Real Pumpkin Pie

A girlfriend stopped by last week on her way to have dinner at my mom's house up North. We had tea and talked about pies, and it inspired me to make pumpkin pie. This is my favorite recipe; it's is based on the tag of a sugar pie pumpkin I bought years ago from a farmer's market. I like it because it doesn't call for evaporated or sweetened condensed milk, which I can never seem to keep on hand.

A tip on cooking with real pumpkins: it's easier than it sounds, if you cook a lot at once and freeze it. It keeps in the freezer well, and you can pull it out and use it just as easily as canned pumpkin. It's also an awesome winter ingredient to add to stews, sauces or to spice up mashed potatoes.

Low on the sugar, if it's made with real, pureed pumpkin, it's like cheesecake.

For 1 deep 9" pie pan.

Cooking pumpkins can be a challenge, and there's no particularly easy way to do it. I like to buy small sugar pie pumpkins that fit in the oven whole, then de-seed them after they've baked, but if they're soft enough, cut and seed them and bake large slices in 1" water ~375 for an hour, or until soft.

3 cups pumpkin, cooked and pureed

1 cup cane sugar, honey or maple syrup

2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

3 eggs

Blend all in a blender or food processor, then add spices:

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

After blended to a smooth liquid, pour filling into an unbaked pie shell. Bake 375 F for about an hour, or until middle just begins to crack. Let cool before serving!

Here's my pie dough recipe. It makes two shells, or one covered pie.

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp lemon juice

Crumb ingredients, then knead with 1/4 cup cold water. Do not pour all water at once; mix in water in increments until it reaches dough consistency.

The same girlfriend sent me a link to this McSweeny's article about it being decorative gourd season. I love my home-grown decorative gourds.

Matt, our artist friend, carved pumpkins while I made pumpkin pie. This was the effort of his labor. Good job, Matt!