I did it on a whim; Trader Joe’s had those cute little sugar pumpkins, and they called to me in sweet little voices as I tried to walk past. Three of them ended up in my shopping cart. So tonight they fulfill their destiny and become pies. The old-fashioned way.
Here’s a photo to show you how adorable they were before I violated them. I include my coffee cup for scale; they’re not the teensy tiny little pumpkins you see on people’s desks at work at this time of year, but not anywhere near as big as most of the ones kids carve for Halloween.
Taking my cue from Farmer’s Almanac, I cut the pumpkins into big pieces, scooped out the goopy insides and put them on baking sheets, cut sides down. They baked at 350 for about an hour. And man, did my kitchen smell wonderful.
When they came out, I sliced the soft fleshy part out of the tough outer shell and piled it in a big bowl to chill.
Tonight, I put the pumpkin through my food processor in batches. Nice and creamy:
I freezer-bagged most of it in two-cup portions, since that’s about how much I use for one pumpkin pie. CurvyMama’s got Thanksgiving orders to fill, so this will come in handy, and give my customers bragging rights that they’re serving pumpkin pie made from fresh pumpkin (we can kick some ass when we decide to!). 🙂
I wish I had weighed my three little pumpkin friends before I cooked them, so I could tell you exactly how much raw vegetable to buy for a given yield. I was so enchanted with their cuteness that I got all wrapped up in taking their picture rather than their measurements. So I’m afraid that right now you’ll have to live with knowing just one half of the formula. Those three pumpkins produced 10 cups of pumpkin puree.
Okay. So let’s move on to what happened when I got the puree made. And here I have a short answer for you: nothing.
What I mean is that this is about where the special stuff (using fresh pumpkin, not Libby’s) stops and the regular stuff starts. Because I used the fresh-cooked pumpkin puree just like I would use the canned kind. I mixed it with the sugars, cream, half-and-half and spices, and poured it into a par-baked crust, and finished baking it. So the fun/different part is really in the handling of the fresh pumpkin.
I’ll tell you this, though: I can taste the difference. The pies I make with fresh pumpkin taste, well, more pumpkiny.
So here’s my recipe, keeping in mind you can use canned in place of the fresh (and I know I will on plenty of occasions, when pressed for time):
Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
- Dough for a 10-inch pie crust If you use a 9-inch crust, you will have leftover filling. Pour it into a greased Pyrex custard cup and bake a nice little crustless snack for later.
- 1-2 pie pumpkins (the small ones, about 12" in diameter) You'll probably need only one, but it's best to get two so you're sure to have enough puree.
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 c. cup brown sugar
- 1/3 c. white sugar
- 2 cups of the fresh pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp. cardamom
- Pinch nutmeg
- A couple generous pinches of Kosher salt
- 3/4 c. heavy cream
- 3/4 c. half and half
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Cut the pumpkins in half. Scrape out the gooey seedy stuff. Place them on a baking sheet, cut side down. Roast for about an hour. Take them out of the oven.
- When the pumpkins are cool, scrape the flesh out of the tough skin. Puree the flesh in a food processor. You might have more than the 2 cups you need for this recipe. If you do, you can freeze it in Ziploc bags.
- In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugars together.
- Stir in the 2 cups of pumpkin puree, the spices, cream and half-and-half. Chill while crust is par-baking.
- Roll out dough. Ease into 10-inch pie pan. Trim and crimp. Freeze while oven is preheating.
- Preheat oven to 425. Line dough with parchment and dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes at 425. Remove parchment and beans. Bake 4-5 minutes more.
- Turn oven down to 325.
- Retrieve the filling from the refrigerator. Slide out the oven rack with your pie crust on it, and ease the pie pan to the front edge of the rack. Pour in the filling, and ease the pie back into the center of the rack. Slide the rack back into place.
- Bake for about 50-55 minutes, until the center is just set, but still jiggles slightly. It will set fully as it cools on a baking rack.
Hi Cath- Glad this worked for you. The last time I made pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin, the pumpkin was rather watery. I had to cook the puree down quite a bit to get the intense flavor and correct consistency. I did use SugarPie Pumpkins too. ……Just a little food for thought. 🙂 Linder
Friends invited us to Thanksgiving, asking us to bring “dessert.” Given culinary carte blanche, I resolved to make three pies, including my first stab at Curvy Mama’s recipe using fresh pumpkin. It’s risky to try a new recipe on friends, but if it didn’t work I’d laugh it off and we’d focus on the other two.
As the day neared, everything was falling into place until the hostess called with an 11th hour addendum: whatever else I might bring, her daughter insisted on pumpkin pie.
(!!!)
What to do? Should I save Curvy’s recipe for another day, and stick to Libby’s straight and narrow? Could my calamity pie blow up this family’s Thanksgiving? My jaunty confidence was tested.
After consulting with a higher power (my spouse), and inspired by the story of the first Thanksgiving, I decided that new recipes were part of the tradition and that I should throw caution to the wind. I am happy to report it was my best pumpkin pie ever, even earning compliments from the discriminating daughter! Thanks, Curvy Mama!
Yay! So glad it was a hit!