“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”

-Henry David Thoreau

I can’t promise that this will be the last pumpkin recipe (I still have some saved in my freezer)…but it certainly is one of the best! In the last years, Friendsgiving, has become increasingly more popular. A time before Thanksgiving, typically spent with family, to gather friends and throw down in an epic potluck. Mostly an excuse to eat more pie. I look it was a way to prepare my stomach for the main day! Or at least that is what I tell myself.

This season I roasted some leftover pumpkins and made my own pumpkin puree. Let me tell you….there is a MAJOR taste difference and my friends all loved it! Fresh pumpkin puree is so easy to make and all you do is roast small pumpkin sections, scoop out the flesh and blend! I used a ninja bullet, threw in some water and it came out beautifully. Since then I have made pumpkin soup and have a stock in my freezer that I plan on using in the future for pumpkin pasta and pancakes!

Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
• 1/4 cup ice water

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
2. Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.
3. 

Dry ingredients and cold butter pieces all reading to be mashed!

 

I hand blended the crust with the fork and it turned out beautifully!

Wrapped in saran wrap and in the fridge to chill!

Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients

• 2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 2 cups of pumpkin pulp purée from a sugar pumpkin* or from canned pumpkin purée (can also use puréed cooked butternut squash)
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
• 1 good crust (my homemade recipe is below)

Directions

1 Preheat your oven to 425°F.

2 Beat eggs, mix in sugars, salt, spices, lemon zest: Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Mix in the brown sugar, white sugar, salt, spices—cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg, ground cloves, cardamom, and lemon zest.

3 Add pumpkin and cream: Mix in the pumpkin purée. Stir in the cream. Beat together until everything is well mixed.

4 Pour into pie shell and bake: Pour the filling into an uncooked pie shell. Bake at a high temperature of 425°F for 15 minutes. Then after 15 minutes, lower the temperature to 350°F. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes more, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (About half-way through the baking, you may want to put foil around the edges or use a pie protector to keep the crust from getting too browned.)

5 Cool on a rack: Cool the pumpkin pie on a wire rack for 2 hours. Note that the pumpkin pie will come out of the oven all puffed up (from the leavening of the eggs), and will deflate as it cools.

Eggs, both types of sugar and all the spices!

Adding the freshly pureed pumpkin!

Rolling out the chilled dough

Pressed into a pie pan. You can make the crust as pretty or as basic as you want! It tastes delicious no matter what.

All ready for the oven!

Finished pie with a dollop of whip cream! It tastes delicious with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream as well! All the sugar!

Let me know how your pie turns out and if you have any adjustments that you would recommend.