October 13, 2015

Pumpkin Pie from Scratch

Last weekend, we visited Nick's daughter at Eastern Illinois University. It was fun to spend a couple days at my alma mater. It was even more fun to spend time cooking with Jordan. She wanted to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, so we did that on Sunday before driving home.

While it's not difficult to do, I'm not sure that roasting a pumpkin is all that much better than using canned pumpkin puree. Still, it feels good to start with this:

Only the smallest of those pumpkins was harmed in the making of pie.

and end up with this:

Mmmmmm, pie...

(Thanks to Jordan for the photos!)

Pumpkin Pie
adapted from Simply Recipes

2 cups of pumpkin puree *
1 12 ounce can of evaporated milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 unbaked pie crust

* To make the pumpkin puree from scratch: Peel a medium-small sugar/pie pumpkin and cut it in half. Scrape out the insides and discard. Chop the remaining pieces and bake on a lined-baking sheet at 350°F until a fork can easily pierce them, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. You may have more than 2 cups of pumpkin, depending on how big your squash is. (We did this the night before we made the pie.)

  • Preheat your oven to 425°F.
  • Add the cooked pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugars, salt, eggs, and spices into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
  • Pour the filling into the pie shell. This may make more filling than will fit into your pie. In fact, it might make enough for two pies. Nevertheless, if you have more filling and no more crust, simply pour the remaining amount into a greased loaf pan to make a crustless pie!
  • Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Then, lower the temperature to 350°F. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes more, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Cool the pie on a wire rack for 2 hours. The pie will come out of the oven all puffed up but will deflate as it cools.


More pumpkin recipes:
Peanut butter & pumpkin dog treats
Pumpkin icebox cheesecake
Pumpkin-molasses BBQ sauce
Pumpkin muffins
Pumpkin pecan pie
Pumpkin-spice pina colada
Red lentil & pumpkin soup

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