Recipe - Pumpkin Pie

I'm not a coffee lover so you will never find me with a PSL (Pumpkin Spiced Latte) over the autumn months even though I'd love to try one. Something else that I have never tried but thought, 'why the hell not give it a shot!' is Pumpkin Pie.

Making use of the leftovers from carving that pumpkin this is a sweet treat way to make sure nothing goes to waste. The spices make it taste just like my favourite season should and it will be a struggle not to eat the whole thing. Maybe just one more slice, I must say I don't know why I had never given it a go before!

Ingredients

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

110g butter
300g flour
80g caster sugar
1 egg

Pumpkin Pie Filling

750g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
350g sweet shortcrust pastry
plain flour, for dusting
140g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp fresh nutmeg, grated
1 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
25g butter, melted
175ml milk

Method to the Madness

Make up pastry by rubbing the flour and butter together until in crumbs. Add the sugar and egg and bring together into a soft dough.

Place the pumpkin in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Once tender drain the pumpkin and let cool.

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use it to line a loose-bottomed tart tin. Pop in the fridge to chill for 15 mins. Line the pastry with baking parchment and baking beans, then bake for 15 mins. Remove the baking beans and paper, and cook for another 10 mins until the base is pale golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

 Increase oven temperature to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Push the cooled pumpkin through a sieve into a large bowl. In a different bowl, combine the sugar, salt, nutmeg and half the cinnamon. Next mix in the beaten eggs, melted butter and milk, then add to the pumpkin purée and stir to combine.

Pour into the pastry shell and cook for 10 mins, then reduce the temperature to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

Continue to bake for 35-40 mins until the filling has just set. If you fancy take out after 20 minutes to add some pastry decoration.

Leave to cool, then remove the pie from the tin. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon. Serve chilled.

Happy Halloween!
C x

October Favourites

Hitting you with a October Favourites right before the end of the month because why not!

Happy 'officially Autumn' now the clocks have gone back, and FYI it is only 8 Friday's until Christmas! Oh yes, that's exciting.

Music

Can't Pretend - Tom Odell - I'm a little bit late to this party but loving this song a hella lot.

Can't Feel My Face - The Weekend - A good dancing around the kitchen song this one!

Heart's On Fire - Passenger - I normally avoid the slow, acoustic songs (they make me too melancholic) but in my quest to find wedding music I have been listening to a few lovely ones including this one.

Books

The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood is a dystopian novel (my favourite!) and pretty addictive to read. Parts of it stop and make you think about what decisions you would make if needed and also the practicality of their future. I do wish that they had gone into the events that took them to that place and I wasn't a huge fan of the ending but having said that this is a solid novel that you should definitely give a read.

The Kind Worth Killing by Peter Swanson I read in about two days because I couldn't put it down. I've been reading quite a few thrillers which have been surprising me recently and it's quite pleasant. I do love to be surprised when reading. This is another book which makes you think about how far you would go, if at all. The story is multi-layered and very well written and I love the view points from the different characters who you should hate but can't quite bring yourself too. MUST READ.

 

Fashion

My student discount ran out last week which was very sad indeed and it wouldn't be a last hurrah unless I used it to buy something. Namely this coat from Dorothy Perkins which I freaking LOVE. It has this gorgeous brushed fabric texture which makes is super soft. So many people have said how lovely it looks and well you know you can never have enough coats right?

Blonde Waterfall Coat - Dorothy Perkins - £49.00 (although 10% off at the moment!)

I am also wrapping up warm in this incredible snood from H&M. For a start it is in a very dark grey and well I just love all things grey, but secondly it is huge and snuggly. The link is below but I would recommend going in store to buy as I have never had a good H&M online buying experience.

Knitted Scarf - H&M - £12.99

C x

Wedmin

Wedmin (or wedding admin) has completely taken over my life. Everyone keeps saying to me "how have you got everything so sorted?!" ~ the answer is easy, I love a project!

I have dived into wedding planning like I might dive into a box of fried chicken after a night out. With total enthusiasm and a complete lack of shame. And why shouldn't I? It all needs to be sorted so I might as well do it when I can.

To this end I have so far completed the following tasks with still a year to go until I get married:

• Date booked - we are having a October wedding
• Save the dates sent
• Venue hired
• Church hired
• DJ hired
• Catering chosen
• Decorations started
• Invites designed
• Florist appointment made
• Table plan 80% complete
• Videographer hired
• Photographer almost booked and of course 
• Wedding dress found.   

This does not mean that I am some kind of crazy, this just means that I know what I want and there is no point denying it. 

I would like to point out though that I am having a few problems, wrestling with myself over money, and wondering if I can really justify spending £500 more on a photographer just because I like her personality better than the £900 one. There was also a huge amount of guilt attached to finding "The Dress" which I will go into more detail in a post to follow ~ oh the suspense ~  

I went to the National Wedding Show at the weekend with a couple of other friends who are also getting married and we had a fantastic time. I was going to blog about it but it turns out that when you are there you kind of just get sucked into it all and I barely took any photos show off the exhibits, although of course I still managed to take some for research!

 If you are getting married though I really do think you pop along to a wedding show. Even if you don't end up using any of the vendors you meet it is a great place to be able to get away with talking about your day, plus it is always lovely to watch a fashion show and look at all the beautiful dresses. The next National Wedding Show is in February and you can buy tickets here.

So far I am 100% happy with the choices that we have made and I find myself thinking about the big day constantly. I do have wedding fever and I am pretty bloody happy about that. At the rate I'm going I will have several stress free months before the big day because I will have got it all done by May!  

C x