Thanksgiving, pt. 2

Since I'm experiencing yet another night of insomnia, I figured I might as well post part 2.

Wednesday night it was time to make the pies. I picked two custardy types, pumpking and pecan, not only because they're the most traditional and "exotic" by Swedish standards but also because they probably only get better after a couple days in the fridge, whereas fruit pies sort of scream to be served warm.

Almost all my attempts to bake with American recipes result in a cake or bread or whatever it is that is still liquidy in the middle after the suggested baking time. I thought this could be because the flour here isn't quite the same (different amounts of protein), but it occurs even in recipes with very little flour, so I'm really at a loss as to why it happens. It's not my oven, by the way, because I had the same problem in our apartment. A few years ago, my attempts at making a pumpkin pie according to my grandmother's recipe resulted in a pie that still hadn't solidified after 3 times the suggested baking time. So experimenting with different recipes was a must. The BettyCrocker.com recipe for Pumpkin-Cream Cheese Pie worked out super for me, so I'm sticking to it.

It seems to have worked out once again -- though, of course, I can't say for sure until I taste it tomorrow night! I actually make a graham cracker crust instead of the shortbread -- use graham crackers (digestivekex) instead of the shortbread and 3 T of sugar instead of flour, and bake for about 10 minutes. Plus, I make the pie in a spring-form pan with the crust only on the bottom, which works out just fine. American-style pie plates are not common items here. I had to leave the pie in the oven for 50 minutes before the center was set, so there's still something mystical in the air, but it seems to have turned out just fine.

I made the pecan pie according this this other BettyCrocker.com recipe, Maple Pecan Pie, though I didn't add the chocolate drizzle to the top. Shortening is not a product readily available in Sweden, but butter works just as well. The maple extract or maple flavoring also isn't something I think you could find. Maple syrup is really quite expensive -- 79 kronor is what I paid for a bottle that contained 2 dl, and this recipe calls for 2.5 dl. But regular syrup can be used as well -- in fact, then you'd just have a regular pecan pie. You'll want to cover the edges with tin foil until the last 15 minutes or so so that the crust doesn't get burned. Again, I had to bake this one longer than suggested -- 60 minutes -- before the middle was no longer liquidy. It seems nice and solid now. The risk of cooking this one for two long is that the pecan top gets sort of black and charred.

Since one of my guests has a severe allergy to tree nuts, I was careful about not touching the pecans with too many things and washing up all the utensils afterwards before doing anything else with them. Luckily though for my wild rice salad, she can eat almonds.