Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

The glorious, long Thanksgiving weekend may have come to a close, and I do return to work as usual tonight, but the exuberant cheer and the relaxed holiday feeling lingers... and perhaps best of all, there is still leftover pumpkin pie in the fridge!

For Thanksgiving I always prepare my grandmother's pecan pie recipe, and I usually fix a fairly traditional pumpkin pie as well, but this year, after the gorgeous success with Cooking Light's Pecan Pie recipe a month or so ago, I decided to adapt their pumpkin tart recipe for the holiday itself. Prudence might have dictated that I experiment with the recipe before the actual Thanksgiving day, but I always disregard the adage that one should never fix a new dish for guests, and instead I simply tell everyone that our kitchen is a place of experiments... After all, how could one possibly go wrong with bourbon, vanilla, pumpkin, and cream cheese?

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

--Adapted from Cooking Light, November 2009

8oz 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup raw turbinado sugar

1 (15 oz) can unsweetened pumpkin puree

2 eggs

2 T bourbon

1 T vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

One 8" graham cracker crust, either homemade or purchased

~ Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

~ With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and turbinado sugar until fluffy.

~ Add the pumpkin and eggs, and beat until well mixed.

~ Stir in the bourbon, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

~ Pour the filling into the graham cracker crust. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes - until the center of the filling barely wiggles when the side of the pie pan is gently tapped.

~ Allow the pie to cool outside the oven, then refrigerate at least four hours, and serve chilled - topped with whipped cream, of course! :-)

On the blog this time last year... Blueberry Cobbler Muffins!