Surfing Ruined My Life

How to Make a Pumpkin Pie From a Real Pumpkin

Yummy!!!!!!!

I talked about it for years and mulled it over in my head every fall, but for whatever reason (most likely surfing) I did not ever get around to making a pumpkin pie from scratch.  This year I was motivated and thanks to a very entertaining trip to the local pumpkin patch and nearly getting lost forever in a corn maze I had a pumpkin.  Now there are certain kinds of pumpkins that are suggested for pie making and those pre-canned pumpkin mixes are actually made from a type of squash and not real pumpkin at all.  I decided to use the one that I picked, like I said I wanted this thing to be as authentic as possible down to physically going and picking the thing off the vine (although most of the pumpkins were already pre picked and I think the vines were just there for show and truthfully if I really wanted to go all the way from scratch I should have grown the damn thing from a seed).  For all this seasonal fun I got to pay $10 bucks for a pumpkin I could have waited till after they closed and stole the damn thing like I normally do this time of year.

I used your average everyday run of the mill pumpkin and it came out fabulous, definitely a slightly different taste but very good just the same.  Here is this week’s Recipe D’Jour in honor of Turkey Day.  I just made my second pumpkin pie ever, finishing it an hour ago for tomorrow.  My buddy Ryan invited me over for Thanksgiving with his family so I decided to provide the desert.  Although this recipe comes a bit too late for your holiday maybe you can use it next year.

Total Cost: $15.50 (yeah you can buy a whole pie for like $3, remember the pumpkin cost $10)
Feeds about eight people

Ingredient List:

• Pumpkin – 2-4lbs
• Vegetable Oil – Table spoon
• Water – 1 cup
• 9inch Pie Crust
  • Ice Water – 1 ½ cup
  • Flour –  1 ¼ cup
  • Salt – ¼ Teaspoon
  • Butter – 4 Tablespoons
  • Shortening – 2 Tablespoons
• Pumpkin Puree – 1 ½ cup (you create from pumpkin)
• Heavy Cream – 1 ½ cup
• Brown Sugar – ½ cup
• Flour – 1 tablespoon
• Salt – ½ teaspoon
• Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon (ground)
• Ginger – ½ teaspoon (ground)
• Nutmeg – ¼ teaspoon (ground)
• Light Corn Syrup – ½ cup
• Egg – 3
• Vanilla – 1 teaspoon

Step 1: Prep Pumpkin – Wipe pumpkin clean of all residue and dirt with a damp rag. Remove stem.  Cut pumpkin in half vertically.  Remove all pumpkin seeds and subsequent insides.  Save seeds for Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.  Coat the inside of pumpkin with Vegetable oil.

This is your pumpkin after step 1

Step 2: Cook Down Pumpkin – In a baking pan large enough to fit both halves place pumpkin halves open side down.  Add 1 cup of water to pan.  Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F and cook at this temperature for around 60-80 minutes until pumpkin is adequately soft.

This is what your pumpkin should look like after being cooked down.

Step 3: Get the Puree – Allow pumpkin to cool to a comfortable handling temperature.  Scoop out entire inside of shell with a spoon.  It should come off rather easily. Mash up insides by hand.  This can also be done with a blender, hand mixer or a food processor.  I used a potato masher and then finished it off with an electric mixer.

Scoop out inside of pumpkin.

Your collected puree.

Step 4: Drain the Puree of any excess fluids – Scoop mixed puree into a sieve, I made a make shift one out of a strainer lined with three coffee filters and suspend over a bowl with enough room to catch excess fluids but without touching the sieve.  Cover and place in the refrigerator for around 3-4 hours to properly drain the puree.   After drained put aside 1 ½ cup for your pie any other excess you can freeze, but do it in 1 ½ cup portions so that you only have to defrost one pie worth the next time you feel so inclined to make a pumpkin pie.  I got three portions out of my pumpkin.

The make shift sieve.

Step 5: Make the Crust – Sure you can go to the store and buy those Pillsbury pre-made crusts or similar product, but like I said we are doing this from scratch.  Mix Flour, Salt, Butter and Shortening in large mixing bowl till it becomes a conglomerate of little beads of flour.  Add Ice water as needed, just enough to allow the dough to be kneaded. It is very necessary that ice water is used or crust will not roll out well and will be all cracky when you try and fit it to the pan.  Knead dough into a ball.  On a flat surface flatten ball into circle and then roll about 1/8 inch thick and ten-inch circumference.  You don’t need to have a perfect circle just as long as it is circular and fits inside your pan with a small overlap.  Place inside round pan and fold over the excess dough to form outside of piecrust.

Step 6: Make Filling – In large mixing bowl mix together flour and brown sugar.  Then add drained pumpkin puree from step 4 and Heavy Cream, blend together either by hand or with a mixer.  Add Salt, Cinnamon, Ginger and Nutmeg and mix again. Add Corn syrup and blend some more.  Add beaten Eggs and Vanilla and blend once more.

Mix your filling.

Step 7: Pour Filling Into Shell – Pour filling form step 6 into shell from step 5.

Step 8: Bake Pie – Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F and bake pie for 55-60 minutes.  After thirty minutes check to make sure crust is not getting burned, if so cover with tin foil.  Be sure to remove tin foil for last ten minutes of baking or so to brown up pie.

Step 9: Cool Pie – Check pie for doneness by either sticking a knife in it and if knife comes out clean it is done or jiggle it, if pie is not too jiggly it is done.  Allow pie to fully cool before serving.