The tradition of pumpkin pie may date back to the first Thankgiving feast in 1621 (or some say the second Thanksgiving feast). In either case, most likely milk, honey, and spices were poured inside the pumpkin itself. The first pies probably came out more like pudding than like the custard fillings that we use today.
Start by assembling ingredients: 3/4 cup heavy cream, 3/4 cup whole milk, 1 can pumpkin (15 ounces), 1 cup dark brown sugar, 3 large eggs, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Fresh pumpkin can be used, but it must be cooked first (usually by cutting the pumpkin into pieces and baking in the oven). Its becoming increasingly difficult to find good pumpkins in supermarkets since the ones sold for carving dominate the shelves (or bins) and just aren't that good for eating. Save some time and trouble, buy the canned pumpkin. We'll cook the canned pumpkin briefly with the spices, so it'll be difficult to taste or smell any difference between the canned pumpkin and the fresh for this pie.
Prepare a 9-inch pie crust or defrost a frozen pie crust. Using a fork, punch holes into the dough so it won't rise while prebaking. If using pie weights, this step is unnecessary. Prebake the pie crust according to directions or at 400°F for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk pumpkin and spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt) together over medium heat in a medium sauce pan. When the pumpkin begins to cook, whisk in the brown sugar.
Once the mixture is fully blended, scrape the sides of the saucepan down and whisk again.
Add milk and cream and continue to whisk.
Once the mixture begins to bubble and splutter, remove from heat.
Place the three eggs into a blender.
Blend the eggs to form a nice creamy consistency (about two seconds).
While blending on low speed, pour the pumpkin pie filling through the feeder hole in the blender cap. This will help break down any fibrous or tough parts of pumpkin creating a smooth filling.
Pour the pumpkin pie filling into the prebaked crust. If you used a deep dish pie crust, this should fit perfectly. I used a "normal" pie crust, so there was about a cup of filling left over, which can be made into pumpkin custards by filling ramekins. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes or until center of pie is jiggly when pie is rotated gently.
Remove from heat and let cool on a cooling rack for at least one hour. The center will fully set without over cooking the outer edges by removing the pie early. Refrigerate and serve cold, warmed up, or at room temperature.Pumpkin Pie (serves 8)
| Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C) | |||||
| 15 oz. can (425 g) pumpkin | whisk over medium | whisk over medium | whisk over medium | blend | bake 400°F (205°C) 25 min. |
| 1 tsp. (2 g) ground cinnamon | |||||
| 1/2 tsp. (1 g) ground ginger | |||||
| 1/2 tsp. (1 g) ground nutmeg | |||||
| 1/4 tsp. (0.5 g) ground cloves | |||||
| 1/2 tsp. (3 g) salt | |||||
| 1 cup (200 g) dark brown sugar | |||||
| 3/4 cup (180 mL) whole milk | |||||
| 3/4 cup (180 mL) heavy cream | |||||
| 3 large eggs | blend | ||||
| 1 pie crust | bake blind | ||||
Also, wanted to mention that I think your blog is great, and please keep up the awesome work on it. Beyond just the dialog, I really like how you post your ingredients list at the end in sub-process format.
I look forward to reading much more of your experimentations.
-- Deightine
( Http://www.livejournal.com/users/deightine )
That day, I fell in love with pumpkin pie and vowed to find a recipe. Of course I never would really have done it, but now that it's come up on your site I've printed it and I think I'll make it next week in order to reminisce about my time in the States, and to share this tradition with some of my Australian friends.
Thanks so much!
Just whip one cup of heavy cream until frothy. Add 2 Tbs. sugar and 2 Tbs. brandy and whip until stiff peaks. Scoop out a plop ontop or next to each slice of pumpkin pie.
The family I was with didn't use fresh whipped cream, but had two brands of frozen whipped cream. They debated over which one they liked best, so they showed me both. Trouble was that they had forgotten to take either one out of the freezer.
The result: my pumpkin pie was served with two slices of frozen whipped cream, with the onlookers anxiously waiting to see not only whether or not I would like the pie, but whose brand of frozen whipped cream I preferred!
Using sweetened condensed milk would probably work. But the consistency will most likely be different. Condensed milk contains a huge amount of sugar, so you'll need to adjust the sugar in the rest of the recipe. Besides the sugar, condensed milk is just evaporated milk, quite a bit different from cream.
If you don't prebake it, then the pie crust might be soggy after baking a pumpkin pie in it. It's probably more up to personal choice, but I prefer my crusts to have a little crispness to them. The extra ten minutes during blind baking shouldn't burn the crust.
Good luck!
i was exposed to butternut squash pie while living in new jersey, and i loved it!!!!
i used your recipe but instead of using pumpkin, i used fresh butternut squash.
say, "goodbye" to pumpkin pie... to me, there's no comparison; the squash is a nice alternative..
Condensed milk is usually only available sweetened. This is not the product that you want. It is made by cooking sweetened milk down to a thick liquid and as such usually has a cooked dairy taste as well as an overwhelming sweetness. For this recipe, stick with cream.
Q. What do you get when you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern
by its diameter?
A. Pumpkin pi.
Tee hee!
Anyways, for those willing to do a bit more work, try making pumpkin pie using Hokaido pumpkin. Roast it, puree it and let it drain a considerable bit before using like normal canned pumpkin.
So I just had a very tasty bakeoff, making one of my pies and one of these pies with my spice loadout.
I mayyy have overcooked this recipe's pie by a few minutes (yay for old ovens i'm not used to yet) but it was not ruined.
I was hardput to put my finger on exactly what the differences in taste and texture were, they were pretty close. So I will most likely stick to my version, as canned pumpkin isn't fibrous enough to warrant a full blender treatment, and the pre-cooking didn't seem to do much but add to the complexity. I'll have to experiment more with the whole milk/cream vs condensed milk thing a bit more, though.
Dark brown sugar goooooood. All the other recipes I've stumbled across call for plain white sugar, which makes such an inferior pie! Thumbs up on the dark brown sugar ;)
--Jarp
Btw, I like your site and the diagram you use for your recipes. Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
Hanaa
Thanks.
1) Pie pumpkins ARE available in our area (SW ontario), so I used these with all three pies. I peeled & seeded the pumpkin, chopped into chunks, then steamed the pieces. I assembled the pie in a food processor. I like using the fresh pumpkin as it has a hetrogenous consistancy.
2) I didn't use any dairy - my 1 year old boy can't have any milk protein - so I made them with soy milk. Tasted pretty good.
Good catch! I posted this article over a year ago and didn't realize my error until you pointed it out. In the United States, canned pumpkin is usually sold in cans of 15 ounces (weight) or 29 ounces (weight). As pointed out earlier a 15 ounce can is about 1.75 cups instead of 2 cups.
I have modified the article to reflect this change.
I "stumbled" on this site, and have found it greatly informative. You're the best! Thanks!
Linda
2-Before placing pie in the oven, cover the crimped crust with a strip of aluminum foil. For a 9" diameter pie and 12" wide foil, you will need 3 strips, each about 2" wide. Remove the foil for the last 20-25 minutes of baking time to let the crust brown, not burn.
3-Evaporated milk, not condensed, works just as well as heavy cream. 1/2 cup, evaporated milk has 8 g of fat but heavy cream has 44 g. (whole milk has 4 g).
Happy Holidays!
I followed this recipe to a T
In England where I come from there isn't a tradition for pumpkin pie.
Where I am currently working in Russia, people give away the most incredible orange pumkins, as no one really wants to use them.
when i followed the recipe the only thing i decided to change was the crust. i used a typical short pastry 500g flour to 225 butter and a dash of egg yolk and cold water.
I prebaked te crust to a nice golden brown and then added the filling.
Baked for 30 mins as sugessted.
PERFECT.
My only problem with the first test was not baking the pie crust enough. it came out a little soggy and the only way round that is to bake it to a nice crisp texture.
Thanks once again for a great recipe and a great technique.
i have made THIRTY FIVE of these so far!!!
canned pumpkin is 90% squash.
i have a aunt who reacts to squash, but can eat my pies made with my home grown pumpkins,
and the differance in taste, most people dont beleave.
The only thing I would change (and I say this because I mess up in the kitchen often) is to add a warning about adding the just off the stove filling to the eggs. If it is too hot, it will cook the eggs (think egg drop soup) and make the filling a little funny.
I've never had a problem with the eggs curdling in this recipe because to prevent splatter, the pumpkin cream mixture is poured into the running blender at a relatively slow rate. The eggs heat up evenly and gradually as they are blended together with the pumpkin mixture. It would be another story entirely if the hot pumpkin mixture was in the blender and the eggs were added...
For those who like your pie a bit "nippier", try this. My mother always made her pumpkin pies by using 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup light molasses (instead of 3/4 cup sugar) and putting in a bit more spice than the traditional recipe. She used cinn, nutmeg, gr. cloves, ginger, and allspice. With everything but cinn, you need to be careful and just put in 1/4 teaspoon of each to start. Then if it seems too bland, you can add a tiny bit more. The molasses will make the pie a deeper, richer color.
I just found this site and it's now one of my very favorites.
Instead of all the blending, I would suggest just lightly whipping the eggs (I use 2) and then whisking the rest of the ingredients together until blended. Then pour into the pie shell. I use the 15 minutes at 425 followed by 45 minutes at 350 method for my deep dish pies.
Toy Man
I have a glass deep dish, do the 450 for 15 min and reduce to 350. (used to do the 350 from the start but it never cooked that way.
Thanks
S.
Of course, you will have your best data gathered about the time you remodel and change ovens at which point you will have to start again.
We don't get canned pumpkin here, but its pretty easy to cook. Just steam, microwave it (no water in a closed container) or bake it - otherwise it will be watery. Then mash or otherwise process until smooth. Pumpkin and hard yellow squash (eg butternut) can all be used, but some varieties are better than others.
I wanted to share two tips with everyone. (1) an easy homemade pie crust will make this divine; (2) pressing crushed gingersnaps and/or pecans into the bottom crust will ensure a lovely crispy bottom crust and an added layer of flavor.
I'm not a baker and I swear, if I can make a homemade piecrust, you can too. I posted my recipe at the beginning of berry season in my column. A reader wrote in to confirm she'd been thrilled with her first successful homemade piecrust.
I always do this for my "Orphans', Refugees', and Procrastinators' Thanksgiving" as one of the desserts. :D
Love this site and love Thanksgiving.
Rock on,
Jacqueline Church
http://gourmetfood.suite101.com
http://leatherdistrictgourmet.blogspot.com
-sw
I want to try it with a real pumpkin instead of canned, but I'm unsure of what to look for when buying cooking pumpkins. Help?
I have never had a problem with the 'fibrousness of canned pumpkin'.
If you cook fresh pumpkin, be sure to buy the right speicies- for instance, jack-o-lantern pumpkins are pretty much useless for cooking (apart form the seeds).
However, I'm really surprised the recipe above doesn't call for a homemade crust. Those frozen pie shells just don't do anythinf for me - tasteless, dry - ick! Why not include a primer on pie crusts?
Also, as far as the sogginess, I found that a layer of crushed gingersnaps and toasted pecans not only adds flavor, but keeps the crust from getting too soggy. http://www.joyofbaking.com/pumpkinpie.html
1. Pumpkin Filling looked "watery" after pureeing. I just mixed it up and didnt bother trying to strain it. Should i have? (i used a fresh pumpkin)
2. Is that 2 cups of brown sugar supposed to be "packed"? The difference between packed and unpacked brown sugar can be about 1/4 cup.
Well, we'll see how it comes out anyways but i spilled pumpkin juice everywhere when trying to carefully place the pie into the oven. I will say that the filling tastes fanTASTIC.
Fresh pumpkin can be drier or wetter than the canned type. If it seemed too watery, then it probably needed to be at least partially drained.
When measuring brown sugar by volume, it should always be packed. It is not possible to consistently measure unpacked brown sugar by volume. Either use the mass measurement with a scale or use a spoon (or a measuring cup one size smaller) to pack it down tightly.
This recipe is very flavorful, creamy, smooth, & just too good to resist eating the whole pie. (Believe me, we have!) My husband says it beats store bought any day.
Thank you, Michael, for sharing this delectible dessert!
Fondly, <u>Sue</u>[/color:a7cd384c72]
YUMMY
Good luck !
LaToya[/i]
1.Buying frozen pre-baked crust is a no-no! So it's all from scratch!!
2.Canned pumpkin is a bit too difficult to come by so I've bought one of the many types of fresh pumpkin on offer.
BUT finally 3. What is Heavy Cream? I can't find the translation seeing as I don't even know what it is :D
Help!!! I'm trying to make this as a surprise for my American friend for our late thanksgiving dinner on Saturday!!
In the Unites States, cream from cow's milk is sold under different names based upon it's fat percentage. Heavy cream (also marketed as heavy whipping cream) has more than 36% fat. In the UK, this would be somewhere between regular whipping cream and double cream. In Italy, I don't know - but since this recipe doesn't involve actually whipping the cream into "whipped cream" the fat percentage is less of a worry and more flexible. You should be able to just use whatever regular panna is available.
I hope you had a nice holiday yesterday... here it was just another working day
:angry:
I'm off to buy the ingredients this afternoon for our celebrations tomorrow,
speriamo bene!!
ciao,
clare
Cheers,
Paul
I find the stock recipe is just too sweet, that's why I reduce the sugar. And the buttermilk makes it less fat and seems to improve the taste. I've tried all buttermilk but that didn't work.
I'm not an engineer but my dad was an aeronautical engineer, so I hope this legitimizes my post.
2) I started substituting whole milk for evaporated milk when I realized the cost difference (about $2.50 a gallon for whole milk versus about $16.00 in an equivalent amount of evaporated milk - you can buy a whole gallon of milk for about what two cans of evaporated milk costs!). The can said that you could substitute evaporated milk cup-for-cup in a recipe calling for whole milk. My recipe called for evaporated milk to start with, so I simply reversed it and used whole milk. It's great. No difference in texture or cooking time. There is a big difference in flavor and cost, though, and both are just fine with me!
Regarding homemade pie shells: Too easy, and so very delicious, once you know what you're doing. Get someone to come over and step you through it. The trick is cutting in the first measure of shortening. Using a pastry cutter, work the first measure into the flour really, really, well. Just keep cutting. The white flour will almost take on a yellow corn meal hue and texture. When cutting in the second measure, work it until you still have some visible pieces of shortening - about the size of split peas to green peas. And lastly, add enough water to form the mass into a ball. Start with 4 tablespoons, stir it around with a fork, add a little more if needed. Always allow enough time beforehand to let the ball of dough sit in the refrigerator for an hour or two before rolling. This allows the shortening and water to fully penetrate the flour.
Many of the older cooks may have used it for infant formula when one made their own.
I will try this recipe tho'. because I am anxious to see what warming up the pumpkin with the spice before baking does to the flavor.
I will also see if the cream versus the condensed milk makes a difference in the texture or flavor. :D
Others in our clan have to be careful of sugar, so for those I make pies using granular "Splenda" and a few drops of stevia. I used less than half the sugar equivalent when using the granular sweetener, and approximately 6-8 drops of the stevia liquid.
Thanks so much, this pie is perfect. My husband is a pumpkin pie fanatic (super fanatic) and this is the only one he'll eat now!
Best,
Carrie
Also, last year I had some confusion about measuring butter for my pie crusts. The butter I have is not in neat cubes of 1/2 cup, so to save time in counting out all those tablespoons, I weighed it, thinking the butter would weigh the same as fluid ounces, but realized too late that is didn't,and had to throw it out. :( I get confused just thinking about it! Can you give me a simple way to keep the issue of fluid versus solid ounces straight in my head?
Thanks!
I'm surprised the recipes didn't work and you had to throw them out. Butter's density is almost the same as water (a little [about 9%] lighter - closer to that of ice) so you would have been pretty close. 4 oz (weight) of butter would be about 1/2 cup + 1 or 2 tablespoons.
There is no easy way to convert fluid vs. solid ounces because the densities of ingredients are all different. The only easy one is water - 8 oz fluid (a US cup) is 8 oz weight.
you can brush the unbaked crust with egg white - that can help keep the crust from getting ' soggy' - brush it on, then bake.
if the filling is too watery, it will soak into the crust no-matter-what - but typically the egg wash helps most while the pie is still 'fresh' - i.e. after some hours any free liquid will soak into the crust anyway.
Would I just double or triple the ingredients or is there a different measurment system?
How would I mix the eggs and the filling since the blender fits only one
pie filling?
Thanks, Ronald
Normally, you can double the filling and just divide - but since your equipment cannot accommodate this, I would say you should simply make the filling twice - the extra time spent should not be significant as you don't have to clean up between fillings.
On a side note, I too am an engineer. Your recipe lay out is very logical; love it.
Laura
Although evaporated milk could be described as condensed, and in terms of the English language be correct - the products sold on the store shelves in the USA are of significant difference when cooking.
The product labeled "evaporated milk" is the equivalent of double strength milk or milk with 1/2 its volume in water removed. A can of "evaporated milk" reconstituted with an equal amount of water would meet the legal requirements for whole milk of the same volume. It's not likely to taste the same however.
The product labeled "condensed milk" is a concentrated milk product with a large amount of sugar added into it. If this product is cooked straight from the can it makes a candy much like a soft gooey praline, just to give an idea of how high a proportion of sugar is in this product.
The two products are not used interchangably.
But then we found japanese kabocha squash at our local asian grocer. It turns out this is literally identical to the NZ pumpkin we used to buy. This squash is sweeter, denser, less fibrous and all around more awesome than even the butternut squash.
There are some pretty lame pumpkin pies out there - need to ensure there is enough bite (spice) to it.
Thanks for posting.
This receipt is like a Grandma's -- it never disappoints. I double it every time I make pies, and it is always great. I am currently baking my 8th and 9th pumpkin pies using this receipt. They smell awesome, a great way to spend the night before Thanksgiving in Colorado!
it is however not uncommon to egg wash the crust - aim is to keep it crisper.
I've done all of the above in many different combinations but have not had the issue of an egg wash 'clogging' holes and defeating the docking purpose.
in theory yes, the egg wash could do that - perhaps the steam is generated fast enough it blows the dock holes open before the egg has a chance to set?