Pumpkin Pie with Homemade Pumpkin Puree
‘Tis the season for pies! I decided to go all out with this recipe and make my own pumpkin puree from scratch. It wasn’t very difficult and found that it made a lighter, less dense pie filling. Some recipes are classics for a reason and this is one of those.
Pumpkin Pie with Homemade Pumpkin Puree
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 2 hours
Total time: 3 hours
Yield: 2 pies
INGREDIENTS
For the Crust
4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups of cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
¾ cup of cold milk
For the Filling
4 cups of fresh pumpkin puree *buy a small to medium sized sugar pumpkin, further instructions below
1 300ml can of condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground allspice
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350F. Leave the pumpkin whole, but pierce the skin all the way to the centre in several areas so that air can circulate. Place the whole pumpkin on a roasting pan and roast in the oven for 1 hour to an hour and a half, depending on the size of your pumpkin. The pumpkin is ready when the skin is easily pierced with a fork. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and let cool before handling. Cut the pumpkin in half, scrape out the insides and remove the skin from the flesh. Place the flesh in a food processor and blend until smooth. This is your fresh pumpkin puree. Refrigerate until ready to use.
In a large bowl, sift together flour and salt, add in the cubed butter and with your hands, work the butter into the flour until it resembles a coarse meal. Pour in milk or water and combine until it holds together in a ball. Do not overwork. Cut the dough in half, form into two disks and cover in saran wrap. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients for the filling and set aside. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and roll each disk out on a floured surface until the crust is approximately 1/8th of an inch thick. Cover greased pie plates with the dough and gently press them down into the pan. Use a pair a scissors or a knife to cut off the excess crust around the edges. You can use this extra dough to decorate the pie if you like (I made small leaves with mine). Pour the filling evenly into both pie crusts. Bake for an hour or until the pie gets puffed up in the middle and a knife inserted one inch from the sides comes out clean. You will most likely need to tent the pie with tinfoil halfway through cooking to stop the edges from burning. Remove from the oven and let cool completely at room temperature before placing in the fridge. I found that when I removed the pies from the oven they still seemed overly liquid but they set nicely once they cooled.
