Julie's Best Pumpkin Pie (From Scratch)

It's pumpkin season in New England and this looks to be good crop - great after last year's disaster. This recipe is my total scratch recipe for Pumpkin Pie - starting with a pumpkin.

Ingredients:

Pie Filling

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups cooked pumpkin puree from a Cinderella pumpkin (this is the secret, explanation below)
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat evaporated milk

Pie Crust:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1 tsp. apple-cider vinegar
• approximately 4 Tbsp. ice water
• 1 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Directions:

Prepare the Pumpkin: The day before you plan to make your pie, cook your pumpkin. Pick a Cinderella Pumpkin (they are short and wide with a light colored skin-looking like Cinderella's pumpkin carriage) because the very meaty and sweet and produce a creamy pulp when pureed. The texture is the secret to this recipe! I cut the pumpkin in half, seed it (I use an ice cream scoop with an serrated edge), then cut into 8ths and lay the pieces onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees F for about 30 minutes.

Once the pumpkin is cooled, I scoop the pulp away from the skin, then I puree it in a processor. A large Cinderella (about 15 inch in diameter) will yield about 6 2-cup portions for pie - I freeze what I'm not going to use the next day, already portioned out. When doing this for future pies, thaw and strain out the water. FYI, I recently bought a pumpkin this size for $5 in Western Massachusetts.

Make the Crust: Combine the flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. With a pastry blender, cut the oil and butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine the water and vinegar in a small bowl. Gradually add to the flour mixture, tossing lightly with a fork until the pastry is just moist enough to stick together.Shape the dough into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day.(For double crust - double ingredients and mix the same. Shape into 2 disks and chill for 30 minutes to 1 day.)

Make the Pie: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F, bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes our clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or chilled.

My husband loves this pie and looks forward to the season when we can get fresh Cinderellas. It's a lot of work, but it's slow food that's well worth it. If you are gardener, I recommend adding Cinderella pumpkins to garden.

Source: Crust recipe is from Weight Watcher's Best Ever Desserts.

By Julie Orvis Marcinkiewicz from Chicopee, MA