When you have written a really fun post, and spent a lot of time getting it just right, only to find it has mysteriously deleted itself…the only solution is to replace it. With something short. And, in this case, sweet.

Instead of pumpkin pie finishing off our Thanksgiving dinner, this year it was spiced pumpkin mousse. Which was a great way to incorporate the flavors of pumpkin pie when it’s 85 degrees out and I don’t have an oven (and wouldn’t want to use one even if I did).

So, I found the nearest pumpkin, bought ¼ of it, chopped it up, and boiled it down (for nearly an hour). Then I mashed it with a very sophisticated tool. A fork.

The morning of Thanksgiving (which this year was on a Sunday for us), the first thing I did was start the mousse.

Unfortunately, it was a bit of a persnickety thing. It just wouldn’t warm up. Jonathan ended up stirring the custard continuously for over 90 minutes.

(all the problems were operator error. I had too small of a bowl for the ingredients, and too small of a saucepan.) But, through Jonathan’s determination, we were able to get some fantastic mousse.

It was so good in fact, that there are no pictures of the end product. It was gobbled up too fast.

Here’s the recipe I used. I doubled it when I made it.

A note: I like my spices to be fairly strong, so when I doubled everything else, I put in 4 times the spices amount. My changes are reflected in the recipe below. Adapted from Gourmet.

ingredients
* 1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (less than 1 envelope)
* 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water
* 3 large egg yolks
* 3/4 cup sugar
* 1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (slightly less than a 15-ounce can, or about 1/8 of a pumpkin)
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1 1/2 cups well-chilled heavy cream
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
* 18 gingersnaps

preparation
In a medium metal bowl sprinkle gelatin over cold water to soften 1 minute. Whisk in yolks and sugar and set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cook egg mixture, whisking constantly, until an instant-read thermometer inserted 2 inches into mixture registers 160°F. (Tilt bowl to facilitate measuring temperature.) Remove bowl from pan and with an electric mixer beat egg mixture until cool and thickened, about 5 minutes (mixture will be very sticky). Beat in pumpkin and spices. Chill pumpkin mixture, covered, until thickened and cool but not set, about 1 hour.

In a bowl with cleaned beaters beat cream with vanilla until it just holds stiff peaks and fold into pumpkin mixture gently but thoroughly. Coarsely crumble 2 gingersnaps into each of 6 Martini glasses (or other 6- to 8-ounce stemmed glasses).
Transfer mousse to a large pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe decoratively over cookies in glasses (or simply spoon mousse into glasses). Chill mousses, uncovered, until firm, about 3 hours, and up to 1 day (loosely cover after 3 hours).

Just before serving, garnish mousses with remaining 6 whole gingersnaps.