Wednesday

"How to Salvage a Holiday Disaster"


Did you ever have to choose from 'tossing it' or 'fixing it'?
My Christmas Pumpkin Pie was one of those disasters that was very upsetting to me, but I chose to 'fix' it rather than put it down the garbage disposal.  It took two cans of pumpkin and other ingredients and would have been such a waist!
I'll tell you what I did, or rather, did not do. 
Sugar
I forgot to put in the sugar!
I started out as a Chef years ago.  It got to where I cooked and baked so much I had no need to read a recipe or measure the ingredients.  Well,  I forgot the Sugar and luckily I was the one to take the first bite of my bitter Pumpkin Pie. After making my apologies for not serving the pie, (I did not offer a reason to my questioning guests)  I put it aside and offered a substitute dessert.
That night I did the repair work needed to the pumpkin mixture and added the missing sugar.


All I did was whip a cup of sugar into the pumpkin mixture.
The crust had to go.  


My sister asked "why are you tossing the crust"?  Well, I can't really put the updated Pumpkin in that soggy crust and rebake it.  The Chef in me needed to make a new one.


I baked the new pie for about 30 minutes, just long enough for the sugar to incorporate into the mixture and gave the crust time to get flaky.
It worked!
I was able to salvage this Pumpkin Pie after all.
I wonder how many people had such a disaster happen during their Holiday Meal?

Tomorrow I'll be making a really good cheese cake to bring with me to a New Years party and I'll be sure to list the ingredients on paper before I put it into the oven.

New Years 2012 is just a few days away. 
Where did the 2011 go?


I'll be linking this post to


((hugs))

13 comments:

Teresa said...

What a creative way to salvage the pie! I hate when I do those obvious mistakes. Hope you have a wonderful 2012!

EG CameraGirl said...

Congrats for saving the pumpkin pie! Hope you don't have to rescue the cheesecake. All the best in 2012!

Unknown said...

Nice save! The pie looks yummy!

Vicki/Jake said...

Great save! Have a Happy New One:)

Pat said...

Good for you and that pie crust is really pretty too.

I forgot to spray my salad mold, so of course, nothing would unmold...we just scooped it out and it tasted fine but the presentation lacked something :o)

Dinner for 8 tomorrow and I am nervous about my own pie that was made today...film at 11:00!

Wanda said...

Congrats on a great save! I know the feeling, believe me.

I was making bread for Thanksgiving breakfast and noticed that the dough was much more dry than usual. Re-reading the ingredients, I discovered that I had forgotten to add the egg. I tried kneading the egg into the dough but that was impossible. Inspired (desparate?) I got out my food processor and was able to get the egg worked into the dough. Best of all, the dough raised and the bread turned out OK!

Unknown said...

You're brave...and inventive, the way you told your story makes perfect sense to me! Wishing you a Happy (disasterLESS) NEW yEAR!

Pondside said...

Well done! Your pie looks beautiful and I am awed by the perfect crimping on the crust.
I've had my share of cooking disasters, not the least of which was a tomato sauce that nearly burned the mouth off everyone at the table - I still don't know how all that red pepper got in there!

anitamombanita said...

way to recover! I made a batch of mint filled chocolate cookies for Christmas and realized as I was about to fill them that although the recipe had listed sugar and vanilla in the ingredients, it never said anything about adding them to the dough. Thank goodness I caught it before it was too late...these would not have been salvageable and turned out yummy. Happy New Year!

Judie said...

I used the wrong flour when I was making biscuits for Christmas breakfast and they came out looking like hocky pucks!!

Honey at 2805 said...

Great save!

Thank you for being a friend to me and 2805 and for sharing at Potpourri Friday. I wish you a healthy, prosperous and sparkling New Year!

Jenny said...

Hooray for Yankee Ingenuity. Or Chef Ingenuity!

I've been known to 'attempt' fixes for missed ingredients. While they haven't all been successful at least I know I've tried.

Thanks for the cute link!

I hope your 2012 is filled with creativity, easy solutions and lots of pumpkin flavored baked goods...yum!

Victoria said...

:) Reminds me of the pumpkin bread I salvaged here!

http://queenvic.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-years-day-my-daughter-her-step.html

Thanx for stopping by my blog with your hello note this morning! Happy New Year to you!