I really can’t believe Thanksgiving in America is only a week away! I’m not sure where the time went, I saw the leaves change, but I think the 70 degree days we had in November caught me off guard. However, those days are gone and this morning it was 27 degrees outside, so I’d like to give a shout out to the person who invented heated seats in my car! You should be in line for sainthood! With only a week to prepare I thought today it would be fun to give you a few super quick recipes for desserts. All of these pies can be made in under 5 minutes each, plus cooking time. While they cook you can be preparing other dishes that can made ahead of time. The first two, pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie are similar in taste but I have to say, I really enjoyed the sweet potato pie much better. It has a denser texture and the flavors seem more pronounced. I was a surprised as I love everything about pumpkins, from growing them to eating them. Granted the pumpkin pie was an all in one can mix which probably had something to do with it. But this post is about quick desserts!
The other two desserts are not as conventional but could make it into your holiday favorites list. The second pie might be hard to wrap your mind around but let me tell you once you get past the main ingredient you’ll really enjoy this pie and I’ll bet it’ll even fool your friends. I’m talking about pinto bean pie! Yes you read that correctly, pinto bean pie, it’s actually very tasty and mimics pecan pie. The recipe I’ll be using comes from the Bush’s bean company. It’s the pie they serve you if you go for a tour of their factory in Tennessee. I tweaked it a little because they use way too much butter, even for me! The first dessert is something I found about 20 years and totally forgot about it until I found a bag of frozen cranberries buried in my freezer. Cranberry walnut cake or upside down cake. You can make it both ways. This is a super simple yet delicious cake that’ll probably be eaten so fast you’d better save a slice for yourself.
If you’ve been reading my blog you’d know I don’t usually like to use to many packaged or canned ingredients but since this post is about quick and easy, I’m going make a few suggestions. First sweetened condensed milk will make your life so much easier around the holidays. I wrote about some of it’s uses here. Another quick must have is pre-made pie shells or crust. Then you’ll want to get canned pumpkin puree and canned sweet potatoes or yams in a light syrup. I decided to try a pumpkin pie mix that had the sugar and spices already added to the can. This was a mistake, but it’s why we try new things. First of all not everyone spices their pumpkin pies the same. Some like allspice or cloves or less nutmeg etc. Second I wasn’t sure what type of sugar they used. Whatever it was the pie came out more like jello and way too sweet. The weird thing was that premixed pie only lasted about three days before it had to be tossed out. Not sure why but needless to say I’ll stick with my old tried and true method for super quick pumpkin pies. The following recipe is exactly the same for sweet potato pie as it is for pumpkin, except of course you use sweet potato instead of pumpkin. ( you might laugh but I get some interesting questions sometimes ).
- Quick Pumpkin or Sweet Potato Pie
- 1-15 oz. can of pumpkin puree or 2 cups smashed sweet potato
- 1- 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice, or use your own mixture
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 9 inch pie crust
- Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
- In a large enough bowl to hold everything , beat the eggs then add the milk and combine, then the pumpkin or sweet potato puree and finally add the spices and salt.
- Place the mixture into the 9 inch pie crust and bake for 15 minutes.
- Turn oven temperature down to 350 degrees and bake an additional 30-40 minutes or until a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Top with whipped cream or any of your favorite toppings.
Those two pies can be made in under seven minutes and they both cook at about the same rate so you can place them in the oven together. While they’re cooking you could be making the next dessert, the cranberry walnut cake. I like to make it as the upside down version but what happened to me was I had used the two 9 inch pie plates I had for the pumpkin pies, so I went with the 10 inch cast iron skillet and I think the extra inch made a big difference in how the cake turned out. A 9 inch pie plate seems to be the best as the toppings stay on the bottom because they get covered by the cake batter. In my 10 inch cast iron there was a little too much room so the topping tended to push more to the outside of the cake. When I turned it over this caused the cake to stick a little, so the final result wasn’t as pretty as it could have been. It still tasted yummy though! You can use fresh or frozen cranberries, if you use frozen don’t thaw them out first. Something else I thought about later, is that you might want to put 1/4 cup of dried cranberries into the batter. Only do this if ,like me, you love the taste of cranberries! Keeping those few things in mind ,let’s get started.
- Cranberry Walnut Cake -Upside down Version
- The Topping
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Butter the inside of a 9 inch deep dish pie plate or a cast iron skillet
- 1/2 stick butter
- 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 3/4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries , d(o not thaw if frozen)
- 3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
- Add the butter and sugar into a small pan and heat over medium heat until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved. Then toss in the cranberries and walnuts and coat throughly.
- Place the mixture into the 9 inch pie plate or the cast iron skillet and set aside.
- The Cake Batter
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup milk
- Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together.
- In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar and then add the eggs. Mix until incorporated then add the vanilla extract and milk.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine throughly.
- Pour the batter over the cranberry walnut mixture that is in the pie dish or skillet.
- Place the pie dish or skillet into the oven for 50-60 minutes or until a fork stuck in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let sit for 15 min to cool.
- Run a knife around the edge to loosen the cake.
- Place a plate big enough to hold the cake over the pie dish or skillet and flip the cake over. Let it sit on a flat surface for a few minutes before lifting the pie plate or skillet and see if it came out clean.
- Good luck! Usually it comes out perfect each time. (not for me this time!)
Yep, it stuck to the skillet!
This last pie is one I’ve been wanting to make for you for a long time. Now seems like the right time because as the saying goes,”It’s 2020 nothing surprises me anymore!” This pie recipe comes from the Bush’s bean people but I found it in a cookbook that was a hundred years old. Pinto beans have been part of the southwest for thousands of years and pecans grow there as well so in my mind I like to think of this as a southwestern dish, even though the south tends to claim it. I love the ingenuity of the people that created this dish, it’s creamy and delicious and has that,”what is that ingredient, flavor?” that’ll make people wonder. It mimics pecan pie pretty well and you’re not using a cup of corn syrup to make it! It’s super simple to create and I hope you give it a try at least once.
- Pinto Bean Pie
- 1 cup drained mashed and slightly heated canned pinto beans
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 3/4 cup butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup pecans, finely chopped
- 2 eggs, well beaten
- 1 unbaked 9″ pie crust
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- I like to add the sugar to the beans while I heat them up a little. (this helps the mixture to set better when cooking)
- Combine all 6 ingredients together and mix well
- Pour into unbaked pie shell.
- Bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour. Center of pie will be slightly unset.
- Don’t worry if the center seems soft it’ll set up as it cools.
So there you have four simple and fast desserts to make for Thanksgiving. If you have a recipe you’d like to share with us please do so in the comment box, I’d love to see it! I hope these recipes help you save a little time this holiday season. I never thought I’d say it but I might be getting tired of the old pumpkin pie, so that’s why I’m glad I have these other ones to try. Of course there’s always the Hillbilly Pumpkin Cake, which I’ll never get tired of , but making it is much more time consuming. Hopefully in the next few days I’ll get out another blog on some tasty easy to make side dishes so you can breeze right through without too much trouble. I think we’ve all been through enough this year so lets give ourselves a break! Take the time to enjoy the things in life that you’re grateful for. Get out in nature and just breathe! Try not to sweat the small stuff and be kind to one another. Until next time Boone Appétit!
