Kimberly Marteau Emerson’s personal twist

Who: Kimberly M. Emerson
What: Private cooking session

Part Two

Back again in the US-Residence in Berlin-Dahlem to meet Kimberly Marteau Emerson preparing her delicous pumpkin pie – exclusively for MyStylery and with her personal twist. A Thanksgiving dinner without a pumpkin pie is not conceivable.

Kimberly Marteau Emerson in her kitchen in the US-Residence in Berlin-Dahlem: Let’s do the pumpkin pie!

Kimberly’s pumpkin pie

How to make pumpkin purée:
You need one 4-5 lbs butternut squash or hokkaido pumpkin to make 1 lbs of pumpkin purée.

Split the pumpkin or squash in half, carve out the stem and scrape out the seeds. Arrange the pumpkin with the rind side down on a lightly oiled roasting pan, cover tightly with foil and bake at 325°F for 60 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 45 minutes longer or until the flesh is very soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool down. Scrape out the flesh and mash it to a pulp or purée it in the blender. Turn the pumpkin into a colander and wrap a cheesecloth around it. Cover with a cake pan topped with the 4-5 pound weight. Put the colander in the sink and let it drain for one hour.

Kimberly preparing the flaky pie crust

Flaky pie crust:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4 inch dices
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Carefully put dough to cover pan completely …

Mix the flour salt and sugar in a food processor. Scatter butter over dry ingredients and process until mixture resembles cornmeal about 5 to 10 seconds. Kern mixture into a medium-size bowl.
Drizzle 3 tablespoons of water over flour mixture. Then press down on mixture with a fork, so balls stick together in medium to large clumps. If dough resist gathering, sprinkle remaining water over dry patches and press with a fork a few times. Form dough into a ball with your hands. Wrapped in plastic, then flatten two of 4 inch disc. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to two days.
Sprinkle the 2 ft.² work area with flour. Remove due from wrapping and place in the center of the working area. Dust top with flour. Roll out carefully in all directions from the center to the edges. Flip disc over when it is 9 inches in diameter and continue to roll out all directions, until it is 13 to 14 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick.

Flute by pressing thumb and index finger about 1/2 inch apart against the outside edge of the dough. Repeat all the way around

Fold dough in quarters and place the corner in the center of the pie pan. Carefully unfold dough to cover pan completely, with excess dough draped over the pan rim. With a sharp knife or some scissors cut away all of the dough hanging over the rim more than 1 inch. You have to make sure you have 1 inch of dough overlapping the pie form rim. Now tuck the overlapping dough under itself so the folded edge is flush with the edge of the pan rim. Press double layer of dough with your fingers to seal, then bend up at a 90-degree angle and flute by pressing thumb and index finger about 1/2 inch apart against the outside edge of the dough. Repeat all the way around.

Golden Retriever Ginger hopes that something delicious falls on the ground

Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm dough shell. Using a fork, prick bottom and sides at 1/2 inch intervals. Flatten a 12 inch square of aluminum foil inside the shell, pressing it against corners, sides and carefully over rim. Prick foil bottom in about a dozen places with a fork. Chill shell for 30 minutes to allow the dough to relax.
Adjust an oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 400°F. (Start making the filling when you put the shell into the oven)
Bake 15 minutes, pressing down on foil to flatten any puffs. Remove foil and bake the show for 8 to 10 minutes longer, or until the inside just begins to color.

Here, Kimberly starts to prepare the pumpkin filling

Pumpkin filling:

2 cups homemade pumpkin purée
1 cup packed brown sugar (from the Asian market)
2 teaspoons ground ginger or 1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup milk
4 large eggs

Add 1 cup packed brown sugar to the pumpkin …

… and 2 teaspoons ground ginger and also 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon … “My secret is a little extra cinnamon.”

… 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg …

… and all other ingredients like 2/3 cup heavy cream …

… finally, add the eggs …

For filling, process first 7 ingredients in a food processor for 30 seconds. Transfer pumpkin mix into a medium sized sauce pan. Bring it to a sputtering simmer over medium high heat. Kung, Kim, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about 5 minutes. As soon as the pie shell comes out of the oven, whisk heavy cream and milk into the pumpkin mix and bring it to simmer. Process eggs in food processor until egg whites and egg yolks mixed for about 5 seconds. With the motor running slowly pour about half of the pumpkin mix through the feed tube. Stop the machine and add remaining pumpkin mix. Process 30 seconds longer.

Pour warm filling into hot pie shell …

… bake for 25 minutes, while Ginger is still waiting 😉

Pour warm filling into hot pie shell. Bake for 25 minutes or until filling is puffed, dry-looking, and lightly cracked around the edges, and center wiggles like gelatin when the pie is gently shaken. Cool on a wire rack for least one hour.

After cooling on a wire rack for least one hour, decorate with whipped cream

Serve with whipped cream

“For the topping I only use freshly-made whipped cream”, says Kimberly. Yummy!

The table is set with Fine Bone China with the coat of arms of the United States of America

Well done, Kimberly and bon appetite! This cake is amazing!