If It’s Thanksgiving, There Will Be Pumpkin Pie

 

 

 

Here’s a recipe for homemade Pumpkin Pie. Those few Thanksgiving guests who say “No thanks” might start asking for seconds once they’ve tried it. We’ve been making this pumpkin pie for generations. And, yes, it does call for home-made crust.

 

 

The Crust For Pumpkin Pie

 

You’ll need wax paper, a pastry cutter, a rolling pin, and counter space. This recipes makes 2 pies, and the crust and filling bake at the same time. I use clear Pyrex pie plates. Preheat oven to 375°F.

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour, plus a bit more for decoration on top of filling
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup Crisco all-vegetable shortening. You can substitute 1 or 2 tablespoons butter for some of the shortening, but any more than that and the crust will be less flaky. Use the very scientific “water displacement method” (remember Home Ec?) to measure the shortening. (Fill a 2-cup measuring cup with 1 1/2 cups cold water. Using a butter knife, add the shortening to the water, and submerge it until the water comes up to the 2-cup level. Drain water.)
• 5 tablespoons cold water

 

The Process

• Add flour to a medium size bowl.
• Stir in the salt.
• Add shortening.
• Add water evenly over the flour.
• Use a pastry cutter to work the dough, cutting into and distributing the ingredients evenly, but do this as quickly as possible. For a really good crust, work fast, work cool, and don’t overwork the dough. Dough will stick inside the pastry cutter; use the knife to clear it several times as you cut the dough. If it feels too dry (“floury”) and you’ve been cutting the dough for a while, add a little more water or shortening. Too much water and overworking will make the crust hard; shortening makes it flaky. It’s okay if you see tiny blobs of fat mixed in the dough.
• Gather a handful of dough and squeeze it. If it stays in a clump, it’s ready to be rolled. If it’s very sticky, add more flour.
• Divide the dough in half.
• Cut 4 pieces of wax paper. Lay 1 piece on the counter.
• Move half of the dough to the wax paper. Ball it up in the center. Cover with another piece of wax paper.

Roll It Out

• Use the rolling pin to flatten the dough all the way to the edge of the wax paper. Invert a pie plate over the dough to see if it’s wide enough. Dough should extend about 1 1/2″ around the pie plate.
• Now, carefully remove one sheet of wax paper. The knife will help loosen an edge.
• Lift the bottom paper and lay the dough into the pie plate. Remove the paper.
• Press the dough into the pie plate, in the angle and up the side.
• Roll down the edge of the dough to the top of the plate.
• Form the zigzag top edge of the dough using the index finger and thumb of one hand, and the other index finger.
• Use a fork to pierce the dough in several places on the bottom and sides.
• Repeat for the second pie.

 

 

 

The Filling For Pumpkin Pie

 

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1½ cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 29 ounce can Libby’s 100% pure pumpkin (no spices added)
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon. (For the spices—ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon—I like to add a bit more than the recommended amount.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2¼ cups milk. We use 2%.

 

The Process

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Mix sugar and butter in the large bowl of mixer until evenly mixed; we like our Kitchen-Aid stand mixer.
• Add eggs, pumpkin, spices, and salt.
• Add milk last. Scrape bowl and attachment with spatula a few times while mixing.
• Add filling to the 2 uncooked crusts.
• Leftover dough, if there is any, can be shaped into a turkey or a pumpkin and placed on the filling.
• Bake for 1 hour. Check the pies about 10 minutes before they’re done. If your oven has hot spots, turn the pies halfway through cooking so the crusts bake evenly.
• Let them cool.
• Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

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