Pumpkin pie

I know it can often be intimidating to prepare a meal on Thanksgiving or Christmas for family & friends. There is a lot of pressure to come up with a menu which will be appreciated by the guests while also not being too much of a hassle to cook and serve. When it comes to me, I love making the complete holiday dinner for my family and friends every year which includes all the usual suspects such as Green bean casserole, Mashed potatoes, Stuffing, Apple pie, Candied yams, Tomato and pumpkin soup, Grilled asparagus, Candied yams, Cranberry sauce and Lasagna / Pasta (just no turkey as we are vegetarians). As the holiday season is around the corner, I share with you my recipes for a traditional American holiday meal. Today in the last and final part of my Holiday Special series, I give you a simple recipe for ‘Pumpkin Pie’ which is sure to be a hit with the crowd. Happy Holidays!!

Pumpkin pie

Ingredients for Filling

2 cups pulp puree – Pumpkin
225 gms – Cream cheese
1 cup – Brown sugar
1 nos lightly beaten – Whole egg
2 nos lightly beaten – Egg yolks
½ cup – Heavy cream / Whipping cream
½ cup – Whole milk
¼ cup melted – Butter
1 tsp – Vanilla extract
½ tsp – Cinnamon powder
¼ tsp – Dried ginger powder
Whipped cream for topping (optional)

Ingredients for Pie crust

1 cup – All purpose flour
½ tsp – Salt
1 tsp – White Sugar
125 gms cubed – Unsalted butter
¼ cup full fat – Sour cream

Method:

1. In a large bowl whisk together and mix flour, salt and sugar to ensure all ingredients are combined
2. Add the cubed butter and rub together with the flour mixture with hands to form a coarse dough
3. Add sour cream and now mix with a fork incorporating the sour cream along with the flour and butter to form a dough
4. Use hands to make a ball of the dough and make into a ball. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on the dough ball and then cover in seran wrap/ plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 mins before use.
5. Take out dough of fridge and then roll out on a clean, floured surface. Roll out to around 8-10 inches making sure the bottom doesn’t stick to the surface
6. Take the dough and place in the greased pie pan and blind bake for 10 mins in a 350 degrees F oven (add some beans or pie weights to blind bake).
7. Remove the pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.
8. Remove the pie crust and keep aside to cool and work on pumpkin pie filling
9. To make pumpkin purée from scratch, cut a medium-small sugar pumpkin in half. Scrape out the insides and discard. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
10. Place the pumpkin halves cut side down on the lined baking sheet and bake at 350°F until a fork can easily pierce them, about an hour to an hour and a half.
11. Remove from oven, let cool, scoop out the pulp (you can make a pulp in the food processor or you can also do it using a potato masher)
12. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin puree to the cream cheese and beat well
13. Add the sugar and salt, to the mixture and beat well to mix all ings
14. Now add egg, egg yolks, cream and milk and melted butter, and beat until combined.
15. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger and mix all ingredients together until you get a smooth mixture
16. Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until the center is set.
17. Remove from oven and place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature.
18. Cut into slices and serve with whipped cream topping

TIPS:

1. If you don’t want to bake the pumpkins in the oven, you can cut the pumpkin into sections and steam in a saucepan with a couple inches of water at the bottom, until soft. Make sure to strain before using
2. If you want the purée to be extra smooth, press the pulp through a food mill or chinois.
3. You can choose to add pieces of marshmallows, pecans to the pumpkin pie filling to give a different flavor and taste