Praline Pumpkin Pie - and being thankful for good friends & coconut milk.

         Thanksgiving was celebrated early by my friends and I this weekend, when we got together to enjoy each others company - to laugh, drink, and eat - before our short but much needed Thanksgiving break. One night I made croissants from scratch, which was both time consuming and rewarding, and will receive its own post once I really get the process down. Last night I made pumpkin pie - a classic. We had such a feast, I was overwhelmed with how much tasty, high quality food I was eating, and how many wonderful people I was surrounded by. 

 

Pumpkin Pie

My mother is an incredible self-taught cook. Mostly I think because she has no fear in the kitchen. She has made fondant, and then found reasons to make the cake. She has made numerous types of pasta, and is almost through the 50lb bad of semolina flour that has been sitting in the pantry for the past several months. A deciding factor when order at restaurants was always whether Mom could make it better at home. (Tiramisu, although probably one of my favorite desserts, was never ordered out.)

One dessert that she has mastered above everyone else's is pumpkin pie. Seriously, her pumpkin pie cannot be beaten. The recipe she uses is written on a 3x5 card that is probably older than me, and is so worn that the blue ink is starting to fade. Last year, I attempted my own vegan pumpkin pie, using silken tofu. I generally don't mind the taste of tofu, and sometimes like it. But it just did not work in this situation. Pumpkin + Tofu = strangely creamy unappealing flavor. And Mom's awesome not vegan pumpkin pie was sitting right next to it. Guess who cheated?...