Pumpkin Pie

It’s November 1st, so I can finally talk about pumpkin pie!  I love pretty much anything pumpkin, and I especially love pumpkin pie.  I happily eat it all year long, but I know most people consider pumpkin pie to be more of a Fall or holiday dessert.

I’ve never met a pumpkin pie I didn’t like, but my maternal grandmother, Granny, made the best pumpkin pie.  I have her handwritten recipe for it, and we included the recipe in our wedding cookbook.  It’s delicious, and for me, it’s total comfort food.

Try it.  I’m pretty sure you’ll love it!

Granny’s Pumpkin Pie:

3/4 cup sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling the crust and pie
½ tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 un-baked 9 inch deep dish pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix sugar, salt, 1 tsp. cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a small bowl.

Beat eggs in a large bowl.  Stir in pumpkin.  Stir in sugar/spice mixture.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk.

Spread the pie shell in a pie dish and generously sprinkle the pie shell with cinnamon.  This isn’t the time to be stingy with the cinnamon.  Pour the pie mixture into the pie shell, and generously sprinkle the top with cinnamon.

Bake 40 - 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool/set before slicing.  (Honestly, you might want to leave the house, or at least find something really good to occupy yourself with for this part.  It smells so good, it’s fairly torturous waiting to dig in!)

Enjoy!!!

So what about you?  Are you a fan of pumpkin pie, or pumpkin things in general?

Recipes

I love cooking, and I love collecting cookbooks and recipes.  You might even say I’m a little obsessed, but it makes me happy, and some of the recipes make other people really happy.  So no harm done, right?

It’s practically impossible for me to pick a favorite recipe.  So much depends on what I’m in the mood for, what else I have going on, and what I’m looking to accomplish with a recipe.  But there are definitely some recipes that are special because of where they came from or because of memories associated with them.  These are two of my special recipes:

Sausage Gravy:  This is my paternal grandmother’s recipe.  She doesn’t cook at all anymore, but she used to love cooking.  I have so many recipes from her, and she probably taught me more about cooking than any other person. 

This sausage gravy is absolutely delicious, and it was almost always what we had for breakfast when we’d visit them.  It’s also the very first breakfast I ever made for Nick when we were dating, and it’s the first breakfast we ever had using our new dishes that we received as wedding presents. 

Pumpkin Pie:  This is my maternal grandmother’s recipe.   She hated cooking for the most part, but this was one of the few things she enjoyed making.  It also helped that I was the first grandchild and it was my favorite dessert.

It’s an incredibly good pie, and it’s the only handwritten recipe I have from her.  It’s also the dessert we had the night that Nick and I announced our engagement to my side of the family.  My mom made dinner and Granny made pumpkin pie because we were coming and it was my favorite. 

So what about you?  Are there recipes that are special for you? 

Pumpkin Pie In June

Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite desserts.  It probably is my favorite dessert to have at home.  I don’t think it’s just for Thanksgiving; apparently most people disagree.

Yesterday was one of those days where you just really want comfort food.  I don’t eat chocolate, I don’t like it.  So that leaves me with a slightly different definition of comfort food.  Pumpkin pie is one of my go to comfort foods. 

I went to the grocery store after work for some other things and decided I would pick up a pumpkin pie from the frozen section rather than taking the time to make a home-made one.  There wasn’t a single pumpkin pie to be found in the frozen section!  Not one!  I couldn’t believe it.  I realized I wouldn’t find a pumpkin pie in the fresh bakery section.  I do understand that this isn’t the time of year when most people are thinking pumpkin pie.  But I thought surely I would find one in the frozen section.  That’s kind of the point to frozen foods isn’t it?  So you can have what you want, when you want it?

My husband was nice enough to stop at a different grocery store on his way from work, and ran into the same thing.  There was no pumpkin pie to be found anywhere.

Fortunately I tend to stock up on canned pumpkin around Thanksgiving when it’s on sale, so I was able to make a pumpkin pie last night.  I used my grandmother’s recipe and it was delicious.  A pumpkin pie in June did greatly improve my day.

Here’s the recipe, just in case you’d like your own pumpkin pie:

¾ cup sugar

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp ground cloves

2 eggs

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin

1 can (12 oz) Evaporated Milk

1 unbaked 9 inch deep dish pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl.  Beat eggs in a large bowl, stir in pumpkin, sugar/spice mixture.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk.  Sprinkle bottom of pie shell generously with cinnamon.  Pour mixture into pie shell; sprinkle generously with cinnamon.  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.