This is a honorable goal and can bring joy to the home as long as its not paired with overwhelmed and stress. Here are 5 ways to keep the joy in your home and the stress elsewhere.

• Letting Go of Perfection
• Declutter Your Decorations
• Keep Your Everyday Meals Simple
• Consumable or No Clutter Gifts
• Remember, All Glory be to Christ

Letting Go of Perfection

No matter what trick you use to simplify your home, avoid overwhelm and make the holiday’s less stressful nothing will actually work unless your attitude and perspective are right. Some people call this taking care of your ‘mental health’. I would say this is much more of a heart issue than a mental issue.

When you love something it becomes important to you. Once something is important to you, you get anxious and stressed when that thing is not going the way it should. As a homemaker, we are responsible for the things going on in our home. The cleanliness, the meals, the way the home functions, we are the ones who get to work that out and accomplish it. It becomes important to us.

What do you love?

I love homemaking! Creating a home that is comfortable, hospitable, clean and has the smell of homemade meals delighting the soul is what I love doing. I love when my kids want to be home. When my husband comes home from work with a smile on his face. I want people to feel welcome and at home in my house. This is all good, until it is more important, loved more than my own families well being.

So what do I love more? I love the Lord and the most important thing I can do as a wife and mother is emulate Gods love to my family. Show them love, teach them love. Walk in His way and teach my kids to do the same.

Proverbs 25:24 says “It is better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious woman.” It says similar things in Proverbs 21:9 and 27:15-16. If I’m continually stressed over the well being over the home and I’m yelling, complaining and getting frustrated with the kids, I’m in the wrong. My love is on my home and myself more than my family who the home is for. I have become a contentious women.

Let go of perfection

If you find yourself overwhelmed, bitter and contentious over the busy holiday season you need to let go of the perfection of your home and seek perfections or sanctification in your relationship with your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Avoid overwhelm by resting in the Lord. Remember His holiness. Be thankful for His sacrifice. Serve you family for His glory. Let go of the ideal perfect home and seek the perfect Lord. Let go of the idea of the perfect holiday experience and see the perfect Lord. Don’t hold onto the standards of the crunchy homemaker but seek the standards of the Lord. Only then will you be able to truly avoid overwhelm.

With that being said, lets get into some of the tips and trick that can help simplify our homes now that our hearts are set.

Declutter Your Decorations

To avoid the holiday overwhelm in your home, simplify you decorations. Now, I’m not saying you have to go all minimalist with your holiday decorations but try to avoid a cluttered look. Not every little angel, nutcracker or snowman has to be out every year. If your decorations make you feel like your house is clutter and uncleanable, simplify them.

A cluttered house can be hard to relax in. During this time of year our schedules are often full and cluttered. Our home should be able to give us all rest and peace. If the decorations stress you out, simplify them to fit your family’s needs.

Letting the kids help Decorate

When you have little kids who want to help decorate things can get stressful very easily. We imagine we will be making wonderful memories with our kids when decorating until they have their own great ideas of how things should look. Then its messy, unorganized, and chaotic.

I want my kids to be creative and celebrate our saviors birth with joy and not memories of mom controlling things and taking the fun out of it. But I also can’t stand the numerous messy, mismatching kids ornaments and cut outs, drawing and such. Its all clutter to me.

In our house, each of the kids rooms get their own tree with their own ornaments. My kids can also display all their arts and crafts and decorate in their own rooms however they want. They get to be creative and make memories. I get a tidy house with decoration that bring me joy and not stress.

Maybe you don’t want a tree or decorations in their room. You can also take same idea and apply it elsewhere in the house. Like a table, shelf or mantle that they get to decorate and arrange. Giving them some boundaries to their creativity is a good for them. When given boundaries they become more intentional with what they do.

Keep your everyday meals simple

The holiday season is all about food (and Jesus). From Thanksgiving to New Years there are so many traditional meals, sweet treats, from scratch family recipes we have to make. There are parties that we are baking for and edible gifts to make all on top of all the expected amazing holiday day-of meals.

For the homemaker it can be a lot of fun or stressful days in the kitchen. This is when meal planning and freezer meals come in handy. I love cooking, but it can be exhausting during the holidays to keep up with all the extra baking and cooking on top of the daily meals. Having a monthly meal plan laid out for the month of November and December help me a lot. Here are more resources on monthly meal planning.

When planning these meals I choose easy, simple meals that my family loves. Meals that can be make ahead of time if needed. In November I often make a few freezer meals for some of the busy days in December. This makes it easy for us to eat a healthy home cooked meal on days we have been out all day enjoy the seasons festivities. Having freezer meals ready also makes it easy for me to relax and not worry about dinner when I’m overwhelmed with all the extra holiday baking.

In all, to avoid the holiday overwhelm as a homemaker plan our a months worth of meals ahead of time. Choose simply easy meals. Have a well stocked freezer of meals ready to go.

Consumable or No Clutter Gifts

As a homemaker, as your family receives gifts, it can be stressful. As a mother with 5 small children we receive a lot of toys at Christmas time. It doesn’t help that we have November, December and January birthdays in our family. Lots of new things coming through that I must now find a place for in my home and teach my children to put them away properly.

The day after Christmas, about 3 years ago I remember looking at the mess and realizing I had not place to put all these new toy and I cried. I was overwhelmed. That day I made a plan, went to Walmart, bought bins and a new shelf, organized and threw out a lot of old toys to make room for the new ones. Here are a few tips on how to the avoid overwhelm and stress of gift receiving as a homemaker.

Tell your family and friends what gifts are appropriate

You don’t have to make this a joy killing moment of making harsh boundaries. It can be as simple as mentioning “We are getting out kids fun art supplies this year, they would love more coloring books too”. Often times that sparks a good conversation with friends and family as to what type of gifts are joy giving in your home.

In the past, to avoid overwhelm, I have had to give some family members a limit of how many toy and gift they can give my kids. Thankfully we have such good relationships that this was not offensive. When giving these types of boundaries I have often worded them like “We have a lot of toy right now, for Christmas I’d appreciate it if you only got them 1 toy. You can get them as many gifts as you want but can you keep the toys to a limit of 1 per child?” If you need more boundaries you can say something like “We have so much right now, and would appreciate a limit of only 3 gift this year.” Or what ever it needs to be.

What type of gifts to kids that are not toys

To avoid the clutter and overwhelm of toy during this seasons think of consumable or easy to store gifts for you kids. Gifts like sidewalk chalk, bubbles, coloring books are great non food consumable gifts. When they are done they are gone.

Food gifts, like their favorite snack in their stockings is always loved. I always fill my little kids stocking with applesauce, banana, boxes of yogurt covered raisins and fruit snacks and they love it! As they get older treats like, breakfast cookies, chocolate bars, trail mix. You can be as crunchy or not, food gifts are always loved.

For more ideas for no clutter consumable gifts here I have a list of 27 gifts ideas you can check out.

Remember, All Glory Be To Christ

Now that you have decluttered, stocked up on freezer meals, and your gifts aren’t stressing you out, you can remember again, this is all for the glory of Christ. It may be tempting to say what I do is for the glory of God. Christ is honored by my work. I give honer to Christ with what I accomplish. Like a knight saying he will win this tournament for the beautiful lady. Its not about me giving God glory with what I do but doing what He would have me do that brings Him glory.

All glory be to Christ means I seek His will and workout His plan that He has for me. God has prepared work for us to do and yes, doing the dishes, making the meals, wrapping the gifts so beautifully is a part of the life that he has given to us. But the work he desires for us is in our heart attitude towards Him and our neighbors. He desires us to love Him with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbors as ourself. Put off sin, confess and repent, giving glory to our Lord.

When you do the work of a homemaker, don’t come to God saying “Look what I did for your glory” but come to God asking “What can I do to give your glory”.

The post How to find joy and avoid overwhelm as a homemaker this holiday season appeared first on Embracing The Home.

• No Clutter Gifts 
• Less Clutter Gifts 

These are some of the best non-toy gifts that I have given to my kids. This list has wonderful gifts for kids of all ages, older children to little kids alike. New toys are always a hit with the kids but often for the parents they can be a burden. Obviously the gift is for the kids not the parents but I would hope you would want to bless the parents as well as the kids.

But First, Talk To The Parents

When giving gifts we want to give from the heart and if we truly want their well being we will give appropriate gifts. Knowing not just what the kids want but what the parents allow is important. Your niece might tell you she wants a toy microphone and speaker but will that annoy her mother…? your sister…? Yes it will. So I bought it for her. Do as I say, not as I do. 

Sometimes we can get carried away and give gifts that the parents were trying to avoid bringing into the house. Gifts like Lego are great if they already are a Lego family and some families are not. Some families are not into Disney princesses or barbies and for some those are perfect gifts. Know the kids and know what the parents are okay with introducing into the family.

When you want to gift a need, ASK to make sure they parents/child need this item. Do they need clothing? or do they not want anymore. Do they need more art supplies? or do they have enough. Do they need more books? What do they need? Don’t just assume everyone needs new shoes or more markers. 

No Clutter Gifts

These gift ideas are here and gone again. Perfect for the kids who has everything or for the minimalist family. Gifts that will make the day special without the fuss of finding a place to keep store it. 

Balloons

Balloons are fun and don’t last forever. They make a day/week special.

Bubbles

My kids love bubbles they are typically a one afternoon outside fun. Nothing I have to find space and it gets them outside.

Bubble Bath

My little girl love bubble baths. I do not buy bubble bath regularly but they become great Christmas morning stocking suffer or birthday gifts for fun bath time. Bath salts, face masks, nail polish and lotions are also a perfect gift for older girls. 

Flowers

Those little girls feel so loved when given a sweet little bouquet of flowers! They light up when the flowers are for them. Household plants or garden plants or even seeds can be just as fun for your kids to take care of and watch grow.

Foods, Snacks, Treats

Candy, snacks, favorite foods are another fun gift to give. Be sure to make sure over sugar someone else’s kids and ask the parents if they have suggestions or restrictions that they give their kids when it comes to food.
side story: For my oldest sons first birthday his aunt got him a banana. He was so excited he cried when I tried to get him to open the next gift. We had to take a break and let him eat his banana before moving on with the party! It was hilarious and has become a tradition with our family to give a banana for the first birthdays.

Ice Cream Money/Gift Card

My son was so excited when he got a card from his great-great Aunt with $5 in it specifically for ice cream. He love’s going out for ice cream at our local creamery and it made for a great gift. 

Tickets to Events

Children’s Museum, plays, movie theater, aquarium, zoo are great ideas for experience gifts.  These are great gifts to talk to the parents about first. If you are giving the gift of an event or experience gift make sure its something the parents approve of. Also don’t leave out the parents from experiencing the adventure with their kids. These gifts are great for the whole family. Don’t take your grand kids to the zoo for the first time without their parents, unless the parents wish it. 

Scavenger Hunt/Treasure Hunt 

Adventure! You can make up your own scavenger hunt or treasure hunt that geared to your child or check out these 35 awesome scavenger hunt ideas for kids. Scavenger hunts can be so much fun for all ages. You can adapt you hunt to being in one room or a whole town. This gift can be very simple to extremely extravagant. Some treasures can be toys that they can keep or candy and treat that goes away when finished. 

Sidewalk Chalk

My two oldest boys have a great time and will spend hours outside with chalk. Making rocket ships, race car and car tracks, even numbering all 84 squares in the side walk to the corner of the block. Kids love chalk. A great gift that once is done its gone

Water balloons

Water balloons are an amazing gift in the summer. On a hot day the kids can have a epic battle while cooling down in the water. One used they are done. 

Less Clutter Gifts

Most of the gifts ideas on this list take up some space but not a lot and not always for long. Too much of a good thing can get overwhelming at times. When shopping for a minimalist family or a kid who has everything already, ask yourself if they will use this gift or if it will just become another thing to store. Giving from the heart is giving something they will use. 

Audio Books

For the younger kids who can’t read yet, audio books are a great gift. Starting that love for reading early can be done with audio books. Listening to a book in long car rides, or during quiet time/nap time while they color or play with legos is a great way to introduce a love for reading. You can get gift cards for amazon to use towards audible or purchase a monthly subscription for someone. For other audio books apps check out Everyday Reading’s review.

Board Games

Even with our 3 and 4 year old we like to introduce board games, even if we don’t play exactly by all the rules with the little ones we have a lot of fun.

Books

One of the best gifts you can give is books. Books form people and character. A love to read can produce a love for knowledge.

Camping Gear

If the family is a camping family then their kids will love items like a compass, flashlight, binoculars, or a magnifying glass. These gifts make the family activities even more special. 

Clothing

Something practical can also be special meaningful gifts. A sweet little dress, or cool new pair of rain boots can become a very special outfit when given from someone they love. 

DVD’s

In a world of streaming this gift my seem out dated but my kids love being able to pick out what they want to watch by looking through their DVD’s. I feel more comfortable that ad’s I don’t approve of aren’t randomly popping up and shows they are not allowed to watch aren’t an seen as an option. They also get to take their favorite movies to their grandparents and cousins house for fun movie nights.

Flower/Plants

Those little girls feel so loved when given a sweet little bouquet of flowers! They light up when the flowers are for them. Household plants or garden plants or even seeds can be just as fun for your kids to take care of and watch grow. The gift of flowers is also a great gift for older kids and even adults. This Christmas my dad got me money for two fruit trees of my choice. Now every time I water my trees I think of my dad’s love for me. 

Fun Money

I remember getting $2 dollar bills in Christmas stockings or for my birthday, they are rare and exciting and you want to save them instead of spend. My brother in law once made a treasure map and hid a treasure chest full of $3 works of pennies that his son and my sons (ages 4-5) got to split up between them. They love the adventure and 100 pennies is a lot of money for a little boy. 

Piggy Bank

Now what to keep your treasure in? A piggy bank! It doesn’t have to be a pig, there are lots of cute ideas out there. I personally like the ones that easily open so that my kids can count their money over and over again (homeschooling points) or the ones they can see through and see grow as they save their money. Kibelly Wooden Banks are a great example.

Photo Album

My daughters loves looking though my wedding photo albums and their baby albums. You can create personal photo books at Shutterfly, Snapfish, Mixbook, Chatbooks or even Walmart for less than $10. This year my kids and I made “cousin books” and gave them to our extended family. Photo albums are great for family that lives out of state, especially if you can get photos of their family and your family together in one book. When family is separated by distance its always a meaningful to see each other on the same page of one book even if not the same photo. 

Mail

Personal letters from you can be very special especially if you live far away or like to travel. Postcards, birthday cards, drawings and art can be very exciting to receive in the mail. Sending mail monthly can be something those kids can look forward to

Subscriptions

There are lots of wonderful creative kids subscriptions you can sign up for. Magazine subscriptions like National Geographic Kids, Highlights, and more. Activity boxes like KiwiCo, Little Passports, Highlights High Five and Lovevery. Something new every month that produces creativity and learning. 

Scavenger Hunt/Treasure Hunt. 

Adventure! You can make up your own scavenger hunt or treasure hunt that geared to your child or check out these 35 awesome scavenger hunt ideas for kids. Scavenger hunts can be so much fun for all ages. You can adapt you hunt to being in one room or a whole town. This gift can be very simple to extremely extravagant. Some treasures can be toys that they can keep or candy and treat that goes away when finished.

Art Supplies 

Acrylic or Watercolor Paints

Fun fancy paints for older kids a great way for them to feel older and take seriously their art projects. Don’t forget a few nice paint brushes that go with out fun paint. 

Art Paper

Water color paper, thick card stock, sketch pads are wonderful gifts for artists of all ages.

Coloring Books

Coloring books for any age! There are so many different types of coloring books out there I’m sure you can find something they will love.

Journal

A journal can be a great way to encourage creative writing or simple finding words to express yourself. For younger kids you can get a drawing journal or a journal with prompts. 

Photo Album/Scrapbook

You can make your own photo album as a gift or but a blank album that the kids get to fill in themselves. Print pictures for them and let them make their own memories.

Sticker/Sticker Book

Sticker books are a lot of fun and a perfect gift as long as the kids are old enough to know the stickers don’t go on the furniture. 

Science Projects

Like Doctor Jupiter’s Science Kit, or Stem Robotics Kids or a gardening Root Viewer Kit. There are lots of different ways to experiment and grow your kids knowledge while having a lot of fun! 

Sidewalk Chalk

My two oldest boys just spend hours outside with chalk, making rocket ships, race car and car tracks, numbering all 84 squares in the side walk to the corner of the block. A great gift that once is done its gone.

The post 31 Exciting gifts for kids, clutter-free, non-toy appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Ingredients for Eggnog

Eggs Yokes

Egg Yokes add flavor as well as some of the creamy thickness. As you heat up your milk and eggs the yokes will cook slowly while mixing in with the milk, cream and sugar. In the end they will be cooked and if done correctly not clumpy.

Milk and Cream

The more cream you use the thicker and richer your eggnog will be. I remember as I kid my sister would always add a little milk to the eggnog because to thin it out a bit but I always liked the thickness. So depending on how you like it you can change the ratio of milk and cream. You could go as far as all cream (I wouldn’t suggest it) or you could do all milk and it will still turn out.

Sugar

Sugar is going to sweeten up our creamy drink. If you want to substitute for a more healthier choice you could try monk fruit sweetener at a 1:1 ratio. Or honey or maple syrup at a 1:3/4 ratio.

Spices

Nutmeg is the star of the show with eggnog. Its warm, sweet, nutty flavor taste like Christmas. You can use ground nutmeg or whole cloves. I prefer using the whole cloves. Just grate them with a fine grater and enjoy freshly grated nutmeg.

The other spice we will be adding is cinnamon. Cinnamon and nutmeg complement each other very well as the are both warm and very reminiscence of the holiday season.

Vanilla Extract/Powder

Vanilla is another wonderfully warm flavor that bring out all the other flavors. I like to use vanilla powder for most of my baking and cooking. The flavor is just as wonderful and measures out the same as vanilla extract. If you’ve never given it a try let this holiday season be you chance!

Salt

Enhance the flavor with good salt like Redmond Real Salt. If you are looking for a unrefined natural salt with multiple minerals and electrolytes harvested in the United States of America, then look no further. Redmond Real Salt is full of flavor and nutrients and harvested out of the ancient seabed deep beneath Central Utah.

How To Make Eggnog

Separate eggs

Get two bowls, one for the yokes and one for the egg whites. Separating eggs is simple, crack the egg over the bowl set aside for the whites. Pour or catch the egg yoke in one half of the broken egg shell. Let the egg white fall into the bowl. Pour the egg yoke into the other half of the broken egg shell to get rid of the rest of the egg whites. Place you egg yoke in the other bowl.

Double Yoke with my first egg! Always very special!

Whisk Eggs and Sugar

To brake up the egg yoke and to keep it from clumping up while it cook, whisk it with the sugar until it turns a light or pale yellow. This will make for a very nice smooth eggnog.

Add The Rest Of The Ingredients

In a pot add the milk, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla powder and the egg and sugar mixture and whisk together.

Heat on The Stove

Turn on medium – medium high heat and stir. Don’t whisk anymore just stir it all together and keep an eye on it. You don’t want the eggnog to boil but you do want it to steam and maybe bubble a little but don’t let the milk burn. Stir for about 10-15 minutes until it starts to thicken as the egg cooks.

Let Cool and Enjoy!

Once thickened, let your eggnog cool down. I like my eggnog warm just as much as I like it cold so enjoy it once drinkable.

Store you eggnog in the refrigerator for as long as the original expiration date for your milk and cream that you used in this recipe.

Eggnog

Yield: 1 quart jar

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

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Ingredients

• 6 egg yokes
• 3 cups milk
• 1 cup cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Separate the egg white from the eggs. (read above to learn how to separate eggs.)
2. Whisk Eggs and Sugar together to brake up the egg yoke and to keep it from clumping up while it cook, whisk it with the sugar until it turns a light or pale yellow.
3. In a pot add the milk, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla powder and the egg and sugar mixture and whisk together.
4. Heat on the stove on medium - medium high heat and stir. Don't whisk anymore just stir it all together and keep an eye on it. You don't want the eggnog to boil but you do want it to steam and maybe bubble a little but don't let the milk burn. Stir for about 10-15 minutes until it starts to thicken as the egg cooks.
5. Let cool and store in the refrigerator in a jar until the expiration date on the milk and cream that you used in the recipe.

The post How To Make Homemade Eggnog – From Scratch Holiday Recipes appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Ingredients For Gingerbread Pie Crust

Flour

Use All-Purpose flour for this gingerbread pie crust recipe. I do not suggest using any whole wheat for this crust recipe. You could substitute with an All-Purpose, 1:1 ratio of gluten free flour or almond flour.

Cold Butter

Cold butter is extremely important. The colder the butter the better. I freeze my butter for pie crusts. Keeping the butter cold keeps the water that’s in the butter from absorbing into the flour too soon. We want the steam from the water in the butter to make lots of air pockets in order to create glorious flakes in our crust. If you let the butter get warm the flour will absorb the water and you will get a dense crust.

Blackstrap Molasses

Molasses creates the texture and classic flavor of gingerbread, along with the ginger of course.

There are a couple different types of molasses. Blackstrap molasses is very strong so we don’t need a lot of it. If you add to much your crust will become bitter. For light molasses or regular molasses you might want to add a little bit more then this recipe calls for. I only ever use blackstrap so I’m not sure how much more you would want but probably not to much more. If anyone tries regular molasses let me know in the comments how much you use and if it turned out.

Blackstrap molasses can be difficult to find in stores but you can buy it from Azure Standard or Amazon online.

To Read more about why I always cook with blackstrap molasses read “The Benefits of Blackstrap Molasses“

Cinnamon, All-Spice, Ginger and Salt

To make this crust really taste like gingerbread we can’t forget our spices! Cinnamon, All-Spice and Ginger are the classic gingerbread flavors. You could also add Nutmeg or substitute All-Spice with Cloves at a 2:1 Ratio (1/2 the amount of cloves).

Sugar

Because our molasses is a strong and can be a little bitter I add a little extra sugar compared to my perfect classic pie crust recipe. The we don’t want the crust to be too sweet but just sweet enough to complement out pie filling.

I use organic cane sugar from Azure Standard for just about everything and it works just as well as regular granulated sugar. You could also substitute for Monk Fruit Sweetener at a 1:1 ratio.

Apple Cider Vinegar

The acids in apple cider vinegar slow down the gluten production and keep the dough from becoming elastic like. If your dough is worked too much the gluten molecules will activate and your dough will become tough. Apple cider vinegar will slow this down to insure a tender, flaky pie crust. Don’t worry, your crust will not taste like vinegar. Remember to use COLD apple cider vinegar, if your liquid is cold your butter will also stay cold.

An Ice Cube (optional)

You can either place your ACV in the freezer for 20 minutes or so in order to get it cold or you can place an ice cube in it. I usually use an ice cube but its up to you. You will not be putting the ice cube in the dough. Its just to make your apple cider vinegar cold.

5 Tips You Don’t Want to Skip

(Especially number 4)

Tip # 1: Cold butter.

The colder the butter the better. I freeze my butter for pie crusts. Often I cut the butter in cubes and then freeze before adding to my flour. Keeping the butter cold keeps the water that’s in the butter from absorbing into the flour too soon. We want the steam from the water in the butter to make lots of air pockets in order to create glorious flakes in our crust. If you let the butter get warm the flour will absorb the water and you will get a dense crust

Tip # 2: Cold Apple Cider Vinegar

The acids in apple cider vinegar slow down the gluten production and keep the dough from becoming elastic like. If your dough is worked too much the gluten molecules will activate and your dough will become tough. Apple cider vinegar will slow this down to insure a tender, flaky pie crust. Don’t worry, your crust will not taste like vinegar. Remember to use COLD apple cider vinegar, if your liquid is cold your butter will also stay cold.

Tip # 3. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

By now I hope you realize we want things to stay cold. After you mix all the ingredients making your dough but before you roll it out make sure you refrigerate for at least one hour. This will help solidify the butter again after it is worked into the flour. Don’t let your dough sit on the counter for too long, always put it back in the refrigerator.  Once I’ve rolled out my pie crust and placed it in the pie pan I always put them back in the refrigerator until I’m ready to put the filling in. If the filling is in the crust and the oven is not preheated yet, I put it all back in the refrigerator. Keep it cold.

Tip # 4: Do Not Overwork.

I believe this is the number one reason people have tough, dense pie crusts. When you overwork your dough the butter melts and the gluten actives. So if you remember anything from this post, remember this. Do No Overwork The Dough! This often happens when we try to make the fancy, pretty crust we see on Pinterest. But don’t worry, you can still make the pretty crust, I have a tip for that as well.

Tip # 5. Freeze Your Decorative Pie Crust

When making a fun decorative top for your pie we often work it too much, melting the butter and activating the gluten molecules resulting in a tough, dense pie crust. Follow these steps. Mix your dough according to the recipe, refrigerate the dough for 1 hour, roll out the dough on wax or parchment paper for easy transporting. Freeze for 10 minutes. Cut out your pretty shapes and place them back in the freezer till you are ready to assemble them on your pie.

If you have scraps from the cut outs that you want to use place them in the freezer as well for 10 minutes before working them again. Don’t combined them into a ball to roll out again but instead try to layer them on top of each other then roll out. Again, don’t overwork. The shapes you make with the scraps wont turn out as well as the first set. They have been worked more, so that is just how it is.

How To Make Gingerbread Pie Crust

Step One: Freeze or Refrigerate Ingredients.

First combine the apple cider and the ice cube in a small bowl. You want to use cold ingredients to make your pie crust. If you don’t have an ice cube you can simply place the bowl in the freezer for a few minutes till it is cold.

Step Two: Combine Dry Ingredients

Add flour, sugar, cinnamon, all-spice, ginger and salt to your food processor. Pulse to mix together.

Step Three: Add Cold Butter

Cut your cold or frozen butter in cubes and add to food processor. It can be hard to cut frozen butter so sometimes I cut the butter then place in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before adding to the flour mixture. I want the butter to be as cold as possible before this step because this is when it is most worked. Pulse a few time until it it starts to combine with the flour mixture.

Step 4: Add Molasses and ACV

Add molasses and the apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon at a time while continuing pulsing
the food processor till you dough starts to look like little beads. Don’t overwork.

Step Five: Refrigerate Dough

Place the crumbly dough on floured surface and bring together into a disc. Again, don’t overwork. do not knead the dough. Just simply combine together and form into a disc.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap or a zip-lock bag and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour. I have also used a Pyrex glass container to store my dough but the zip-lock bag is my favorite to use. I often make my dough the day before I plan on making my pies. You can leave your dough in the refrigerator for up to a week and it will stay good. You can also place it in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Step Six: Make A Pie!

Unlike a classic pie crust we are not going to roll out the dough all the way. The molasses makes the dough a little sticky and easily fall apart when lifted up. So, roll the dough out. If the dough seems to be tear then go ahead and mold it up onto the sides with your hands. Try not to overwork.

Follow your pie filling recipe for baking instructions.

Side Story: So my daughter got upset when playing outside with her big brother and immediately, without any prompting, as shes is still crying, started helping me finish making my pumpkin pie. She was soon happy again. This just goes to show baking truly does make everything better!

Gingerbread Pie Crust

Yield: 2 Pie Crust

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

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Ingredients

• 2 Cups Flour
• 4 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Cup Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Blackstrap Molasses
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
• 1/2 Teaspoon All-Spice
• 2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Ice Cube (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine apple cider vinegar and ice cube in a small bowl to get cold.
2. Add flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, all-spice and salt to your food processor. Pulse to mix together.
3. Cut you cold or frozen butter in cubes and add to food processor. Pulse a
   few time till it it starts to combine with the flour mixture.
4. Add apple cider vinegar and molasses mixture 1 tablespoon at a time while continuing pulsing the food processor till you dough starts to look like little beads.
5. Place dough on floured surface and bring together and divide into two discs.
6. Wrap discs in plastic wrap or a zip-lock bag and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
7. Unlike Classic Pie Crust you will roll out dough just a little then use your hands to mold into pie pan. Follow your pie recipes for baking instructions

Shop This Recipe!

Golden Barrel Unsulfured Black Strap molasses, 32 oz

Monk Fruit In The Raw Sweetener Baker’s Bag, 16 oz., Keto Certified Monk Fruit Sweetener, Zero Calories, Zero Net Carbs, Non-GMO Project Verified

Hamilton Beach Food Processor & Vegetable Chopper for Slicing, Shredding, Mincing, and Puree, 8 Cup, Black

The post How to Make Gingerbread Pie Crust appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Ingredients for Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin

I love using fresh pumpkins from our own garden but we never grow enough for all the pies, breads and soups that I start making in the fall. Canned pumpkin puree is really easy to use, makes the process quick and then making fresh pumpkin puree. I like to cook a few pumpkin then freeze the puree so I can have my own pumpkin all season long.

Substitutes Sweet potato or butternut squash also make some really good pie and you can substitute the pumpkin with equal amounts of either of them.

Evaporated Milk

For some reason evaporated milk is always hard for me to find in the store. Sweeten Condensed Milk is everywhere but evaporated milk likes to hide in the aisles of the store along with the molasses. So I’ve stopping looking for it and instead I make my own.

Its really easy to make your own evaporated milk, simply simmer the milk until it is reduced by 50-60%. Check our Jenny’s Blog on how to make Evaporated Milk. To make Sweetened Condensed Milk you do the same but add sugar.

Sugar

Sugar is our sweetener, you can substitute with a 1:1 ratio of Monk Fruit Sweetener. I have never tired to substitute honey or maple syrup for this pumpkin pie recipe but I believe it could be done. If you do try consider reducing the milk by 1/4 of a cup to make up for the added moisture.

Eggs

Eggs are a binding agent in baking as well as adding a creamy texture from the rich egg yoke.

Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, & All-Spice

Our spices include cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and all-spice. These spices add so much flavor and you can easily adjust the amounts and create a whole new flavor. If you favor one flavor over the other you can experiment by adding a extra 1/4 teaspoon to the spice you want to stand out. Reduce another spice you want to be more subtle then the others.

I also really like freshly ground nutmeg. This is optional but if you have never tried grating your own nutmeg from whole cloves you are missing out. I love the taste of nutmeg and fresh nutmeg does not disappoint.

Vanilla Powder/Extract

You can use vanilla powder or vanilla extract. The vanilla is optional but I like the subtle background flavor it gives to my pumpkin pie.

Salt

Enhance the flavor with good salt like Redmond Real Salt. If you are looking for a unrefined natural salt with multiple minerals and electrolytes harvested in the United States of America, then look no further. Redmond Real Salt is full of flavor and nutrients and harvested out of the ancient seabed deep beneath Central Utah.

Flour or Cornstarch

We don’t need much but just a little flour or cornstarch mixed in to our pie batter thickens our pie just enough to keep hold our pie together, especially when we cut into it.

How To Make Pumpkin Pie

Prepare Your Gingerbread or Classic Pie Crust

I have a recipe for both a gingerbread crust or a classic crust. I love the gingerbread spices and if you’ve followed me for any amount of time your might have notice I love Blackstrap Molasses. So making a gingerbread crust with blackstrap molasses makes me so happy! But if you just want just want a classic perfect crust I have that too or if you are gluten free… I’ve got a recipe for that as well

Make Evaporated Milk (if you can’t find in store)

You can use store bought evaporated milk or make your own. Its really easy to make your own evaporated milk, simply simmer the milk until it is reduced by 50-60%. Check our Jenny’s Blog on how to make Evaporated Milk. To make Sweetened Condensed Milk you do the same but add sugar.

Mix Ingredients Together

Let your evaporated milk cool down to room temperature then mix it with all the other ingredients, pumpkin, spices, vanilla, eggs and flour/cornstarch

Pour Into Pie Pan and Bake

In your prepared unbaked pie crust, poor your pumpkin pie batter into the pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 325. We want the crust to get hot so that the butter can do its job in making a flaky crust, then we reduce the temperature so that we don’t burn the tops of our pies before the center is cooked through.

Let Cool and Enjoy!

Let cool all the way before serving. Pumpkin pie is served best with homemade whipped cream! A cup of hot coco or eggnog or some vanilla ice cream on the side would also complement this pumpkin pie recipe.

Side Story: So my 3 year old daughter got upset when playing outside with her big brother and immediately, without any prompting, as shes is still crying, started helping me finish making my pumpkin pie. She was soon happy again. This just goes to show baking truly does make everything better!

Classic Pumpkin Pie

Yield: 1, 9 inch Pie

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Print

Ingredients

• 2 cups or 15 oz can of Pumpkin
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Cup Evaporated Milk
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon All Spice
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

Pie Crust

Toggle ingredient group

• Classic Pie Crust
• Gingerbread Pie Crust

Instructions

1. Prepare Crust (Classic Pie Crust, Gingerbread Crust) in 9 inch pie pan and place in the refrigerator until we are ready to bake.
2. Make Evaporated Milk (additional 30 minutes) or use store bought.
3. In a large bowl mix together all your pie filling ingredients.
4. Pour batter into prepared pie pan with the uncooked pie crust.
5. Bake at 400 degree for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and baked for another 25 minutes. Its done when the center does not jiggle when moved.
6. Let cool completely and serve with whipped cream, eggnog or ice cream!

Shop This Recipe

Cook’s, Pure Vanilla Powder, World’s Finest Gourmet Fresh Premium Vanilla, 4.5 oz

The Spice Way Nutmeg Whole – (4 oz)

Monk Fruit In The Raw Sweetener Baker’s Bag, 16 oz., Keto Certified Monk Fruit Sweetener, Zero Calories, Zero Net Carbs, Non-GMO Project Verified

Antenda Adjustable Silicone Pie Crust Shields – Baking Protectors Cover Ring Fits 8-11.4 Inch Pies

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