Thanksgiving season was on and what better way to celebrate it than to indulge in pies ? First up on the list – pumpkin pie with a graham cracker pie crust. I fell in love with this pumpkin pie after I had it at my aunt’s Thanksgiving luncheon. Couldn’t wait to go home just to try this out.
INGREDIENTS
For the Crust
Honey Graham Cracker Crumbs – 350g (about 1 ½ cups)
Butter – 8oz (1 stick)
For the filling
Brown Sugar – 2/3 cup
Corn Flour – 2 tbsp
Pumpkin Spice – 2tsp
Condensed Milk – 1 can
Pumpkin Puree – 16oz (2 cups)
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
PREPARATION
1. To prepare the crust , combine melted butter and honey graham cracker crumbs. Pack the mixture tightly at the bottom of a pie tray. Bake it at 325F for 5 minutes.
2. For preparing the filling , combine all ingredients into a very smooth mixture. Pour this mixture onto the crust and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Cool the pie at room temperature and then refrigerate the pie for 4 hours before serving.
Yet another fusion cake inspired from an ice-cream at Nirvanaah ! Nirvanaah in San Jose has the best desi flavors of ice-cream , including paan , malai kulfi , gulkand , chikoo and so much more.. If one could add paan to ice-cream , why not to cake ?
The mint and gulkand icing on top adds a very refreshing taste to the paan’s strong flavor.
INGREDIENTS
For the Cake
All-purpose flour - 2 ¼ cups
Sugar – ¼ cup
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking Soda – 1 tsp
Butter – 8tbsp (1 stick)
Vanilla essence – 1 tbsp
Condensed Milk – 1 can (14oz)
Milk – ½ cup
Vinegar – 2tsp
Plain Soda – ½ cup
Betel leaves – 2
Gulkand – 2tbsp
Mukhwas assorted – 4tbsp (finely pulverized)
Tutti-fruity – 3 tbsp
Dried rose petals – a small fistful
For the icing
Heavy Whipping Cream – 1 cup
Peppermint extract – ½ tsp
Gulkand – 2tbsp
PREPARATION
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside.
2. In a bowl , add the butter and the sugar. Cream them until soft and fluffy. Add in the condensed milk and combine well.
3. Add the vinegar to the milk and then add this whole mix along with vanilla essence to condensed milk mixture.
4. Grind the betel leaves to a paste , combine the gulkand and this paste in a bowl and add the mukhwas powder to this mixture. Now add this to the condensed milk mixture.
5. Add the flour in parts and combine well. Pour the club soda to the batter and fold well. Do not overmix the batter at this stage. Also fold in tutti-fruity to this.
6. Preheat the oven to 340F and bake for around 20-24 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake on a wire rack.
8. For the icing , whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in the peppermint extract and gulkand into this and pipe onto the cake.
