Pumpkin Ginger Tart

[koukouvagia]

Help me create a recipe!

In liu of pumpkin pie I would like to make a pumpking ginger tart! I'm no good at baking so I would appreciate some help in making up this recipe. The idea is to make a tart shell out of gingerbread cookies and butter, and then fill it with a savory pumpkin custard with cinnamon/allspice/clove etc flavors. Any ideas on how to do this?

 

[kyheirloomer]

The crust part is easy. Just grind the gingersnaps, and make a crust the same as you would a graham cracker crust.

Can't help with the filling. But I have a recipe for a pumpkin cheesecake filling that might work for you. Let me know if you want it.

 

[suzanne]

And I have a sweet potato pie recipe in which you could substitute pumpkin puree for the mashed sweet potatoes. I'll post it over in the Recipes forum. It didn't win in Martha Stewart's 1st Annual Pie Competition (which will be on the air on Monday, 11/16/09), but I like it.

My recipe calls for a couple of "exotic" ingredients -- lemon-flavored ginger and candied lemons -- but you can get them at Aji Ichiban. Also, my crust is a little unusual, but again, a graham cracker crust is easy (and you can even buy not-bad ones at the supermarket).

 

[boar_d_laze]

Easy enough to make the tart shell. Just grind some cookies in the food processor, pour them into the tart pan, add a little melted butter and press the crumbs into the tin. Make sure the edge fluting is well packed. But you know that.

I've never done a crumb tart shell for an unbaked custard. I imagine it would be a good idea to partially blind bake the crust -- 10 minutes or so -- then cool before pouring (and baking) the custard.

As to the custard, to get the right ratio of mashed squash, eggs, and evaporated milk any pumpkin pie recipe will do. You say you want "savory," so omit anything sweet -- sugar, molasses, honey, whatever -- or maybe just reduce it -- and go with that which piques your fancy. In my fancy's case, that would be bourbon and pecans.

BDL

 

[koukouvagia]

Thanks, sounds like pumpkin pie is a custard already. I didn't mean for it not to be sweet at all, just not super super sweet. I enjoy desserts that are more savoury like custards, pumpkin pies, carrot cakes, rice puddings, etc. as opposed to chocolate cakes and sprinkles.

 

[boar_d_laze]

Koukouvagia,

There are certainly a lot of pumpkin pie variants. Besides taking it low by making tarts instead of pies is there anything else that's of interest? Or, are you trolling for ideas?

You can make a big difference to a traditional pie by grating fresh, instead of dry ginger and grating your own, fresh "pumpkin pie spice" cinnamon, mace, allspice, clove, nutmeg). FWIW, that's half my "secret," while the other half is bourbon, pecans and piloncillo."

Another variant that's not too outre for most family gatherings is chocolate chip and walnut. Butterscotch does nicely, too. A whole or broken nut topping is very nice on pumpkin pie and just not done enough. The only reason not to do it would be if there were other nut pies or tarts coming to the party.

BDL

 

[koukouvagia]

Not sure what I'm looking for, I just figured a pumpkin ginger tart would be more interesting than a pumpkin pie but I'm not sure I know the difference between a pie and a tart at this point.

 

[boar_d_laze]

Pies are deeper, and are baked in pie pans which usually have sloped side. Tarts are shallower, and are baked in tart forms which usually have upright and sometimes fluted sides.

Note the use of comparatives rather than absolutes -- there's plenty of room for ambiguity and overlap.

English is a great language, but maybe not the way we speak it.

BDL

 

[koukouvagia]

Superkalifragilousdegexpialidocious

Ahhh I see now. When I make my usual tarts I make a the dough from scratch and then bake it until it's done. Seperately I make a basic custard (cream, egg yols, sugar, fresh vanilla) and let it come to room temp. Then once the tart shell is baked and cooled I pour in the custard, top with fresh fruit, and it's ready to serve once it's chilled.

Ok here's my specific question... how do I make a tart in a similar fashion but with a pumpkin custard? Do I just add pureed pumpkin to the custard while it's cooking... along with spices?


This is my manic blueberry tart with english custard.

 

[koukouvagia]

I experimented a little with this and this is what I came up with.

I made a pumpkin custard. First I mixed canned pumpkin with cinnamon, clove, and allspice and then spread it thinly on a cookie sheet. I baked in the oven for about a half hour to roast it up a bit and get rid of some of the moisture. While that was in the oven I made a basic creme anglais with creme, egg yolks, and vanilla sugar. I added the roasted pumpkin to the creme and stirred off heat until smooth. Had to double the sugar in the custard recipe to accommodate the addition of pumpkin. The custard was superb and delicious.

I made the tart shell by grinding up gingerbread cookies, mixing with melted butter and formed into the tart shell then baked until set, about 10 minutes. I let the shell and the custard cool then I spooned the custard into the shell and topped with roasted walnuts and let it chill.

Results: excellent custard, but the tart shell is very very hard, it can only be broken through, not cut through easily at all. I'm not a baker and I have no idea how to fix that. So I have pumpkin custard, what can I do with it?