I haven’t made many pies before (in fact the last pie I made was on “Pi Day”), but as soon as I saw these pie pumpkins on sale at the grocery store, I knew I’d be making pumpkin pie this fall season in some way, shape or form. But I didn’t want just any pumpkin pie, I wanted something different – a deviation from the old yawn of a classic we all serve at our Thanksgiving tables. I wanted tarts. With chocolate on them.

Recipe after the jump!

Growing up, I didn’t really like pumpkin pie all that much to be honest. I didn’t think it tasted like pumpkin or had any real flavor besides what tasted like a lot of sugar. But through the years and now through making it myself, I appreciate it so much more. I’ve found the secret to pumpkin pie is in the spices. Add the right amount and you’ve got a perfect pumpkin pie.

I also think it helps to make your pumpkin from scratch. It just so happens that the other day I made pumpkin puree (coincidence? I think not). And that’s just what I used to make these great pumpkin pie tarts AND a whole 9-inch pumpkin pie. Here’s how I made it:

The cast of ingredients: honey, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, eggs, pie crust, sour cream, heavy cream, salt, nutmeg, allspice and ginger (missing from the photo).

I started by pouring my sour cream and heavy cream into a large bowl and adding: pumpkin, egg yolks, my spices and honey (lots of honey!) Make sure to separate your egg yolks from your whites so you can beat them separately.

Stirring the spices made for an awesome picture!

Next, I added my beaten egg whites. I was supposed to beat these egg whites until they were stiff but these particular egg whites were not having any of that. They became bubbly but after extensive beating (through all of McCain’s concession speech and much much more) they wouldn’t become stiff. I tried an immersion blender. I tried everything until my arm was about to fall off so I gave in and poured them into the batter.

Here is the final pumpkin pie batter. So simple! I love all the spices in this recipe: nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and ginger!

I poured my batter into cute little pre-made tarts I found at the grocery store. They were little graham cracker crusts. I knew I wanted to make pie tarts (for the Pies as a Fashion Statement contest!) but I didn’t know how easy it would be to find pre-made tarts.

After baking for 45 minutes, they came out beautifully! I couldn’t have imagined a cuter pumpkin pie…

That is, until I decorated them with chocolate frosting! :) To frost them, I used Betty Crocker’s Dark Chocolate Frosting (between the crust and the frosting, you can call this pie semi-homemade!) I simply filled a Ziploc bag with a few scoops of frosting, cut off a tiny bit of the corner and prayed for the best.

The recipe I used was intended for one 9-inch pie but after making 6 tarts, it looked like I still had enough pie filling to make that 9 inch pie. And so I did…

The final 9-inch “momma pie” and its baby pie tarts.

Pumpkin Pie with Dark Chocolate Frosting

This pumpkin pie recipe has the perfect amount of spice and is decorated with dark chocolate frosting!

Ingredients

1 1/2 C. pumpkin puree (canned or fresh)
3/4 C. honey
1/2 C. heavy cream
1/2 C. sour cream
2 eggs (separate whites from yolks)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
dash ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. allspice
1 pre-made 9-inch pie crust or 6-12 mini tart crusts

Optional:
chocolate frosting for decoration

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, mix heavy cream, sour cream, pumpkin puree (see How To Make Pumpkin Puree), honey, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Crack eggs and separate yolks from whites. Beat yolks and add them to the batter and mix. Beat egg whites separately until bubbly and stiff. Fold into the pumpkin pie mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour pie mixture into pre-made crust or 6-12 mini tart crusts. Fill to the top but do not overfill. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. Let cool and frost with dark chocolate frosting as desired.

More Pumpkin Pie Recipes:
Quick and Easy Pumpkin Pie
Triple Layer Chocolate Pumpkin Pie
Honey Pumpkin Pie

Tags: best pumpkin pie, dark chocolate frosting, pie recipes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pie recipe, pumpkin recipes, thanksgiving, Thanksgiving recipes

Posted by Hillary, 4:43 PM

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 4:43 pm and is filed under pie, pumpkin, thanksgiving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.