The holidays are a time for eating far too much food and hibernating as we drink, be merry, and celebrate. And every year I end up chowing down on massive amounts of desert at all the parties. So to help ease the guilt a bit and still enjoy something wonderful I give you my personal pumpkin pie recipe. Its low fat, low cholesterol and still tastes a hundred times better then any pie you can get at the store or out of a mix.
Beware that properly made this pie has been known to convert pumpkin haters to pumpkin lovers. I myself am currently being searched out by a pie stalker.
Also note that if you make it try to get the first slice, other wise you may not get any at all.
1 uncooked pie crust
1 can pumpkin puree (or 1 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin puree)
1 can (12 oz) fat free evaporated milk
1 / 2 cup egg beaters (Or two eggs)
3 / 4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 / 2 tsp ginger
1 / 4 tsp clove
To start preheat your oven to 425. Then place your uncooked pie crust in a 9inch glass pie pan. You can make your own, but thats far to much work so I jsut buy mine, and trust me you want the actual dough kind, it works far better then those disposable aluminum ones and looks nicer too. Crimp down the sides and use a fork to poke a few little holes in the sides and bottom, otherwise your likely to have it balloon on you, and nothing is worse then a exploding pumpkin pie. Its delicious, but a pain to clean up.
We begin the pie proper by pouring the egg beaters (or two large eggs if your less health inclined) and all the spices into a large mixing bowl, then add the pumpkin puree (now if you want to go trough the trouble of buying, baking, scooping, dicing, and pureeing your own pumpkin you can. Why you’d do that when you can just go buy a can of the good stuff I don’t know, but some people are just crazy).
Once all that is in the bowl we mix. Now you can use a stand mixer, but I prefer the old fashioned way (ie I’m cheap) and do it by hand. In either case start mixing and slowly pour in the milk a little at a time stirring constantly. Pour the mix into the pie crust, it should be fairly thick, if its watery then you’ve put into to much milk and you’ll end up with a mushy pie. Once its all poured into the crust place your pie in the center of the oven and let it cook for 15 minutes. This helps the pie set up as you’re essentially making pumpkin custard here. (I like to add a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg over the top right before putting it in to bake but that’s more for presentation then taste.)
At the 15 minute mark cut the temperature to 350 and let cook another 40 minutes. At that point have a look in on it, and slide a toothpick into the center, if it comes out clean your good to go. Try not to over cook it. If you do, or if you forgot those pin holes in the crust I mentioned earlier the pie will start to crack or possibly explode at this point. Which though not effecting flavor to much does make it look far less appealing.
Once its done pull the pie and let it set on a cooling rack for two hours or so. Once cooled and finished firming up its ready to serve if you like it warm, if not throw it in the chill chest for about another hour and a half and your good to go.
Its great all on its own, or you can throw some whipped cream or ice cream on top. Enjoy.