Mary's Lumen Quilt, Jingle Binding + A Little Red Hen Named Zojirushi

Happy New Year, Y'all!  I can't believe I haven't posted anything since before Christmas.  Meanwhile, my camera roll has been filling up with quilt photos and my brain has been cluttering up with everything I wanted to say about all of those quilts, so here we are.  I considered writing a big reflection post rehashing the highs and lows of 2022.  I thought about doing a New Year's Resolution post, or one that plans out all the quilts I'll work on this year...  Remember the three Sarah Fielke BOM projects I was going to make in 2022?  👀   Hah!  Still haven't started any of them!  

So instead of dour reflecting on goals not accomplished or fantasizing about plans soon abandoned, I'm going to just plant myself here in this moment of this day and see what happens next.

And now, without further ado, the quilt I've selected to share with you to kick off the new year:

Mary's Spectacular Lumen Quilt

Mary's 60 x 60 Lumen Quilt with Celestial Spark Clam E2E Quilting

This quilt was made by my client Mary whom many of you know via her blog, Quilting is In My Blood.  I chose to share it today for several reasons: It reminds me of fireworks exploding in the night sky to welcome the New Year.  It's gorgeous.  And finally, Mary is on my mind right now because I've got her three temperature quilts scheduled for quilting this week!  Can't wait!

Mary used the Lumen Quilt foundation paper piecing pattern by Nydia Kehnle and Alison Glass, which you can find on Etsy here (this post contains affiliate links).  This is such a gorgeous minimalist design, and IF I was making a grand list of quilts to make this year, I would probably put this one on the list.  The pattern is for a throw sized quilt, but it could easily be enlarged to bed size by making more blocks.  Another interesting thing about this quilt is that this is the second Lumen quilt Mary has made, using the same fabrics as her first one!  In 2019, Mary made a Lumen quilt as a gift for her stepdaughter and she liked the quilt so much that she decided to make another one to keep for herself.

Baking Interlude: Apple Cinnamon Scones, Because Food Is Love. Also a RTW Alteration Success, and Pineapple Progress!

Fresh Apple Cinnamon Scones, Second Batch

Have you ever made a recipe with fantastic results, but then the next time you tried to make it was a disaster?  That's what happened to me over the weekend with this King Arthur Flour Baker's Catalog recipe for Apple Cinnamon Scones.  I've made these scones in the past and they were stellar, but when I tried to make them again this Saturday the batter was a goopy mess, they spread like muffin tops, and the bottoms burnt.  Disaster!  So after my family and I begrudgingly ate up all of the burned scones (because even bad homemade baked goods are better than store-bought), I put on my apron and my thinking cap to figure out what might have gone wrong.

The number one drawback to this recipe is that it requires some kind of cinnamon chips, and I cannot find them locally.  Sometimes stores will have the Hershey's cinnamon chips around the holidays, and those will work in a pinch but they are my last resort since they are full of waxy non-food ingredients -- they don't actually contain any cinnamon, so they don't give that amazing blast of cinnamon.  I like to use the King Arthur Flour Cinnamon Sweet Bits for this recipe, so I have to plan ahead and order them online.  

KAF Cinnamon Sweet Bits Ingredients: Sugar, Vegetable Oil, CINNAMON, and Sunflower Lecithin

So, after driving around to every grocery store in a 20-mile radius, even Target and Walmart, finally accepting defeat, ordering online, and waiting for my cinnamon chips to arrive in the mail, it was especially frustrating to have a Baking Fail!  

Here's what went wrong, and what I changed in order to achieve Scone Nirvana with the second batch:

1. The recipes on the KAF Baker's Catalog website always give you the option to measure ingredients either by weight or by volume.  I usually prefer to measure my flour by weight, since you can get drastically different amounts of flour in the same measuring cup depending on whether you just dumped a new bag of flour into the canister or whether it's been sitting awhile and has settled.  Since the batter was overly wet and runny with the first failed batch of scones, and I weighed the flour for that batch, I decided to measure by volume with the second batch, using the old-fashioned "dip-and-sweep" method for 2 3/4 cups.  This yielded much better results, so either something was amiss with my kitchen scale or the recipe requires more flour than the 11 1/2 oz. called for in the recipe.  So from now on, that's how I'll measure the flour for this recipe!

2. This recipe calls for chilling the scones in the freezer for 30 minutes prior to baking, to allow the gluten in the flour to relax and to chill the butter.  They tell you to scoop your scones onto your sheet pan and then put it in the freezer, but I have a side-by-side fridge and none of my baking sheets fit on those little 12" x 12" freezer shelves!  I couldn't remember how I handled this last time, so with my failed batch I attempted to chill the scones on the wider refrigerator shelf instead.  In the refrigerator, the dough sank down and spread instead of holding their "scoops of ice cream" shape as they chilled.  So, with the second batch, I scooped my scones into parchment-lined Pyrex pie plates that fit into my freezer instead of scooping them directly onto the baking sheet.

How To Chill Drop Scones In a Side-By-Side Freezer

Success!

I have no idea how I managed the chilling of the scones the first time I made this recipe, when they were amazing.  I might have put them in the fridge for longer, or maybe I made them in winter and just put the baking sheet full of scones out in my screen porch for 30 minutes to chill, but evidently this step is crucial so I'm glad I found a solution that works without having to buy any new gadgets or tiny little baking sheets.

Speaking of gadgets, I used a Zeroll muffin scoop, Blue Size 16 for this recipe.  I like the round, uniform "scoop of ice cream" shape it gives me for drop scones, and when the scones are all the exact same size and shape, they all bake the same rather than having the slightly smaller scones overbake while the larger ones are still raw in the center.  I also think the round scooped scones look cute when they come out of the oven, and we all know that cute scones taste better than ugly misshapen scones.  ;-)  (Zeroll cookie scoops are fantastic for the same reasons, by the way, and the speed and efficiency of using a cookie scoop is a godsend when I'm making dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies).  Back to the scones!

4. With the failed batch, I followed the recipe instructions to the letter and glazed the scones prior to freezing them, even though I vaguely remembered that I had forgotten to glaze the scones prior to chilling them the first time I baked them.  Big mistake!  I think that gooping milk all over the dough that was already too wet to begin with (due to not enough flour) and then putting them in the fridge instead of the freezer exacerbated the problem of the too-wet dough, as the milk soaked into the scones while they sat in the fridge and the wet dough became more like a muffin batter, unable to hold its shape.  With the successful do-over batch, I waited to glaze the scones until just before I popped them into the oven and brushed much less milk onto each scone, just enough so the sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar would adhere.

5. One more thing -- with the failed batch of scones that burned on the bottoms, I baked them on a sheet of parchment paper using a dark rimmed cookie pan.  With the second batch, I used my silver baking sheet (no sides) and a lightly floured Silpat silicone baking mat.

No Burned Bottoms With Silver Baking Sheet and Silpat Baking Mat

Silpat mats are awesome -- NOTHING sticks to them, they don't need any greasing, and you can reuse them thousands of times instead of single-use parchment paper.  They are made from food safe silicone reinforced with fiberglass and they promote even browning in addition to preventing sticky batters from sticking to the cookie sheet.  I really should get a bigger one for this baking sheet. 

And here are the resulting scones from the second batch, just as wonderful as we remembered them from the first time I made this recipe!

Oh Yes, They DO Taste As Good As They Look!

I've amended my recipe so next time I can avoid making the same mistakes.  I don't bake very often, and it's such a bummer to take the time and trouble and end up with disappointment instead of delight!

Does your family have a favorite recipe for scones or muffins that you'd like to share with me?  I'd love to find a great recipe for rhubarb scones, or lemon blueberry...  

I did manage to get a little bit of sewing done over the weekend, too.  I enlisted Headless Helena's help to alter a RTW princess seamed top:

Headless Helena Models Fit-Corrected RTW Anthropologie Top

I bought this top from Anthropologie because I needed something yellow in a hurry that I could wear with jeans for Sunday's contemporary choir dress code.  In this photo from Anthropologie's website, you can see how the top is supposed to be slightly fitted through the shoulders and then flare out gently beneath the bust.  

Anthropologie Seamed + Textured Tank On Skinny + Flat-Chested Model

It's a textured knit fabric with a good amount of stretch, and I bought a size Medium that fit my upper chest and bust nicely without those dreaded horizontal pull lines.  However, like many RTW tops, the fabric BENEATH the bust was protruding on me in a way that reminds me of a maternity top, and that is NOT a good look when you're not pregnant!

Unaltered Size Medium Top On Headless Helena

Initially I thought there was too much fabric in the tummy area, and I planned to take it in from the princess seams on the front of the top.  Once I got the top on my dress form Helena, though, the first thing I did was align the CF, CB, and side seams with the seams on the fabric dress form cover.  That's when I realized that the extra fabric in the tummy area was actually coming from the BACK of the top.  See what happened when I pinned the side seam to make it hang straight down from the armpit:

With Side Seam Straightened, It's Obvious the BACK Is Too Big

Ideally, if I was making this top from scratch, I would have started out with a pattern size Small to fit the upper chest and shoulders and done a FBA (full bust adjustment).  That would have given me an even better fit through the armhole and would have allowed me to lengthen the front of the top.  I would have LOVED to be able to make something from scratch, but I just didn't have time, not without a local source for decent garment fabric.  So tweaking the fit on this one was the best I could do.  

I pinched out equal amounts along the CB seam and the back princess seams, tapering to nothing.

Extra Fullness Pinned Out from CB and Back Princess Seams

I was very conservative about how much I was taking out, mindful of the disaster of the RTW Diner Blouse Alteration Fail that taught me the perils of overfitting!  I tried the top on my own body with the seams pinned, and then I machine basted what I'd pinned in and checked the fit before stitching them with a "real" machine stitch.  Ideally I would have serged those seams to remove the bulk of the excess seam allowances, but I was time-starved due to the baking fiasco that had eaten up most of my Saturday.  I'm pleased with the improved fit.

Still Not Perfect, But Better Than Before

In order to get the top to fit me the way it fits the Anthropologie model, I'd need to remove some fabric from those front princess seams all the way down to the hemline and that means opening up and restitching the hem.  There are limits to how much I want to disassemble and reconstruct something that I bought off the rack.  Anyway, I'm pleased that I was able to tweak this top by myself, without calling my mom for emergency backup (although I was tempted!), and that I got it done in under an hour without overcomplicating things.  Helena's help was crucial (my customized Fabulous Fit dress form) for realizing the side seams were angling forward and pinning the top on the dress form is the only way I could have pinned seams on my back without help and gotten them just right on the first try.  I really need to sew myself some more clothes from scratch instead of wasting so much time and money on RTW that almost sort-of fits...  

These Seam Intersections Make Me Happy!

...Oh, and I've been working on my pineapple log cabin quilt in fits and snatches, too.  The foundation papers of all 36 blocks were removed during a family Harry Potter Film Marathon and I've started pinning and piecing them together.  Since I'm trying to align lots of seams that are all pressed in the same direction rather than nesting, I've been experimenting with different pinning techniques.  

I seem to be having the most success when I pin right through the stitching line at an angle, like this, although I have to be careful that my needle doesn't deflect against the pins because that creates a little jog in the stitching line:

Angled Pinning to Match the Seams

After taking the photo above, I started placing those pins even closer to the stitching lines and making sure that the pin goes through the stitching on both sides before I start sewing the blocks together.  It's slow going with all the pinning, but I've got one whole row of blocks seamed together so far just from Sunday afternoon.

By the way, a HUGE thanks to all of you who reached out with suggestions about piecing batting!  I ordered two King size Dream Wool precut battings and I'm going to experiment to see whether a whip stitch by hand or a machine stitch will work best for joining them.  I don't even have my backing fabric for this quilt yet, but that's okay because I picked up a couple of tops from the charity quilting group at our church and I'm planning to practice pantograph quilting the charity quilts before I attempt to quilt my pineapple quilt.  Stay tuned...

Oh, and speaking of my church -- my 17-year-old son sang his first solo with the adult contemporary choir this Sunday morning and he did a great job.  I'm so proud of him!  If you're interested, check out the recording here.  Lars's solo begins at 54:20 into the worship service, and as an added bonus, you can see me and my yellow Anthropologie top singing with the choir behind him.  I mean, I'M singing in the choir -- tops don't sing...  :-)

Well, friends, now that we're all caught up it's time for me to figure out what I'm going to feed my family for dinner!  Have a great week, everyone.  

I'm linking up with:

• ·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com  
• ·       Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/
• ·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/
• ·       Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/

The One Where I Bake a Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake, Drench It With Rum, and Foist It Upon My Choir Friends: Baking Secrets Revealed

So I tried out a new bundt cake recipe over Thanksgiving and liked it well enough to do a reprise for our choir's Christmas party over the weekend.  The recipe is from King Arthur Flour and you can find it here.  

Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake with Rum Espresso Glaze

This cake is nut free and dairy free, made with whole wheat flour, and it's moist and delicious without being overly sugary.  It's relatively quick and easy to make, and the Bundt cake pan makes for pretty presentation straight out of the oven, no further decorating required.  My friends and family were raving about this cake and indulging in some ridiculously huge "slices"...  (Bernie!  Lars!)  

Fancy Styled Photo of Sliced Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake, King Arthur Flour

The interesting thing about this recipe is that, on the King Arthur Flour web site, reviewers either loved it like we did and gave it five stars, or else they were really disappointed and complained that it lacked flavor.  Poking around for some more recipes, I noticed that reviewers tend to have the same love/hate reactions for other espresso flavored baked goods, with the haters complaining about a lack of flavor.  My personal opinion is that the disappointed bakers were using inferior espresso powder and/or inferior brewed coffee in their glaze, perhaps along with old, stale spices that were well past their prime, because my cake was ANYTHING but bland tasting.

Here's the deal: You know how you end up with a better quilt or garment when you start with high quality fabrics and threads?  The same is true with baking; ingredients matter.  I'm no baking guru, and I am not a fan of wildly complicated recipes (except for Thanksgiving!).  I just use the best quality chocolate I can find, real vanilla instead of artificial vanilla extract, fresh Penzeys spices instead of stale grocery store spices that have been dying a painful death in my pantry for over a year...  If you don't believe me, do the sniff test: get a jar of cinnamon from your grocery store's baking aisle and a small jar of Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon and take a good whiff of each one.  You will be amazed by the difference.  If your spices don't smell like anything anymore, they won't deliver much flavor in your recipes, either.  Spices don't "go bad," but they do fade away over time.  When you bake with the good, fresh stuff, you really do end up with better tasting desserts.  

I get it that not everyone is as particular as I am about their baking ingredients, and you can still bake really good brownies and chocolate chip cookies using Hershey's chocolate chips and fake vanilla.  I will eat your brownies, enjoy them immensely, and I promise not to judge.  But if you want to try a recipe that is predominantly flavored with espresso, I can assure you that the hunt for the good stuff is worth your while!  I had trouble finding my usual Italian import brands of instant espresso powder this year so I tried a couple of other options.  

Do Not Buy This!

First, I bought some espresso powder from Williams-Sonoma.  They carry all of the best bakeware, pots and pans, so I hoped their specialty ingredients might be of similar quality, even though the label says it's made in the United States.  Alas!  I unscrewed the lid when i got home, took a sniff, and I swear the jar could have been filled with dark brown saw dust.  Blech!  Interestingly, this product does get good reviews from Williams-Sonoma customers, but those reviewers report that they are adding this espresso powder to their chocolate baked goods in order to enhance the chocolate flavor.  No one mentioned using this coffee dust stuff in a recipe that actually calls for instant espresso powder as a primary flavoring ingredient.

Not This Either!

The next instant espresso powder that I was able to find locally was this DeLallo brand that I'd never heard of before, and it was stocked in the baking aisle (first strike) of one of the high end specialty grocers, either Earth Fare or The Fresh Market.  The label says it's from Mexico (second strike) and instead of a picture of a cup of coffee on the label, there is a picture of a slice of cake and "perfect for tiramisu" on the label (third strike -- I should have known better!).  But I had no other option, and it had to be better than the Williams-Sonoma stuff at home, right?  Wrong!  The DeLallo Instant Espresso Baking Powder product is even LESS aromatic than the Williams-Sonoma.  But guess what it says on their web site?  They are promoting this product as "a baker's best-kept secret" that "makes chocolate richer without adding any distinct coffee flavor."  Aha!!  These baking aisle espresso powders are really more like chocolate enhancers than flavoring agents that can stand on their own.

My Son Anders With His Favorite Espresso Recipe: Cinnamon Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

The thing is, with both the Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake recipe and my Fine Cooking Cinnamon Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, success depends on using a high quality instant espresso powder that DOES add a distinct coffee flavor!  If you have ever been disappointed by a recipe calling for instant espresso powder in the past, I urge you to try the recipe again using one of these brands, both of which I finally found on Amazon (score!):

THESE ARE MY SECRET INGREDIENTS!  SHHH!!!

These are Italian instant espresso coffees, and if your grocery store carries either of them, they will stock it in the coffee aisle as it is intended for drinking.  Just as you get the best results when you cook with real wine that is good enough for drinking instead of using "cooking wine" that tastes like vinegar, you get the best espresso flavor for baked goods when you use an instant espresso powder that is meant for drinking.  As I said, both Medaglia D'Oro and Ferrara instant espresso are available online at Amazon (with Prime free shipping even) if you can't find them in your local shops, and although they are both vastly more flavorful than the brands that are marketed to bakers, they are LESS expensive.  That's right, LESS EXPENSIVE.  Whereas the bland 1.8 oz jar of Willilams-Sonoma espresso powder cost me $10.95, I can purchase a pack of three 2 oz jars of Medaglia D'Oro espresso powder on Amazon for just $14 with free shipping.  The DeLallo brand was $4.95 for an almost 2 oz. jar, but I can get three 2 oz jars of the much better Ferrara brand on Amazon for only $12.97 with free shipping.  Sometimes the good stuff actually saves you money.  It might seem absurd to buy baking ingredients online, but if I factor in the wasted gas and wasted time driving from one grocery store to the next, looking for espresso powder...  

So, back to my cake recipe: I baked my cake with fresh, strongly aromatic Penzeys Vietnamese Cinnamon and Pumpkin Pie spice blend.  I used real Vanilla, also from Penzeys.  For the filling, I used Medaglia D'Oro Italian instant espresso mixed with brown sugar and Penzey's Cinnamon, and then, for the glaze... 

How I Make "Strongly Brewed Coffee"

The recipe says to dissolve the granulated sugar in 1/3 cup of "strong brewed coffee" with the option of adding rum (and of course I added rum).  But I didn't glaze my cake with ordinary brewed coffee because I don't own a regular coffee maker.  I have a shiny espresso machine, a commercial coffee grinder, and a cupboard stocked with fresh Lavazza espresso beans.  I heated up my espresso machine, ground my beans, and pulled two shots of espresso like I was going to make a latte.  

Perfect 25 Second Espresso Shots

I dumped the shots into my measuring cup and they were almost exactly 1/3 cup, so I just dissolved my sugar into my freshly-pulled espresso shots, added 1 1/2 tablespoons of Captain Morgan, and then drenched my bundt cake with it.  What better way to ensure a rich espresso flavor than to actually soak the cake IN ESPRESSO, hmmm?

Okay, so that almost felt like cheating.  But if you want to make this recipe and you don't happen to own an espresso machine, you could totally go to your Starbucks or local coffee shop and buy a couple shots of brewed espresso to go for your recipe.  You just might need to heat them up in the microwave if they have cooled off too much to dissolve the sugar.

I've spent WAY more time on this post than what I had intended.  Hopefully someone will find it helpful.  If not, at least I will have a record for myself of where to find my espresso powder next year!  Do you have a favorite holiday baking recipe or a secret ingredient to share?  Let me know in the comments.  :-)

Again, if you'd like to try the King Arthur Flour Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake, you can find that recipe here, and if you'd like to try the Fine Cooking Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies, you can find that recipe here.  Let me know how it turns out.  Happy baking!

Let's Bake Cinnamon-Molasses Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crust!

Homemade Cinnamon-Molasses Pumpkin Pies with Pecan Crusts

So, THIS happened yesterday!  I ended up buying pies from Dean & DeLuca for Thanksgiving because I spent the entire day before Thanksgiving working on my stuffing, and I ran out of time to bake before I had to head to church for Thanksgiving Eve service.  The Dean & DeLuca pies were fine, I guess...  But they merely whetted my appetite for the REAL pumpkin pies, my favorite recipe gleaned from the pages of Bon Appetit magazine back in December of 1999.  I have been obsessing over this pie recipe ever since Thursday, and I had already purchased all of the ingredients before I admitted defeat and ran to D&D.  I figured, better late than never, and so I baked my pies yesterday.

Bon Appetit has a number of pumpkin pies available on their web site, but not this one, so I'm going to share it with you all today.  That's how much I love you.  You're welcome.  [Added bonus: by posting the recipe online, I will always be able to find it again if I ever misplace the original!]  And now, without further ado, I bring you the recipe for:

Cinnamon-Molasses Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crust

Yield: two 9-inch pies, one for Mom and one for the rest of the family to share

Advance Preparation: Dough for crust can be prepared 3 days ahead & refrigerated, or 1 week ahead & frozen.  Let dough soften slightly at room temperature before using.  Bake pies the day ahead.

Key Ingredients, Ready to Go

 INGREDIENTS:

For Crust:
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
6 T packed light brown sugar
1 1/3 c. finely chopped pecans
1 tsp. salt
1 c. (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½” pieces
4 T (approximately) ice water

For Filling:
2 ½ c. packed light brown sugar
¼ c. all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground allspice
½ tsp. ground ginger
TWO 15 oz. cans pure pumpkin
6 large eggs
2 T mild-flavored (light) molasses
1 ½ c. heavy whipping cream

Quick note about the ingredients: I use Penzey's spices, which are so much fresher and stronger than the spices I can buy in the grocery store.  Sniff two jars of cinnamon side-by-side and you'll be sold.  There's a Penzey's store at The Arboretum shopping center in Charlotte, but if you don't have one near you it's totally worth ordering online.

As for the crust: I think the pecan crust is delicious, but you can use plain crust instead if you have nut allergies to contend with, or if you are in a time crunch and need to use the ready-to-bake grocery store pie crust pastry instead.  Just make sure you use a deep dish crust or it will overflow.  However, maybe you have no nut allergies in your family, maybe you have plenty of time and you LOVE pecans, but you are afraid of making pie crusts because you have failed miserably in the past?  Ah, do I have the gadget for YOU!  I am about to solve all of your pie crust problems for a mere $6.95 plus shipping and handling, and I don't do any of those affiliate links, either.  I am sharing this with you out of the goodness of my heart because it's the ONLY way I can make a pie crust without swearing like a pirate.  Allow me to introduce you to the 14" Pie Crust Bag from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Catalog:

14" Pie Crust Bag, available here from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Catalog

This is going to totally change your pie-baking life; I promise.  All you do is wipe your counter with a damp rag (the plastic bag will stick to the counter now instead of sliding around), unzip the bag all the way around, and sprinkle both halves lightly with flour... 

Meanwhile, back to our recipe:

For crust:

1.      Pulse pecans in food processor until they are finely ground but still have visible chunks.  Using electric mixer, mix flour, brown sugar, pecans and salt in large bowl until well blended.  Add butter and mix on low speed until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Cut in larger chunks of butter with a pastry knife.  Using fork, mix in enough ice water to bind the dough. 

2.      Transfer dough to a work surface & gather into a ball.  Divide in half.  Flatten each dough half into a disk; wrap each in plastic.  Chill 1 hour (or up to 3 days; OR freeze).  Let dough soften slightly at room temperature before using.

3.      Roll out each disk between 2 sheets of parchment (or in pie crust bags, see photos below*) to 12” round, about 1/8” thick.  Remove top sheet of parchment and invert each dough round into a 9” diameter glass pie plate.  Remove parchment and gently press dough in place.  Trim overhang to ¾”, turn under and crimp edge decoratively.  Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

Disk of Dough Centered on One Half of the Pie Crust Bag

Bag Zippered Shut

Roll Crust Through Bag, With No Sticking, Sliding, or Cursing!

For a Perfect 12" Circle, Roll to 1" from Outer Zipper on 14" Pie Bag

Unzip the Pie Crust Bag and Carefully Peel Back the Top Half...

Ta-Da!  No Sticking!  Perfect!

At this point, it's easy to invert your glass pie dish in the center of the crust and carefully invert the whole thing, easing the pie crust into your pie pan.  You have a nearly perfect circle of pastry to work with because you rolled it out in a perfectly circular bag, and the bottom half of the bag gives you extra pastry support when you flip the whole shebang over, so there's no risk of tearing your pastry or having it fall apart all over your counter after all your hard work.

Woo-Hoo!!!

4.      Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°.  Line crusts with foil, fill with dried beans or ceramic pie weights, and bake pie crusts until golden at edge, about 15 minutes.  Remove foil and beans, and continue to bake until crusts are pale golden, piercing with fork if crusts bubble, about 5 minutes.  Cool completely on rack.

After Blind Baking, Crusts Cooling on the Stovetop While I Mix Up the Pie Filling

For filling:

1.      Reduce oven temperature to 350°.  Whisk first 6 ingredients together in large bowl to blend.  Whisk in pumpkin, eggs and molasses; then whisk in the cream.  Pour pumpkin mixture into crusts, dividing equally.

Pumpkin, Eggs and Molasses Added to Sugar Mixture

...Now We Whisk In the Heavy Cream...

...And the Pie Filling is Ready to Pour Into the Crusts

Ready to Bake!

...Finally In the Oven, Crust Edges Protected by Pie Crust Shields

The purpose of the pie crust shields is to prevent the edges of your pie crust from over-browning or, heaven forbid, outright burning during the long baking time.  I got my nonstick pie crust shield ages ago, don't remember from where, but I found similar ones for you guys on Amazon here.  I put the pie shields on when my pies go in the oven, and I don't remove them until a few minutes before I'm ready to take the pies out to the oven.

2.      Cover edges of pie crust with nonstick pie shields or strips of aluminum foil.  Place pies in oven and bake until sides are puffed and center is just set but still looks wet.  Begin checking after 50 minutes.  (The Bon Appetit recipe said the pies would be done after about 50 minutes, but in my experience they usually aren’t ready to come out until about an hour and 15 minutes of baking).  Cool completely.  (Can be prepared 1 day ahead; cover and refrigerate).  Serve plain or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Fresh From the Oven!

The photo above shows what the pies should look like when they are done baking and ready to come out of the oven.  See how the edges are puffy?  If you enlarge the photo you can see that the center of the pies still looks wet, but when I jiggle them I can see that the centers are indeed set, no longer liquid and sloshing around.  As the pies cool, that puffiness sinks down a little and then the finished pies look like this:

After Cooling, Ready to Enjoy

Oh, and you DO want to completely cool and refrigerate these pies before eating them.  Also, they are fabulous for breakfast.  :-)  Just sayin.'

Well, it's a rainy day in Charlotte today, but there's no more baking on today's agenda.  I need to spend some time learning the Second Soprano for the choruses and chorales in Bach's St. John's Passion, reviewing my Alto part for my upcoming Christmas caroling gigs, and maybe I can even squeak in a smidge of sewing before I have to pick Anders up from school and take him to his violin lesson.

Have a great day, everyone!