It’s pumpkin season! One of my children’s favourite dessert is pumpkin pie. I craved it with all three pregnancies, it’s no wonder they love pumpkin pie so much. It was a childhood favourite of mine as well, my cousins and I could eat a whole pie on our own, and we did many times!
In this post I share with you my favourite way of making pumpkin pie. I know it takes a little more effort but trust me it is worth the extra effort. I like to combine freshly pureed pumpkin with canned. I do make pies with just the canned but prefer the combination.
Using only the fresh pumpkin is fine, but I find it very light tasting, I don’t get the ‘pumpkin’ flavour that I am looking for. When you combine it with the canned it just makes it perfect!
You may notice some pumpkins are sweeter than others, so before I use my filing I taste test it and add sugar or pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon as needed, when you are happy with the taste you can that pour the filling into pie shells. Even a spoon of added extra sugar can make a difference sometimes.
For pumpkin puree:
2 pumpkin pie pumpkins (not the big jack o’lantern pumpkins)
Cut pumpkin pie pumpkins in half, remove seeds and strings. Add to a baking pan with a half cup of water, cover with foil wrap and bake at 350 for an hour or until pumpkin is soft.
Peel flesh and discard skin.
Puree in blender or use a hand blender.
Some pumpkins are dry, others release liquid. If that happens, then you must bring it to a boil on medium to low heat in a pot, stir it occasionally until the liquid evaporates, takes about 10 mintues. I haven’t tried it any other way, I thought of using a cheesecloth but haven’t tried it.
Filling for one pie using either canned or fresh puree:
- 2 eggs
- 4 cups canned pure pumpkin or 4 cups freshly pureed pumpkin
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- evaporated milk 1/2 cup for fresh puree 3/4 cup for canned*
Beat eggs, pumpkin,sugar, cinnamon and spice, stir until well combined, blend in milk. Pour filling in uncooked pie crust. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
*note* If your using fresh pumpkin use less evaporated milk, because fresh pumpkin has more liquid and is not dry like the canned pumpkin.
Tastes even better the next day!
Canned Pumpkin Pie:
- 1 796 ml canned pure pumpkin
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 and 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
Combine pumpkin, eggs and sugar. Add in the evaporated milk, cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Taste and adjust sweetness and spice, I sometimes add a few extra spoons of sugar as pumpkin puree varies, sometimes it’s naturally sweet and other times it’s not.
Pour filling in uncooked pie crust. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
Filling for my favourite pumpkin pie: (makes two pies)
- 3 cups fresh pumpkin puree
- 796 ml canned pure pumpkin puree
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups dark brown sugar
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
Combine pumpkin purees, eggs, brown sugar, and sugar, add in the cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Add in the evaporated milk. Beat until well combined. Pour filling into unbaked pie shells that are in the pie pans and bake at 350 for 1 hour.
Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
Tastes even better the next day!
For 1 crust dough recipe follow this link: pie-crust
For crust for 2 pies:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 and half sticks of unsalted butter
- 2 tsp oil
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
[…] the top of my pie and reinforced the need to prebake my pastry before adding the pumpkin mix. MumWhatsForDinner gave me the idea to replace sugar with condensed milk and sent me looking for a good pumpkin pie […]