Pumpkin Pie with a Butter Crust

Roses and spirals  

When someone at work asks, "so when is the pumpkin stuff going to show up?" you know you're slacking on your baking. 

I've got a class coming up and I thought well, there's no time like today to get a handle on things. It's a pie class. It's a fall pie class so clearly pumpkin is in the offering. 

Today's pie is a combination of a Hubbard squash and golden nugget pumpkin. Yes, pumpkin is squash, but it has a harder skin, and really a more creamy texture. I was really looking for a Cinderella pumpkin, but my local grocery didn't have them, so I made do. And pie bakers always make do. 

The filling for 2 deep 9 inch pies

3 cups of cooked squash flesh, bake the squash cut side down in a little water for about 1 hour at 350 degrees. 

1.50 cups of sugar

4 eggs

2-12 ounce cans of evaporated milk

2 teaspoons cinnamon

0.25 teaspoon mace or nutmeg

0.25 teaspoon cloves

allspice and ginger are good additions too. 

Process it until smooth in a food processor. Pour into prepared crusts. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, lower heat to 350 and bake an additional 35-45 minutes. 

Pie Crust with Butter

1 cup flour

0.25 teaspoon salt

0.25 cup or 2 ounces of cold butter, diced small

3 tablespoons ice water

In a large bowl, toss the flour and salt together. Rub in the butter until it is fine as sand, but hurry you don't want to melt it. Add the water, lightly squeeze into a dough ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour. Roll between two pieces of parchment paper. Line pie pan, flute edges and fill with filling. Bake as described above. 

So there's your pumpkin pie!