Hello everyone, Jess here. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We have lots to be grateful for, good friends, good family, and good food. Life is good.
It was great to have a lovely holiday with my husband’s family. My family has a tradition of a second Thanksgiving on Saturday, or “Fakesgiving” as it’s lovingly been referred to over the years. As I type this, my 23 1/2 pound turkey is soaking in brine and the stuffing bread is getting crusty on the counter. I hope to have many tasty holiday recipes to share over the next few posts!
I thought I’d share a little about pumpkin pie tonight. We all have these beautiful sugar pumpkins from the first Winter CSA pickup, and when we get those I have a hard time not instantly turning them into pies. Wednesday was such a busy day with pre-holiday appointments, and finding a good time to bake the pumpkin was difficult. I usually halve my pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, and then bake it, however with the time crunch I was under, I tossed the whole pumpkin in the oven as-is at 350 until just tender, a little over an hour. This is what I ended up with!
It was actually much easier to work with, the skin peeled off without needing to cut into the pumpkin flesh at all. The seeds pulled away from the strands much easier as well. See? It was magic!
(That being said, you can also scoop out the seeds before you bake it, and be left with a little less work later on). After scooping out the seeds and pureeing the pumpkin, I had enough for 2 pies, about 4 cups worth. 2 pies it is!
This recipe is an adaption of Simply Recipe’s Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie, I always liked to use this one. I love that it’s flexible to use with squash as well. Taking the time for a good from-scratch pie crust is great and I find it really makes a difference taste and texture-wise, but if you go pre-made, I certainly won’t judge. Life moves fast and we all do the best that we can. The pie was a hit at Thanksgiving, and one is awaiting tomorrow’s Fakesgiving dinner.
Sugar Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- dash of ground cloves
- 2 cups of sugar pumpkin puree (A little over is fine)
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
- One Pie Crust, pre-made or homemade or from scratch, depending on time constraints.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425 and line a pie plate with your crust. Mix all your ingredients together and pour them into the shell. Ideally, start with the eggs, then sugar and spices, then puree and cream/milk. (If you have too much filling, you can make little crustless pumpkin pie desserts in ramekins or a little baking dish). I usually bake the pie with a rimmed cookie sheet under the plate as there can be spillage – the filling is liquidy when you first mix it, but firms up as it bakes.
Bake the pie at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 for the duration of the baking process, an additional 45-55 minutes longer.
Cool and serve with whipped cream!
The pie in the picture is already gone, but the second pie will be eaten tomorrow. I’ll plan to add a photo here once we slice it. Until then, sweet and savory dreams!
Here is a quick pic!