Pumpkin Pie with brûlée crust

My brother-in-law made a
 Pumpkin Pie with Brûlée top,
with a pre-made GF crust.
The recipe is found here.
{note, the bourbon was not used nor the crust}

The sugar is burnt on top by a torch.

It was neat to see this happening!

My sister commented that it would be
like a thin sheet of ice that would break
as one gently put one's fork into it.

I found that this was a very apt way of
describing it.

The pie had heavy cream in it
and was rich, soft but not a sickly sweet;
it went wonderfully with a decaf black tea! 

 

A beautiful end to a wonderful
early Thanksgiving Meal!

GF Cheesecake ~ NYC Cheesecake that is!

So I made GF Cheesecake on Monday...
from Gluten-Free Baking Classics
that Ginny suggests.


We had gotten some organic oranges
and I zested them... 

I saved the orange zest, froze them in two small
freezer bags... 

I used the lemon zest that I froze earlier.

I baked the crust first as instructed,
for 12 minutes.
{I realized later that the recipe said to take the sides
off before baking the crust but it was fine with
the sides on, cooled well and was less work!}

The rest of the GF crust I rolled out...

between two parchment papers and chilled for
a good hour or so in the fridge
{I kept it flat on the cutting board the whole time}.

5 packages of cream cheese.
We are talking some serious cheese cake here.

I have a set of three kaiser pans 
as the cheesecake cookbook
the joy of cheesecake suggests;
I  found this cookbook for
two dollars for Mr. Husband
when we were dating.
*
Note: the above picture shows it with the
unbaked crust put on the sides after
the crust was baked for 12 minutes.

I wasted some time in trying to cream the
cream cheese in my beloved mixer.
I learned, once I started slowly pouring the sugar in
to the mixing bowl with the cream cheese,
that the cheese would 'relax' quickly.
Soon, with the additional ingredients,
including 5 eggs + two yokes !
{I told Mr. Husband that this pie is a heart attack
on a stick! He said I should name my blog post as such...;) }
the mixture was quite runny and
easily poured into the spring-form pan.
*
The orange zest,
perhaps because it was so fresh and moist,
stuck to the beater in the mixer more than once
and I mixed it back in by hand just before pouring.

I used the 9 inch pan,
not remember what sizes I had at the time;
it was supposed the 10 inch. 

The crust was easy to put on the sides,
as it was chilled before hand.

It baked beautifully,
first 15 minutes at 475, then 50 minutes at 300 and
then 15 minutes with the oven off and the
oven door not opened.

I made this for our Tuesday book club.
It admittedly took many hours to do
but was really enjoyable.
{And I listened to much of
Lukacs' 5 Days in London
while I was baking, so it was a very British afternoon:) }.
And I know for next time that I don't have to worry
so much about the cream staying hard.

 

Everyone loved it,
the others who had made cheesecakes before
commented on how mine did not crack
and we enjoyed it with some strawberries that we had
frozen in our freezer.
*
It was really good, very creamy.
I actually liked the GF tart crust that I made for the
lemon chiffon pie from the same cookbook better
and think I will go with this next time.
{The cookbook said that this was an option, FYI}.
I also may lessen the sugar a smidge as I found it a bit
on the sweet side.
The only thing I wish was different on the whole
with this cheesecake, which everyone loved,
was that it was a bit more creamy than Mr. Husband
and I would like it to be.
It did not have the same 'denseness' and texture of
the cheesecakes we have loved and that
the fork has to work just a little to get a bite.
*
That said,
Mr. Husband and I are happy to eat more of this
cheese cake as dessert left overs!
It's still in the fridge and looks beautiful!

Lemon Chiffon Pie with a wonderful GF pie crust

I finally got my two new
joy of cooking
cookbooks that we got at the rummage sale.
I now have the one from 1953, 1962 (paperback not pictured here),
1964, 1997 and 2006.

I am slowly learning to do things GF*...
Ginny's post from 2010 on her
gluten-free favourites
has helped me immeasurably.

I got from the library
the cookbook she recommended for baking:
Gluten-Free Baking Classics.
I was sure to cut the butter cold,
strait from the fridge.

I made the above GF* Tart Shell Crust
with the brown rice flour mix that is
called for in this cookbook. 

I used bob red mills' brown rice flour
and it worked wonderfully.

This is the pie after I had prepared and
baked it at 400 degrees,
the crust being prebaked for about 20 minutes. 

 

I used my 1953 Joy of Cooking
for the pie itself.
For lemon zest and juice, I used what I had
prepared earlier.
It was the first time I used my double boiler
for an egg yoke custard.
I whipped the egg whites in my kitchen aid mixer.
I am wondering if I should of whipped the egg whites
a bit more.
In any case,
the pie was good; the crust was wonderful.
The pie fell a little by the next day
when it was eaten,
but it was still good.
Very similar to lemon bars but as a pie
was the consensus.
*
I was very pleased by the crust and actually
preferred it to the other pie crusts I have had,
as I tend to like a bit of a lighter crust.
*
I am dreaming of making a lemon curd cake one of these days!
I have more lemon zest in the freezer and lemon juice in the
fridge!
*
What is your favourite thing to make
with lemons?
Have you ever done GF* baking?
If so, any tips, cookbooks or blogs to recommend?

*GF = Gluten Free