Pumpkin Pie

I spent Thanksgiving day at my parent’s house along with Nick, my brother Evan and my grandmother Arlene.  Nick and I spent the better part of the day preparing the food and then enjoyed a lazy night watching Planet Earth in front of the fireplace. 

I will post some photos and recipes of the other dishes we made soon, but I wanted to quickly share these pictures of the pumpkin pie I made Thanksgiving morning.

I love pumpkin pie.  I find many sweets cloying, but the earthy, silky taste of this simple pie is a winter favorite.

There are dozens upon dozens of dressed-up recipes out there, but here is the basic recipe that I prefer to turn to.  Feel free to embellish as you see fit.

Classic Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

1 pie crust, rolled out and chilled in a pie dish

2/3 C brown sugar

1/2 C white sugar

2 Tbl flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp each of: allspice, cloves and ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 C canned pumpkin

2 Tbl molasses

1 tsp vanilla

3 large eggs

1 C whipping cream

Method

Place a baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 450F.  Combine sugars, flour, spices and salt in a large bowl.  Add the pumpkin, molasses, vanilla and eggs and incorporate the cream last.

Pour batter into chilled pie crust and bake for ten minutes.

Reduce oven heat to 325F and bake for another 40 to 45 minutes.  The middle should be set and the sides of the pie should puff up a bit.

Allow pie to cool and serve at room temperature or chilled. 

I usually whip any excess cream with a touch of vanilla to serve along with each slice.   This pie can be made up to a day ahead, making it easy for large holiday dinners.

On a side note, I was pleased to find a (very brief) mention of my website in the Sacramento Bee recently.  Follow the link or download here: Download SacBee.doc