Long Lost Recipe!

My wonderful mother-in-law, Mo, passed away suddenly in 2018. Many of my fondest memories with her were conversations in the kitchen. We talked about everything from recipes, parenting, traveling, current events and family stories. When we share her challah recipe, I will talk more about Mo.

Our family has her challah, mac-n-cheese, crack wheat bread, ramen noodle salad, meringue cookies and olive bread recipes. One recipe seemed to evade us though - her pumpkin pie recipe. It wasn't the classic back of the can pumpkin pie recipe but a slice of pumpkin heaven. It was a creamy mousse like creation on a homemade graham cracker crust. My sister-in-law and I have being trying to find the recipe since Mo's passing.

Mo had given all of us a copy of a cookbook from the early 80's from her daughter's school's fundraiser. It has her cracked wheat bread and the ramen noodle salad recipes. Well, Josh and I grabbed the book and browsed through it the other night and stumbled upon a pumpkin pie mousse recipe as well as a graham cracker pie crust. I whacked his arm and screamed "This is it!". This was typical of Mo - combining a few recipes to make the perfect one!

Well, after getting fitted for my progressive eye glasses (feeling quite old at the moment), I went to 4 different grocery stores to find canned pumpkin and unflavored gelatin. I couldn't find the pumpkin but thankfully I had a can at home.

I couldn't wait to go home to try this recipe. However, two hungry kids needed lunch.

The recipe called for praline liqueur and I forgot to buy some while at 4 stores, so I improvised by adding some brown sugar to the brandy we had to the mousse - thank you google search (according to Josh this is a total Mo move!) While the mousse boiled down, I made the graham cracker crust. The crust was a bit dry from the recipe I found in the book so I added a tablespoon or more of melter butter. That did the trick!! When in doubt, add more butter!

With the house smelling like all things Fall, it was time to add the mousse to the crust. Pouring it into the crust felt like the moment of truth for me. Was this the long lost recipe we've been searching for the last 28 months?! It may seem superficial to feel this way about Mo but anyone who knew her knew she always came to your house with something to eat and it was always divine! The last two Thanksgivings we have had to go without her pumpkin and pecan pies. Whenever we make one of her recipes, our table talk is always of our memories with her, our children included. Serafina's fondest memories with her Bubbe involved making challah. Gideon's are of Bubbe letting him eat whatever he wanted when she watched him when he was sick. Both are food related!!

With the pie completed, I knew that this was her pie. I snapped a couple of photos and put the pie in the fridge to set. I texted my sister-in-law that I had something that would make her happy. It also happened to be the day that San Francisco paused re-opening certain businesses, her job included so this helped lift her spirits. We had a good laugh that this book has housed so many hidden gems Mo used to feed us.

That night, we cut into the pie and it was perfect. The crust was perfectly baked, the mousse was beyond decadent. Not sure what Thanksgiving will look like this year but I do know that this pie will be on our table.