Saw this on my personal blog and realized it wasn't over here on this blog. So here it is!
I just happened to have a pumpkin that I didn't end up carving for Halloween...so I decided to try my hand at making a pumpkin pie completely from scratch. I wish I had taken pictures during the whole process, but oh well. Here's what I did:
1. Washed the outside of the pumpkin with warm water and a dab of soap.
2. Cut the pumpkin sorta in half...the knife didn't want to cut straight, so it was a jaggedy half.
3. Scooped out the seeds and guts with an ice cream scoop (on my list for next years jackolantern adventures!).
4. Placed each half in a baking pan, added about 1 1/2 cups of water to the bottom of the pan, covered the pan/pumpkin in tin foil, and put it in the oven.
5. Baked the pumpkin halves for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.
6. When it was all done, I took the skin off and then mashed the cooked pumpkin into a pulp. It was fun.
7. I let the pulp drain in a colander lined with napkins (cheesecloth or heavy duty paper towels probably would have been better, but I didn't have those) while I went to the store to get the rest of the ingredients for the pie.
8. After returning from the store, I mixed up the goop, made the pie crust, put the goop in the crust and put it in the oven at 350 degrees. I didn't keep track of how long it took to cook, but I took it out when a knife inserted in the middle came out clean.
It actually turned out pretty good, I was quite pleased. Here's the recipe I used:
Pie Crust:
3 cups flour
1 cup shortening
1 tsp salt
cold water to bind (I think I used about 6 or 7 TBS)
a pinch of baking powder (I think I used about 1/8 tsp)
Combine dry ingredients, then cut in shortening. Mix by had until dough begins to stick together (don't over mix). On a floured counter/table I rolled the dough out a little bit, then folded it in half. I did this about 3 times (don't overdo the mixing/kneading/folding...you want the crust to be flaky). Then I rolled the dough out, folded it in 1/4's (to make it easier to transport to the pie pan) and then unfolded in in the pan, cutting of extra edges.
Pumpkin Pie Filling:
1 cup sugar
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt (recipe said it was optional...so I actually only put in 1/4 tsp)
4 eggs (for a more dense pie, only use 3)
3 cups of pumpkin pulp goop
1.5 cans (12 oz) evaporated milk (for a more dense pie, only use 1 can).
Combine all ingredients (I put them in the blender and blended them to make sure it was well smooshed together), and then pour in the unbaked crust. There will probably be enough pumpkin pie filling for 2 pies. Bake at 350 degrees until a knife/toothpick/finger (just kidding about the finger) comes out clean.
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