Pumpkin Pie
This was the pumpkin pie my mother and grandmother made. It’s very simple, but this is the pumpkin pie of my childhood memories. I don’t remember Mom or Grandmother ever making it with anything but canned pumpkin. But they were of the generation who thought of canned goods as miracles. Before canning took days and was iffy at best.
We have tried making it with fresh pumpkin. If you want to use fresh pumpkin, buy a pie pumpkin (thicker flesh than the carving kind), cut it in half, remove all the seeds, put it face down on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. The pumpkin should be soft and if it starts to fall in on itself you know it’s done. Scrape out the soft flesh and use instead of canned.
Better yet, if you can find one, use a Candy Roaster. This is called a pumpkin or a squash depending on where you are from. It is long, thin, and more squash shaped than round pumpkin shaped. You bake it as above, but the flesh is thick and not stringy. You will recognize the taste as definitely pumpkin and not squash. I buy a large one in the fall when they are harvested. After baking, I put 2 cup portions into zip top bags and freeze it for the year.
Yield: one 9 inch pie
Time: 1 hour
1- 9 inch pie shell, unbaked
375°
Ingredients:
1 can pumpkin
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg (freshly grated it best!)
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients together and pour into pie shell. Bake at 375 for 50‑55 minutes. Test with a knife. When pie is done, knife will come out clean. The pie will puff up as it cooks, but as it cools it will flatten out again. Chill for at least 1 hour.