Easy As Pumpkin Pie

Happy election day! I hope that all of you got a chance to get the vote out today. It’s so important in so many ways.

You know what else is important? Pie. And today I want to show you how you can easily turn this…

…into this!

As I’ve already confessed, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year (with Christmas coming in second). A holiday where you gather together with friends and family to celebrate what you appreciate with a feast of gargantuan proportions is pretty much the best idea America ever had. And to me, you simply cannot have Thanksgiving without homemade pie.

In my family, my mom typically bakes an assortment of sweet potato, apple, and pecan pies for Thanksgiving. But I know that a lot of people equate Thanksgiving with pumpkin pie, and when I saw this gorgeous looking pumpkin pie in Saveur magazine, I knew I had to try my hand at it.

The Saveur recipe recommends roasting the pumpkin in chunks, which requires you to carefully (and maybe with a strong person’s help) cut the pumpkin in half, scooping out the seeds, then cutting it into slices and cutting away the peel so that you just have chunks of pumpkin flesh.

If you want to skip these steps involving the fresh pumpkin, feel free to just pick up a can of pumpkin puree in the store. But roasting the fresh pumpkin does give it a really nice flavor that canned doesn’t have.

After the pumpkin is roasted (you’ll need enough to amount to 2 cups of puree), just set it aside to cool while you make the pie crust. Pie crust is easy to make; don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The two main things to remember with crust are to keep it cold and don’t overmix. Otherwise is just a simple combination of a few ingredients. I make mine by mixing the flour and salt together in the food processor first. Then add the cold butter and pulse a few times. Add ice water and pulse a few more times. That’s it!

Smush the dough together into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and stick it in the fridge to hang out. You can then puree the pumpkin in the same food processor, take a walk, eat an apple, whatever your business is…to let that dough in the fridge rest for a solid hour.

Once your dough is fully chilled out, flour up a surface and your hands and get your dough out to roll.

Press it into a general circle-type shape, then use your rolling pin to roll it out into a wide disc that will fit over your 9″ pie pan with room to spare.

Use your rolling pin to pick up your dough and move it over to the pie pan, gently setting it down over the pan. (If you guys need more detailed explanation of these things, let me know and I’d be happy to do a video! )

Gently pat the dough into the pan, then fold in the edges and decorate them as you please. I did a simple scalloped edge for a classic look. Just push in with your thumb from the inside, and pinch with your thumb and pointer on the other hand. Continue all the way around the pie.

When you’re done with the crust decoration, poke some holes throughout the crust with a fork and stick the whole thing back in the fridge to chill out again.

Meanwhile, you can get your filling done! Whisk together a combination of pumpkin puree, spices, evaporated milk, and cornstarch.

Keep whisking until it’s nice and smooth, then it’s all ready to put in the crust.

Time for them to get married!

So beautiful. The two of them will have a happy life together. Send them on their honeymoon by baking the whole thing in a 375 degree oven (350 if you’re using a glass pan). Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the pie isn’t jiggly anymore and the whole thing is a nice golden brown.

Happy pie eating!

Click here to see the full Saveur recipe.

*Note: The only thing I changed was lowering the oven temperature and increasing the baking time, which is always a good idea if you’re using a glass pie dish instead of a ceramic or aluminum one.

Thanks for reading!

-Lauren