Ethel and the Pumpkin Pie

My hubby has already requested this pie again so before I go into everything that went wrong I’m going to state that this is a success.

It takes very little to boost my ego.

As I didn’t have the back up power of the mother I decided to stick to her crust, as I now know how it should look and feel.  I was very careful to make sure everything was cold and it rolled out beautifully.  I pinched the edges and it looked amateurish but not horrific.  I placed aluminum foil over it and put it into the oven to par-bake.  I checked on it and it looked like something that was deep fried at too low of a temperature.  A big soggy napkin at the bottom of the pan. 

I would have given up except that the filling was all put together.  I just started over.  This time I kind of crimped it over the edge of the pan hoping it would hold it up and I omitted the aluminum foil thinking that in my cruddy oven I didn’t want to open the door and let out any heat to remove it.  The second crust was a little puffy and not as pretty, but it was useable.

The filling I got from two Fanny Farmer recipes that I fused.  I wanted to use the cream from another recipe because I bought a half-gallon of cream earlier in the week to make some caramels (so yummy but that is another story).  I wanted to use the ginger and bourbon from another. 

Pumpkin Pie adapted from The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.  Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 1984

2 cups pumpkin (I used a beautiful pie pumpkin that I got in the final CSA pickup)

3 eggs

1 ½ cups cream

1 cup sugar

½ tsp. salt

2 TBL. bourbon

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

¼ tsp. nutmeg

¼ tsp. cloves

This made a lot.  I baked the extra as custard.

 

Mom’s Pie Crust for a single pie

1 cup flour

½ tsp. salt

1/3 plus 1 TBL. Shortening

less than ¼ cup cold water

The Verdict

It was yummy.  The crust was so-so.  The custard was a little stringy from the fresh pumpkin but it tasted like squash.  It was sweet but not heavy on the tongue.  I think the combo of flavors was uber tasty.