Dessert Extravaganza

This year we're going to my mom's house for Thanksgiving and I was put in charge of desserts.  This made me happy because there were several recipes that I had been filing away, waiting for the opportunity to try them out.  So, the lucky folks that are coming to dinner at my mom's house(and there are a lot of them and not all speak English, so I am also there in a translating capacity) are going to be my guinea pigs.

I am bringing four separate desserts tomorrow, each inspired by a different chef.  My theme is pumpkin because, well, I love pumpkin.

• Pumpkin bread pudding by Bobby Flay.  I modified slightly by omitting the bourbon (didn't have any on hand) and instead of the vanilla cream anglaise we're doing good ol' fashioned vanilla icecream.  Sometimes Bobby Flay can be a bit...unsouthern, if that's a word.  He uses Yankee ingredients at times that I am not comfortable using, let's just put it that way.

• Black and tan chocolate pumpkin trifle by Rachel Ray.  Matt got me a subscription to her magazine three years ago and they just keep coming!  I usually find one or two recipes per magazine that I like, but there are times I take issue with her ingredients too.  The word "parmigiano reggiano" can grate against my ears.  This trifle is layered with chocolate cream, pumpkin cream, toffee and chocolate wafers...so good. It will be a nice change from pies and cakes.   (Bonus points to you if you are thinking of the Friends episode where Rachel Green makes the trifle...best episode ever.)

This is not the trifle I made.  This is from Rachel's website.

•  Pumpkin Cream Pie by the Pioneer Woman.  Last year, the Pioneer Woman practically provided our whole Thanksgiving meal.  I had to include one of her pies in here, and this seemed like the perfect one.  I didn't want to make a traditional pumpkin pie, so this one seemed like a nice twist on tradition.  What do I not love about the PW?  She's totally my style of cook.  I omitted the whiskey from this too; we just don't have the hard stuff around the house.

• Pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling by my mom.  I got this recipe from my mom years ago and always make it.  This year was no different; and I can tell you already it's going to be delicious.

You want to see how I was able to do all this cooking today?

I gave this guy an empty box, a few tupperwares and he was happy as a clam.  He would push the box around the island, babble to himself and even showed us how he likes to sit on top of the box...and get down...all by himself!!

I also must really thank his daddy because I was very occupied in the kitchen today and when the box lost his intrigue, he came to the rescue.  He also took pictures of the desserts that I haven't uploaded yet, so I will post those too.  Happy eating!