Pumpkin Pie

This is a Thanksgiving staple! Who could host Thanksgiving without a Pumpkin Pie? It is probably the second most important food item after the Turkey. I am not hosting dinner this year, that is something I hope to never do. It is too much for me. My wonderful sister, who I am most thankful for, is hosting dinner at her house. I am bringing pies (only the pumpkin is homemade, the others I get through Sophia's dance class fundraiser), homemade cranberry sauce, and sweet potato biscuits. This is my favorite holiday, probably because it includes most of my favorite foods and it comes with a free pass to eat all I can. And I can eat!! Last night, my trainer and I decided I'm going to attempt to lose close to 20 lbs, so this will also be kind of a last hoorah! HOORAH!!!! God, am I corny.

• A pie pumpkin (small round and about 6-8 inches)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1.5 cans evaporated milk

Crust:

• 1.5 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/6 cup (1 oz) cold vegetable shortening (breaks down to 2 Tbsp and 2 tsp)
• cold water

To make crust: Mix flour sugar and shortening first. Do not make it too smooth, try for pea sized granules. Sprinkle in some cold water to make it dough consistency. Roll out dough between two pieces of wax paper. Use some flour to keep it from sticking. Remove top piece of wax paper and flip dough into pie pan and shape. Press into pan and seal any broken areas. Remove wax paper before filling.

Make Pumpkin Puree with the pumpkin. Mix all pie ingredients. Pour into pie crust. Cover edges of crust with foil to prevent burning. Bake at 425 for the first 15 minutes then turn down to 350 and bake for 45 to 60 minutes. When a knife comes out clean, the pie is done.




Crust protectors are available for purchase at kitchen supply stores.
Or you could do this.

So what recipe would be complete without a disaster or two? I had to run around to 3 different places Tuesday night to find a pie pumpkin. Everywhere has all their Christmas stuff up, but right when everyone should be giving thanks and making pie, I couldn't find a damn pumpkin! I eventually did find one, but next year I will be pureeing some pumpkin at Halloween time and freezing it for Thanksgiving. My last resort would have been mixing the bit of puree I have in my freezer with some of a can, but as you know, I am not a huge fan of the shortcuts that are infused with crap.

As I was mixing my pie ingredients I accidentally poured a bit more than 1 and a half cans of evaporated milk into the mix. Since other ingredients were already in the bowl, there was no way of sifting the extra out. The filling looked very liquidy and as it is my first time I was not sure if it would solidify correctly. I added a tsp of corn starch to thicken it up a little. It looks to be OK...keeping my fingers crossed for the final taste test.

I really hope my pie turned out delicious. I have not tried it yet, since I can't cut into it until dinner is done this afternoon. This post will probably be updated once I get everyone's reactions. The pie ingredients made much more filling than would fit in the crust. Instead of wasting it, I decided to make Naked Pumpkin Mini's. Aka: Cupcake sized pies with no crust.

Family Reaction: Just about everyone seemed to like my pie. The filling was pretty delicious. I was scared it would be too clovey, but not at all. My brother in law said it was too moist for his preference, which could have been due to my over pouring of the evaporated milk. I didnt like the crust. It seemed a bit chewy or soft or something. I am going to look into a new recipe for pie crust.