Pumpkin-Mascarpone Pie, An Award and Thanks

I have a story about this pie. Well, actually - it's a secret. So I cannot tell you yet - because if a family member should read this ... But it has to do with my taking a perfectly good American tradition and then giving it an Italian twist. "Why can't I leave well enough alone," exclaim some people? (Non-Italians.) And I can't. I'm still tyring to figure out how to get pasta on my Midwest Thanksgiving table.

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This is pretty close to the pumpkin pie recipe on the canned pureed pumpkin! I periodically lower the sugar amount - thinking pumpkin is sweet enought, thank-you. But I was determined (shh) to make this pie a tad Italian. And why not celebrate harvests world-wide? I'll start with Italy and you can run with the ball!
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Oh and the crust! make your favorite. Use pasta frolla, use Cook's Illustrated - whatever works in your day. Or buy a prepared one!




Gather your ingredients:

1 can pumpkin puree

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar (sometimes I flip-flop the sugars)
2 eggs

1t cinnamon

1t ground ginger

1/2t nutmeg (I freshly grate it and guess and usually use more)

1/4t ground cloves

1/4t salt

1t vanilla

1 8-oz container mascarpone



Mix your pumpkin, sugars and eggs.




Add the spice and vanilla.


Watch the color brighten after the creamy clouds of mascarpone are blended in.Pour into favorite pie crust and cook at 350 degrees F for one hour till set. (Stoves vary so check your pie after 50-55 minutes. Mine took exactly one hour.) Cool and serve with spoonfuls of whipped cream. (Can be made one day ahead of time. Cool, cover and refrigerate. If desired, rewarm in 325 degree F oven for 5-10 minutes.)

Piping hot.

And perfect.

But going ...

going ...

and....

gone. As American as apple ...well pumpkin pie and as rich as the tapestries of Italy. Layered, sweet, spiced, creamy and "worth the calories!"

I would like to offer thanks and .. apologies. My Little Space presented me with the sweetest of awards:

... in October. As I have only been posting on the run and once a week these days, I have yet to post it. So I am posting it proudly and happily and thankfully. My Little Space
is a treasure trove of wonderful recipes: breads, sweets, yams, dim sum. Pay a visit. I promise you you'll stay.

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I am grateful for so much: being busy which means I have a rich full life, cyberspace friends who I feel I chat and drink coffee (and ahem wine) with many days and that my table does have a harvest when so many do not. I would like to pass to all but last time I did that, there were no takers. You are all so shy. So for today, the friendship blogger will go to:

Bunny's Warm Oven

Lynda's Recipe Box

Chow and Chatter

My Food and Life Encounters

Meatless Mama

Dish 'n That