The holidays are fast approaching. The countdown to Thanksgiving will be in single digits before we know it and the onset of Christmas music is right around the corner. With the holidays comes family reunions – for better or worse. For my family, everyone gathers from all around the country back in our Texas hometown. Cousins come in from the east coast, my uncle comes down from the Midwest, and my grandparents come up from their retirement home in Florida. Everyone brings gifts, good stories, and also – their own opinions about just about everything.
I wanted to find a recipe that would knock their socks off and make them forget about any differences in opinions. I know I found that when I tried this Bourbon Pumpkin Tart with Walnut Streusel recipe (via Taste of Home). It’s sure to smooth out any bumps in family conversations this holiday season.
There are three pieces to this recipe: the shell, the filling, and the topping. Let’s start with the first piece – the shell.
To make this, you’ll need:
- Flour (2 cups)
- Sugar (1/3 cup)
- Orange zest (grated, 1 teaspoon)
- Salt (a sprinkle)
- Cold butter (cubed, 2/3 cup)
- Egg (1, lightly beaten)
- Heavy whipping cream (1/4 cup)
Set your oven to 350 degrees and let it heat up. Grab a big mixing bowl, and pour in the flour, sugar and orange zest. Sprinkle in a bit of salt and stir it all together. The next step involves the butter. Remember – you don’t want it warm or soft; you want it cold. Take the cubed butter and put it into your mixture in the bowl. Use a fork to cut up the butter and combine it with the mix until it gets all crumbly. Next, add in that large egg. The last step of this bit is to add in the heavy whipping cream slowly. Use a fork to mix in the cream, guiding this batter into a ball. Make sure there’s room in your fridge, because that’s where this bad boy is going next! Stick it in there – covered of course – for at least 30 minutes.
While this is getting refrigerated and becoming easier to handle, let’s get started on the filling and topping pieces.
For the filling, you’ll need:
- Eggs (3)
- Pumpkin puree (1 can, 15 oz)
- Sugar (1/2 cup)
- Heavy whipping cream (1/2 cup)
- Brown sugar (1/4 cup, packed)
- Bourbon (1/4 cup)
- Flour (2 tablespoons)
- Ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon)
- Ground ginger (1 teaspoon)
- Salt (a sprinkle)
- Ground cloves (1/4 teaspoon)
This one’s easy – just combine all the ingredients above to make the filling. This one probably won’t take too long, so let’s make the topping too while we wait for the base to cool.
For the topping, you’ll need:
- Flour (3/4 cup)
- Sugar (1/3 cup)
- Brown sugar (1/3 cup, packed)
- Salt (sprinkle)
- Ground cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon)
- Cold butter (1/2 cup, cubed)
- Walnuts (3/4 cup, chopped)
- Crystallized ginger (1/4 cup, chopped)
To mix the topping ingredients, grab a medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Once that’s whisked together, use a fork to cut in the butter. Then stir in the ginger and the walnuts.
Let’s assume about 30 minutes has passed, and so the base dough is ready. Take it out of the refrigerator and place it onto a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll it into a circle. The circle should be about a foot in diameter. Then, put this into a fluted tart pan. Those are the tart pans that create crimped sort of edges.
Pour the filling mix into the crust and sprinkle the filling mix over that! Then, pop it into the oven for about 50 minutes. Let it cool, and you’re ready to go!
