Pumpkin Pie
1 9 inch deep-dish or up to 11 inch but shallower regular pie crust
1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree*
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup maple sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
4 eggs
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pastry Maple leaves for decoration
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Prepare pie crust.
• I recommend freshly baked regular pie crust, in a Pyrex pie dish, at 400 degrees F.
• Note: See recipes for pie crusts in this section.
• Heat pumpkin puree in a heavy pan; stir frequently.
• Add milk and cream to pumpkin puree, continue heating gently and stir until smooth. Keep it hot but don’t let it boil.
• In a heatproof bowl, beat eggs (and sugar or maple sugar) until smooth.
• Beat in dry spices.
• For Maple Pumpkin Pie, beat in flour, then maple syrup.
• When the pie crust is baked, beat the egg mixture while pouring the hot pumpkin mixture into it in a thin stream.
• The resulting mixture will be hot but not so hot as to cook the eggs.
• Carefully pour hot pumpkin filling into hot pie crust.
• Return to center of oven and bake.
• We fill the pie partway out of the oven, and then top it off with a cup or ladle with the pie positioned in the oven, as the slightest sticking of the oven rack is liable to cause filling to slosh all over.
• For Ginger Pumpkin Pie, carefully sprinkle the candied ginger evenly over the pie filling. It will settle gently to the bottom forming a loosely packed layer.
• The pie is done when the outside edge of the filling is firm and slightly puffed, but the center is still wiggly.
• Remove to a rack and let cool gently, so the custard can first finish cooking, and then set.
*To make Pumpkin Puree:
• First, select appropriate sugar or pie pumpkins for your puree.
• Snap the stem off the pumpkin.
• Wash away any dirt or foreign matter from the outside.
• With a large chef’s knife, cut the pumpkin into 6 or 8 wedges, depending on its size.
• The easiest way to remove the pith, seeds, and pulp is to use a filleting knife along the inside of the wedges.
• With a little practice, this will leave little or no scraping needed.
• Cut the wedges into half through the pumpkin’s “equator”, so that you will have somewhat triangular pieces) and arrange them in a large roasting pan.
• Bake, uncovered, for about 1 hour at 325 degrees F, and two more hours at 300 degrees F.
• The meat should be tender all throughout, and not watery under the dry skin that forms. Remove from the oven (or turn off oven and leave the door cracked for ventilation) and let the pumpkin cool and continue to dry for a couple more hours.
• Remove the skin and any exceptionally dry or leathery parts, and puree thoroughly.
• Note that most of the dry surface of the meat is still sufficiently tender to be used, but probably not the stem corners.
• Because the pulp is so dry, it will take several minutes with the food processor, and a number of stirs and scrapes, before the pulp liquefies enough to turn over by itself and puree properly.
• Once it does this, a good minute or more of pureeing will result in a wonderfully smooth, pumpkin-y paste.
Pastry Maple Leaves or other decorations:
• After you have lined your pie dish and put it back in the fridge to rest, bring together the trimmings.
• If they are very dry and flour-coated, consider spraying them lightly with a mister.
• Collect them together in a small disk, maintaining the layering as much as you can, then smash/smear them together until they become one mass again.
• Consider letting this dough rest in the refrigerator for several minutes.
• Roll the dough out to the desired thickness.
• Use your template or cutout to cut out leaves.
• We find a paper cutout (throwaway) works fine, and use a small sharp paring knife by inserting the point at the inside corners of the leaf then cutting down along each edge, straight down without pulling through the dough to keep it from stretching.
• Then using the tip of the paring knife from the dull side, score some veins into the leaf. Chill the leaves thoroughly.
• Brush the tops leaves carefully with a whole-egg egg wash (a whole egg beaten well with a pinch of salt, or a dash of milk or cream) to give them a darker, glossy look.
• Bake on a parchment-covered sheet, to desired doneness.
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