Welcome to the Free Recipe of the Month!
Each month I feature a free recipe for visitors and regular subscribers. Once the month has passed, the recipe is retired into the BB Recipe Archives. So bake while the oven's hot! These recipes are only here and free for four short weeks!
Pumpkin Caramel Bourbon Tart (Shown in photo without the sauce and walnuts)
This is one of those recipes that becomes an instant classic the moment you make it. It’s the best of both worlds of pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pie and is laced with the warmth of caramel and bourbon and a final decadence of candied walnuts. True, it is a few steps: crust, filling, caramel and some oven-candied walnuts, but oh – what a sensation this is!
Sweet Tart Dough
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, cut in chunks
6-8 tablespoons whipping cream
Pumpkin Filling
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
¾ cup light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup canned pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup whipping cream
Caramel Bourbon Sauce
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon fleurs de sel (flaked salt)
1 cup warm whipping cream
2 tablespoons bourbon
Candied Walnuts
1 teaspoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
For the Sweet Pie Dough, place flour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until mixture is crumbly. Make a well in center of flour mixture and stir in most of the whipping cream. Using a fork or fingers, toss mixture together to moisten flour. Stir to make a soft mass and pat into a dough. Add remaining (or additional) whipping cream as required to make sure dough sticks together. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead very briefly into a smooth dough. Place dough in a Ziplock bag and refrigerate at least one hour or up to two days (or freeze).
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough out on a lightly floured work surface to fit a 9 or 10 inch, deep fluted tart tin with removable bottom. (If you only have a quiche pan or springform pan, that is also fine to use). Trim edges a bit but allow some rustic overhang. Prick the bottom of the pie crust and then cover pie dough with pie weights and bake to brown slightly, 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. (Keep oven on)
For the Candied Walnuts, toss ingredients together in a small bowl. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet (you used for pie crust). Bake 5-10 minutes. Let cool and break into smaller pieces (versus a big clump of nuts).
For the Pumpkin Filling, in a food processor, blend the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and whipping cream. Pour into pie shell. Place pie shell on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake 35-40 minutes or until filling seems set. Refrigerate a few hours or overnight.
For the Caramel Sauce, in a small saucepan, heat the water, sugar and salt over low heat. For 20-30 minutes, allow to gently simmer, brushing inner sides of pot with a brush dipped in water. Once the mixture turns medium amber, remove from burner and put it in the sink. Pour warm cream slowly into sauce (take care, it bubbles up and is hot!), and the bourbon. Whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until needed and then rewarm.
To serve, remove tart from mold and place on serving platter. Dust edges with confectioners’ sugar. Pour warmed caramel sauce over top of pie and garnish inner border with candied walnuts.
Serves 8-12
