Monday, October 24, 2011

Smashing Pumpkins

Autumn Dessert "DIP" Recipe

Creativity is what makes me tick, whether in the kitchen, in my dressing room, decorating a home, or simply, whenever the spirit moves me.


A couple of weeks ago a friend invited us to her Annual Harvest Party. As promised I needed to prepare some food for the event. As I strolled by the holiday pies in the bakery section of the grocery store, I glanced at a pumpkin pie and immediately thought to myself, “How can I get creative with this pie?” “Ah!” I thought, “this could be a delicious dip experiment.” As I was in dreamland salivating over this delicious pie, I raced to the dairy section to purchase a 1 pt. carton of heavy cream for whipping fresh whipped cream and then to the cookie aisle for round chocolate wafers. I knew just what I was about to create.


When I arrived at home, I eagerly grabbed a tall, footed compote which resembled a GIANT wine goblet and stuck a small mixing bowl in the freezer for chilling. Without hesitation, I washed my hands and went to work. I pulled apart the plastic pie container and tossed it in the trash. With my bare hands, I lifted out the pie from the bottom of the crust, folded it in half like a slice of pizza, smashing it into the compote. With an oversized spoon I turned the pie a couple of times to even out the consistency leaving it chunky. The chunks of pie crust made for a nice texture and gave the mix some dimension.


After that, I pulled out my hand mixer, some granulated sugar, vanilla extract and my new carton of heavy cream. In the chilled bowl, I poured all the contents of my heavy cream and began to whip it with my mixer. As I whipped, I gradually poured in approximately 6 tbsp of sugar and approximately 3 tbsp of vanilla extract. I whipped until my cream formed stiff peaks. With a rubber spatula, I scooped out all of the whipped cream and spread it evenly on top of my smashed pie. I then pulled out some chocolate wafers and began sinking them around the interior perimeter of my bowl so that they remained ½ sticking up above the whipped cream. With my hands I crunched up about 3 or 4 wafers into tiny bits and sprinkled them on the whipped cream for some color and balance. I could taste it already, but something was missing visually. I needed something pumpkin flavored and colored. I reached into my spice cabinet for some “Pumpkin Spice” and gave it a gentle shake for a finishing touch. I used the remaining wafers like crackers to scoop up this ever so decadent “Smashing Pumpkin Dip.” It was a harvest hit!






Ingredients:



  • 1 whole pumpkin pie

  • 1 pt. heavy whipping cream

  • 3 tbsp vanilla extract

  • 4 tbsp granulated sugar

  • 1 pack of Nabisco chocolate wafers

  • A shake of pumpkin spice seasoning





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