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Traditional Pumpkin Pie Recipe on the Broil King Keg

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Ingredients
For the Pastry
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup shortening or butter in 1/3-in (.85 cm) cubes
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 4 tablespoons waters
For the Filling
  • 3 large whole eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 1/2 cups canned evaporated milk
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh or canned pumpkin puree
  • For fresh, roast a 2 pounds small sugar pumpkin at 400°F (204°C) for 50 to 60 minutes on indirect heat
  • 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • Pinch ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup whipping cream for garnish

 

Directions
  1. By hand in a bowl stir the flour and salt. Add the butter or shortening, toss lightly in the flour with your fingers, cut in the flour with a pastry cutter until the pieces of lard are no larger than hazelnuts and no smaller than baby peas. Don�t worry if the pieces are not all the same size. Add liquid and cut it in for 2 minutes until there is no loose flour in the bottom of the bowl, the dough will look like gravel. Dump the dough onto a work surface. Use your fingertips to pinch it together into a ragged mass; or smear the dough with the heel of your hand.
  2. Preheat your Broil King� Keg, use the diffuser kit or indirect heat, to a target temp of 375°F (191°C).

    3. Flatten dough into a disk put into a buttered pie dish. Push the dough into the corners of the pie dish. Trim dough to meet the edge of the pie dish. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork all over the bottom of the dish. Line the shell with parchment paper, leave a 1-in (2.5 cm) overhang. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Grill (indirect heat) until the edges are just beginning to turn golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the weights and parchment paper. Return the crust to the grill; continue baking for 15 to 20minutes until light golden all over. Cool completely. Reduce the BBQ temperature to 350°F (177°C).

  3. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, whole eggs and evaporated milk until combined. Pour the mixture into the crust and grill (indirect heat) until the filling is set around the edges but still slightly soft in the center, 40 – 45 minutes. The filling will be slightly loose in the center but will firm up as it cools. Cool completely and garnish with whipped cream.

BlueStar – Prep & Entertain with ease: Seamless Cooling to Cooking

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Home cooks are always seeking new tools to enhance and refine their process, to produce the best results. At BlueStar®, our goal is to equip every home cook with appliances that maximize performance and efficiency in their home kitchen.

We have the honor of working with America’s best chefs, and rely on their experience to fuel real innovations that make cooking better everyday. Their challenge to us: make the transition from prep to cooling to cooking easier. They wanted a lot: zero transfers, less bowls to clean, easy movement, plus the ability to serve prepared chilled courses.

The full extension shelf in the 36-inch Built-in Refrigerator from BlueStar

Our answer was the full extension shelf in our 36” Built-In refrigerator; which not only made it easier, but seamless. Now home cooks can start a recipe by mixing ingredients on a sheet pan, then store it in the refrigerator or freezer and then move directly to the oven without transferring – and then back to refrigerator or freezer before serving. They can proof breads and pizza doughs before using our artisan bake stone. They can make salads, appetizers and desserts for guests ahead of time and pull them out, ready to serve. Engineered and designed to compliment your cooking process, this leading innovation not only improved how they cook at home, but connected a hallmark of BlueStar’s appliances – accommodation of commercial-size sheet pans, now, for seamless cooling to cooking.

The full extension shelf in the 36-inch Built-in Refrigerator from BlueStar

Keeping the idea of smooth transition in mind, BlueStar’s 36” Built-In refrigerator comes with articulating hinges, allowing the tray to fully extend, saving you from unnecessary contact with the door’s shelving. Built with commercial-grade stainless steel and glass it provides a sturdy, flat surface for organization.  With award-winning, industry-leading features, our refrigerator will enhance your cooking experience, and bring chef-level results at home.

Renowned pastry chef and bread baker Zoe Francois showed us just how effortlessly this all works together with her delectable profiteroles. Easily baked and filled with ice cream in advance, the profiteroles can be kept on a sheet pan in the freezer until you are ready to serve.

Profiteroles from Zoe Francois
Prep time: 1 hour
Baking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

Pate a Choux Dough:

  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature

Ice Cream of your choice

Ganache:

  • 8 ounces heavy whipping cream
  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons corn syrup

Directions:

To make the cream puff dough:

  1. Piping dough with All-Star Baker Zoe FrancoisPreheat oven to 375° F
  2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat
  3. Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to a rapid simmer.  Dump the flour in all at once.  Stir with wooden spoon over low heat.  The dough will come together as a smooth ball and the bottom will have a skim of dough stuck to it.
  4. Remove the dough from the pot and place in a bowl of stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment.  I love these beater blade paddles with the rubber sides, so you don’t have to scrape down the bowl.  If you don’t have one, then scrape down the bowl after each egg.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, until it comes together in a smooth paste.
  5. Profiteroles from All-Star Baker Zoe FrancoisIt will be thick enough to hold its shape, but thin enough to pipe easily.
  6. Fit a pastry bag with a large round tip and pipe the dough into quarter sized balls.  If there are points stickup up on the ends just wet your finger and smooth them out.  Place the sheets into the oven and bake for about 10 minutes, until they are puffy, but have a little color.  Quickly rotate the trays from top to bottom and back to front.  They may deflate a touch, but don’t worry, they will puff again as they continue to bake.  Bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes or just until they start to turn golden.
  7. Profiteroles from All-Star Baker Zoe FrancoisProp the oven door open with a wooden spoon and continue to bake for about 5 more minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before filling.  They can be made ahead and frozen for up to a couple of weeks.
  8. Once you are ready to assemble the profiteroles cut the pastry open along the sides with a sharp knife.  Scoop ice cream into the pastry shells.  Freeze until ready to serve.

To make the ganache:

  1. Heat the cream to a simmer.  Add the chocolate, swirl the pan to cover the chocolate with the cream and allow to sit for 2 minutes.  Gently stir the cream and chocolate together.  You don’t want to whip too much air into it or it won’t be smooth and shiny.
  2. Drizzle over the profiteroles to serve.

Profiteroles from All-Star Baker Zoe Francois

Hosting A Thanksgiving Party with KitchenAid

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Thanksgiving Party Recipes

I can’t believe Thanksgiving is almost here! It seems like it was just yesterday my daughter was running out of her classroom looking forward to a summer full of camps and family vacations. I’m sad summer is no more, but I can’t deny that I love the flavors that come with this time of the year. I think I use more cinnamon in November than I do in a whole year; it’s just so good in both sweet and savory dishes!

 

Thanksgiving Party Recipes

All three of these dishes involved the use of my KitchenAid® stand mixer and was great in helping to lighten the cooking load.

Thanksgiving doesn’t come without its stress, though, and for most people it can be a really busy time in the kitchen…sometimes with the cook eventually sitting down as the rest of the guests are almost finished eating! That’s no fun, so any shortcuts or time-saving tips should always be utilized. My biggest advice would be to use your kitchen appliances to their maximum, taking some of the workload off your shoulders. For example, I’ve had my KitchenAid® 4.5-Quart Stand Mixer for 12 years and it’s never failed me no matter what I use it for, but it comes especially in handy at Thanksgiving when I want to make things ahead of time or efficiently the day of this special holiday.

Thanksgiving Party Recipes

The stand mixer’s flat beater attachment makes light work of the potatoes, turning them into a creamy mixture.

Thanksgiving Party Recipes

When I made these three recipes I used my stand mixer during part of the process. If you’ve ever hand mashed potatoes, you know how much of a wrist workout it can be. Just throw those cooked potatoes in the mixing bowl and let the machine do the work for you while you focus on another task, like socializing with Uncle Jim or Grandpa Hudson! I also made the dough for the pumpkin pie and mixed the ingredients for the stuffing using this stand mixer.  The dough hook is perfect for gently turning the pie crust ingredients. The beater also works wonders, making sure all of the bread cubes are getting their fair share of herbs.

I hope your Thanksgiving is full of good food, laughter, and most importantly, is stress free!

Thanksgiving Party Recipes

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

Makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

3 pounds white potatoes, boiled
2 cloves minced garlic
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup chopped rosemary
Salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Place the boiled potatoes into your KitchenAid® Stand Mixer fitted with the beater attachment, and mix on low for for 1 minute.

Add the buttermilk, garlic and rosemary and beat on medium until most of the lumps are gone. Add the salt and pepper and taste. Beat the mixture for another 2 minutes or until it’s smooth and lump free.

Thanksgiving Party Recipes

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Cranberry And Pistachio Stuffing

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Makes 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS

1 large white loaf of French bread, 8 cups cut into 1″ cubes, toasted for 10 minutes
1/4 cup leeks, sliced thinly
1 cup crimini mushrooms, halved
1 stick celery, sliced into thin rings
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
3 large eggs
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
Salt and black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pan, sauté the leeks, celery and mushrooms until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Add the cranberries, pecans and rosemary and combine making sure everything is mixed together. Transfer the mixture to your stand mixer mixing bowl and add the eggs, gently mix through.

Add the bread and on low speed, mix the bread and cranberry mixture together making sure all of the bread gets covered in the egg.

Gradually add the broth and season well with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a 9×9 baking dish and bake in the oven for 45 minutes and the top is crusty and golden.

Thanksgiving Party Recipes

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Pumpkin Pie

Recipe from The Pie & Pastry Bible

Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

For the crust

9 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 tablespoons ice cold water
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

For the filling

1 15-oz can of pumpkin puree
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of your stand mixer combine the flour, salt and the cubed butter and mix on medium until the butter has formed small lumps. Gradually add the water and mix until the dough starts to come together. Finish the mixing by hand so as to not over-mix the dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge until the filling is ready.

In a small pot, heat the pumpkin, brown sugar, spices and salt together until gently bubbling. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and pulse until smooth.

On low speed add the milk and the cream. Scrape down and add the eggs one at a time, adding the vanilla last.

Roll the pastry out to large enough to fit into a 9 inch pie pan. Trim and press the top into a twist design if you like. Fill the pie shell with the pumpkin filling and place the pie into the lower part of your oven.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes or until the center of the pie looks dull and jiggles firmly when shaken. Let the pie rest until cool before slicing.

Thanksgiving Party Recipes

*The Contributor of this post has been compensated by KitchenAid for this post, but this post represents the Contributor’s own opinion.*

Discover Haier at TA Appliances

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Haier-kitchen-stainless-appliances-2048px.jpgAs one of the world’s top-selling home appliance companies, you can expect Haier to deliver highly functional appliances. But we go way beyond expectations.

Haier brings the unexpected to life.

By making chores easier and life more livable, they bring the spirit of the weekend into every day. Have brunch on a Tuesday evening and wash your sheets on Wednesday afternoon. You can live life your way and, on your time, when you have our amazing appliances at your fingertips.

Haier designs inspired appliances with features you’ll want to post about—and with looks you’ll want to show off. The shine of stainless steel and the glint of glass accented with sturdy grates and Euro-styled handles. These aren’t your grandmother’s appliances. They’re made for people like you who want to take care of the menial and get back to the meaningful without sacrificing style.

So, get out there and live life. We’ll be here when you get home, ready to take care of the things you need to get done.

Shop Haier at TA Appliances & Barbecues 

Thermador: SWEET EATS: MIX UP YOUR DINNER MENU WITH DELECTABLE DESSERTS

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When it comes to preparing dinner, I love to break the rules. Take your typical evening meal up a notch by serving dessert for dinner. From gooey cinnamon-pecan rolls, to fresh-baked strawberry bread pudding, to creamy coffee liqueur pops, a little sweetness is a great way to top off your day. Here are a few of my favorite dessert-for-dinner recipes.

What better way to mix up your typical dinner than with warm, filling Cinnamon-Pecan Rolls? Serve the perfect amount of sugar with this fresh pecan-topped creation. Warm milk to 110°F on your Thermador 60-Inch Pro Grand® Steam Range and mix in flour until a soft dough forms. The 60-inch Pro Grand® Steam Range provides the best of both worlds—the full flavor and benefits of steam and the golden-brown perfection of convection. When my rolls are ready, I add the cinnamon filling, chopped pecans, and serve. After a taste, my guests are always running back for seconds.

For a dessert of the fruitier variety, one of my ultimate go-to dishes is a sumptuous Strawberry Bread Pudding. For best results, I again turn to my Thermador 60-Inch Pro Grand® Steam Range and warm the rich milk and brown sugar mixture over medium heat. I drizzle this sweet combination over the bread and strawberries, until it absorbs the delicious fruit-filled mixture. I like to bake my Strawberry Bread Pudding until it’s perfectly golden brown. Strawberry sweetness, here we come.

With the warm weather still lingering, switch up your evening espresso for a more refreshing option—Creamy Coffee Liqueur Pops. To prepare, I stir together the espresso-liqueur mixture until sugar is dissolved and pour my mixture into ice molds. After adding wooden popsicle sticks, I place the pops in my Thermador 36-Inch Built-In Freezer Column to freeze and then serve. With the Open Door Assist feature, I can open the column door with a slight push or pull when my hands are full of frozen sweets. Always frozen to perfection, this delightful treat is the perfect way to wind down on a warm weather day.

After a busy day of cooking, a quick and stress-free clean-up is especially ideal. I turn to my all-new Star-Sapphire™ Dishwasher to get the job done. With the ultra-innovative StarDry™ with Zeolite™, my dishes are sure to emerge dry, reducing the need to towel dry items or leave them to airdry. Plus, with the fastest hot water cycle at only 20 minutes, I can get back to enjoying my evening in no time. Talk about the ultimate dishwashing experience.

To give my dessert-for-dinner dishes a try, check out the full recipes below. What are your favorite sweet selections? Share your thoughts with us in the comments or on our social channels: www.facebook.com/thermador, @ThermadorHome and @Thermador.

Cinnamon-Pecan Rolls

Strawberry Bread Pudding

Creamy Coffee Liqueur Pops

 

Reposted from Natalia Elko on the Thermador Blog

GE Slate Appliances – Beautifully Blends In To Truly Stand Out

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Beautifully Blends In To Truly Stand Out

Whether you are looking to replace a single appliance or remodeling your entire kitchen, GE’s Slate appliances are designed to blend with other stainless steel, black or white appliances, or make a statement by themselves.

Slate not only offers an option that’s elegant and modern, it also maintains its great appearance. The dark matte finish naturally hides fingerprints, smudges and dirt. It’s also a breeze to clean using a clean cloth and a mild household detergent.

Pair a Slate finish with virtually anything. From sleek granites and composites to organic glass and wood, Slate perfectly harmonizes with today’s materials and colors. With such a broad palette of complementary finishes, Slate can appeal to every taste.

Shop GE Slate Appliances at TA Appliance & Barbecues