Pumpkin Pie
Category	Dessert recipes
Servings	8
Time	60 minutes + cooling
Difficulty

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

| Dessert | American cuisine | Holiday

Pumpkin pie is a traditional American and Canadian holiday dessert. It consists of a pumpkin-based custard baked in a single pie shell. The pie is traditionally served with whipped cream.

Ingredients

• 2 cups (480ml) milk, scalded
• 2 cups (450g) pumpkin, cooked and strained (or plain canned pumpkin). Use the smaller 'Sugar Pumpkin' instead of the big 'Jack O Lantern' pumpkin. The smaller 'Sugar Pumpkin' has a firm and smooth texture while the larger 'Jack O Lantern' pumpkin has more stringy or fibrous texture and more watery for a flesh.
• 1 cup (240ml) maple syrup
• 1/8 cup (30g) sugar
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 unbaked nine-inch pie shell

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 °F (180 °C).
2. Blend all ingredients, except the pie shell, together.
3. Pour into the unbaked pie shell.
4. Bake at 350 °F (180 °C) for 45 minutes.
5. Let cool and serve.

Notes, tips, and variations

• This recipe replaces much of the sugar normally found in a pumpkin pie recipe with maple syrup. Use only real 100 percent maple syrup, not maple-flavored pancake syrup, as their sugar content is different. You can also use brown sugar instead of maple syrup.

  Note substitutions, below.

• Prepare the raw pumpkin by skinning and cutting into 1" cubes. Bake at 350 °F (180 °C) for an hour and then turn off the heat. Leave the pumpkin in the oven for another hour or two, this will reduce the moisture content. The pumpkin may also be steamed but may end up with too much moisture, resulting in a runny pie. A 10" (25cm)-diameter pumpkin will make 4 to 6 pies. The pumpkin may also be baked whole and skinned afterwards.
• Pumpkin pie has no top crust, which makes most forms of decoration impossible, but for a more aesthetically-pleasing pie, put dollops of real whipped cream on each slice, or add a decorative rim to the side crust with artfully layered dough cut-outs, in the shape of fall leaves, squash or pumpkins.
• Variant: Chocolate-covered pumpkin pie
  • After the pie has cooled, melt 2 oz. (55g) of sweetened chocolate (milk or dark) and pour over the top of the pie. Be sure to completely cover the pumpkin. Refrigerate to set the chocolate.
• Variant: Pumpkin Pasties
  • Roll pie crust pastry thin and cut into circles approx 4" in diameter.

Put a spoonful of the cool pumpkin mixture towards one side of the center of the circle. Fold over the crust into a half-circle and firmly crimp the edges closed. Slice three small slits in the top for venting. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake only until crust is a light golden-brown, approx 10 minutes.