It's never a bad time to make a pumpkin pie. I said what I said...
Even if that’s not a true statement, I do love a good pumpkin pie. This is the 2nd year that I’ve made the pie from scratch without using the canned pumpkin puree. I did however use a pre-made pie crust to save time. Next Christmas I’ll make the crust from scratch too.
Following American recipes from here in Italy is always a bit of a challenge for me. First I have to hunt down the closest version of the needed ingredients and then I have to convert all the measurements.
In this recipe, I did my Italian friends the favor of converting all the American ingredients and measurements to Italian and into grams, cucchiaios and cucchiainos. (spoons and little spoons, or more specifically, tbsp and tsp). *if possible, you should use a little sugar pumpkin for this recipe! They will give you the best texture and flavor. In Italy, I believe they are just called “zucche di Halloween” but you want to be sure to get a small one, not a big one for carving jack-o-lanterns. This year I used a kind of pumpkin or squash called “delica” and I wasn’t satisfied with the flavor.
Lets get cooking
1. Get the pie crust ready to fill
Set Oven to 375º F (190º C). Remove the uncooked pie crust from refrigerator and center it as evenly as possible over your pie dish. Be careful not to pull at the edges of the dough. Try to gently lift the edges and let the dough fall into the the inner “edges” of the dish. Use your knuckle to very gently push along the perimeter to be sure there’s no space between the dough and the dish. Use a fork to poke holes along the dough on the bottom and up the sides.
More pie crust stuff
Take a sheet of parchment paper and crumple it up into a ball, un-crumple it, and place it in the pie dish on top of the dough. Then fill the parchment lined dough with a good amount of uncooked rice or beans. You want it to be heavy enough to hold the dough in good form while we crisp it up a bit in the oven. Put the dough and rice place holder in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.
Remove the crust from the oven and carefully lift the paper and rice out of the dish and place them aside, as you no longer need it (keep it stored in a bag for reuse if you bake pies often!)
Even more pie crust stuff
grab your egg yolk and wash a thin layer of egg over only the bottom, not the sides, of the crust. Return the pie crust to the oven for another 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes is up, remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool down.
2. Pumpkin puree yay!
Alright, now set the oven to 325º F (156º C) and grab your pumpkin and bring it to the cutting board. Cut it in half, or in 4 quarters, totally up to you.
Scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff and place the freshly cleaned pieces of pumpkin face down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the baking sheet and pumpkins in the over for at least an hour, checking the softness with a fork after about 45 minutes. Cook until the pumpkin is soft enough to easily squish the outer shell with a fork.
When the pumpkin is ready, remove it from the oven and let it cool down for around 15 minutes or until it’s not too hot to handle. With a spoon, scoop the soft baked pumpkin out of the shell and place it either in a food processor or a bowl for hand held blending. I used a handheld immersion blender to turn my pumpkin into a creamy puree.
3. Next step - pumpkin puree to pie filling
In a large mixing bowl, add your sugars and 2 eggs and whisk together. Add vanilla to the mix and stir a little more. Next, add your pumpkin puree, around 500 grams, and whisk everything together.
Add all the spices and a pinch of sea salt to the mixture and whisk some more! Next, add your condensed milk. You should have a delicious smelling, not too liquidy but not too thick mixture of pumpkin heaven in your bowl.
Next, grab the pie crust and fill up the dish with the pumpkin mixture. Wiggle the dish a bit to get the filling nice and even and then take your egg wash from before and add a light layer of it around the outside edges of the pie crust!
4. Bake!
Place the pie back into the oven for the final time at 335ºF (170ºC) and bake for around 35 to 40 minutes.
You will know it’s ready when then center of the pie is juuuust ever so slightly jiggly in the center but firm around the outside.
Let the pie cool down in the fridge for an hour or so before enjoying 🙂
I like to add whipped cream on top of mine! Buon-appetito.
ความคิดเห็น