Pumpkin (Chiffon) Pie #4

It’s the beginning of the last week of 2014, and we have 2 more pumpkin pie recipes before the year is over! As a reminder, here is the scorecard as it stands thus far:

Recipe	Filling	Crust	Ease of Prep	Overall
New England	5	5	8	18
Pilgrim – Pies	7	7	4	18
Amish 1	5	0	4	9
Chiffon – Pies
Amish – 2

For today’s recipe we’re back to The Pie Cookbook. I decided to try a different crust recipe, the No-Roll Pastry Shell, and the pie recipe is Pumpkin Chiffon.

No-Roll Pastry Shell

1 ½ C flour

1 ½ tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

½ C salad oil

2 tbsp milk

Mix dry ingredients together in 8” pie plate. Combine oil and milk in measuring cup, beat together, then pour all at once over dry ingredients. Mix until flour is completely dampened. With fingers, press pastry evenly and firmly to line bottoms and sides of plate and partially cover the rim. Flute edge and prick entire surface. Bake at 425^oF for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden.

It was very simple, and I liked the idea of not making too many dirty dishes or flouring my counter, but since this recipe only makes a crust for an 8” rather than a 9” pie (the standard), I had some leftover filling. I would also recommend either pricking the pie shell more times than I did, or using some baking beans or beads, because the center of the shell puffed up quite a bit during baking.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

½ C cold water

2 eggs, separated

1 C evaporated milk

1 ¼ C pumpkin

¾ C brown sugar, divided

½ tsp salt

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ginger

Soften gelatin in cold water and set aside. In a saucepan, beat egg yolks, milk, pumpkin, ½ C brown sugar, and seasonings. Cook, stirring, until thick.

Remove from heat. Stir in gelatin until dissolved. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until very thick.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually add remaining ¼ C brown sugar. Fold egg whites into pumpkin mixture until smooth. Pour mixture into baked pie shell and refrigerate.

Again, this was very, very easy! Beyond that, it was very, very tasty! We loved the fluffy texture of this pie, and the filling had a great flavor, too. I wasn’t in love with the crust – it was a little too greasy for my taste. For scoring, I’m going to give this one a 9/10, because it was just really good! For crust, I’ll give it a 5/10, because it was okay, but not great. Like I said, the crust only used 3 dishes and no counter space, plus the filling was easy to make, so it gets a 6/10 for ease of preparation. Overall, this recipe scores a 20! One more pumpkin pie to go on New Year’s Eve!

Recipe	Filling	Crust	Ease of Prep	Overall
New England	5	5	8	18
Pilgrim – Pies	7	7	4	18
Amish 1	5	0	4	9
Chiffon – Pies	9	5	6	20
Amish – 2

Have a question or a request? Put it in the comments below and I’ll be sure to respond. Fröhe essen!