Pumpkin Pie
Greetings food adventurers! This Pumpkin Pie is a family recipe that I have been making for many years. This is also part of Azeroth’s Bountiful Cookbook for the annual Pilgrim’s Bounty celebration. This holiday is known for being the best way to level your cooking skill. You can have a taste by cooking it yourself or sitting in The Pie Chair at a celebration table. In Azeroth they use ripe pumpkins and honey – I prefer it with sugar so the recipe reflects that.
December 25th is National Pumpkin Pie day in the United States – this seems like a strange choice of date to me but I’ll go with it. In the song Jingle Bell Rock they do eat some pumpkin pie before they go caroling, so maybe it’s a Christmas thing too. Either way, I am having pumpkin pie with lunch.
If you make your own Pumpkin Puree and freeze it, take twice as much as you need out of the freezer and thaw it in a saucepan over medium-low heat. This will ensure you have enough after it reduces. Let some of the moisture steam off to thicken the puree so it’s close to the texture of canned puree. Too much moisture will cause the pie to not set properly. Let it cool completely before adding it to the pie mixture. You can also use canned puree or mix them together; the flavor is different, but still good.
This is my go-to Pie Crust Recipe. The crust can be made a day beforehand and kept in the fridge until ready for baking (wrapped in plastic wrap or otherwise protected from fridge smells), or longer beforehand and kept in the freezer already rolled out in a ceramic or metal pie plate (again, wrap in plastic wrap etc.). I strongly recommend NOT using a glass pie plate in the freezer. Even the best glass can shatter when it hits the oven if the temperature stress is too much. If you are using a frozen crust, pull it out and set it on the counter for about 30 minutes before proceeding with the rest of the recipe. (Obviously you can use a premade store-bought pie crust if that’s your preference, it’s exactly the same directions)
Pumpkin Pie
Special Equipment
- Ceramic or metal pie plate
- Electric hand-mixer (optional)
- Pie Shield (or make a ring out of aluminum foil to serve the same purpose)
Ingredients
- Crust for one 9″ pie uncooked
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups pumpkin puree or 1 pound canned
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp table salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 12 oz evaporated milk (1 can)
- 4 Tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425° F. Put pie crust in the fridge or freezer (briefly) to chill it.
- In mixing bowl beat eggs slightly with an electric mixer (or a wire whisk).
- Add to the mixing bowl: the pumpkin, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, evaporated milk, and heavy cream. Mix until well combined (using the electric mixer on low, a wire whisk, or a wooden spoon).
- Put the pie tin with pie crust in it onto the oven rack.
- Very carefully and quickly, pour the pumpkin filling into the pie crust – have a spatula or spoon ready to scoop the last of the filling out. ** Wear long sleeves to prevent burns, and oven mitts if you can hold the bowl and spatula while using them **
- Put pie shield on pie crust.
- Bake 15 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°. Bake pie 50 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool. Serve with sweetened whipped cream.
