Happy Halloween! As it’s Halloween (and I still have pumpkins to use up), I decided to give pumpkin pie a go. I have never tried it before so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
I made some sweet shortcrust pastry – recipe and method here
Ingredients for filling
750g Pumpkin chunks
140g Caster Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 Eggs
175ml Milk
25g Melted Butter
Method
Firstly make up some shortcrust pastry (link to recipe above) and leave in the fridge for an hour.
Whilst your pastry is chilling, you can make your pumpkin puree. Begin by chopping up your pumpkin into cubes and put into a saucepan with water and leave on a rolling boil until the pumpkin is soft and tender – about 30 minutes depending on how big your pumpkin chunks are.
Leave to cool slightly and blend until you have a puree consistency. Now you have your pumpkin puree, you can crack on with making your pie.
Roll out your pastry and place it in your pie tin or dish. Line with baking parchment and baking beans and bake at 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 for 15 minutes. Remove your pie case from the oven and remove the baking beans and parchment and then return the pie case to the oven for a further 15 minutes.
Whilst your crust is in the oven, you can begin making the filling. In a bowl beat the eggs together with the melted butter and milk. Add in the sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon, then finally add in the pumpkin puree. Once your pie crust has cooled a little, pour in your pumpkin filling and bake at 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7, after 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and bake for a further 45 minutes.
Once cooled, remove from pie tin (or leave in the dish if you have used a pie dish like I did). Serve cold and enjoy!
The Lady of the Cakes 