Mini Desserts

Last month my friend/sister (meaning that she is not only a friend, but more as a sister to me) had a party at her house to celebrate a couple of events; her birthday, her 25th wedding anniversary and the decoration of the family Christmas Tree. That I may add is about 15 feet tall. Yearly she has a dinner party with the family to help her decorate for Christmas and a great excuse to get together. Plus everyone gets in the holiday mood. Not a bad idea, right?

It was something like a potluck kinda party, everyone was taking something. I, of course, offered to take some dessert. Being a big family and having so much fun around, mini desserts was the best bet. So I got to work and came up with Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with walnuts and Cream Cheese Frosting and to challenge myself I offered mini pies, because I had laying around a Pumpkin Pie recipe that I was wanting to make for a while now.

Take a look and see for yourself the final result and let me know what you think.

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes
(make them at home: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes)

Mini Pumpkin Pies

To make a delicious Pumpkin Pie follow the recipe below courtesy of How To Eat A Cupcake, and if you thought that this recipe couldn't get any better take a look at her blog and browse around you'll love it as much as I do. Blogs are a great way to rich out to others and teach them great and delicious recipes.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie (from The Culinary Arts Institute Cookbook; 1985)

Ingredients:

Take your pie dough and make circles out of it, bake in a mini cupcake pan

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

3 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon each ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 egg whites

1 cup chilled heavy cream, stiffly beaten (Like Cassie did in her recipe, I only used 3/4 cup of cream and added 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla)

Directions:

Soften gelatin in the cold water and set aside. Combine pumpkin, sugar, milk, egg yolks, spices, and salt in the top of a double boiler. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes. Stir in softened gelatin and cook 5 minutes more. Cool. Beat the egg whites (I added 3 tablespoons of sugar to the egg whites) until soft peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into thoroughly cooled pumpkin filling. Pour mixture into pie shell. Chill until set. Top with whipped cream. Now enjoy, but remember to share!

Want a closer look? Well, here you go!