This recipe is based on my homemade pumpkin puree process, something which I took several years to get just right. You can read more about why I worked at this process here or check out a quick video that I made which goes through the process of preparing the pumpkin and then turning the puree into exquisite pumpkin pies.
Ingredients (per pie):
– 2 cups cooked pumpkin
– 3 eggs
– 1 cup light cream
– 3/4 cup sugar
– 2 tsp cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp nutmeg
– 1/4 tsp ground cloves
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1 deep dish pie shell
Making the Pumpkin Pie
Set out your other ingredients.
Gently beat the eggs and mix with cream in one bowl.
Pour all the dry ingredients together in another bowl and thoroughly mix.
Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin and mix thoroughly. The pumpkin should take on a nice dark color when the spices are all incorporated.
Begin adding the cream and egg mixture to the pumpkin mix. Do this in small amounts – about a 1/2 cup at a time. The pumpkin will begin to loosen as you add more of the cream and egg mixture. After adding all of the cream and egg mixture, the pumpkin will take on a silky appearance. Perfect!
Place two deep dish pie crusts on a foil-lined baking sheet. Set your oven to 400 degrees F.
NOTE: If you use frozen pie shells, DO NOT precook them.
With a ladle, carefully begin placing the pumpkin mixture into each pie shell. Fill each shell as close to the top as possible and use the ladle to even out any high spots.
Carefully place pies in oven on the middle rack and bake until a butter knife inserted in the middle comes out clean (40-45 minutes).
Remove pies from over and place on a cooling rack.
To store you pumpkin pies, it’s best, in my opinion to wrap them loosely in either foil or celophane wrap if you plan on eating them sooner rather than later. The reason is that the pies, if wrapped too tightly, will accumulate moisture under the plastic wrap and this will pool up on the top of the pie, causing the “meat” of the pie (and sometimes the crust) to get soggy.
The pumpkin pies can be frozen if they are thoroughly cooled and then wrapped tightly. For best results, a vacuum sealer with very large size bags can be used and the pies can then be saved for several months. When defrosting a frozen pumpkin pie, be sure to do so in the refrigerator to avoid any condensation accumulating on the top of the pie.
Enjoy!
