Pumpkin Pie with a touch of spices

Pumpkin Pie with a touch of spices

Since I was a little girl, I’ve despised everything containing pumpkin. Every dessert or meal prepared using it, even the much loved sweetened honey oven-baked pumpkin which was prepared in the late autumn season or in the beginning of winter. The best thing about pumpkin is that it reminds me of Christmas (my favourite holiday ever). 

Even as Christmas is over, I’ve decided to post a pumpkin pie receipt. But not the traditional one, the way my mother and grandmother was preparing it. I’ve decided to go the American way! And yes, this is the best way, as Americans excel when it comes to pies.

So, I’ve done a bit of research on pinterest (the best place to find interesting recipes) and I’ve found an easy-to-make recipe that combines the sweetness of condensed milk with the natural sweetened pumpkin and spices. And, I must admit that the spices did their job enhancing the taste of the pumpkin beyond my imagination. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

And it’s perfect for your Thanksgiving table and for the holiday season, but when it’s this easy to make, why not make it year-round too 🙂

The ingredient bellow are for aprox. 20 cm regular pie pan

Ingredients Pumpkin Pie crust:

• 250 g pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 125 g unsalted butter (cut in small cubes)
• ice water (as much or as little as needed, no cubes in it)

Ingredients Pumpkin Pie filling:

• 1 can pumpkin puree (can be replaced with fresh pumpkin)
• 2 eggs
• spicies:  ground cinnamon,  ground cloves,  ground ginger, freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 pinch of salt

How to make Pumpkin Pie:

Pie Crust:

• Preheat oven to 200º C fan. Grease a 20 cm pie pan with melted butter or cooking spray. Set aside.
• Before starting to make the pie crust, place the butter into the freezer for aprox. 15 minutes.
• Sift flour, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Transfer to a food processor and pulse a few times.
• Start adding the butter, first add half of it, pulse about 10 times, then add the rest of the butter. Keep pulsing, until the pieces of butter are maximum 1 cm large.
• Add the ice cold water, 1-2 tbsp at a time, pulsing few times after each addition. Stop when the dough is barely holding together (you can figure this out by pressing little amount of dough between your fingers and if it holds, then it is ok). Try to add as little water as possible.
• Place the dough on a clean, dry, flat surface, make a mound and start pressing it with your palm a few times, then press it into a disk. Sprinkle it with a bit of flour, cover with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or more.
• While the dough cools in the refrigerator, you can start working on the pie filling.

Pie Filling and assembling the pie:

• In a medium bowl, mix the pumpkin puree with the spices. Then, add the condensed milk and eggs and whisk well until no trace of white eggs is visible.
• Meanwhile, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes. After that, place the dough onto a floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin, until it gets about 3-4 mm thin. Put the dough into the prepared pie pan (we use removable bottom one).  Make sure the dough is filling the whole bottom of the pan.
• Pour the batter into the crust and bake for 20 minutes or more depending on your oven.
• At this point, after 20 minutes, reduce the heat of the oven to 165º C fan and bake for another 45 – 50 minutes (or more) until the mixture is set. You can try it by inserting a toothpick in the middle of the pie: if it comes out clean, then the pie is ready.
• Remove and let it cool off before cutting. Enjoy!

See our Apricot pie recipe  for a fruity pie recipe. Other desserts here.