Favorite Pumpkin Pie Recipe

 My messy workspace when I'm baking

As you can see, I'm not a neat and tidy baker. I do what I have to do, and my cookbook and floor suffer temporarily for it. But the finished product comes out okay, and that's what's important.

Pumpkin pies can be nasty. Have you ever been to a potluck dinner where the pumpkin pie is watery, or you can see lines of separation in the filling? That is not a good sign. A good pumpkin pie has a dense, uniform filling and a flaky, tender crust. IMHO of course. But to ensure that you get a good pumpkin pie, you might just have to make it yourself. :-)

Three things I've found helpful for making pie crusts:

1. A marble rolling pin

2. A rolling pin stocking, so that, when floured, your crust is less likely to stick to the countertop

3. A pastry blender, that little tool that looks like several U-shaped wires held together with a handle.

 'My daughter has baked five pies today,'

Actually, it was only three, but I'm always reminded of the story of Rumplestiltskin when I've baked more than one pie!

My Very Favorite Pumpkin Pie Recipe: 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Crust for 9" pie:

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

1/4 c. shortening AND 1/4 c. soft REAL butter

Appx. 6 T. cold water

Filling for 9" pie:

2 eggs, beaten with a wire whisk

1 can pumpkin

1 can evaporated milk (do NOT use cream or condensed milk or other milk)

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ginger

1/2 t. cloves

First, the crust:

Put the flour, salt, and shortening/butter in a bowl. Use a pastry blender to combine them all until the mixture is very fine, which is KEY. Sprinkle the cold water throughout the mixture, using a fork to fluff the mixture and get the water spread throughout. Form this mixture into a ball.

Dust the countertop area with flour and roll out your crust. A thin crust is nice, so try not to get it thicker than 1/8 inch. Using a metal spatula, loosen the crust from the counter and fold it in half before lifting it to your 9" glass pie plate.

Pour pumpkin mixture into the unbaked crust. It's easier if you set the pie plate on the oven rack and then pour the mixture into it. That helps avoid slopping the mixture over the crust.

Caveat:  After reading Judy S.'s comment below, I decided I'd better modify the above. What's works best for me is to fill the pie crust nearly full, move it to the oven rack, THEN finish filling it. DON'T try to do this with the rack pulled out, for it will no doubt result in the disaster that she (and I) have experienced when you try to push the rack back to position.

Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350 and bake for nearly an hour. A knife inserted into the pumpkin at this point should come out clean, which indicates that it's done.

If you're worried about the crust getting too dark, you can cover the outer crust with strips of aluminum foil, but I'm warning you, it's not easy to get them to stay on.

When the pie is done, move it from the oven to a rack. Let it cool, and if you're not going to use the pie in the next couple hours, be sure to refrigerate it. Do not cover with plastic, for it will cause the pumpkin to sweat. Cover it with a paper towel instead.

Pie Crust Strips

This is what I do with any leftover unbaked crust. Form all those scraps into a ball, roll it out, and cut it into strips. Then sprinkle them with a bit of sugar and cinnamon. When the pies are done, bake the strips for 10+ minutes. It always seems to vary, so just keep an eye on them.

If you're worried about the filling spilling over in the oven, you can use a 10" pie plate for this same recipe.

This is a great addition to your Thanksgiving dinner! :-) And you probably won't have as big a mess to clean up as I did.

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This post is linked to: Making the World Cuter Mondays and Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and Making Monday Marvelous and Made from Scratch Tuesday and Made by You Mondays and Delectable Tuesday and Anything Related Tuesday and Take a Look Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday  and Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Two Maids a Baking and  What's Cookin' Wednesday and Cast Party Wednesday and  It's a Party at Creative Princess and Lisa's Gluten-Free Blog and Love the Pie Party and I'm Lovin' it Friday