A Thanksgiving Blooper

(source)

As someone who worked a full day last Wednesday, and needed to bake two pies that evening, I was definitely feeling the Thankgiving pressure. After a quick stop to the market, I was home by 6pm and ready to go. With two pie recipes and a plan in hand, I started on my pumpkin cheescake, provided to me by the lovely Paula Deen. I figured that I could peel apples for my apple pie while the cheescake baked, and be done by bedtime.  

Btw, this tried-and-true apple pie recipe, used by me on many an occassion, was given to me by Windy Hill Farm. Honestly, so easy a caveman could do it. Just buy a pre-made deep-dish pie crust, peel some apples, mix some ingredients and voila. Seriously, trepedatious bakers – do not be afraid.

But back to the cheesecake. I began by crushing some graham crackers with my chicken hammer, aka meat tenderizer.  Apparently this made so much noise that my downstairs neighbor rang our bell and gave us the riot act. He thought we had been stomping on our floors. It was quite satisying when he realized that we were doing no such thing. Ah, NYC living…

Once you prepare your crust and smooth it into your springform pan (by using the bottom of a water glass as your tool), pour your wet ingredients onto the base and put the cake in the oven. I was feeling pretty confident and was excited to taste and serve it to our guests. So when the timer rang, and 1 hour had passed, I put on my oven-mits and opened the oven door. Then this happened.

Yes friends, the bottom of my springform pan fell out, and my beautiful pumpkin cheesecake splatttered all over the oven. I was so upset that I needed to exit the kitchen, go to our room, close the door and take a time-out. In the meantime, the wonderful H cleaned-up the mess. Let this be a lesson – do not use shoddy tools. I had a feeling that the pan was broken (something about the tension was off) but I ignored my gut and went ahead. The result? A Thanksgiving blooper. Honestly, LAIC  and H’s patience are the only reasons I didn’t burst into tears. I knew I could share these pictures and use this as a good example of “what not to do.” So take it from me – buy a good pan and treat it nicely.

I am sure you’re wondering what we wound-up serving. Even though I had an apple pie on deck, I could not fathom the idea of Thanksgiving dessert without a pumpkin option. It was late, and another market trip was needed, so I needed to wait until the next day. The oven was going to be occupied (cooking a little thing called turkey) but H devised a back-up plan. I wound up making this pie (with a pre-made crust) via our convection oven.  Not the cheescake I had planned, but definitely a decent replacement.

Regardless, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, no matter what kind of pie you ate. Enjoy!