It’s officially pumpkin everything season so I wanted to roll out a couple of pumpkin recipes so everyone is sure to have one ready Thanksgiving morning. I mean, you need to be in the living room watching the Macy’s Day Parade with the family instead of worrying about the desserts your going to feed everyone after the meal you’re about to prep all day.
Let me outline a couple of things for you real quick: Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. The tradition stands that we wake up and eat my Grandma’s famous sausage pinwheels and watch the parade. I do this at my house now, and my mom still does the same at hers with her house guests. Next, if I’m being good, I’ll get in a workout and then get ready for the food throw down that awaits. With one or two Thanksgiving lunches back-to-back and so, so many things I look forward to eating all year – you’ve got to be strategic with your attack of the food or you’re miserable before you know it and haven’t even enjoyed all your favorites yet.
For me, Thanksgiving isn’t a case of saving the best for last because the main course is just so good: turkey, ham, baked beans, stuffing, sweet potatoes, gravy. Savory, beautiful gravy. But, guess what? That isn’t going to stop me from making and eating all – the – sweets – possible, as well.
So don’t wait til dinner is over, add the pumpkin pie directly to your Thanksgiving mixed plate with the cranberry sauce and deviled eggs because we’re going in.
In a couple of these recipes you’ll read about my quest to combine coconut and pumpkin for the perfect Thanksgiving finisher. I’ve got to say, what I came up with hits all the notes. We have a classic pumpkin pie, because everyone just needs one. Cookies with browned butter because what is more FALL FOOD than the heavenly scent of browned butter? And to round out the pumpkin tour, I converted this coconut cream cheesecake to a coconut pumpkin pie cheesecake that is earth-shattering good. I’m still drooling about the crunchy, buttery graham cracker crust. It’s pretty much caramelized from the butter, sugar, and coconut baked together. It’s really unreal.
Some being easier than others, give these pumpkin recipes a try this month and let me know what you think!
These cookies are a bit of work, but the end result is worth the extra effort. Plus, this is one of those cookie doughs that does best to be refrigerated so you kind of get to break up the process anyways. Brown butter sends any dish over the top, but adding it in with already sweet chocolate chips and coconut is a first class ticket directly to my heart. If you aren’t a fan of super sweet treats, these may not be for you. Or, you could simply omit the coconut and use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips in place of milk chocolate. I’m just a death by chocolate kind of gal.
(Bonus, make this with a graham cracker crust for a crumblier bite!)
Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. Pies have always intimidated me a bit and even I am shocked about how easy it actually is to make pumpkin pie. I think a key factor is making your own pie crust which actually turns out to be pretty simple as well. Again, the crust requires some refrigerator time so you can take a little break and clean the kitchen (or watch repeats of Bridgerton) while you wait. The filling comes together in one clean swoop and into the oven it goes. That’s it. Tell your mom you will make the pumpkin pie this year and then you get the bragging rights for making a completely homemade pumpkin pie.
If you want to get real funky, you can even try making a graham cracker crust (with or without sweetened shredded coconut) with the classic pumpkin pie filling and you’ll have another easy, but totally different pie to show up to lunch with.
As already raved about above, this cheesecake is like hopping on a plane to Hawaii to spend Thanksgiving drinking Mai Thai’s out of coconuts while eating your pumpkin pie under a palm tree. It’s Thanksgiving, but it’s Summer. It’s warm, but it’s cold. It’s honestly… great. This cheesecake was just a shot in the dark, I really wasn’t sure if it would all go together. Not to mention 3 blocks of cream cheese and all the other ingredients, she ain’t cheap. She’s pretty and she ain’t cheap.
I beg you to hop just a tiny bit out of your comfort zone this Thanksgiving Season and make this Coconut Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake! It’s a labor of love that will span over a day or two, but every single person who tries it will be singing your praises.
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