Pumpkin Pie Au Natural Part 3

And here it is...the prize at the bottom of the cereal box.

This recipe is for 2 cups of pumpkin puree, so you'll have to change it based on the size of the pumpkin you prepared. It takes about 2 cups of pumpkin puree to fill one 8 inch pie. I made two pies with my medium sized pumpkin.

What you need:
2 cups of pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups heavy cream or one 12 oz can of evaporated milk (I used both)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg at room temperature
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 pie crust

What you need to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Mix the sugars, salt, spices, and zest in a large bowl. (Note: I used premixed pumpkin pie spice. It was a little old, so my pie wasn't that spicy. Just keep in mind that your baked pie will probably be less spicy than your unbaked pie, so it's ok to overdo it a little and only add what makes you happy.)
3. Beat the eggs and add to the dry ingredients.
4. Stir in the pumpkin puree, cream, and/or evaporated milk.
5. Pour mixture into the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes. You can put little pie crust decorations on the top at this point if you like.
6. Turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and bake for 40-50 minutes. The pie is done when a knife or toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. You'll have to check fairly often in the last 10 or 15 minutes. I like mine a tad bit underdone, so I took it out at about 40 minutes.
7. Cool on a rack for one to two hours before slicing. Add whipped cream and enjoy!



And here's a neat whipped cream recipe:
Whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in one or two tablespoons of bourbon (such as Maker's Mark). This make the pumpkin pie fun! (Note: If you freeze cream, it separates into the milk liquids and solids and doesn't make good whipped cream. Yes, I did this and we ended up with Bourbon Butter.)




I did plagiarize and paraphrase quite a bit. Here are my references (NOT in MLA format):
Pumpkin Pie Puree: http://expatriateskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/pumpkin-shortage-make-your-own-pumpkin.html
Pie Crust: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/perfect-pie-crust-recipe/index.html and http://www.thenewhomemaker.com/piecrust
Pumpkin Pie and Whipped Cream: http://www.bunkycooks.com/2010/11/pumpkin-pie-with-bourbon-whipped-cream/

Pumpkin Pie Au Natural Part 2

How to make the pie crust!

This recipe should give you 2 10-inch crust, plus a little more for cinnamon sugar cookies.

Mix 3 cups flour, 1 tsp kosher salt, and 1 tbsp sugar in a food processor and give it a quick mix. Add 12 tbsp cold, cubed, unsalted butter and 1/3 cup cold vegetable shortening. Pulse 8-12 times, until the butter breaks up into small pieces. Keep the processor running slowly and pour ice water into the bowl until the dough forms into a ball. You'll probably need 1/2 to 1 cup of ice water. Wrap the ball in some lightly floured plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. This ball of dough will actually last a long time in the freezer.

Now cut the ball in half and roll it out on a very floury board. Start from the center and roll outwards to make a circlish shape. Put the rolled out dough into a pie dish and cut the edges off. It's better to leave a little extra on the edges because they shrink when cooked. If you have trouble lifting the big sheet of dough, fold it in half, lift it onto the dish, and then unfold it to fit the dish. Repeat with the other half of the ball.


Now if you are smart and rich, you have a food processor or mixer. I have niether. So I mixed that dough the old fashioned way. And while I was endlessly mixing the really cold and hard butter, I was thinking, "Why does the butter have to be cold?! *!$&#@ Can't I just use soft butter so that I can finish mixing this sometime this century?! How did people make pie crust 200 years ago before they had refrigerators?? Seriously!!". So I found out.

I guess the goal is a flaky crust, so you are kind of deep fat frying the flour. When you are mixing the fat (butter) with the flour, you don't want to completely mix it, you just want to coat it. This is easier to do if the butter is cold and hard. People used to just cut in the butter and quickly mix it, but refrigerators and mixers have made this process faster and more efficient, so the butter doesn't have much time to melt and the chef doesn't get her hands dirty. You also don't want to work the dough too much because the molecules tend to stick better when you push them together, which makes the crust tough. Now doesn't that make things better? I am now at peace with my cold butter.

If you have extra crust, mold it into fun shapes, sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar on them, and pop them in a 350 degree oven for 5-10 minutes. They make great Christmas cookies!



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