Cup Pies! Pumpkin Ones!

I made cup pies! Pumpkin cup pies!

Look at my pumpkin cup pie!

Fans of Pushing Daisies will of course know that a cup pie is a single-serve pie with honey baked into the crust.

Chuck promotes cup pies to Ned in Pushing Daisies (Image source)

I've not baked in I can't remember how long... But this occasion all started with my plan to make pumpkin pie to take in as a Halloween treat for my workmates. I love pumpkin, seriously, love pumpkin. I think that it is intentionally designed to be hard to cut up because otherwise humans would simply overdose on it because it is so good. It's the only vegetable for which I am willing to make all that effort. 

However, I've only had pumpkin pie once or twice in my life, when I have been fed it by an American friend. I decided that it had been too long since I'd indulged in this wonderful treat and that I would break my baking drought with pumpkin pie. As I was going to take it into work, I thought it would make more sense to make small ones that I could distribute easily.

But it was when I found myself short of sugar for the pastry and The Cat suggested I make up the difference with honey that I realised I was actually making cup pies, with honey as the vital ingredient!

Honey - the secret cup pie ingredient.
That's Philip up on the cupboard - he watches over the Cat and I, cheering us up when we're down or stressed.

I used a recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry I got off the BBC website, using about 50g of sugar and a few healthy scoops of honey. You can definitely taste the hint of honey. Unfortunately the pastry stayed quite soft even after a proper, long baking, which isn't so good for individual pies that you want to be able to pick up in your hand. I'm not sure if the result was due to the honey or it's just the usual result of the runny pumpkin filling - perhaps pumpkin pie crusts are always a bit soggy and that doesn't matter when you have a slice on a plate? In any case, I'd experiment with different quantities of honey in the pastry if I tried it again, and I'm not sure if it would be worth trying a slightly different approach such as blind baking first...

Chopping the pumpkin, keeping the seeds aside in case I decide to roast them later.
And I know, no chopping board - bad form.

For the filling, I just pressed on as instructed in the BBC's pumpkin pie recipe, without messing about.

Only for you, oh marvellous pumpkin, would I do all this chopping.
(Note: the wine was an aid, not an ingredient)

The next adjustment came with the baking time. As I was doing lots of small pies, they required less baking time than one big one, but it was still a good 25 minutes.

So much excitement! They actually worked!

Smells so good... (And yes, my lipstick has worn off a little due to sampling the pastry and filling as I cooked...)

Plate of cup pies - although slightly incorrect in Pushing Daisies terms as I used a mince pie tray rather than a muffin one, so they should technically be deeper... but I'm not really complaining.

I found the result really very sweet - maybe I got my measurements slightly wrong, used the wrong kind of pumpkin, or should have made adjustments to the sweet ingredients due to the honey in the crust... Or maybe I'm just not used to treats this sugary. But adding a dollop of cream took the edge off the sweetness, making it almost perfect.

Cup pie?

French Spy? Or Doctor Who's Companion?

You decide.

French spy about to sabotage the police call box...

... or Doctor Who's companion about to embark on another adventure in the TARDIS?

Fun times in Glasgow, either way.

Sooty (and Sweep) Nostalgia

Last Sunday, my mum, my sister, The Cat and I all went off to see The Sooty Christmas Show at the Garrick Theatre.  I thought this merited a mention on here because (a) we all had a good old-fashioned fun time and (b) the show is, when you think about it, a vintage gem and classic.

I will transcribe for you the brief history of The Sooty Show as included on the label of the Sweep puppets my sister and I purchased (because, as anyone who's anyone knows, Sweep is totally cool):

In July 1948 Harry Corbett was on holiday with his wife, Marjorie, and children, David and Matthew.  While walking on The North Pier, Harry spotted a teddy bear puppet in a gift shop.  For the pricely sum of 7s6d, Harry purchased the little bear and introduced his new partner into his amateur magic act.  Such was his success, a BBC TV producer asked Harry to make an appearance on screen.  Sooty's antics instantly captivated the nation and won him a place in television history,  New members joined the Sooty family including the lovable spaniel Sweep and Soo the helpful panda.  In 1976, Harry's son Matthew took over as Sooty's right hand man, followed in 2000 by Richard Cadell.

Of course, being a child of the 80s, it's Matthew Corbett's guardianship of the three puppets that I remember.  So I'll leave you with a classic 80s scene.

Sooty's Busy Christmas (Image source)