Sweet Potato Pecan Pie Shot

Thanksgiving is all about tradition.  I grew up as an only child.  Both of my parents came from larger families, and we spend most of our holidays with them, so nearly all of our traditions have been handed down to us.  It’s hard for such a small family unit to form any traditions of our own.  That being said, one tradition that is all ours is Sweet Potato Pecan Pie.

Many years ago, my parents discovered the joys of Cajun and Creole food.  In one of their cookbooks, they found a recipe for Sweet Potato Pecan Pie.  When we venture to Buffalo for our big holiday gatherings, others usually take care of the desserts.  But for the Thanksgivings and Christmases that we celebrate at home in Pennsylvania, we always have our Sweet Potato Pecan Pie.

So, to further the tradition, I made Sweet Potato Pecan Pie Shotibles for Thanksgiving this year.  Once again, I used the store bought pie crust dough.  The filling includes mashed sweet potatoes, butter, brown sugar, eggs, cream, sugar and some bourbon.  I then topped each with pecan halves and some chopped pecans.  I covered that with a syrup made with sugar, eggs, corn syrup, butter, and more bourbon.  I baked them for nearly an hour and a half at 300 degrees.

What’s fun is I didn’t have to work hard to find a liquor that would match the dessert.  My family always includes bourbon, even though it’s not part of the original recipe.  And, it’s still kid friendly because the alcohol cooks off.  Jeff and I headed up to Buffalo without my folks this year.  I brought the Sweet Potato Pecan Pie Shotibles along, and shared the tradition with the rest of my family.

Pumpkin Pie Shot

Thanksgiving is still a few days away, but it was such a nice day my parents decided to put their Christmas lights up.  When it got dark, the lights came on automatically, but then they turned back off a few seconds later.  Moments later, the lights came back on, and then flashed off again.  It was too slow to be a flash setting.  It could be speculated that it was because Thanksgiving hadn’t come yet and it was too soon to be celebrating Christmas.  That, or they were so bright that they kept triggering the light sensor they were plugged into, causing them to turn off.

Anyway, Pumpkin Pie is clearly the quintessential Thanksgiving dessert.  I used the store bought pie crust dough again. Unlike the Apple Pie, I baked the crust for a few minutes before filling it this time.

For the filling, I combined canned “pure” pumpkin, evaporated milk, molasses, eggs, brown sugar and spice.  For the liquor, I used spiced rum.  It seemed appropriate.  I poured the mixture into the glasses and baked them for half an hour.

Before serving, I made whipped cream using heavy whipping cream, sugar and more spiced rum.

Apple Pie Shot

As hard as retailers try to move it up, I am a big proponent of holding off the Christmas season until after Thanksgiving. That is why the next three posts are dedicated to pie, the quintessential Thanksgiving dessert. The first baked pie Shotible is Apple Pie.

I used a store-bought pie dough crust for the glass.   Each package came with two crusts. I cut each into quarters, and then rolled each quarter into a ball. I then spread the dough out covering the sides and bottom of the molds.

For the filling, I made a syrup with brandy, butter, flour, sugar, brown sugar and spices. I brought the mixture to a simmer in a sauce pan. I then added diced apples. I used a combination of Macintoshes and Granny Smiths. I cooked them for just a few minutes in the sauce pan just to soften them up a little.

I filled each dough glass with the apple mixture put them in the 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. I then took them out of the oven and covered them with aluminum foil so the tops wouldn't burn when I baked them for another 15 minutes.

We brought the Apple Pie Shotibles with us to dinner the next night with my folks, my cousin Cherise and her fiance Pat.  There were a couple left over that Jeff and I took with us on a weekend trip to New York City.  I figured, what better place for an Apple Pie Shotibles photo shoot than the Big Apple itself?

Carrot Cake Shot

I have been looking forward to the fall for half a year because I wanted to make a Carrot Cake Shotible.  I’m not sure when I got to the age where it became acceptable to eat a dessert with a vegetable as the key ingredient, but I can tell you I haven’t looked back since.  Carrot Cake has become one of my all time favorite desserts.

I’ve got to hand it to the companies that make box cake mixes.  Not only do they engineer them so that it is just about impossible for anyone to screw them up, but lately they’ve come out with some pretty complex flavors that produce rather sophisticated desserts.  The Carrot Cake mix I used for this Shotible came with two packages in the box.  One contained the normal cake mix, but the other had dried shredded carrots and raisins.  You soak the carrots and raisins in hot water for five minutes before mixing them in with the rest of the cake batter.  The result is a cake with distinctively varied flavors and textures.

For the filling, cream cheese frosting was a must for carrot cake.  I used hazelnut liqueur as the flavoring and mixed in chopped pecans.  And of course what would a Carrot Cake Shotible be without an orange and green frosting carrot on top?