A Thanksgiving Feast and Maple Custard Pie

I know it’s not yet Thanksgiving, but I couldn’t wait for popcorn and maple syrup.

What? Not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Thanksgiving?

It is for me. And for Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. Remember Snoopy popping a kitchen-full on their Thanksgiving special?

Each year as Thanksgiving draws closer, I recall the annual Kindergarten/First Grade Thanksgiving Feast from my elementary school days. As kindergarteners, we created our construction paper headbands, complete with construction paper feathers, and our paper bag dresses to look like the Native Americans (though I think we were Indians back then). We would make the long treacherous journey across the hallway to join the first graders, who were dressed in their own construction paper hats as Pilgrims, for a bountiful feast – of popcorn and maple syrup. (I’m sure there was more to our feast, I just can’t remember the rest of it because I loved the popcorn and maple syrup so much.) And the next year as first graders, we took our turn dressing as Pilgrims and welcomed the new kindergarteners, dressed as Native Americans themselves.

I don’t know if the Native Americans and the Pilgrims actually shared popcorn and maple syrup at the first Thanksgiving. If they didn’t, they should have. It could have been their early version of caramel corn. With a dash of salt, that’s just what it tastes like.
 

This is my new favorite popcorn, Farmers Best out of Rockwell City, Iowa. It air-pops light and fluffy.

Thinking about maple syrup, I was prompted to try something new this week. I typically stick to fruit or cream pies; making a pie each week, I have plenty of room to expand my repertoire. Sometime I plan to make a maple cream pie, but while browsing through Ken Haedrich’s Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie, I came across a recipe for Maple Custard Pie. Other than pumpkin, I don’t think I’ve ever made a custard pie, so this was a great time to start.

This pie was definitely the easiest one I’ve ever made. It’s not the most eye-appealing, but it has a nice maple flavor. It did not bake up as high as I would have expected, and at first glance I was disappointed. But after I took a bite, it was just the right amount of custard. Since Ken recommends using a light amber maple syrup, and dark amber was the only kind I could find around here at three stores, I decided to add another touch of maple by whipping some cream with a little maple syrup to sweeten.

Whether you make pie or popcorn (though I don’t know why you wouldn’t try both), add some pure maple syrup to sweeten your Fall days.

Yours in pie,

Mindy

 

Maple Custard Pie

Slightly adapted from Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie by Ken Haedrich.

Pastry for 9” single-crust pie

Filling:

1 ¼ c. heavy or whipping cream

½ c. pure maple syrup (light amber preferred)

1/3 c. sugar

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

4 large egg yolks

Partially prebake the crust: Line the pie plate with the pastry, then line with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes, then remove foil and pie weights and cool on a wire rack.

Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl and whisk briefly until evenly mixed. Pour filling into cooled pie shell. Cover edges with foil. Place pie on center oven rack and bake until filling is nicely browned and set, 35 to 40 minutes total. About 25 minutes into baking, rotate pie 180 degrees. When done, the pie should be jiggly but not soupy in the middle. Cool pie thoroughly on a wire rack, then refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving. Serve with maple whipped cream, if desired.

For maple whipped cream, whip ¾ c. heavy cream with a wire whisk while slowly and gradually adding about 1 T. pure maple syrup, until just after soft peaks form. (I used ¾ c. cream because that’s what I had left after making the pie. You can use the amount you like and adjust the maple syrup as needed.)