Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is this Thursday and I have no idea where 2011 has gone. It seems as if the days drag but once you stop and take a look around it's already Christmas. But I like fall and winter is my favorite season, so I suppose the year flying by is a good and bad thing. For this Thanksgiving I thought I would make a pumpkin pie.

This was my first pie and I think it came out pretty good!

Pumpkin Pie
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz.)
3/4 c brown sugar
1.25 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground cloves
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1.5 c half and half

Preheat oven to 400F. Prepare pie crust, roll out, and put in 9 inch pie plate. Crimp edge. Do not prick. Line with double thickness of foil and bake 15 minutes. Remove foil.

In large bowl, combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves. Add eggs and beat lightly until combined. Gradually add half and half and stir until just combined.

There are two ways to do this next step. My recipe says to place the partially baked piecrust on the oven rack and then pour the filling in. I just poured it in the shell while it was still on the counter.

 

The unbaked pie

If you do what I did, be really careful when you pick it up because the filling is very thin. I also had some filling left over, so into the oven it went without a pie crust. I just baked the rest of it in another lightly greased dish.

Either way, you need to cover the edges with aluminum foil to prevent over browning. Bake the pie for 20 minutes and then remove the foil. Bake 25-30 minutes more. A knife inserted in the center should come out clean.


Pie Crust
1.5 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 c shortening
1/4 c butter, cut up
1/4-1/2 c ice water

In medium bowl, stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening and butter. Slowly add the water and make a dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll out into a circle. Put in pie plate.