Baking with baby

Oh how I love to bake.

Now that I have "free time" on my hands, I'm doing quite a bit of baking. 

By free time, I mean when the baby is sleeping.  And the baby sleeps the best when he is in a carrier, and the Ergobaby usually gets me 2 straight hours of uninterrupted time to use both of my hands at the same time.  Amazing.

Plus, it's pumpkin time, and there are a million good things to bake with pumpkin. I have to take advantage while I can.

The other night I stumbled across this delicious pie recipe on the internet and showed it to Chris.  Even though he is not a big sweets fan, he was all about this pie.

Whats not to love, it is a fantastic trio of deliciousness- brownie, cheesecake and pumpkin.  

Yum.

Via

So I made it right away...

Well technically I waited until we had friends over for dinner a few days later.  

Making a pie like this is dangerous when there are only 2 people to eat it, and one of those 2 is home all the time, and that one person has NO willpower against delicious sweets.

You don't have to twist my arm to make dessert. I love dessert.

I eat dessert with lunch. I wish I was kidding.

So I set out to bake this fabulous pie, with a few changes of course, and I have to tell you- it is fabulous.  Stop what you are doing and make this pie right now.

On the scale of picking up a pie at the store to making your own pie crust, this pie falls much closer to waltzing into the nearest bakery and passing off one of their pies as your own.

Seriously, you don't need baking talent to pull this off. Its easy-peasy.

Here is the recipe from Inside BruCrew Life.  I noted my changes in red.

Ingredients

• 1 2 sheets refrigerated pie crust
• 1 brownie mix (18 oz.)
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/4 c. water 2 Tbs water
• 1 Tbsp. instant coffee 3 Tbs brewed esspresso
• 2 eggs
• 1 pkg. cream cheese (8 oz.)
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 3/4 c. pumpkin puree
• 1 container Cool Whip (8 oz.) Heavy whipping cream

My edited instructions

Unroll the pie crust in a glass pie pan and then smooth it into the pan. 
Combine the brownie mix, oil, water, coffee, and one egg. Beat until combined. Carefully spread in the bottom of the pie crust. Bake for 30 minutes at 350. 

While the brownie layer is baking, cream the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the egg and pumpkin and cream again. Slowly beat in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and flour.

When the brownie layer is finished, remove from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes after pulling it out of the oven. After about 5 minutes carefully spread the cheesecake on top of the brownie layer. Place back in the oven and bake another 20-25 minutes (I found I needed to bake it about 10 minutes longer to have a firm cheesecake layer). 

Remove from the oven and set on a cooling rack. Let cool a bit, its delicious warm!

Before serving, make the whipping cream (I add sugar and vanilla to the cream) and top each slice with a dollop of whipping cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Darn blurry pictures... I was too excited to eat it to take another.

I can tell you it was a hit.

Go forth and make pie.