After a couple of not so good restaurants I thought I should tell you about one that was good, in fact I have a few up my sleeve that are great, but I realised another great place to eat is my place.
American Thanksgiving has just passed and lot of the American blogs have been featuring pumpkin based desserts, and more specifically the traditional Pumpkin Pie. Being a Pumpkin Pie fan, I found this recipe from Tartelette, and had to have a go.
Pastry lined tart tins 
Filled with baking beans
Straight out of the oven
With meringue icing - not quite as good as Tartelette's meringue
But they tasted great - and that's what counts. Here is the recipe I used. This has been copied directly from the Tartelette website which is American.
Pumpkin Meringue Tartelettes:
Makes 8 small tartelettes (3 inches diameter) or one 9 inch round pie
Sable Dough:
1 stick (115 gr) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (93 gr) powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 1 /2 cups (188gr) flour
2 tablespoons (20 gr) cornstarch (makes for a lighter crumb)
pinch of salt
In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add the flour, cornstarch and salt and mix briefly to incorporate. Dump the whole mixture onto a lightly floured board and gather the dough into a smooth ball. Do not work the dough while in the mixer or it will toughen up. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. When the dough is nice and cold, roll it out on a lightly floured board or in between the sheets of plastic. You will have extra dough that you can save for another use in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen, well wrapped for up to 3 months.
Cut out 8 rounds two inches larger than your pastry rings. Fit the dough inside the rings with your fingertips and trim the edges with a sharp knife. Line the rings with small squares of parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dry beans.
Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Let cool.
For the Pumpkin Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin (not the whole can but 8 oz) (I used 1 cup pumpkin puree)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
2/3 cup whole milk
In a large bowl, beat the egg and sugar until pale. Add the pumpkin, spices and salt and mix until just incorporated. Add the milk and slowly and mix well.
Divide the batter among the cooled tart rings and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350F until the batter looks like it is just set, don't overcook or it will crack on you.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely before proceeding with the meringue topping.
For the Italian Meringue:
2 egg whites (60 grams)
1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
2 tablespoons water
In a heavy bottom saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil and cook the mixture until it reaches 245-248F on a candy thermometer.
In the meantime, start beating the egg whites firm peaks but not stiff or dry.
When the sugar syrup has reached the proper temperature, slowly add it to the egg whites with the mixer on low-medium speed. Once all the sugar has been poured in, turn the speed to high and beat until the meringue has cooled.
Place it in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe rosettes of meringue on top of the tartelettes.
Use a blowtorch to slightly caramelize the tops or place them under the broiler in your oven but make sure to keep a close eye on them.
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