It’s a bizarre fact that I have not ever made pumpkin pie, nor has it ever been served in my family on any occasion or holiday. Southerners are more pecan people. Our friend Jason came over for dinner and brought a store bought one, which, when topped with an avalanche of whipped cream, wasn’t half bad. But now I have real pumpkins and I want pie.
So I called my friend who lives on a farm in Quebec and whose husband grew about four zillion pumpkins this fall in their garden. She gave me the gist, and I made some minor modifications like adding an extra egg and so forth. It’s not very sweet, which I actually like. It’s more like pumpkin flan with a flaky crust. I used Julia Child’s recipe for pie crust, which I can do by heart now. No wonder I weigh so much! It turned out to be some of the best pie I’ve ever had and has possibly even replaced pecans in my beady little Southern heart. Well, maybe not. Here it is.
2 cups mashed roasted pumpkin (cut a pie pumpkin in half, scoop out goop, then rub with olive oil and roast for an hour in a 400-degree oven; then scoop roasted pumpkin out of peel and use a hand blender or some other device to mash out all the lumps. Let it sit for 30 minutes or so and then pour off any liquid)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp each–ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs well beaten
3/4 cup skim milk
plus one can (12oz) evaporated skim milk (i.e. carnation).
Combine mashed pumpkin with sugar, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt. In a separate bowl, beat egg with milk and evaporated milk. Add egg/milk mixture to pumpkin and spices…I mixed it by hand, but you can use a hand blender (I just hate washing the stupid thing). That’s enough to fill TWO 9-inch pie crusts.
Cook each at 350 for about 50 min to one hour or until top is nicely browned and a knife comes out clean. Then eat it all without sharing.
I’m going to forgive you for eating it all without sharing because you shared this recipe.
I LOVE pumpkin pie but I’ve never quite gotten up the gumption to make it from scratch.
Thanks for this. Very helpful!
Hi. I’ll be there in half an hour. HAVE MY PIE WAITING, WOMAN.
I LOVE pumpkin pie. LOVE it.
Having grown up diggin’ some pecan pie, I could never bring myself to eat my grandmother’s Pumpkin Pie at Thanksgiving because I didn’t want to waste the stomach space on something I wasn’t sure if I liked. Then - one year - the pecan was gone when I wanted my second piece, and I was forced to try the pumpkin. Oh, heaven it was good. Could be because her recipe was one she created herself and…it had pecans in it too. Two for the price of one!
Then after she passed I decided that those pumpkin pies would be my contribution to the holidays. The first time I made them (I was a very GREEN cook who couldn’t do much without a recipe - it was well before I was married) I got stumped and had to call mom because my grandmother had never written in when to add the cooked pumpkin. How scared was I? Seems ridiculous now!
Rock on with your pumpkin pies!
I’m so making your recipe for Thanksgiving. Pumpkin pie is my favorite. Warm with French vanilla ice cream.
yum! save me a piece with some whipped cream and i will be right over!
I was just! emailing you after I saw your pics on Flickr, asking you nicely for your recipe. Some of our more awesome neighbors just handed me fresh pumpkin yesterday and I have never made a pie, but wanted to this weekend. Long story to say: a pumpkin pie recipe! Huzzah!
Canadian Thanksgiving is 6 weeks before American Thanksgiving and I ate my fill of this 2 weeks ago at my parents house. I love me some pumpkin pie!
My God that looks good. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I too love pumpkin pie… too bad my husband can’t share a house with pumpkin, or sweet potato, or carrots. I had a whole Molly Stones pumpkin pie to myself as part of the ‘Christmas Dinner’ they put together. The pie ROCKED! and the dinner was amazing as well. I need to make me some pumpkin pie.
Um, PLEASE say this will make a guest appearance at the Thanksgiving de Jemima, for which I have already started saving room ;-)
You’re cool. I’m gonna make that pie - thanx for the recipe!
- M