triple silken pumpkin pie

Last year, for Christmas, my sister-in-law gave me a beautiful dessert cookbook called Desserts by the Yard, by Sherry Yard, pastry chef at Spago. It is a gorgeous book that is actually entertaining to read, as it presents recipes from different times in Sherry's career. There are little opening paragraphs detailing how Sherry came to be at this or that restaurant as well as short descriptions before each recipe. This is the first recipe I've attempted and I think it was a success! The pie consists of a tender, flakey crust with pumpkin custard topped by maple whipped creme fraische topped by pumpkin caramel mousse. Not for the fat/calorie conscious. By the time I remembered that I intended to take pictures of the process, I was about half-way through, but here they are none-the-less.

You can see the custard under the whipped creme fraishe

Here is the sugar cooking down into caramel

Once the caramel was finished, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and pumpkin were whisked in. Then whipped egg whites were folded in along with whipped cream.

Here is the finished product, still in the springform pan.

Mmm, it was yummy