WELCOME TO KERRY’S KITCHEN!
Yep, it’s really my kitchen here at the Tom Eddy Winery property where both our home and our winery are located. It makes for a quick trip to the office! And also to the garden, where I grew some pretty gnarly Cinderella pumpkins from seeds I had collected in a jar maybe 8-10 years ago (I know!). I had forgotten what type they were but I knew they must be special if I went to the trouble of saving the seeds. And they were. Deeply grooved with a beautiful orange pumpkin color. Just calling to be made into some pies. So here is the recipe for fresh pumpkin pie, made from scratch. It’s easier than you think!
FRESH PUMPKIN PIE RECIPE
CRUST:
Pre-bake a single 9” crust. (see below for instructions*).
FRESH PUMPKIN:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut a fresh pumpkin into thick slices (@2-3inches (if a large pumpkin), scrape out the insides, (keep seeds for next year’s garden or roast them later), lay sections on parchment-lined baking sheet (I use silicone for easy cleanup.)
Fresh cut pumpkin
Bake for 40min. (You can also use a 15oz canned pumpkin so don’t panic if you don’t have a fresh sugar pumpkin on hand. I just happen to have several “Cinderellas” from the garden so I used the largest one. Mistake. What you see made 4 cups!)
After baking the fresh pumpkin for 40min., let it cool. Remove the pulp (or peel off the skin. I used my hands because it was easier) and place in a food processor. Puree until smooth. Measure the pulp because you’ll need about 2 cups. Freeze any puree you don’t need and use for another pie later. (If your puree looks little watery, place it in cheesecloth in a strainer for an hour to firm it up. Your puree should be a nice consistency).
INGREDIENTS (t=teaspoon)
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree (or 15oz canned prepared pumpkin)
One 14.5oz can of sweet condensed milk
2 eggs plus 1 yolk
½ t salt
1 ½ t cinnamon
¼ t nutmeg or ground cloves
In a separate bowl (or back in the blender?), blend all ingredients together and add to cooled pie crust.
Bake pumpkin pie for 60 minutes at 425 degrees, or until knife 1” from edge comes out clean.
Tom couldn’t wait..
Cool on a rack. When serving, add a dollop of whipped cream (who doesn’t love whipped cream!).
Serve with our Tom Eddy 2015 Orange Muscat
*To make a double-crust 9-inch pie.
(Though I only need one 9” crust for this recipe, I figure if I’m going to do it I might as well make two and freeze one!)(T=Tablespoon, t=teaspoon)
Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ t salt
8 T solid vegetable shortening (butter makes it too dense for my taste)
5-7 T ice cold water
Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add ¾ cup solid vegetable shortening, cut in pieces. (You can use butter but I find Crisco makes a lighter, fluffier crust). Use pastry cutter or two knives to turn mixture into pea sized crumbs. Add water 2 Tablespoons at a time and stir with a fork until dough starts to stick together. Divide dough into halves and form into two 1” flattened discs. Cover in plastic wrap and place one disc in refrigerator for at least an hour. Freeze the second disc for a future pie. (Refrigerating the dough keeps the shortening from getting too soft and making it difficult to roll out.)
To roll out dough: (this has taken me years to figure out)…
I place the dough on a silicone mat and lay plastic wrap over the top of the dough (in a cross shape) as I roll it out into a 12” round. (The wrap keeps it from sticking to my rolling pin). Take off the wrap and slowly lift the silicone mat with the dough and gently lay it upside down over the 9 inch pie pan. (My mat has markings on it so I can tell where the center is. Easy peasy). There should be an inch or so extra dough on all the sides. Peel off the silicon. Scoot the dough down into the pan gently to takes the form of the dish.
Don’t press hard or it will stretch the dough which leads to cracking. Trim extra dough to 1” of the rim. Fold edges under and flute. Use a fork to make lots of holes in the bottom to keep the dough from bubbling up during baking. Cover with a ‘rim protector’ if you have one, to keep the fluted part from getting too brown. I take it off the last 5 minutes or so. Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes using the rack on the bottom third of the oven. Cool your crust. It’s ready to use.
P.S. The dough can also be made beforehand and frozen as a flattened disc sealed in plastic wrap, which is what I did when I was making a lime pie. I followed a double crust recipe and froze one. Just let it defrost in the fridge or on the counter before rolling it out.
Cheers!
Kerry Eddy