Beyond the pie

Thanksgiving desserts worthy of your holiday table

Paul’s Pumpkin Bars Ingredients Cake:

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

• 1 2/ 3 cups white sugar

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 4 large eggs

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

Frosting:

• ½ cup butter, softened

• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Make cake: Beat pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs with an electric mixer in a medium bowl until well combined.

3. Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl; stir into pumpkin mixture until thoroughly combined. Spread batter evenly into an ungreased 10x15-inch jelly roll pan.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until cake bounces back when gently pressed, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

5. While the cake is cooling, make frosting: Beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth; stir in vanilla. Add confectioners’ sugar a little at a time, beating until mixture is smooth.

6. Spread frosting evenly on top of cooled cake. Cut into 24 squares.

Salted Caramel Custard Ingredients

• 9 large egg yolks

• 2/ 3 cup white sugar

• 2 cups heavy cream

• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup whole milk

• Flaky sea salt to garnish

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Place 6 (6.5- ounce) ramekins in a baking dish.

2. Place sugar evenly in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Without stirring, allow sugar to slowly melt around the edges of the pan, about 5 minutes, adjusting heat as necessary. When edges start to bubble, shake and swirl the pan to dissolve remaining sugar but without stirring it. Keep pan moving until you have a clear, dark caramel, about 10 minutes. When sugar is completely dissolved, whisk in cream; caramel will cool into a lump; this is normal. Keep stirring over medium heat until caramel melts and mixture comes up to temperature and sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat

3. Stir in kosher salt, vanilla, and cold milk; mix well.

4. Place egg yolks in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in a ladleful of caramel-milk mixture to the yolks. Add 2 more ladlefuls, one at a time. Then mix in the remainder of the caramel-milk mixture to the yolks, whisking until thoroughly blended.

5. Divide the custard mixture evenly among the ramekins. Carefully pour into the baking dish enough water so that it comes halfway up the sides of the filled ramekins.

6. Bake in the preheated oven until custard is set and the top of custard jiggles evenly across the surface, 45 to 60 minutes (depending on the size of your ramekins and how full they are). If the center seems looser than the edges, continue to bake another minute or so.

7. Transfer ramekins to a cooling rack; cool to room temperature. Cover ramekins with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour until they are very cold.

8. Serve topped with a pinch of light, flaky sea salt.

Cook’s Note:

If kosher salt isn’t available, use 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt in place of the 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.

Quick and Easy Pumpkin Mousse Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 24 marshmallows

• ½ cup milk

• ½ cup canned pumpkin

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

• 1/ 3 cup confectioners’ sugar

• 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet. Stir in the marshmallows, milk, and pumpkin. Stir frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

2. Combine 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar and 1 cup heavy cream in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into cooled pumpkin mixture. Pour mousse into ramekins or chocolate shells. Cover and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.