Tis the Season for Pumpkin

After having received some requests for pumpkin desserts, we have obliged! Our good friend Amy came by to take some stunning shots of the finished product and to drink a little spiced cider of course. She is an extremely talented photographer so please check out her website and pine over all the delicious things that she has made look incredible through her lens. She also has a blog (she does it all!) that you can visit here. For the occasion, we prepared a pumpkin tart with candied ginger and a flaky tart crust from Martha Stewart. The tart filling doesn’t call for cinnamon or nutmeg because there is already cinnamon in the crust recipe they gave, but you should honestly add some to the filling. We found the filling to be quite gingery, which is totally awesome, but it could have been a bit more balanced with some other spices. If you aren’t a ginger fan, you can totally skip the candied ginger all together.

Crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cups ice water

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to combine. Add the butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. (To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry blender.)

2.With the machine running, add the ice water through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until the dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of the dough together; if it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

3. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened disks. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Filling

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

½ cup granulated sugar

⅓ cup whipping (heavy) cream

2 tbs finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground ginger

2 eggs

Whipped cream to top (optional)

1. Heat oven to 425ºF. In small bowl, mix all Crust ingredients with spoon or electric mixer on low speed until dough forms. Press dough firmly and evenly against bottom and side of ungreased tart pan with removable bottom, 9x1 inch. Place pan on cookie sheet.

2. In medium bowl, mix all Filling remaining except whipped cream with spoon until well blended. Pour mixture into crust on cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes.

3. Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF. Bake 45 to 50 minutes longer or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack, about 1 1/2 hours. Serve with whipped cream. Garnish with additional chopped crystallized ginger if desired, but I skipped this. Store covered in refrigerator.