From Pumpkin to Pie... A Step-By-Step Guide on How to Make Pumpkin Pie from Scratch

Ever heard about those people who take a whole pumpkin and somehow whittle it down into puree for a delicious pie? I simultaneously hate and love those people. Love them for the amazing confection they produce and the work they put into it, but jealous that they conquered something so dauntingly domestic.

But here is where the tides turn - you too can conquer the pumpkin! I was afraid I might fail at it.. or that I wouldn't be strong enough to cut it in half... but if you follow these simple steps, you'll find that making a delicious homemade pie from scratch is not so scary. And it is totally worth it when you tell people, "Yeah, I made it from scratch... like from a real pumpkin." 

Oh yes.

Okay, now onto the serious stuff.

It is best to start with what is called a "sugar pumpkin" or "baking pumpkin." These pumpkins are smaller than most decorative pumpkins, and are bred to be sweeter in taste. However, you can use any pumpkin you'd like to make your own pumpkin puree!

After you've got the pumpkin...

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350.

2. Once preheated, pop that whole pumpkin in the oven. I put it on top of a cookie sheet. Let the pumpkin sit in the oven about 20 minutes. 

After about 20 minutes has passed, you will notice that the pumpkin has turned a deeper orange color.

3. Take the pumpkin out of the oven, but leave the oven on at 350 degrees! We will be using it again soon.

4. Pop the stem off the top of the pumpkin by taking a strong knife (I used a butter knife), slightly dig the tip of the knife under the stem, and then apply pressure to the opposite end of the knife. The stem should pop off fairly easily. 

4. You'll notice that the pumpkin has become softer after being in the oven. Take a sharp knife (I used a turkey carving knife) and starting at the top where you just removed the stem, slice the pumpkin in half. It's not too difficult now that the pumpkin is nice and soft.

5. This is probably the most time consuming part. Take a spoon (or ice cream scoop!) and scoop out all of the stringy stuff and seeds. Set that aside so that you can toast the seeds later for a yummy snack!

6. After scooping out seeds and stringy parts, cut the pumpkin in quarters.

7. Place the quarters on top of foil on top of a rimmed cookie sheet.

8. Pour a cup of water onto the baking sheet. This helps keep the pumpkin nice and moist while baking.

9. Place the cookie sheet in the 350 degree oven. Bake for 45 minutes. This is what my pumpkin looked like when I took it out. You will know the pumpkin is ready when a fork can be inserted into the skin of the pumpkin and the fork easily slides in a pierces the flesh.

10. After letting the pumpkin cool for about 10 minutes or so, take the spoon (or ice cream scoop) and scoop out the pumpkin meat. All that will be left are pumpkin skins!

11. You can try mushing/mixing the pumpkin meat with a spoon, but I recommend putting it in a food processor or blender. I put the pumpkin in the blender until the consistency was a nice and smooth puree.

Now you have fresh pumpkin puree, ready to go for you fall dessert exploits! You can use it immediately (which I recommend), or you can store it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to a year! The small pumpkin pictured in this post made about 3 cups of puree.

After all the "hard work" is over, now you can make whatever you would like with your pumpkin! I decided to make a Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake.

This cheesecake is based off the recipe found here: 

Double Layer Pumpkin Cheesecake

I slightly changed the recipe, and loved the results! Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients

20 oz. cream cheese (2.5 packages), softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (9 inch) prepared shortbread crust
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Whipped cream, to serve on top/on the side.


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1.5 cups of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.

3. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover with whipped topping before serving.

On the right is my pure-cheesecake layer. On the left is my yummy pumpkin-cheesecake batter. 

 The final result!

Oh, and for my fellow friends at high altitude - this pumpkin cheesecake was made in Denver and it turned out great!

The cheesecake tasted marvelous. If I were serving it for a fancy occasion, I bet it would be amazing with some caramel sauce drizzled on the top.

By the way, this pie tastes better and better as it ages. (It only lasted a week, but I felt the flavors became more and more pronounced with each day.) 

Oh, and don't forget those pumpkin seeds! I used a cinnamon-sugar recipe to toast my seeds. I added a dash of cayenne for some kick.

I used the pumpkin seed recipe found here:

Sugar and Spice Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Good luck, and have fun!!

Berchtesgaden, Germany

We made another quick stop by a picturesque place in the Bavarian Alps before continuing on to Munich. From about 10am to 1pm we enjoyed quaint little Hallstatt. About an hour away to the west lies Berchtesgaden, Germany. We spent about 3 hours here before heading on to Munich.

The drive into Berchtesgaden.

Ian was the one who spoke of his interest in visiting this place. I had previously never heard of it. However, Berchtesgaden is a very famous spot. Hitler was enamoured with this place because of its obvious beauty and serenity. The Nazis bought the land near Berchtesgaden and used it as a mountain retreat. 

The little town of Berchtesgaden, nestled in the mountains.

The mountains towering over the town of Berchtesgaden contain Hitler's Eagle's Nest, a personal mountain retreat that was built for Hitler as a 50th birthday present. There are still tours up to the Eagle's Nest. Unfortunately, due to the cold and wet spring, the Eagles Nest was still closed to visitors when we visited in mid-May. If you plan on visiting, make sure to check out the opening/closing dates and visiting hours.

Since the Eagle's Nest was closed to visitors, we decided to take a scenic hike to an overlook of the Konigsee - a serene mountain lake.

Konigsee Overlook

We passed over this stream on a footbridge while on our hike.

We made it back to the car just as a storm started rolling in. Perfect timing!

Heaven on Earth - Travelling to Hallstatt, Austria

Dear Reader,

Let me tell you about one of the most beautiful places on Earth. This place has apparently been inhabited since at least 800 BC. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is nestled in gorgeous Austrian mountainside and right next to a placid lake. This place is called Hallstatt.

If you came here from Pinterest, you may be in the same situation I was just over a year ago. My husband and I were trying to determine what to do/where to go on our trip to Europe. When I saw a picture of Hallstatt on Pinterest I decided right then and there - I MUST go to this beautiful place.

And we did. And it was magical - but it almost, almost, didn't happen. 

So if you, dear reader, decide to go to Hallstatt, Austria on a day trip like we did, I want to give you some pointers so you'll know what to expect and how to save yourself an anxiety attack when you are trying to find where to park.

Hallstatt is a tiny town of less than one thousand inhabitants. The most scenic part, the part of the town on the "Seestrasse" is actually completely closed off to cars. Because of a lack of parking space, they literally only allow the inhabitants of the town to drive into it. There is a turnstile at the entrance to this part of Hallstatt. Do NOT pull up to it expecting to be able to pay the machine, get a ticket and go on through. This will not happen. Residents have been given passes that let them into their community. Everybody that visits must walk.

However, this doesn't mean you can't drive to Hallstatt. This just means you have to park outside of the quaint town and have a short walk/shuttle ride down. There are 3 major parking lots. When driving to Hallstatt you may or may not see (we didn't) the signs pointing to parking lots and indicating how many spaces are left in each one. Keep your eye out for them.

Pictures of these signs are on Hallstatt's website, as well as a map of where the parking lots are. Print this material out if you plan to visit!!
http://www.hallstatt.net/parking-in-hallstatt/cars/

In addition, I want to take this time to remind you that this town is SERIOUSLY small. If you blink you may drive right past it and into the tunnel in the mountain that runs parallel to the town.

When we went to visit we ended up actually driving through this tunnel in the mountain twice because we were so confused as to how to enter the town (since the turnstile wouldn't let us through).

Lesson learned - do PLENTY of research before travelling to a country where you may not have your precious Google on 4G to save you. Hah!

There are no major hotel chains in Hallstatt, they are all locally owned hotels and B&B's. Hallstatt's website again is probably one of the best places to find and book accommodation if you plan on staying there.
http://www.hallstatt.net/accommodation/

If you don't have a lot of time to stay and look around at Hallstatt, that is okay! It is still TOTALLY worth your time to drive out there. My husband and I fit it in while we were driving from Vienna to Munich. We probably only had about 3 or 4 hours there at the most but we felt that we were able to fit in so much and it was one of our very favorite places on the whole trip.

If you are on VERY short time, the things I would recommend doing in Hallstatt while you are there (assuming it is fairly comfortable outside) are:
-Walk through the whole town (this doesn't take long, 10-25 mins depending on pace)
-Stop in a couple of the stores/bakeries
-Look in and around the Catholic and Protestant churches (you can't miss them, and they are free to look around)
-Make sure you stop and look at the catholic cemetery - all of the plots have been made into gardens
-Stop and eat at one of the restaurants (preferably one with outdoor seating overlooking the beautiful lake
-Take a ride on the ferry (note: it runs on a very strict schedule, and isn't the cheapest - we just missed the ferry due to our parking fiasco, so I can't personally comment on it but from pictures I've seen, it looks well worth the money)

If you have more time to spend at Hallstatt, other more involved attractions include:
-Touring the salt mines
-Visiting the bone/skull cemetery
-Hallstatt town tours
-Hiking/biking trails
-Canoeing/paddleboating

We absolutely loved our short time there and hope that if you happen to visit Austria that you will make Hallstatt one of your stops!

Enjoy the rest of the pics from our time there!

Auf Wiedersehen!!

Historic, Modern, Charming... Vienna

From Prague, we drove Southeast towards Vienna, Austria. It was amazing to only drive about 180 miles (roughly 3 hours) and already be in another country! The drive out of the Czech Republic was just as beautiful as driving into it, although the going was quite a bit easier this time. We only had to do a little bit of small-street driving at the beginning and the end - the rest was mostly highway (but beautiful highway).

Vienna had always sounded so romantic to me, and I must say it did not disappoint. We stayed at the Austria Trend Hotel Messe, which was a very modern, classy hotel. The staff was nice and spoke enough English to help us out. They also had free wifi in the lobby, which was awesome! The area around it was a little rough, but it was fun being a couple blocks away from the Wiener Prater, a small amusement park.

This is a popular restaurant in the amusement park - Schweizerhaus.

Their wiener schnitzel was amazing!!!

A shot of the Wiener Prater at night. A little creepy actually, but it made for cool pictures!

We had an early start the next morning to fit in everything we wanted to see! We wanted to spend some time in some more remote areas of Austria near the Alps the next day, so this day was a whirl-wind trip through Vienna. This is Schonbrunn Palace, summer residence of the imperial Hapsburg family.

We took about an hour-long tour of the palace. Unfortunately no photography was allowed, but it was gorgeous!

The structure sitting atop the hill, overlooking the palace and the Vienna skyline, is the Gloriette.

The gardens at Schonbrunn Palace were huge!

View of Schonbrunn Palace and Vienna from near the Gloriette.

Close-up of the Gloriette. The gold gilded accents made this building particularly pretty.

Inside the Tiergarten, it was almost like a maze. We loved the tall, dark green trees and winding paths.

One of the last things we stopped by before leaving the Schonbrunn grounds was the "Roman Ruins." Although not actually built in the Roman era (this was built in the 1700's), it was a popular artistic style of that time period.

Maybe the best known historical sight in Vienna is St. Stephen's Cathedral. This church was actually built on top of several older churches, dating back to at least 1100. The structure we see here was built in the 1400's. Absolutely amazing.

The inside of St. Stephen's when we visited was all done up in some spectacular lighting...

Truly jaw-dropping. This cathedral was extremely majestic and unique.

The cathedral is located in the heart of the city, right next to cafes, shops, and workplaces, in the Stephansplatz.

Another angle of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

View of the majestic architecture and intricate mural on the roof of St. Stephan's cathedral. Around the backside of the cathedral there is a glimpse into a crypt underneath the cathedral that was discovered during an excavation in 2000. Some of the crypts have been carbon dated back to the 4th century. It was just astounding to be able to look upon things that have existed over 1500 years before me.

The Plague Monument (Statue Pestsaule) in Graben Square. This huge statue (69 feet tall!) was erected in memorial to all of the Austrians who were lost to the bubonic plague in 1679.

The outside of St. Peter's church is beautiful, but it is nothing like the inside...

When you walk into St. Peter's church you are just blown away by all of the adornment. This is the "high baroque" style. Gold plated decorations, and statues of angels and saints are everywhere. It is truly a breathtaking sight. And although it may seem over-the-top in pictures, the feeling inside of the church was surprisingly thoughtful and reverent.

Not far away from St. Peter's church is Michaelerplatz. This is one of the wings of the imperial palace, called the Michaelertrakt.

The Michaelerplatz is also home to the Lipizzan Stallion Riding School; because of this, they offer many horse-drawn carriage rides around the square. (Although I'm pretty sure these horses aren't Lipizzan Stallions...)

A shot of one of the beautiful gates leading into St. Michael's Square (called the Michaelertor).

In front of the Michaelerplatz is the oldest physical structure we saw during our time in Vienna - remains of a Roman house built 2000 years ago.

 Amazingly, this excavation site was only discovered in 1990. Here you can see the walls of the house.

 After strolling around the Michaelerplatz, we stopped in for a treat at the Demel Bakery, probably the second-most well know bakery in Vienna. The inside was beautiful and had so many wonderful pastries to choose from!

We enjoyed a scrumptious apple streussel on the patio in front of the bakery.

Maria-Theresien-Platz. The statue depicts Maria Theresa. On either side of her are identical buildings - one is the Natural History Museum, and the other is the Art History museum.

A close-up of one of the buildings near the Hofburg Palace.

The Vienna Opera House. Unfortunately we did not go see an opera, but the building was beautiful. The banner on top was promoting children's theatre arts.

Vienna's monument against war and fascism. This monument is actually made up of 4 "split" statues called "The Gates of Violence." It is in remembrance of victims of all war and violence, but the images in the statue especially depict World War I and II violence. To add to the emotional impact, the statue stands in a lot where several hundred people were killed when they were hiding in a cellar and a WWII bomb destroyed the building.

We decided to take a peak into another world, the underground Imperial Crypt (Kaisergruft). "Since 1633 it has been the principal place of entombment for members of the Habsburg dynasty."

It was sobering to remember that no matter how much power and wealth you may have in life, every single one of these kings, queens, and rulers end up in the same place... a glorified box under the ground. This reminds me to keep in mind that life is so much more than "things."

As you can see here, Franz Joseph was dear to many Austrians. People still leave gifts in memorial to him.

After a long day of walking all over Vienna, we stopped in at a quaint Italian restaurant, Trattoria Da' Angelo. The food was tasty and the proximity to downtown can't be beat!

After dinner, we stopped in for a dessert at Cafe Sacher - probably the most well-known bakery/cafe in Austria (maybe even in all of Europe!).

The decor inside the cafe was just as indulgent as their signature item...

The Sacher Torte. This is a dark chocolate cake. It is not very sweet which is why it is served with a dollop of yummy whipped sweet-cream. Overall, we thought the Sacher Torte was delicious!

This was the last thing we did while in Vienna. After dessert we headed back to the hotel. We knew we would have an early morning the next day!

The drive towards Munich was gorgeous because we were basically headed straight towards the Alps.

Stay tuned for perhaps our favorite, and most beautiful, part of our trip in Europe - the quaint town of Hallstatt, and the breathtaking summit of Berchtesgaden!