Now that my favorite time of year is dead (get it? cause Halloween is over and its a holiday about dead things….) it’s time to move on to the biggest eating day of the year: Thanksgiving. While I’m not a big fan of pie, just about everyone else in my life is. From time to time, I like to treat them to a delicious dessert, and this week I decided to try my hand at a pumpkin pie made from scratch. That means no canned pumpkin, no pre-made pie crust and hopefully lots of happy friends!
Pumpkin Puree
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse off the pumpkin to remove any dirt. Remove the stem, seeds and stringy insides from the pumpkin. Use our roasted pumpkin seeds recipe to use as much of the pumpkin as possible!
Cut the pumpkin in half and place cut side down on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake until fork tender (about 1 hour) then remove from oven and let cool.
Spoon cooled pumpkin away from the skin and puree until smooth. (It should end up being about 4 cups). I used an immersion blender, but use whatever tool you have available. If needed strain watery pumpkin puree in a sieve or a cheese cloth. Mine certainly needed it so I used a sieve and strained it for about 20 minutes.
Pie Crust
Shift together flour, salt and cinnamon (or nutmeg). Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it has the consistency of cornmeal. Cut the shortening into the dough mixture until it is pea sized. Add the ice water and blend gently until the dough just holds together.
Divide dough in half, shape each into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to use if needed.
There are two options once you have chilled your dough. You can roll it out, or press it into your pan. I chose to roll mine out, but I’m thinking next time I’ll press it.
Pierce the dough all over and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line the crust with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans (you can also use another pie pan of the same size). Bake until the sides are set, about 10 minutes. Remove the foil and weights and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden.
Filling
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all filling ingredients and fold into the pie crust. Bake until filling is set in the center, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and cool for at least 20 minutes and serve at room temperature.
Pumpkin Pie From Scratch
Ingredients:
Pumpkin Puree
- 1 pumpkin (sugar pumpkin preferred) about 3-4 lbs
- canola oil
Pie Crust (makes a double crust)
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon or nutmeg
- 3 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup chilled shortening
Filling:
- one 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp molasses
- 2 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 3 large eggs
- 3-4 cups of pumpkin puree
Instructions:
Pumpkin Puree
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Rinse off the pumpkin to remove any dirt
- Remove the stem, seeds and stringy insides from the pumpkin
- Cut the pumpkin in half and place cut side down on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet
- Bake until fork tender (about 1 hour)
- Remove from oven and let cool.
- Spoon cooled pumpkin away from the skin and puree until smooth. (It should end up being about 4 cups).
- If needed strain watery pumpkin puree in a sieve or a cheese cloth.
Pie Crust
- Shift together flour, salt and cinnamon (or nutmeg)
- Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it has the consistency of cornmeal.
- Cut the shortening into the dough mixture until it is pea sized.
- Add the ice water and blend gently until the dough just holds together.
- Divide dough in half, shape each into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to use if needed.
- Press the dough into a 9 or 10 inch pie pan
- Pierce the dough all over and regrigertate for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Line the crust with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans (you can also use another pie pan of the same size)
- Bake until the sides are set, about 12 minutes
- Remove the foil and weights and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden.
Filling
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Combine all filling ingredients and fold into the pie crust
- Bake until filling is set in the center, about 1 hour.
- Remove from oven and cool for at least 20 minutes
- Serve at room temperature
The Lawful Kitchen 