Pumpkin Pie #1

I hope everyone enjoyed their Winter Solstice yesterday!

For the last 5 posts of 2014, I will be doing a big holiday comparison! What could possibly be more festive than pumpkin pie? It’s a true American tradition to have pumpkin pie during the holidays, and I personally enjoy the spicy-sweet flavor of this gourd-geous dessert.

As with the strudel, I find myself possessed of not one, not two, but FIVE different pumpkin pie recipes spread across the recipe books. Here is the comparison chart:

Recipe	Filling	Crust	Ease of Prep	Overall
New England
Pilgrim – Pies
Amish 1
Chiffon – Pies
Amish – 2

Pumpkin Pie – The New England Cookbook

Crust

1 C flour

½ tsp salt

1/3 C shortening

2 ½ tbsp cold water

Mix dry ingredients together, then cut in shortening. Add only enough water to hold pastry together. Roll out into a thin circle and gently fit into pie pan. Flute edges of pastry. Prick sides and bottom of crust with a fork. Bake empty crust at 450^oF for 10 minutes and set aside to cool.

Pie

2 C pumpkin

2/3 C brown sugar

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

2 eggs, beaten

1 C cream

Mix together pumpkin, sugar and spices.

Blend in eggs and cream until smooth.

Pour mixture into pastry shell.

Bake at 350oF for 50 to 60 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

We served this with simple whipped cream or powdered sugar on top and mugs of milk or eggnog on the side. The pie was quite tasty – I’m pretty sure you can’t screw up a pumpkin pie unless you try. The filling was very simple. While simplicity is nice, I’ll give the filling for this recipe a 5/10. The crust was also very simple, pretty average, so I will score it with a 5/10 as well. Because it was so simple, this pie recipe was incredibly easy to prepare, so I give it an 8/10. Overall, the pumpkin pie recipe from The New England Cookbook scores an 18!

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

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