Request: Minecraft – Pumpkin Pie
Someone was kind enough to remind me that it is Thanksgiving soon! Here in the UK we don’t celebrate the holiday, nor do we eat enough sweet pumpkin flavoured things if you ask me, so I was very, very excited when I saw Minecraft had recently added Pumpkin Pie. This recipe is a bit of a hybrid between a traditional pie, a cheesecake and delicious edible pixels. I promise this is the last recipe of the year that is orange and involves pastry, because it took me 4 attempts to get it just right this time. Not quite as simple as the input made it appear…
Click ‘Read More’ for the full recipe!
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Costume Quest – Pizza Sundae
Pizza Sundae was the big winner of the Costume Quest vote, even my own mother was begging for this one to win! When thinking about how to make this I had to consider quite a few things – is this more savoury and pizza based? Or sweet and ice-cream based? I decided that blue layer indicated something sweeter, in fact it reminded me of fond memories eating tutti-frutti ‘Smurf’ ice-cream in Italy as a child. So I constructed a kind of pie filled with the many layers and heart of an ice-cream sundae.
Click ‘Read More’ for the full recipe!
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Request: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Yeto’s Soup
I had planned on doing this soup for a while so when I got a number of requests through for anything from Zelda I thought this seasonal soup would fit in nicely. Also since most of us will be taking part in my favourite activity of pumpkin carving next week it would be useful to have a pumpkin based recipe. I have fond memories of Twilight Princess, it felt a lot more traditional than incarnations such as Wind Waker, although I must admit my favourite Zelda is actually Links Awakening (controversial). Yeto’s Soup comes from Yeto, a rather cuddly looking yeti, in the Snowpeak Ruins. His wife, Yeta, is very sick but you can help by giving Yeto the ingredients for his healing soup. It goes through three stages of strength – a Reekfish creates a Simple Soup, adding an Ordon Pumpkin makes Good Soup and finally adding Ordon Goats Cheese makes it a Superb Soup that restores eight hearts. Obviously I’m going for the full eight heart Superb Soup here.
Click ‘Read More’ for the full recipe!
Read More
![Request: Minecraft – Pumpkin Pie
Someone was kind enough to remind me that it is Thanksgiving soon! Here in the UK we don’t celebrate the holiday, nor do we eat enough sweet pumpkin flavoured things if you ask me, so I was very, very excited when I saw Minecraft had recently added Pumpkin Pie. This recipe is a bit of a hybrid between a traditional pie, a cheesecake and delicious edible pixels. I promise this is the last recipe of the year that is orange and involves pastry, because it took me 4 attempts to get it just right this time. Not quite as simple as the input made it appear…
Click ‘Read More’ for the full recipe!
[[MORE]]
This recipe makes 2 small Pumpkin Pies.
What you will need: A 9-inch loose base cake tin, a large bowl, a whisk/electric mixer, and a 3.5 inch round cookie cutter.
Ingredients:
150g / 6 oz Shortcrust Pastry [Recipe]
150g /⅔Cup Light Brown Sugar
½ Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
½ Teaspoon Ground Ginger
⅛Teaspoon Nutmeg
Pinch of Salt
400g / 2 Cups Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)
3 Large Eggs (Room Temperature)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup
230g / 1 Cup Canned Pumpkin
To Garnish:
Various shades of orange icing, cut into small squares.
Preparing the Pumpkin Pie:
Preheat the oven to 200C/390F. With your pastry prepared, roll it out to about 1cm thick, and cut a piece to line the base of your cake tin.
Bake it in the oven for 12 minutes until golden, then remove and leave to cool. Once it’s out of the oven, turn the temperature down to 180C/355F.
Meanwhile, combine the light brown sugar with the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. In a separate large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
Gradually add the sugar and spices, while continuing to beat the cream cheese. Next add the eggs, vanilla and maple syrup and mix well.
Stir in the pumpkin and mix again until combined, then pour the mixture over the now cooled pastry. Place a small tray of water in the bottom of the oven to keep the air moist.
Put the pumpkin pie in the middle of the oven to bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, change the temperature of the oven to 160C/320F and bake for another 15 minutes.
Once firm, remove the pumpkin pie and leave to cool before placing in the fridge to chill for several hours, or overnight.
Making the Pumpkin Pie:
Remove the pumpkin pie from the cake tin and place on a flat surface. With the cooking and chilling, the filling will have contracted. Take a large round cookie cutter, and cut two perfect cakes from the large cake.
Decorate each of the pumpkin pies with tiny icing pixels, and serve with some freshly whipped maple cream.
Beautifully creamy, fluffy and light with a crisp base – I’m feeling hybrids in baking are the way to go. I loved the sweetness with the spices, and then the unusual taste of pumpkin was really complimented by the gentle sour of the cream cheese. While I have no prior pumpkin experience, it was pretty delicious and something I’d like to bake into more cakes in the future for sure.
Like this? You might also enjoy the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Cheesecake.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdi4zqenek1qjhjgyo1_500.jpg)
![Costume Quest – Pizza Sundae
Pizza Sundae was the big winner of the Costume Quest vote, even my own mother was begging for this one to win! When thinking about how to make this I had to consider quite a few things – is this more savoury and pizza based? Or sweet and ice-cream based? I decided that blue layer indicated something sweeter, in fact it reminded me of fond memories eating tutti-frutti ‘Smurf’ ice-cream in Italy as a child. So I constructed a kind of pie filled with the many layers and heart of an ice-cream sundae.
Click ‘Read More’ for the full recipe!
[[MORE]]
This recipe serves 6-8.
What you will need: 9 inch pie dish, greaseproof paper/baking parchment, baking tray, large and medium bowls, a whisk.
For the Base:
110g / 1 Cup Salted Peanuts (Finely chopped/crushed)
200g / 1½ Cups Digestive Biscuits (Crushed)
50g / ¼ Cup Butter (Melted)
For the Sundae:
200g / 2 Cups Good quality:
Strawberry Ice-cream
White Vanilla Ice-cream
Chocolate Ice-cream
Red & Blue Food Colouring
18g / ½ Cup Mini Marshmallows (The smaller the better)
50g / ½ Cup Small Chocolate Chips/Chunks
200ml / 1 Cups Double Cream
6 Tablespoons White Caster Sugar
8 Glacé Cherries (Halved)
Preparing the Base:
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F and place the baking tray inside to heat up. Grease and line the pie dish and set aside.
In a bowl add the peanuts, crushed digestive biscuits and melted butter and mix thoroughly.
Press the mixture evenly into the prepared pie dish and make a few holes in the base with a fork. Place the pie dish in the oven on top of the preheated baking tray and cook for 10-15 minutes or until crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before storing in the fridge to chill.
Preparing the Sundae:
Remove the strawberry ice-cream from the fridge and allow it to soften – not too much, just enough that it is manageable. Once soft, adjust the colour (if not pink enough) with a little red food colouring and mix well.
Mix the mini marshmallows into the strawberry ice-cream then pour the mixture into the pie crust ensuring it is smooth and even. Place in the freezer to chill.
Next remove the vanilla ice-cream and allow to soften. This time add a few drops of blue food colouring and mix well until the right shade has been achieved.
Take the now frozen pie from the freezer - please make sure each layer is fully frozen before you add the next otherwise they will mix and it will be more difficult! Pour the blue-vanilla ice-cream on top, spread evenly then return to the freezer to set.
Once frozen again, remove the chocolate ice-cream and allow to soften. Add a few drops of red food colouring to add a subtle red hue to the chocolate layer. Mix in the chocolate chunks/chips.
Pour the chocolate ice-cream over the blue-vanilla then return the pie to the freezer.
Take the pie from the freezer 20 minutes before serving to allow to thaw. Whip the double cream, slowly adding the sugar to taste, then add the whipped cream on top and scatter with glacé cherries. Serve with a hot chocolate or fudge sauce if desired.
From above, the Pizza Sundae actually looks like a pizza covered in some bizarre red olives – mission accomplished! Originally I wanted the crust to be a cookie crust, but after a bit of research I discovered this wouldn’t freeze very well and was forced to use a cheesecake style base. I added in some salted peanuts to create a nice contrast with the sweetness of the ice-cream filing – I always love nuts in my sundaes for this reason and it works just as well here. I had toyed with the idea of the blue layer maybe being minty but decided in the end to go with the classic Neapolitan flavours – the vanilla layer acting as a nice balance between the strong flavours of the strawberry and chocolate. I was really worried this wasn’t going to work and I seriously impressed even myself when I finally cut it open! With whipped cream and a cherries on top I think the Pizza Sundae is the future of sundaes and the combinations are nearly endless!
Don’t forget to check out the other winners - Mossy Log and Choconana!](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltmakty5Ov1qjhjgyo1_r1_500.jpg)
![Request: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Yeto’s Soup
I had planned on doing this soup for a while so when I got a number of requests through for anything from Zelda I thought this seasonal soup would fit in nicely. Also since most of us will be taking part in my favourite activity of pumpkin carving next week it would be useful to have a pumpkin based recipe. I have fond memories of Twilight Princess, it felt a lot more traditional than incarnations such as Wind Waker, although I must admit my favourite Zelda is actually Links Awakening (controversial). Yeto’s Soup comes from Yeto, a rather cuddly looking yeti, in the Snowpeak Ruins. His wife, Yeta, is very sick but you can help by giving Yeto the ingredients for his healing soup. It goes through three stages of strength – a Reekfish creates a Simple Soup, adding an Ordon Pumpkin makes Good Soup and finally adding Ordon Goats Cheese makes it a Superb Soup that restores eight hearts. Obviously I’m going for the full eight heart Superb Soup here.
Click ‘Read More’ for the full recipe!
[[MORE]]
This recipe serves 3-4.
What you will need:
A large pot, grater, baking tray, frying pan, baking tray, blender or hand blender.
For the Soup:
50g / ¼ Cup Butter
300g / 0.7lbs Pumpkin (Skinned and Choppped)
200g / 0.5lbs Sweet Potato (Skinned and Chopped)
2 Shallots (Chopped)
1 Small Clove Garlic
½ Teaspoon Grated Ginger
500ml / 2 Cups Vegetable/Chicken Stock
1-2 Tablespoons Goats Cheese
70 ml / ½ Cup Cream
75g / ½ Cup Smoked Haddock
75g / ½ Cup Pollock
Salt & Pepper
For the Pumpkin Garnish:
3 Pumpkin Wedges
1 Tablespoon Butter
Salt & Pepper
½ Teaspoon Dried Chilli Flakes
For the Potato Croutons:
Olive Oil
1 Medium Potato
Salt & Pepper
For the Carrot Tops:
5 Small carrots (Stalks On)
1 Tablespoon Butter
Preparing the Soup:
In a large pot on a medium heat melt the butter. Add the shallots, garlic and ginger and cook until soft. Add the pumpkin and sweet potato chunks and stir well, allowing to cook for another 10 minutes.
Pour in the vegetable/chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the pumpkin and sweet potato has cooked through. Once cooked transfer to a clean bowl and blend (or use a blender). Return the soup to a clean pot, if it’s too thick then slowly add more vegetable stock until the desired texture is achieved. Set the soup aside while you prepare the garnishes.
Making the Pumpkin Slices:
Preheat the oven to 200C/392F. Chop the pumpkin wedges into chunks and lay them onto a baking tray, cover with the butter, season and add the chilli flakes. Cook until soft and golden.
Making the Potato Croutons:
Dice the potato into small cubes and heat some olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the potatoes and season to taste, fry until crisp and golden brown.
Making the Carrot Tops:
Heat the butter in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the carrots and allow to cook until slightly soft.
Finishing the Soup:
In a warm frying pan add a little olive oil and heat. Add the smoked haddock and pollock and fry for 1 minute. Pour in the cream and season with salt and pepper, allow the fish to cook for about 5 minutes in the cream.
Once the fish has cooked pour the cream mixture into the pumpkin soup, add the goats cheese and stir gently. Warm the soup through on a low heat so the goats cheese can melt.
Serve and garnish with the potato croutons, roast pumpkin slices and glazed carrot tops.
This is an interesting soup. I’ve never cooked with pumpkin or any type of gourd before, it’s not really as popular a thing to do here as it is in America (I still need to try pumpkin pie). There’s a nice balance of sweetness that’s cut by the sharpness of the goats cheese and smokiness of the fish – it is actually one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted. I was not expecting it to be! I originally wanted to use monkfish but I couldn’t source any so I went with fish traditionally used in fish pies. I think the mixture of the smoked and white fish creates an interesting flavour that might mimic an actual Reekfish (despite it being based on a type of salmon). Yeto was definitely on to something with this soup and if it’s hearty enough for the Snowpeak Ruins then it’s a winter winner for me - I can feel my hearts restoring as I type.
Like this? You might also enjoy the Pokémon - Poffins.
Don’t forget! Next week will be the Costume Quest Hallowe’en Special that you all voted for!](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lta2z8SxJa1qjhjgyo1_r2_500.jpg)
