bavarian creams, cheesecakes, puddings, curds, jams, cookie bases, more cake (bake off the remaining sponge and cut to layer inside), nuts, Dacquoise, fresh fruit, chocolates, gelee.     I made an ice cream filling... not traditional I guess but I was too frustrated at this point to really care!

You can see the design colors at the top.  Notice the too thick cake layer hiding the actual design.



I have the top of the cake upside down since you couldn't see the design anyway. Flipped over you can at least see that the disign did exist!  I had left over truffle mix that I layered above the ice cream. 



Look closely and you can see the barest markings of my design.

 

Bagels

This month's have the cake challenge was to forgo the sweet route and bake up some bagels.  I've been sugared up enough with all the Christmas baking I did so this was something I could truly enjoy trying.
A look throughout the Internet gave me a multitude of bagel recipes.  There were long and tedious recipes and relatively quick and easy... guess which route I went?! Long and tedious have their rightful place in my life but I didn't think it was the right route to go for a simple bagel.  A look through one of my favorite sites, Allrecipes.com, and I chose one that had been favorably reviewed and used the boiling method. Don't ask me why... I'm not a bagel expert... but boiling seemed the best method in my thinking.  After all, didn't it turn out great when I made the pretzels?  The recipe I found was a fabulous base recipe.  I will be making bagels again and when I do I'll be adding other things like flax seed, whole wheat, dried fruit, cheese... the possibilities are endless!

Boiled Bagels
By: Jandl


Ingredients

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar

1.In large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour and yeast. Mix water, 3 tablespoons sugar and salt together, and add to the dry ingredients. Beat with a mixer for half a minute at a low speed, scraping the sides of the bowl clean. Beat at a higher speed for 3 minutes. Then, by hand, mix in enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough.               

2.Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Cover, let rest for 15 minutes.

3.Cut into 12 portions, shape into smooth balls. Poke a hole in the center with your finger, and gently enlarge the hole while working the bagel into a uniform shape. Cover, let rise 20 minutes.

4.Meanwhile, start a gallon of water boiling. Put 1 tablespoon of sugar in it, mix it around a bit. Reduce to simmering. When the bagels are ready, put 4 or 5 bagels into the water, and cook 7 minutes, turning once. Drain them. Place on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven, eat hot or cold.

Another option to bake them was with Broiling option but I didn't go this route

For a glossier surface, place raised bagels on an ungreased baking sheet prior to boiling them. Broil them five inches from heat for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes on each side. Then put them into the hot water to be boiled as above. Note: do not bake broiled bagels as long as non-broiled ones, 25 minutes should be long enough.

The Daring Kitchen: December challenge - Poach to Perfection!

Blog Check in lines: Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

Jenn, of Jenn Cuisine, and Jill have offered us up a great challenge this month.  I have never poached an egg before.... hmmmm, nor for that matter have I ever eaten one.  To be honest, it sounded a bit repulsive to me.  I tolerate eggs at best and undercooked whites make me want to gag.  Not a pretty picture! I just had it in my head that poached eggs equalled undercooked, runny whites.  Now I suppose that I could have made my poached eggs undercooked with runny whites, but I cooked the heck out of them so they turned out pretty darn good.

 I truly had it within my heart to not only do the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, but also make my own English muffins.  But alas, here it is 6:50 p.m. and I just finished cooking up the eggs and now work on my blog to have this all in before deadline.  What do they say about the road being paved with good intentions???  Any way, I have an amazing sounding English muffin recipe that I WILL try my hand at.... some day.

Eggs Benedict

Serves 4

4 eggs (size is your choice)
2 English muffins
4 slices of Canadian bacon/back bacon (or plain bacon if you prefer)
Chives, for garnish
Splash of vinegar (for poaching)

For the hollandaise (makes 1.5 cups):
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp. (5 ml) water
¼ tsp. (1 ¼ ml/1½ g) sugar
12 Tbl. (170 g/6 oz.) unsalted butter, chilled and cut in small pieces º
½ tsp. (2 ½ ml/3 g) kosher salt
2 tsp. (10 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:
1. Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and bring to a simmer.
2. Cut the chilled butter into small pieces and set aside.

3. Whisk egg yolks and 1 tsp. (5 ml) water in a mixing bowl large enough to sit on the saucepan without touching the water (or in top portion of a double boiler). Whisk for 1–2 minutes, until egg yolks lighten. Add the sugar and whisk 30 seconds more.
4. Place bowl on saucepan over simmering water and whisk steadily 3–5 minutes (it only took about 3 for me) until the yolks thicken to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Remove from heat (but let the water continue to simmer) and whisk in the butter, 1 piece at a time. Move the bowl to the pan again as needed to melt the butter, making sure to whisk constantly.
6. Once all the butter is incorporated, remove from heat and whisk in the salt, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper (if using).

7. Keep the hollandaise warm while you poach your eggs in a thermos, carafe, or bowl that you’ve preheated with warm water.

8. If the water simmering in your pan has gotten too low, add enough so that you have 2–3 inches of water and bring back to a simmer.

9. Add salt and a splash of vinegar (any kind will do). I added about a tablespoon of vinegar to my small saucepan (about 3 cups of water/720 ml of water), but you may need more if you’re using a larger pan with more water.

10. Crack eggs directly into the very gently simmering water (or crack first into a bowl and gently drop into the water), making sure they’re separated. Cook for 3 minutes for a viscous but still runny yolk.

11. While waiting for the eggs, quickly fry the Canadian/back bacon and toast your English muffin.

12. Top each half of English muffin with a piece of bacon. Remove the eggs with a slotted spoon, draining well, and place on top of the bacon. Top with hollandaise and chopped chives, and enjoy

Have the Cake Challenge: Shortbread

This month Nancy, of the Crafty Pepper, challenged us to make shortbread.   Shortbread is said to have originated in Scotland (Scottish Shortbread) then moving on to the United Kingdom becoming known as English Shortbread.  Both recipes reportedly produce similar results: a not too sweet, buttery cookie.  

Nancy shared with us a recipe from joepastry.com.  I twisted the recipe just a little bit by adding some raw sugar on top and adding dried cranberries.... yummers!

Shortbread Recipe
adapted from joepastry.com

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of either corn starch or rice flour
2/3 cup extra fine sugar (also known as caster sugar)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes  (do not use margarine!!!)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons raw sugar (optional for topping)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional for topping)

Preheat your oven to 425. Combine the flour(s), sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir on low to blend. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and add the cold butter. Beat 2-3 minutes until the butter is fully incorporated and a dough comes together. It will range in texture from crumbly to smooth depending on your flour and the ambient temperature.

Line a 9" cake layer pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper, laying in the dough, covering it with another round of waxed paper, and pressing down on it with a second layer pan. Refrigerate the dough 30 minutes to firm it. Loosen the edges of the dough with a short knife, peel off the top layer of waxed paper, and turn the round out onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Peel off the second piece of waxed paper, top with cinnamon if desired.

Put the round into the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 300. Bake 20 minutes, then remove the round from the oven. Insert a 2" round cutter in the very center of the round (this will be removed later). Score the shortbread with a sharp knife, like spokes on a wheel, into 16 pieces. Use a cake tester or wooden skewer to poke regular holes in the shortbread (the holes are part decorative, part functional, as they allow gas and steam to escape, keeping the shortbread dense).

Return the shortbread to the oven and bake an additional 40 minutes until only very lightly browned. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on raw sugar. Cool 10 minutes then remove the round cutter (saving the cookie at the center for yourself) and slice the shortbread along the scores into blunt pie-shaped pieces. Cool completely, a minimum of 3 hours.

Lasagne Soup

I have been waiting for the perfect time to try this recipe...this was the day.  Too much snow and freezing cold temperatures - could that make for a better day to have soup? I found this recipe over on Paula Deen's web site but had to make several alterations to make it palatable for my picky family.

I'm just going to post the recipe with my adaptation but I encourage you to take a look at the original recipe, too.

Not Quite Lasagne Soup

adapted from Paula Deen

1 pound Jimmy Dean Italian Sausage

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped (Ok, this would have been perfect for me so I included it in recipe.  Had to leave out for hubby though)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar

2 cans Swanson's Reduced Sodium chicken broth

2 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes with basil and olive oil (regular petite diced tomatoes would work great too... I just love these!)

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

4 ounces slightly broken egg noodles

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

In a Skillet combine sausage and onion; just before completely browning add the garlic, finish browning.  Drain off grease.
In a large sauce pan: stir in thyme, brown sugar, broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, and salt (1/2 teaspoon if desired. I didn't think it needed it). Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; add sausage mixture and reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes.

Add noodles, and simmer until noodles are tender. Stir in Parmesan cheese.

Preheat broiler.

Ladle soup into 8 to 10 ovenproof bowls. Evenly sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Broil soups, 6-inches from heat, 3 to 4 minutes, until cheese is browned and bubbly.

To make again I would make the following changes:

  I would add the parmesan along with the mozzarella... going lighter on the mozzarella.  I found that to much of the cheese sunk to the bottem and just became heavy.  I would cook the pasta separately from the soup and put the pasta into the bowls then add the soup.  Cooking it the above way my noodles drank up most of the liquid after setting for a bit.

Have the Cake Challenge for November: Orange Saffron Chiffon Cake with Cardamom

This months Take the Cake Challenge was hosted by Shri... unfortunatly I was unable to locate where her blog was.  We were to try making the Perisian Love Cake. But I couldn't find all the ingredients (small towns tend to have that problem from time to time). So I looked up some chiffon cake recipes and found a few that used some similar ingredients to the Persian Love cake and did a bit of a combination of recipes. A result that produced a very delicious, airy, aeromatic cake. I would say it ended up a success!

I combined the Orange Saffron cake from Ifood.tv and the Orange Chiffon Cake at Joy of Baking Having never really tried my hand at such a massive addaptation of two recipes, the end result quite pleased me.

First I started with the Orange saffron cake ingredients combining:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
zest of 1 large orange (grated or curls, not large strips)
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads soaked in 2 tbsp of milk
half of a of cinnamon stick freshly grated
freshly grated nutmeg using half of a fresh "nut"
5 fresh cardamom pods with seeds removed and crushed
1 tsp of vanilla
     Directions: In a saucepan on low heat, I combined the orange juice with the orange zest. I Added the saffron (along with the milk), the vanilla and the other spices (cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom). Brought it to a gentle boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Removed from the heat and allowed it to cool.

Next I moved on to Orange Chiffon cake and did the following:
Ingredients:
6 large eggs, separated plus 1 (30 grams) additional egg white
2 1/4 cups (225 grams) sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) superfine white (castor) sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil or safflower oil
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Directions: Separate the eggs and place the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Cover with plastic wrap and bring them to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
     Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and have ready a 10 inch (25 cm) two piece tube pan (ungreased).

      In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, place the flour, sugar (minus 3 tablespoons (42 grams)), baking powder, and salt. Beat until combined. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg yolks and oil, as well as the milk, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla extract and spice mixture that has been cooled. Beat about one minute or until smooth.

     In a separate bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 3 tablespoons (42 grams) of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. With a large rubber spatula or wire whisk, gently fold the egg whites into the batter just until blended (being careful not to deflate the batter).  

Pour the batter into the ungreased tube pan and bake for about 55 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (When lightly pressed the cake will spring back). Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven invert the pan and place on a bottle or flat surface so it is suspended over the counter. Let the cake cool completely before removing from pan (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours).

To remove the cake from the pan, run a long metal spatula around the inside of the tube pan and center core. Invert onto a greased wire rack.

Pumpkin Pie from Scratch… or to be more exact; the misadventures in pie making

I know I should be far more creative than using pumpkin for my squash entry, but this is the first time I ever made a pumpkin pie from scratch.

I bought several sugar pumpkins last month and had to get them in the freezer.  Right away I knew I would put aside some of the pumpkin to make a pie for Thanksgiving.  There are several methods of storing sugar pumpkins but I prefer to steam them and then freeze.  While I'm sure there are some raw methods out there, most of the pumpkin recipes I have ask for cooked pumpkin so its easier for me to store them this way.  Now I have used the good old jack O’lantern pumpkins before and used the same method of storing but I heard that sugar pumpkins were the way to go so jumped on them when I finally saw some in our store.  Sugar pumpkins are much smaller and the flavor is more intense than what you would get from the typical Halloween jack O'lanterns (big pumpkins!) I've never had a problem using the big pumpkins in cooking before but I suggest you read up on the two differences before you make your own decision.

First you need to cut them and remove the seeds and pulp.  I then just put the pieces (flesh still on) into a glass baking pan, add a bit of water and cover with Saran Wrap.  Into the microwave it goes to steam for about ten minutes.  I take the pan out and let the pumpkin cool.  Now its easy to pull away from the flesh (no peeling needed!).  I do a bit of pureeing and place into ziplock bags putting in 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree into each bag.

When using fresh pumpkin, you must drain the puree through some cheese cloth to eliminate the liquid.  All you want to have is the meat of the pumpkin.  I find it    easier to drain over a bowl and refrigerate over night.

Use your favorite pastry for a 9-inch pie.  My mom swears by the Betty Crocker pastry and so we’ve used that recipe for years.  

Crust for 9-inch pie

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening

2 to 3 tablespoons cold water     

Directions: Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leaves side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).

Gather pastry into a ball. Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap flattened round of pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.
Roll pastry, using floured rolling pin, into circle 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate, or 3 inches larger than 10- or 11-inch tart pan. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side and being careful not to stretch pastry, which will cause it to shrink when baked.

Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of pie plate. Fold and roll pastry under, even with plate; flute as desired. Continue with directions in pie recipe.

Pumpkin Filling for 9-inch pie

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon  salt        

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

                       1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) or use 1 1/2 cups prepared pumpkin

 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

      Directions: Heat oven to 425°F. In large bowl, beat eggs slightly with wire whisk or hand beater. Beat in 1/2 cup sugar, the cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, ginger, cloves, pumpkin and milk.  Carefully pour pumpkin filling into pie plate. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake about 45 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Place pie on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours.

                                                          Now all things considered, what should turn out is an amazing pumpkin pie.  Without a doubt ours did… however, the pie pan was placed on a stove top burner to cool.  We honestly thought the burner was off… really, we did.  My stove is possessed- really, it is possessed!  There is no other explanation as to why it is so evil.  The next morning we awoke to this…. Pumpkin jerky…. nasty.  Don’t recommend it to any one! LOL!!!