I love everything about pumpkin pie. It is so easy to make. You can't really go wrong. When I was younger, I actually sold my pumpkin pies. After making hundreds of pies at a time, you would think I would be tired of it, but no. 😀 The recipe here is the one I used all those years ago!
Ingredients:
1 single Pie Crust - you can use this recipe or purchase a pre-made pie crust
1 can Pumpkin
1 cup Milk or Half & half
2 Eggs
¾ cup Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
¼ tsp Nutmeg
¼ tsp Cloves
½ tsp Ground Ginger
Pinch Salt
Method:
Preheat oven to 350℉
Blind bake the pie crust for approximately 10-15 minutes until slightly golden. Remove pie weights (beans or rice) for the last 5 minutes.
While the pie crust is baking, mix together the filling ingredients.
Once the pie crust is baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool slightly for 5-10 minutes.
Place the pre-baked pie crust onto a baking tray. Pour in the filling. Be careful not to overfill the pie, or it won't be easy getting it into the oven without spilling.
Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes. Your pie should still have a very slight jiggle in the center when it is done. If you overcook your pie, you won’t damage it, but it will probably crack.
Cool for about an hour before serving so it can set up.
Notes:
Blind baking the pie crust means pre-baking it before putting in the filling. To do so, line the unbaked pie crust with parchment paper or foil, and fill it with beans or rice to weigh down the bottom.
Bake your pumpkin pie in the lower portion of the oven to ensure the bottom bakes.
To make this dairy-free, you could substitute alternative milk. To maintain the creamy texture, you may want to reduce the milk to 3/4 cup, which would make a less full pie, or add 1 tsp of cornstarch to the milk to thicken it up in the oven.
If you like a slightly less sweet pie, decrease the sugar to ½ cup.
If you want to substitute the sugar, you can use the following:
1 cup granulated Stevia plus 1 tsp vanilla
2 packages of sugar-free vanilla pudding
3/4 cup honey but reduce the milk to 3/4 cup because the honey has water in it
You can also try my Buttermilk Maple Pumpkin Pie - buttermilk lowers the fat from the milk/half & half, and the maple syrup substitutes for the sugar.
Want to skip the crust? Make the filling and put it into a casserole dish and bake! It is a delicious fall pudding.
