Pumpkin pie -- mmm mmm good

[pacific breeze]

This similar to a pie that I make. I like mine a little spicy.

Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Pie Recipe

2 cups of pumpkin pulp purée from a sugar pumpkin*
1 1/2 cup heavy cream or 1 12 oz. can of evaporated milk
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs plus the yolk of a third egg
1 1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice**
1 good crust***

* To make pumpkin purée from a sugar pumpkin: start with a small-medium sugar pumpkin, cut out the stem and scrape out the insides, discard (save the seeds, of course). Cut into sections and steam/boil in a saucepan with a couple inches of water at the bottom, until soft. Scoop out the pulp from the skin. Optional - put pulp through a food mill or chinois to make extra smooth.

** Trader Joe's has an exceptional pumpkin pie spice. If you don't have access to TJ's you can use 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon, and a half teaspoon of lemon zest.

*** Trader Joe's also has a good frozen pie crust that is folded if you don't have time to make a crust. There's an excellent butter pie crust recipe in this recipe and one that uses shortening and butter here. With either of these recipes you would use a half recipe because you only need to make the bottom crust, not a top.

1 Preheat oven to 425°F.

2 Mix sugars, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Beat the eggs and add to the bowl. Stir in the pumpkin purée. Stir in cream. Whisk all together until well incorporated.

3 Pour into pie shell. and bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes reduce the temperature to 350°F. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

4 Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours.