The pumpkin is a type of winter squash native to North America, and it was first grown by northeastern Native Americans as a food source. The Indians gave pumpkins to the early settlers during their first winter in the New World and taught them the many uses for it. As they experimented with cooking techniques, the first pumpkin pie was not really a pie but more likely made by baking a whole pumpkin in hot ashes. An early export to France, the pumpkin was cultivated there and by the 17th century recipes for pumpkin pie could be found in English cookbooks. It wasn’t until 1796 that a recipe for the dish appeared in an American cookbook called American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. Originally made with fresh pumpkin, today pumpkin pies are typically made with canned pumpkin filling which commonly include cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, or allspice.
Recipe Servings: 6
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus extra to dust pan
- 1 tsp salt, fine
- 7 Tbsp butter, chilled
- ¼ cup water, ice cold
Filling:
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 2 cups canned pumpkin
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp grated fresh ginger
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup half and half
Directions
- Mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the butter. Rub and pinch the butter into the flour using your fingers to coat butter pieces and form small pea-sized balls.
- Create a well in the center of the mixture and add the water. Mix it together using your hands.
- Pull away walnut-size pieces of dough and smear them using the heel of your hand. This technique is called fraisage and it helps produce flaky layers.
- Form the flattened pieces into a ball and then slightly flatten it to form a disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- Remove the plastic wrap from the dough and place the dough on a floured surface. Roll a floured rolling pin from the center of the dough disk to the edge rotating the dough until the circle is an 1/8-inch thick and 12 inches in diameter.
- Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and lift the pin over the edge of a 9-inch glass pie pan. Gently unroll the dough over the pan. Lightly press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Crimp the edge of the crust by placing two fingers on the crust’s outside rim while placing one finger on the inside and pressing outward to form a V.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Combine the brown sugar and sugar. Whisk the sugar with the eggs until the mixture becomes light and frothy.
- Stir in the canned pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt.
- Stir in the cream and half and half.
- Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake the pie for 10 minutes.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove the pie from the oven and set it aside to cool.
For Crust:
For Filling:
Recipe introduction and directions © Copyright 2016-2024 World Trade Press. All rights reserved.