Pumpkin Pie with a Ginger Snap Crust

Move...successful!  The only really crappy part is that I lack interwebz until December 1st, so I am forced to do things like blog at work.  Which is OK, because I've had a total of about 7 customers thus far today.  There's not even work I can pretend to do.

Pumpkin cream cheese pie did not happen on Thanksgiving.  What did happen, however, was a pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crust borrowed from the lovely author of this blog. Frankly, making an all-butter regular pie crust, while satisfying and usually worth it, takes a lot of time, and I was exhausted from moving.

While some people (namely my sister) scorn pumpkin-related holiday recipes, I am a huge fan of baking with pumpkin.  It adds a lot of moisture to pretty much anything, so it's hard to really screw up most recipes involving it.  Plus, pumpkin spice tastes like the holidays.  Where can you go wrong?

However, I hate most store-bought or restaurant-made pumpkin pies.  I am picky about crust, and I don't like anything to be under-spiced (blandness is the worst baking sin that can be committed).  I was convinced for years that my grandmother had a super-secret pumpkin pie recipe, because hers was the only one I liked.  A couple years ago, when I caught the baking bug, I asked her what it was, and she told me it was the recipe on the back of the Libby's can, with a little more spice.  Easy enough--thanks, Grandma!

So without further ado, here's the recipe, slightly adapted:

Filling:

3/4 c. sugar
2-3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (if you're really insane about controlling seasoning, you can separate out the spices, but I'm not going to splurge for cloves for a pie I make maybe twice a year)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
~2 c. pumpkin puree*
dash of vanilla
15 oz. (one can) evaporated milk

*instructions for how to make this will follow

Crust:

1 1/2 c. finely crumbled ginger snaps (fair warning--these take awhile to smash up)
1/2 c. pecan bits
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
dash of nutmeg if you like nutmeg a lot
6 tbsp. melted butter

 A bowl of crumbs (in case you're not sure how it should look?)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake the crust first.  Combine all ingredients and pat into a pie pan.  When it looks like a pie crust ought to look, pop it in the oven for 8-10 minutes.  Once the crust is complete, raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees.

For the filling, blend the sugar, spices and salt in a little bowl.  Set aside.  In a larger bowl, mix the eggs, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and evaporated milk.  Mix dry and wet ingredients together.  Add filling to crust.  Put in oven for 15 minutes.  Bring the temperature down to 350 and bake for an additional 45 minutes.  You'll know it's done when you stick a knife/toothpick/whatever in the center and it comes out clean.

Ta-da!

I had some leftover crust and filling, so I lined a muffin pan with the crust mixture, baked the crust, buttered the sides of the tins, poured in the filling, and got these adorable little mini pumpkin pie/tart things.  Good if you hate slicing pie or want to fancy up your pumpkin pie.  Instructions are the same, but bake the crust for only 8 minutes and the pies for 35-40 minutes.

 Sorry about the quality...

To finish, make a buttload of whipped cream (go to town with a whisk and a CHILLED bowl with CHILLED cream, add some vanilla or cinnamon).  Dash on some more pumpkin spice.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

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OK, so to continue this overly long post...I decided to make my own pumpkin puree this year because all the pumpkin enthusiasts say it's a pain in the ass, but that it tastes better.  I will agree with the first part--it is definitely a giant pain in the ass.

But here's how to do it.  Buy a sugar/pie pumpkin.  Slice in half, scoop out guts, cut into smaller slices, and peel.  The peeling is really the difficult part...a vegetable peeler should suit you fine, but if you can find a really sharp one, even better.  Massage thumbs when done.

I'm probably not doing this right.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add pumpkin, and boil, uncovered, for 25 minutes.  If your pot is slightly too small, obsessively check that all pumpkin pieces are submerged while other Thanksgiving guests are doing fun things, like playing Settlers of Catan.

Once you have boiled the shit out of the pumpkin (if you stab it with a fork, there should be almost no resistance), get a food processor and blend it.  Don't get lazy and just mash it up with a fork, because it will be chunky and gross.  I tried doing it by hand, but when I mixed it with the other filling ingredients, it looked so wrong that I had to break out a food processor. 

Did it taste good?  Definitely.  Better than Libby's?  I'm doubtful.