I decided to see how much of a difference blind-baking the crust made to my pumpkin ricotta pie. I made a batch of dough; after a rest in the refrigerator I rolled it out and put it in the pie pan. I lined the crust with foil and weighed it down with my pie beads. I baked it for 20-25 minutes.
While it baked, I mixed the filling: pumpkin, ricotta (filled out with a little yogurt), eggs, freshly ground nutmeg and cinnamon, a little store-bought ground ginger.
The resulting pie took only perhaps five minutes less time to bake---the baked crust made very little difference in baking time. The bottom of the pie was definitely firmer. But overall, blind baking didn't make a huge difference in my enjoyment of the pie.
I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...



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