I love Thanksgiving mostly because it's a time to celebrate with friends and family and eat delicious food, but I also really love that I have an excuse to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast for a week. I love pumpkin pie. I live for pumpkin pie. It's my absolute favorite pie, but like everyone else, I only make it once a year on Thanksgiving, possibly twice on Christmas. Why is that? I make apple pie all the time. I make blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, and peach, religiously in the summer, but only once a year I make a pumpkin.

Pumpkin pie seems to be a hit or miss with my friends. Some LOVE it and some HATE it. Every Thanksgiving I'm usually left with at least half a pumpkin pie, and because Brent doesn't care for it, that leaves me to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast, or really, whenever I like, for about a week. Although, Sebastian loves pumpkin pie as well, so it looks like I'm going to have to share this year.

This year I decided to switch things up a bit. I decided to make my pie into a tart. Not a round tart, but a long rectangular tart. The goal with the long tart was so that I could create each slice as small and dainty as possible. Brent says that his problem with pumpkin pie is that it's usually too thick like he's overwhelmed by the pumpkin. Fooey I say to that, but I took his concerns and tried to remedy them with the tart.

Because the tart shell is so low, much lower than a traditional pie, this gives less height, resulting in less filling. We're now working with a higher crust to tart ratio. The pumpkin pie recipe is the same one I make every year, except this time I halved it to fill the smaller tart. It's soft and tender and full of all the festive spices - cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  The crust is dainty, buttery, and flaky, everything I want in a crust. To me, the pie versus the tart is really all about presentation. As long as there's pumpkin pie filling, I'm game.

PUMPKIN TART

makes 12 slices

prep time: 20 minutes

cook time: 60 minutes

crust

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, chopped

1/4 cup ice water

filling

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 large egg

3/4 cup evaporated milk

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

whipped cream

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream

In a bowl, combine the flour and salt.

Add the chopped butter and crumble with your fingers.

Slowly pour in the ice water and mix the dough with your hands.

Turn the dough onto a floured counter and continue to knead together until it forms a somewhat cohesive ball. Flatten into a disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.

In a medium bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree and egg.

Add the evaporated milk and whisk until smooth.

Add the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt and combine.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll into a rectangle, slightly larger than 4 x 14 inches. Lay it into a 4 x 14-inch tart pan, and press into the bottom and up the sides.

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the tart.

Place the tart pan onto a baking sheet and on the middle rack. Bake for 15 minutes at 400ºF then reduce the temp and bake for an additional 40 - 45 minute at 350ºF, until the pumpkin filling has set.

Remove from the oven and let cool before slicing.

Remove from the tart pan, slice and serve with whipped cream.

To make the whipped cream, place the bowl from a stand mixer and metal whisk into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Place the sugar into the mixing bowl and add the whipping cream. Whisk until the cream has reached stiff peaks.