I know, the holidays are over, but who said that good food can only be enjoyed at specific times of the year? January 1st comes along and suddenly there is no more eggnog, no more gingerbread, and no more pumpkin pie! It's a travesty, I tell you! One way to get a piece of the "holiday spirit" back, is to make some of that yummy food. This is a pumpkin pie recipe that has been in my binder for a long time. I have no idea where it came from originally, but I have used it many times.
When I make pies, I will often take the shortcut of buying refrigerated pie dough from the supermarket. For those of you who want an authentic "home made" experience, I will add a pie dough recipe at the bottom of this recipe.
Pumpkin Pie Ingredients:
1 Pie pumpkin or 1 (15 ounces) can of puree
Pie crust dough for a 9" single crust pie
2 eggs
1 cup of packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 1/2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice*
1 (12 fluid ounces) can of evaporated milk
Pumpkin Pie Directions:
If you're using a pie pumpkin, it must be prepped before proceeding. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 C), then cut the pumpkin in half or quarters, and remove the seeds. (I find it easier to use a knife and cut all of the stringy parts out of the pumpkin.) Place the cleaned pumpkin pieces on a lightly oiled aluminum foil lined or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork (~30-40 minutes--the time varies based on the size of the pumpkin pieces). Cool so the pumpkin can be handled without burning you. Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the peel. Use a blender or food processor to puree the flesh in small batches.
In a large bowl (or stand mixer), slightly beat eggs. Beat in brown sugar, flour, salt, 2 cups of the puree (or the 1 can of puree), pumpkin pie spice, and evaporated milk.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell. Put a strip of aluminum foil around the edges to prevent over browning.
Bake for 10 minutes at 450 F (230 C), then reduce the temperature 350 F (175 C). Bake for another 40-50 minutes, removing the foil strip about 20 minutes before it is ready. The pie is done when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm or chilled. (I think it tastes best with whipped cream.)
Pie Crust Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter-cold, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 to 6 tablespoons ice water
Pie Crust Directions:
Put the flour, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a food processor, then pulse a couple times to mix. Add about half of the butter to the mixture in the food processor and pulse several times. Then add the rest of the butter and pulse 6 to 8 times until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of large peas.
Sprinkle the mixture with about 3 tablespoons of ice water (make sure there are no ice cubes in the water!) and pulse again. Then add more ice water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing once or twice after each addition until the dough just barely begins to hold together.
You know that the mixture is ready if when you pinch some of the crumbly dough together with your fingers, it holds together. Be careful how much water you add, too much and the crust will be tough.
Carefully empty the crumbly dough mixture from the food processor on to a clean, dry, flat surface. Gather the mixture in a mound.
Use your hands and knead the mound just enough to form it into a disk. Do not over-knead! Kneading develops gluten which will toughen the dough. You should just knead enough so that the dough holds together without cracks.
If you started with cold butter you should be able to see small chunks of butter speckling the dough. This is a good thing. These small bits of butter will spread out into layers as the crust cooks so you have a flaky crust!
Sprinkle the disk with a little flour, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour or up to 2 days.
Remove the crust disk from the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften enough to make rolling a bit easier.
Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking.
Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate.
Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.
* Not everybody has "pumpkin pie spice" on their spice rack. There are five spices that make up traditional pumpkin pie spice: Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Cloves, and Cardamom. In the absence of the premixed version of these spices, you can always use them (or any combination of them) individually.
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