I hope you're all healthy and having a great day.
Halloween is almost here and Thanksgiving is also round the corner, and although they are not dates to celebrate in Venezuela... Let's just say that pumpkin pie is delicious 馃槅
Long story short, one of my sisters decided we should celebrate Halloween this year, and so we did. My part was pumpkin pie, cheese dip & nachos, and wine. Today, I want to tell you about my recipe for pumpkin pie, which is perfect for clove haters, as I didn't add any clove--I will next time.
It's an easy recipe, ideal for beginners--like myself--, with fresh pumpkin puree and a light and flaky, semi sweet pie crust.
As usual, I made by best to decorate the pie decently despite my lack of ability and experience. Many of you foodies & Hive cooks will do better than this, I'm sure, but don't tell me that, for I feel really happy with this result, and I want this feeling to last 馃槅
Pumpkins are rich in antioxidants, potassium, vitamins A and C. If you eat pumpkins frequently, you'll get a nice tan.
In my country, pumpkins are really cheap. We have a wide variety, although you won't get to see sugar pumpkins here, for example. In the picture, you can see the popular varieties in my town.
We love pumpkin at home. Most of the time, I just boil it or make creamy soup. On more special occasions, I make pumpkin sponge cake, crustless pie, or custard. We like to save the seeds to eat them toasted, as a snack. I know we can eat the leaves and flowers as well, but I've never cooked them myself.
I used one these pumpkins I bought at a grocery store near my house to make pumpkin pie. It's basically a flaky pie crust with a creamy, highly perfumed and spiced filling.
I used a couple of tricks you may know to make it fail-safe, since I had no chance to make a mistake.
| You can use your favorite garnish. | |
| Also, you can use chantilly to serve on top of pie slices. I did 馃榿 |
Canned pumpkin puree is not something you're going to find easily around here; you need to make it yourself. Pumpkin has and absorbs a lot of water. Then it's important that once cooked, we let it drain as much water as possible. For this, we need a couple of hours in advance, so it's wise to make the puree before anything else.
I washed one 3-kg pumpkin and scooped out the seeds. I cut it into more or less large pieces, about 8 cm, enough so that it wouldn't take too long to cook but also so that it wouldn't absorb so much water. I put a couple of cinnamon sticks, a tablespoon of Jamaican pepper, a tablespoon of chopped fresh ginger, and a cup of water in the cooking pot.
I let it simmer until the pulp was soft.
Two thirds of the pulp were enough to fill two cups.
I scooped out the pulp and puree it with a fork. Then I added the nutmeg, cinnamon and salt, mixed well, and added the eggs. I mixed well again with my electric mixer. I could have used the blender, I guess.
Next, I added the sugar. And I made thick milk to add into the mixture; for this, I used 3/4 cups of powdered milk and added water until I completed 1 cup. I used a hand whisk.
Then it was time for a little trick: cornstarch. It makes the pie bake more evenly, and it's also useful to avoid cracks.
My taste makes me miss vanilla when eat pumpkin in sweet preparations, so I added a little.
At this point, I tasted the mixture and realized it was time for another little trick: condensed milk (sweetened). I added 100 ml.
The filling was ready to be poured inside the pie crust.
If I need cold butter or margarine, I start with that. I put the margarine in the fridge while I prepared the rets of the ingredients to make the pie crust.
I don't have a food processor, neither a pastry cutter, so I used a fork and a silicon pastry spoon, which worked just fine.
In a bowl, I mixed 1 1/2 cups of flour with the sugar and salt.
Then I cut the cold margarine in pieces of about 3 cm and added them to the dry mixture. I began working it our with a fork.
The idea is to break the dough instead of kneading it. As I went on working the mixture loosely with the fork, the flour was agglutinating into small balls the size of peas. After a minute, I added the remaining cup of flour and continued working it out.
After another minute, I sprinkled 6 tablespoons of ice water and "kneaded" by pressing with the silicone spoon, never with my hands.
When I could see that the lumps of dough did not crumble but held together as I pressed them between my fingers...
...I worked the dough with my hands, just a little, to form a ball. I then cut the ball in half and formed two discs. I then wrapped these discs in plastic wrap and let them rest in the refrigerator for half an hour.
After half an hour, I took the dough from the refrigerator and worked half of it with the rolling pin, flattening it little by little on the floured counter, until it was half a cm thick. I rolled it over itself on the rolling pin and then unrolled it on the baking pan. I used a 9" pyrex pie pan. Shortcrust pastry is greasy, so I didn't need to grease the pan.
The dough sit smoothly on its own on the surface of the pyrex. I gently pressed it down to help distribute it as evenly as possible. I then trimmed off the uneven edges; these dough trimmings were used to make the garnish.
To make the decorative edges, I folded the edges of the dough outwards keeping them inside the mold. Then I pressed with my fingers to give the shape.
Then, finally, I was able to pour the mixture for the pie filling into the crust. It's important to fill only 75% of the space, as the filling increases in volume during baking.
With this pumpkin pie recipe, you don't need to blind bake the crust.
I took the pie to the preheated electric oven with heat up and down to 350 F and let it bake for half an hour. Then I lowered it to 275 F and baked it for another half hour.
After the pie was done, I baked the ornaments which I had made with the trimmings of the pie dough, so they were completely edible, deliciously crunchy.
I took it to our little party, and it looked pretty good on the table.
You can serve this pie after 3 hours. It's important that it sets and also that it's cool so you can put some cream on top and serve it.
@andresromero 馃枻