Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I pulled a recipe off of http://kitchen.apartmenttherapy.com/ for a Ginger Pumpkin Pie that I thought sounded wonderful (I love both), esp b/c of the graham cracker crust. As I just posted on their site, I used the Trader Joe's ginger spread in the custard, and despite adding some ground Ginger Snaps to the crust to boost the ginger level even more, I can't believe how UN-gingery this was! That's my only complaint. Other than that, I thought it was really easy to make and a great consistency--I'll just add a lot more ginger next time and/or make a ginger snap crust instead of a combo with the graham crackers. It was my first time making a pumpkin pie of any type (I cook far more than I bake), and I was pleased with the overall results.

I made my first all-butter pie crust. I'm very proud of it - it came out just as flaky as my mother's version, which she made with shortening,

I also made stuffed pumpkin and two dressings entirely from scratch. I though the pumpkin terrific - but no one else wanted to eat it (they're scared if lentils, which I didn't expect). They also preferred my traditional cornbread dressing to one I made with root vegetables, almonds, and apples (uh, what's in it again?). How did I end up in such a new-thing fearing family? Le sigh.

I'm going to have to try that gnocchi soon! Thanks for the tips. :)

I made the cheese-straw apple pie from this site. It was pretty tasty, and not too hard; I kept the butter and then the dough very cold, which helped manage the crust. There is *a lot* of fat in that crust - butter and cheddar cheese - and it came out nice and crispy, and really did taste like a cheese straw. However, the granny smith apples I used were sour and otherwise tasteless; next time I'll use a somewhat sweeter apple and/or use more brown sugar, for a better contrast with the completely savory crust. Also, I imagine 2 teaspoons of cayenne would be way too much; one was plenty.

I made the Mushroom Pie from the November 2006 Bon Appetit, and it was extremely well recieved. Instead of using only 1 3/4 pounds of cremini mushrooms, I used about 1 pound cremini, 1/4 pound oyster, 1/4 pound hen of the woods, and 1/2 cup of dried wild mushrooms soaked in a cup of hot water. The sour cream crust was the perfect flaky complement to the savory filling, and I'll definitely use it again for other savory tart recipes! The only change I would make to the recipe is to use mascarpone or heavy cream instead of 8 oz cream cheese in the mushroom filling, since it was a little overpowering for my taste.

I made 2 new recipes as well, I was in charge of the squash & the sweet potatoes.....I got both recipes online, although I don't remember where. I made an acorn squash & nutmeg puree....which turned out wonderful, and was very well received.
I also made a sweet potato gratin....forgetting to carmelize the onions because I got distracted.....it turned out good, even though the onions were alittle stronger than they should have been because of the lack of carmelization. Unfortunately though, this dish didn't go over as well with the family, who wanted a more traditional sweet potato dish. Next year I guess it's back to candied or mashed sweet potatoes!