one hell of an apple pie

I love having friends over for coffee and cake. It's always nice to have an excuse to bake something and it's not too much of a time commitment. Another bonus is that I get a clean apartment out of it.
Yesterday, I've had some friends over for some relaxed knitting time and I made an apple pie. I think I pretty much figured out the perfect apple pie. Next time I make it I'll take some notes and post the recipe here. Want a little hint? Rum raisins! Yum!

I'm enjoying the last couple of lazy days before classes start next week. I can't wait! So far I have about 13 classes that I really, really wanna take. Getting this number down to a reasonable 5-6 will be tough. I'm really thankful that I have two more years of uni so I can hopefully take all the classes I'm passionate about.

baking days // pumpkin pie

I love fall for so many reasons, but one of the most important ones is that it's pumpkin season!
One of my favorite childhood memories is carving pumpkins with my family. So when I saw the first pumpkins at the supermarket I couldn't resist buying one (or two...). The other one is dutifully acting as my new door stopper. Don't ask.

There's no such thing as 'canned pumpkin' in Germany so I had to make it from scratch. The pumpkin puree is super easy to make: wash and cut your pumpkin into pieces (I used a Red Kuri Squash (Hokkaido) because you can eat everything - including the skin!), boil it with very little water on medium heat for 15-20 mins. Next puree it with a hand blender et voilà, you've got delicious, homemade pumpkin puree!

I ended up using four different recipes because most (American) recipes just said "mix the canned pumpkin with ___ and pour into store-bought crust" - what!?!? Does that count as 'baking' in the US?!
Anyway, I made the pie from scratch including the pie crust etc. and it was really good. Though I have to admit that it was the first time I've had pumpkin pie so I can't really tell how good it was in comparison to other pumpkin pies...

Does anyone know how to prevent the filling from cracking after baking?