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Baking | Pumpkin Pie Tartlets in a Walnut Shell with Spiced Ginger Cream. Happy Thanksgiving!

Deeba @ PAB

“Foodie friends – Rosa, Helene, Alessio, Deeba, Vidya, Jamie. Love learning new stuff from you now and then! Whether it be your blogs,inspiring tweets or delicious FB posts. Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate and thank you! :-)”
Fahad Khan via FB

How beautifully can sentiments be conveyed. The lines above are a reflection of everything the inspiring food blogging  community and foodies share with large hearts. It’s a humbling feeling. Two small words like Thank You that can make the day shine! ‘Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate’. Thank you for being here. It’s Pumpkin Pie Tartlets in a Walnut Shell with Spiced Ginger Cream to celebrate the day!

Thanksgiving? There are some days which hold great significance in the Western world yet go largely unnoticed here. Every culture and every country however has a day they hold dear to say thank you for good deeds. For the baker in me, today is incomplete without baking a pie with a pumpkin, an opportunity to use this humble vegetable in a more fun way!

As aromas of pumpkin pie spice waft through the house, the lad will come sniffing the air hungrily. Pumpkin pie? YUM! I think I make this just because of him and his love for pumpkin {in dessert form}.This is also the only way both kids will eat the yellow veggie, rather hungrily devour it! This time of the year drives me to grab some pumpkin and roast it for puree.

It’s a humbling feeling to know that such a simple vegetable can give you such stunning end results. Since we are not a ‘pumpkin in the can’ country, the prep is always from scratch  Pumpkin or kaddu is extensively used in cooking on the subcontinent as it is cheap, grows abundantly and is nutritious. It sometimes sneaks into Indian desserts as well like halwa and barfi too.

Adding pumpkin pie spice to puree energises the taste buds into reaching for higher ground, into appreciating how much more worth this humble yellow gourd can be! It’s simple to roast and make your own pumpkin puree, yet I find myself only ‘walking the roast the pumpkin plank‘ every Thanksgiving!

I wonder why? The Pumpkin Pie Tartlets in a Walnut Shell with Spiced Ginger Cream were really enjoyed by the family. The son gobbled his tartlet in a matter of seconds. Mmmm, these are GOOD!! They are simple to put together. I enjoy doing a walnut tart shell, inspired by the Whipped Strawberry Curd Cream Tartlets with Walnut Shortbread Crust.

Back to the TG moment. I have to say a big Thank You to Finla for these very charming and ‘so me’ ceramic ramekins she sent me {with ALL the other stuff} when her rockstar hub visited Delhi last month. I’ve been impatient to use them, and this seemed a good time to do so.

I love them; the colours and the feel full of rustic appeal. I wasn’t sure they would work well with tartlets. As you can see, luck was my friend {So was parchment paper. For that, gratitude to a sweet reader, now friend, Komal in Mumbai who continues to feed the ‘parchment monster‘ in me}. Big thank you!

On the topic of ramekins and parchment paper, a word about pumpkin pie spice. The spice is simple to make at home. It’s a mix of powdered cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. A good blend can be made in the 2:1:1 proportion i.e. 2tsp cinnamon powder, 1 tsp ground ginger and 1 tsp ground nutmeg.

And if you are making homemade pumpkin puree, make sure your puree is not too watery. You will not get a nice well set pie. The puree should be thick and can be cooked down if it’s too liquidy. If you add the pie spice to it while cooking down, the flavours will mature well. I added some freshly grated ginger juice to my filling. Nice!

To tie up all the warm flavours in the Pumpkin Pie Tartlets, I spiced the whipped cream gently with some powdered ginger. I did attempt to make some walnut caramel shards but the raw sugar did not oblige! Pumpkin, walnuts, ginger, cinnamon …warm, comforting, filling, delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving you beautiful readers. Thank you as always for stopping by! I leave you with a collage of random things that make me happy.

Don’t forget to tell me if you have something special you make with pumpkin!

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Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Tartlets in a Walnut Shell with Spiced Ginger Cream

Summary: Walnuts pair beautifully with warm pumpkin, pie spice and ginger to make these simple little tartlets. A touch of gently spiced ginger cream and we have a winner! Serves 8

Prep Time: 30 minutes {extra if you are making the puree from scratch}
Total Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes {plus cooling & chilling time}
Ingredients:

  • Pumpkin Puree
  • 600-700g slice of pumpkin
  • Walnut tart shell
  • 85g / 2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
  • 50g / 1/4 cup raw sugar
  • 100g / 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cubed
  • 150g / 1 1/2 cups plain flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • Pumpkin Pie Filling {recipe adapted minimally from here}
  • 400g pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs
  • 400ml {1tin} condensed milk
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 1.5″ piece fresh ginger, grated, juice squeezed out through a strainer
  • Spiced Ginger Cream
  • 100ml low fat cream, chilled
  • 30g / 2tbsp powdered sugar
  • 5g / 1/2 to 1 tsp ginger powder {as per taste}

Method:

  1. Pumpkin Puree
  2. Remove seeds etc of pumpkin {I used one long slice}, wrap in foil and bake at 180C for about 45 minutes.
  3. Once warm enough to handle, peel and chop the roasted pumpkin, and puree. Yields about 425-440gms of pumpkin puree {approximately 1 15oz can}
  4. Walnut Tart Shell
  5. Preheat oven to 180C.
  6. Place walnuts and sugar in food processor; process to grind to fine meal in short pulses. {Thermomix: Speed 9, 10 seconds}
  7. Add the chilled butter and process until you get a breadcrumb like mix, 30 seconds. {Thermomix: Speed 8, 10 seconds}
  8. Add the flour and salt. Process again until it begins to come together. Bring together gently until smooth and pliable. {Thermomix: Speed 8, 10 seconds, repeat if required}.
  9. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. {if dough is too soft, chill for 20 minutes in refrigerator}.
  10.  Gently press dough to line the base and sides of eight 3-inch loose bottomed tart pans or parchment lined shallow ceramic ramekins {as pictured}
  11. Bake for 15 minutes until light  golden and firm to touch. Cool completely before filling.
  12. Pumpkin Pie Filling
  13. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well until smooth.
  14. Assembling Tartlets
  15. Preheat the oven to 180C. 
  16. Divide the filling equally between the cooled tart shells. Bake for 45 minutes approximately until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean, and the filling is firm to touch and glossy.
  17. Cool completely on a wire rack and chill if you like. Chilling heightens the flavours of the ginger and pumpkin spice. 
  18. Note: The warm walnut shell might be a tad crumbly so be careful if you are trying to demold it while warm. Suggest chill the tart before demolding.
  19. Spiced Ginger Cream
  20. Whip the chilled cream with sugar and ginger powder until medium peaks. Place in pastry bag with a 1/2″ round nozzle and pie over pie once the pie is completely cool, preferably chilled.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

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