So for Thanksgiving I volunteered to make a Pumpkin Chocolate Cheesecake Pie. I thought it would be good for me to get out of my comfort zone and since I have very little experience making pie crust I decided the challenge would be good for me. I always tend to make cookies or brownies and I just seem to shy away from the pies and cakes....and now I know why. I do have to admit that I did think of buying a Pillsbury crust just to keep in the fridge in the even that last minute disaster set in, but I decided that just wasn't very fun and adventurous.




So this recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens and I thought,"eh they should know what they are doing, they have been making pies for a long time." And come to find out Better Homes and Gardens does know what they are doing, but me on the other hand...well...

So the crust recipe had me put flour and salt in a bowl and cut the shortening in with a pastry blender. That part was going pretty well...I own a pastry blender so that was great and when the recipe said to cut the shortening until they were "pea sized," I was pretty good with that as well. Then the recipe had me add 1 T water at a time until the flour is moistened and this is where my troubles started. How moist are we talking about here? I know that a lot of people make their crust to "feel" a certain way, however when you aren't sure what it is supposed to "feel" like it all becomes a little more complex. The recipe said to form it into a ball, which I was able to do, however once I started to roll my ball out it started to crumble. After adding more water, fighting with the crust and deciding that the majority of the crust won't be visible anyway after I add the filling, I put it in the oven.

Unfortunately when it came out of the oven it looked worse than before. It had kind of stretched, moved and done it's own thing and so there were some holes in my crust. However, again I decided after I added the filling all would be ok again.

You thought I was exaggerating with the holes, huh

The filling was super easy and super yummy. Just remember to take your cream cheese out of the fridge to soften before you make the filling. I am notorious for forgetting to take my butter or cream cheese out of the fridge and then I end up fighting with it, waiting for it or trying to put it in the microwave and over cooking it.

So the first layer of filling is made in a mixer. Just add the cream cheese, sugar and egg. Once the pie shell is cool add this layer and then put a layer of mini chocolate chips over it.

The pumpkin pie layer is also very easy as it just consists of pumpkin, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and eggs. This is poured over the cream cheese/chocolate chip layer. Bake it in the oven for 60-65 minutes and voila!!!

I dd find that there was a lot of filling!! My pie kind of looked like it was on steroids especially while it was in the oven. Once it came out of the oven and started to cool it looked like a normal sized pie, it hid the holes in the crust...ok actually there was so much filling you couldn't even see the crust...so it was a win/win. I decided that pie filling is kind of like chocolate...people just don't complain when there is too much of it.

Steroid Pie!!

Here is the link to the recipe if anyone wants to try it: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pies/pumpkin-chocolate-cheesecake-pie/ Seriously great flavors. I love pumpkin pie, love chocolate and love cheesecake so I was pretty gosh darn happy as this allowed me to say,"oh I just want one piece of pie." Whereas normally because I want to try it all I would need 3 slices of pie and well that is just over the top. Haha


Hope everyone had an incredible Thanksgiving filled with amazing family, friends and blessings. Cheers!!