Last-Minute Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

 

It happens to all of us: we plan a decadent, impressive dessert to serve at a special meal.  And despite our best efforts, something goes awry along the way.  Egg whites won't whip into a meringue.  The cake doesn't rise.  The souffle falls.  Or, in my experience, the pie crust simply won't cooperate.  And yet, you still need to serve some type of dessert.  You need a Plan B.

Easy as Pie? Yeah, Right.

I have a complicated relationship with rolled pastry dough.  I know what you’re thinking: C’mon lady, stop being so melodramatic.  It’s just pastry.  It’s delicious.  What could possibly be so complicated? 

I won’t be offended if you roll your eyes.  I get it: I have pastry issues. 

It’s not that I don’t like rolled pastry.  Trust me, I do.  This isn’t some Atkins-diet, carb-hating hangup.  I’ve rarely met a pie, croissant, or cut-out cookie that I didn’t love.  But the dough can be so downright exasperating.  I'm just terrible at working with pastry dough.  Case in point:  a few years ago, I volunteered to make my mother’s famous apple pie for a Thanksgiving celebration with my in-laws (I wasn’t yet married at that point, but I still thought of them as my in-laws).  In my mind, I had visions of serenely rolling out pie dough into perfectly round circles.  After laying the pie crusts in the pie plate, I would fill it with heaping scoops of apples, and then crimp the edges together with plenty of dough to spare.  I would brush the crusts with an egg wash and finish with a sprinkle of sugar, to give that special sheen.  The crust would bake up to be perfectly golden brown and the aroma of fresh apple pie would waft through my kitchen.