Recently I decided to try concocting a pumpkin dessert my mother used to make when I was a child. (Complete recipe will be at the bottom of the post.) It was a recipe she got from her mother and passed on to the next generation. The directions in those old recipes can be a bit vague, leaving much to the imagination and, with any luck, experience.
My first challenge was the lack of a large double boiler. I own a very small one, useful for melting chocolate and such things, but not nearly large enough for this project. So I grabbed a kettle with a steamer insert, added water, set my kettle of pumpkin goo in the insert, and tucked aluminum foil around the edges to sort of seal it up. It was not a complete success, but worth trying.
"Cook in double boiler. Stir once in a while. (cook well)" What exactly does that mean? All I can tell you is I didn't cook it long enough, because it was more like soup than pudding.
After the designated 15 minutes in the oven, it was still pumpkin soup. I was philosophical about it, though, because it was something to hold the leftover whipped topping. And I hadn't wasted a baked pie crust, either.
After it had spent the night in the refrigerator, I stared at it balefully the next morning and seriously considered dumping it out behind the chicken coop to see if the deer would eat it. But frugality got the better of me. I proceeded to dump it back into a kettle instead, and cooked it directly on the burner on low heat for about 45 minutes. I also added 1/2 cup more sugar, because it had a bitter tang I didn't like. Perhaps my maple flavoring was so old it had gotten rancid. Who knows?
After an additional 30 minutes in the oven, this was starting to resemble pudding! As you can see, the extra cooking time made it considerably darker.
And now it plopped into the bowl and held its shape like it ought to. And it tasted better. Yes, I added more whipped topping after I took the photo.
If I ever make this again, I will just skip the double boiler and cook it on low heat on the stove top for at least an hour, and then put it into the oven for at least 45 minutes. I bet it will turn out just about right. Let me know how it turns out if you decide to give it a try!
PUMPKIN PIE
Baked pie shell
3 cups pumpkin
3 eggs, separated (set whites aside)
2 cups milk (note: I used almond milk)
1 cup sugar (I ended up using 1 1/2 cups)
4 T. flour or cornstarch (I used flour)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. Mapleine
6 finely chopped walnuts ( I didn't have whole walnuts, so I used "some")
Mix sugar, flour, salt, and spices well. Add pumpkin, milk and egg yolks. Cook in double boiler. Stir once in a while (cook well). Add ground nuts (or chop them if you like a crunchier texture). Fold in beaten egg whites. Pour in baked shell. Brown top in oven at 325 for 10-15 minutes. Or bake it in a pan and eat it as pudding.
All photos taken by me on my Android phone.