Pumpkin Pie From Scratch

I wanted to make a pumpkin pie to try to improve upon last year's disastrous attempt, and I liked the sound of Simply Recipes' old fashioned pumpkin pie.  I used my standard flaky pie crust from Mark Bittman, though I really need to find a pie crust that doesn't fall apart so easily.

Also, for Brookly-ners, there is a vendor at Saturday's McCarren Park Greenmarket that sells slices of cheese pumpkins so that you don't have to buy the whole pumpkin or cut it open yourself.  It makes the whole process a bit simpler.  I bought 2 slices, and just barely was able to get 2 cups of pumpkin puree, so I'd recommend getting 3 slices.  

I typically see pumpkin pie recipes that call for sugar pumpkins (also called pie pumpkins),  but I preferred this year's cheese pumpkin pie over last year's sugar pumpkin pie. Thoughts?

Pumpkin Pie
Adapted from: Simply Recipes

Ingredients

1 pie crust (or one of your choosing)
2 cups of pumpkin puree from a cheese pumpkin
1 12oz can evaporated milk
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, plus an egg yolk from a 3rd egg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1. To make pumpkin puree, cut a small-medium cheese pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds/ stringy insides.  Lay the pumpkin halves cut side down in a rimmed baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour to an hour and a half, until you can easily stick a fork into the pumpkin meat.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the brown and white sugars, salt, spices, and lemon zest. Beat the eggs in a separate small bowl and add to the sugar mixture.  Stir in the pumpkin puree and evaporated milk. Stir everything until well combined.

4. Pour the mixture into the pie shell (crust does not have to be pre-baked) and bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.  After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.  Cool for about 2 hours.

(Optional): to make roasted pumpkin seeds for topping: stir together 1/4 cup of seeds with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roasted at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. 



Cheese pumpkin slices from the greenmarket:

Pumpkin puree:

Pie!

Supervising: