Pie Crust

 Makes 4 single 8inch crusts (pictured above) or you can also use to make the top and bottom of 2 enclosed 8inch pies.

INGREDIENTS:

   3 cups flour
   1 1/4 cup shortening (I use Spectrum Naturals Organic Shortening)
   1 tsp. salt (I like to use sea salt)
   2 Tab. apple cider vinegar
   4 Tab. cold water
   1 egg

DIRECTIONS:

      Mix flour and salt together

 

   Cut in shortening until well blended

 

 Beat the egg, water, and vinegar together and add to your flour mixture. Stir until all the flour is absorbed into the liquid. If your dough is still a little too dry, you can add a little more water. 

 

 Stir into a ball and place in a lightly floured surface

 Divide into 4 balls and place one of the balls on wax paper. Place another piece of wax paper on the top

and roll it with a rolling pin until it's a little bigger than the size of your pie pan.

 Remove the top layer of wax paper. Place the dough (it wax paper side up) on top of your greased pie pan.

Peel the top layer of was paper off and press the dough down into the pie pan

 Remove any crust the overhangs the pan by a lot. Roll the rest of the overhanging crust towards the edge of the pan and pinch together.

Finish the crust by pressing against the edges of the pie crust with your finger tips or with a fork.

 

Fill with pumpkin pie filling, or any kind of fruit filling and top with a crumble. Bake according to directions for filling.  

Pumpkin Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (can use turbinado or evap. cane)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pie mix)
• 3 tablespoons half-and-half
• 1 large egg

Powdered Sugar Glaze

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Spiced Glaze

• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch of ground ginger
• Pinch of ground cloves

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half, and egg. Set aside.
Sift together into a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Add the cubed butter on top.

Now, either using a pastry blender or the paddle attachment of your stand mixer on medium speed, mix the butter and dry ingredients until your reach the consistency of coarse cornmeal (pieces of butter should be no larger than a small pea). Alternatively, you could probably do this step in your food processor, much like you would do for making pie crust.
Now gradually fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. I used a spatula for this step, but had to use my hands in the end to get that last bit of flour to incorporate into a well formed dough ball. The important thing is to make sure all the dry ingredients have been moistened well. Note: My dough ended up being a little sticky, so I added a bit more flour than the recipe called for. You don't wanta end up adding too much flour so if you do add more, make sure you do it little by little, so your dough wont be too dry.
On a well-floured surface, flatten and form the dough into circles. (For smaller scones, split the scone dough in half before rolling it into a circle(s))Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 6-8 slices (depending on the size you want them to be) just like you would if you were cutting a pizza.
Place triangles onto your lined baking sheet (Confession time: I did not line my baking sheet cuz I didn't have parchment paper). Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your scones. You want them to be light brown, but not overcooked. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool before icing.
Make up the powdered sugar glaze by mixing the milk and sugar until smooth, then paint the tops of the scones with the glaze using a pastry brush.

While the first glaze is drying (10 minutes or so), make up the spiced glaze by combining all ingredients and mixing until smooth. Drizzle onto the scones using your favorite drizzling method.

Or if you are in a rush you can skip the first glaze part and just spread the spice glaze over the top with a knife (like pictured below)

Enjoy!!!

Pumpkin Spice Yeast Bread

I had seen the Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Spice bread in the store and wanted to try to make it myself. This is the recipe I found and it turned out really good!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water
2 packages (2 tablespoons) active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups puréed pumpkin, either fresh or canned
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 1/2 cups (approximately) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

In a large bowl, stir yeast into water to soften. Add milk, eggs, pumpkin, oil, 4 cups flour, brown sugar, salt, ginger and cardamom to yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

Gradually add remaining flour, a little at a time, until you have a dough stiff enough to knead. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough.

Put dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Turn dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide dough in half. Shape dough into loaves (I flattened the dough and sprinkled with a little sugar and cinnamon before I rolled it into a loaf) and place in well-greased 10 x 5-inch pans or, shape half into a loaf, and other half into 12 large dinner rolls. Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven. Loaves bake about 30 minutes, rolls about 20. Check the internal temperature of each with an instant-read thermometer; a reading of 190°F means bread or rolls are done.

Immediately remove bread or rolls from pans and cool on a wire rack to prevent crust from becoming soggy. For a shiny crust, brush tops of bread or rolls lightly with vegetable oil (I use butter).

Makes 2 large loaves, or 1 large loaf and 12 dinner rolls.