Thanksgiving Dessert: Quick & Easy Pumpkin Pie from Scratch

This is the time of year that I look forward to Pumpkin Pie; it's my favorite dish at Thanksgiving.  There's just something about Pumpkin and Cinnamon that excites my taste buds, but I'm not a big fan of the pie crust. So when I make pumpkin pie from scratch, I skip the traditional pie crust entirely and make a quick graham cracker with a twist crust.  This really simplifies making pie from scratch and you can easily impress your friends and family with a homemade pie.  Oh, and I love using my food processor for this recipe.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 1/2 cups of graham cracker cookies - ground (preferable homemade)
1/2 - 3/4 cups of pecans - ground
1 tbsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup of brown sugar (if you want a sweeter crust)
about 1 stick of melted butter

Filling:
2 eggs, beaten
16 oz of pumpkin puree (preferably homemade)
3/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
2-3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cups half-and-half

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Combine all ingredients, expect butter in a food processer and process until ground crumbs.  See picture.
3.  Slowly add butter and mix by hand or in the food processor until crumbs start to combine.
4.  Grease pie dish and press crumbs into the bottom and sides of dish.  Bake for about 5-10 minutes in the oven.  Do not let the edges burn or become too dark.
5.  Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl and mix.
6.  Pour into cooled pie crust.  Bake 15 minutes.
7.  Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for about 45 minutes or until the center is set and knife in the center comes out clean.
8.  Allow to cool and serve.  Can be made a day ahead

The edges turned out slightly 'burned'

A little wine, sun and chocolate sauce

Over the weekend I was able to meet up with a very good friend and enjoy some fabulous wine in the Napa area.  There really are many wineries I want to visit, but we settled on two for this visit.  Ceja Winery in Downtown Napa and Black Stallion Winery just north on Silverado Trail.

As always, I make a stop at Oxbow market and the Modal Bakery.  I love their bread!  Ceja was just a short walk down 1st Street and I was very happy with this choice.  A very intimate setting and knowledgeable staff.  We tried the tasting and I enjoyed all of their wines, white and red alike.  Very great wines, it was hard to choose which one was a favorite.  The Sauvignon Blanc was very crisp and would be great for a summer's eve, while the Pinot Noir was one of my favorite reds.  It did not have the strong oak taste that I find many reds have.  But the other white's and red's were great too.  I finally settled on the Cabernet Chocolate Sauce and used it on some berries and ice cream. Yum!

The last stop was at Black Stallion Winery which isn't far from Trancas Street.  The tasting room was quite grand with a lovely patio area.  There are several wine tasting choices and prices vary depending on which tasting you choose.  I tried the white wine tasting since I had tried their reds at the Napa B & B Holiday Tour.  The reds are aged in oak and oak comes across very strongly in red wines for me.  The Sauvignon Blanc was on the sweeter side and the Pinot Grigio was my favorite.  If you prefer Chardonnay they have a few choices and the Rose was good.