My Thanksgiving Dessert Contribution

So the desserts I made for Thanksgiving:

Mini Dutch Apple Pies

A muffin tin recipe made up on the spot:

- diced Granny Smith apples tossed in cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, and butter
- home made pie crust
- oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon streusel streudel ...Dutch apple pie topping
Pop them in the oven at 350 until the apples are cooked and the topping is browned and bubbly

Mini Pumpkin Pies
Based off a recipe I found here except I used home made pie crust and mine were bigger because they were standard muffin size.

Now I don't like pumpkin pie... I don't like pie in general. But these were awesome.

Mini Pecan Pies

Pie filling:
- 5 T unsalted butter
- 1 c brown sugar
- 3/4 c light corn syrup
- 1/2 t salt
- 1 bag whole pecans
- 2 T bourbon
- 2 t vanilla
- 3 eggs lightly beaten
- cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves

Candy the pecans in the butter and spices, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Again, home made pie crust and a muffin tin, bake at 350 until set. They're not as elegant as the normal sized pecan pies, but the trick to excellent pecan pies is still the same: caramelize the pecans.

Last dessert on my menu was chocolate pots de creme:

I loosely based my recipe off of Alex Guarnaschelli's, and don't take that to mean I think my recipe is better than hers. I just didn't have things like almond extract in my pantry at the time, and these are so rich my dad asked that this time around instead of making them in tea cups I use mini ramekins. The ingredients list I've used twice now is as follows:

1 c whole milk
1 c half and half
1 T strong coffee
1 t vanilla
1 c chocolate
6 eggs
1/2 c cocoa
1/3 c sugar
1 c coffee tied into a cheesecloth

When I was making the custard I threw the coffee filled cheesecloth into the pot along with the dairy etc. to make a stronger coffee presence as it sets off the chocolate so well. I only had to bake for 20 minutes because my portions were smaller and I chilled them overnight. Super rich, very thick, extremely chocolaty and oh so tasty. Mmmmm chocolate...

And my last offering for dessert was a beverage -- eggnog, amaretto, coffee ice cubes, sprinkle of nutmeg. I personally hate the way melting ice makes my drinks taste, and there's no better combination than eggnog and coffee, so bam -- coffee ice cubes. I've tried this both with amaretto and with Baileys, and by far the Baileys is better than the amaretto.