I saw this post on Tasty Kitchen today as I was browsing the site. My Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins were also in the feautured section on the site! If you’ve never been to Tasty Kitchen, although I’m not sure who hasn’t heard of The Pioneer Woman, Ree, by now. I am a regular pioneer woman junkie. I think it’s one of the many websites I visit when I first turn my computer on. I’m addicted. I found her site about a year or two ago when I first developed my addiction to food blogs, and I read her entire story Black Heels to Tractor Wheels in probably two sittings. I was hooked. I love her site, and her new cookbook. Which, I really hope she makes a tour up into Canada so I can meet her! Tasty Kitchen is a website launch of hers that is a community cooking and baking network. It’s free to join and you can meet lots of different bakers on it.

Now, back to this cake. My mom came home from work yesterday with a big container of strawberries. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make with them, which of course was my first thought when I saw them. So, I plopped a few into some yogurt and went on my way. And then to work. You remember, my high-heel wearing 7 hour shift. Yesterday it was only five high-heel-wearing hours. And that was enough. So this morning when I woke up at 8:30 on a saturday morning, with Lainey next to me and my mom off to Osoyoos for the weekend, and another night of high heel wearing work ahead of me, I decided to bake something. I think I’ve officialy substituted baked goods for lunch, cereal for breakfast of course and something for dinner. This recipe comes from The Caramel Cookie with a few adaptions. It’s a very fluffy light tasting cake studded with delicious strawberries. I love summer and all it’s fruit and veggie goodness.

Tomorrow I’m making a Louis Vuitton Suitcase cake as requested for a friend, with a Louis Vuitton Shoe of course. Stay tooned!

In the meantime, please if you have strawberries around and a cup or two of flour, try this delicious cake, it’s perfect to whip up if someone stops by for a visit.

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This weekend in Canada is Thanksgiving! Which means food, food and more food. And of course, Pie. It wouldn’t be thanksgiving without a pie for dessert. Even though you’re usually too full from all that food to even think about eating any more, but somehow everyone always manages to make room for dessert.

Traditionally Thanksgiving means pumpkin pie. But, nowadays pumpkin cheesecakes and other desserts are making their way into the spotlight as the holiday dessert. This year however, I wasn’t going to let pumpkin pie take the backseat to this new trend. My mom had gotten a pumpkin cheesecake for thanksgiving, but she knew I would be baking something else as well. I couldn’t not!I decided to bake two types of pies. Now usually we have a massive thanksgiving dinner, up to 30 people so three desserts would be acceptable, but this year there’s 12. And, it’s not three desserts, its four. I had planned on making a large pumpkin pie, and a pecan pie. But I noticed I only had two smaller pie dishes and one larger one and enough pie dough to make three crusts. So, why not make three pies?? Yup. Three. Two smaller pecan pies and a pumpkin pie, and then the non-homemade pumpkin cheesecake. It was necessary. So to all the Canadians Happy Thanksgiving! And make room for pie!

Good Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Buttermilk Pie Crust (recipe from joy the baker)

• 2 sticks (8 ounces) cold unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 (12 ounces) cups all purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (5 to 6 ounces) buttermilk

1.  Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.  Measure out the buttermilk and store in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

2.  Sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.  Take the cold butter from the freezer and toss it with the flour mixture.

3.  Dump the cold butter cubes and flour mixture onto a large work area for rolling.  With a rolling pin, roll the mixture, flattening the butter cubes with the flour into long, thin, floured butter sheets.  Work quickly to ensure that the butter stays cold.  Below is what the rolled butter and flour look like after I’ve gathered them together on the work surface a bit.

4.  Place the flour and flattened butter back in the large bowl and chill for 10 minutes.    When the butter is cold, remove the bowl from the refrigerator, make a small well in the center of the flour and butter mixture.  Add the cold buttermilk to the bowl all at once.  Begin to bring the dough together with one hand ( keep the other hand free to answer the phone).  Moisten all of the flour with the milk, using your hand to break up large clumps of milk and flour.  The dough will be rather shaggy, but you can add another tablespoon of buttermilk, if you see that all your flour isn’t moistened.  Form the dough into two disks.  The disks will be rough, and hard to shape together, but once they rest in the fridge for an hour, they’ll be easier to roll out.

5.  Chill the dough for at least an hour in the refrigerator.  At this point, the dough will keep in the fridge for up to three days, or in the freezer for up to three weeks.  For freezing, roll the dough out into sheets and wrap them in plastic film.

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

- makes 6 to 8 servings -
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

Ingredients:

1 9-inch single pie crust, partially baked and cooled
2 cups (canned) unsweetened pumpkin puree
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup sour cream
Pumpkin Pie Spice – As much as you like depending on how spicy you like your pie!
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat and put the pie plate on it.
2. Put all of the filling ingredients in mixer, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Alternatively, you can whisk the ingredients together vigorously in a mixing bowl. Rap either the work bowl or mixing bowl against the counter to burst any surface bubbles, and pour the filling into the crust.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 300°F and continue to bake for 35 to 45 minutes longer, or until a knife inserted close to the center comes out clean. (If you don’t want to create a slash in your masterpiece, tap the pan gently—if the custard doesn’t jiggle, or only jiggles a teensy bit in the very center, it’s done.) Transfer the pie to a rack and cool to room temperature.

Storing: Like most pies, this one is best served the day it is made. However, you can make the pie early in the day and keep it refrigerated until needed.

Happy Thanksgiving =)