I used to work at Touchstone Bakery in Seattle, WA, and every fall/winter, we made pumpkin pies from scratch. These pies were absolutely delicious and easy! You just mix the ingredients,
pour and bake! We used to make *a lot* of
blueberry, pecan, and also pumpkin, pies during the holiday season at Touchstone and I came to really love pies from that. I was amazed at how different pumpkin pie
with freshly baked pumpkin pulp, and real cream is from the standard
American pumpkin pie made with canned pumpkin pulp and canned milk. The following recipes are ways to make pumpkin pie from scratch. (When I worked at Touchstone, sometimes we would
smear the pumpkin pulp on our faces, and leave it on for a few minutes before washing it off, as a Vitamin A facial. Pumpkin pulp is very high in Vitamin A.)
Homemade Pumpkin Pie 2 cups of mashed pumpkin pulp
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
1 1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice (store-bought or use recipe below)
1 pie crust
In a bowl, mix together the sugars, salt, and spices. Beat the eggs and add to the mix. Stir in the pumpkin purée and cream. Whisk all together until well-mixed. Pour into
pie shell and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce oven to 350 degrees and bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife in the center comes out clean.
SOME TIPS ABOUT MAKING YOUR OWN PUMPKIN PULP: Sugar pumpkins are the kind to use for pumpkin pies and baking. The big ones used for carving are tougher with less flavor.
Homemade pumpkin pulp is more watery than the kind you get in a can. You can either squeeze some of the water out with cheesecloth, or use a towel but know that the towel will be stained
orange, or you can use coffee filters too...
Or you can bake some of the water out
by spreading 2 1/2 cups of the pulp on a pan and bake it in a 275 degree oven for 40 minutes, or until half what it was. Stir a few times during the process. Cool before using in recipes.
You can keep fresh pumpkin purée in the refrigerator for about 3 days before using or you can freeze it up to 3 months. To use the frozen pulp, defrost it in the
refrigerator for a day before using and then strain through cheesecloth before using.
Baked Homemade Pumpkin Pulp for Pies Cut a small-medium sized pumpkin in half, and then scrape out all the insides (seeds, etc.). You can then place the halves in a roasting pan with a little
water in the bottom of it, and then
bake it at 350 degrees (some people also recommend cooking at 450 degrees) until the pulp is soft. Then you can just scrape the pulp out. Another way to cook the pumpkin halves is to place them cut side down on a baking sheet and bake them that way.
You can also supposedly just bake a whole pumpkin by poking a few holes in its skin with a knife or
fork, then baking it at 350 degrees until soft (poke it with a knife to see how soft it is).
Stovetop Homemade Pumpkin Pulp for Pies Another way to make pulp is to cut the small-medium sized sugar pumpkin in half, and then to scrape the insides out (seeds, etc.) then to cut the pumpkin (leave skin on)
into pieces. Put a few inches of water in a pan, then boil the water, add the pumpkin pieces, cover, and simmer/steam until the pulp is soft. Once soft and removed from the pan,
just scoop the pulp out of the skin. You should be able to mash it with a fork, or you can use a potato masher.
Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix together 2 t cinnamon * 1 t ground ginger * 1/4 t ground nutmeg * 1/4 t ground cloves * 1/4 t ground cardamon * 1/2 t grated lemon rind
Store in an airtight jar and use when needed for pumpkin pie, baked goods, etc.
Kirsten Anderberg. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint/publish, please contact Kirsten at kirstena@resist.ca.
Kirsten Anderberg. All rights reserved. For permission to reprint/publish, please contact Kirsten at kirstena@resist.ca.