Pi Day just happened. Well, ok, .... 4 days ago.
If I were on the ball, and a good momma, I'd have had 3 kinds of pies all ready to go for dessert that evening.
Yeah, so THAT didn't happen.
But in [late] commemoration of Pi Day, I'm divulging a little-known, tried-and-truly-true old family recipe for pumpkin pie. I'd like to say that if you don't like pumpkin, then this pie will make a believer out of you.
Well, it might. I have had a few grudging compliments on this pie from previous pumpkin-haters.
But if you're THAT down on pumpkin, not even this heavenly pie can rescue you.
On the flip side --- if you like pumpkin, you're really going to love this pie!!
This is a family recipe that came from my maternal grandmother: Mary Newton Davidson, and it's really the best classic pumpkin pie EVER. I used to think all pumpkin pies were alike -- but sadly, that is NOT the case. I had a "regular" pumpkin pie once ..... and that cured me from ever trying one again! YUCK -- I don't know what was wrong with it, but it wasn't RIGHT.
And, like all top secret family recipes -- there's a secret ingredient here that is the key.
You can even extrapolate and add this secret ingredient to your other pumpkin recipes. I use it in my pumpkin bread recipe, too. I promise, they will all rise 5 notches in goodness if you do!
The best pies start with a good crust. And sorry, this isn't Grandma's crust, or even my mom's crust. But it's Betty's. I use this crust recipe for every homemade pie I make.
Let's make some pie crust!!
Start with shortening, salt, and flour. I use butter-flavor shortening, because that's what I keep on hand, so it looks pretty yellow in this photo. For pie crust, the butter flavor isn't as necessary, so regular shortening works fine, too. It will look paler than this does, and that's ok, too.
I use a pastry blender to cut in the shortening, but you can use 2 knives if you don't have one. Or, you can be super-amazingly modern and use a food processor. Just a few pulses will do pie crust nicely in a food processor. (My little food processor isn't nearly big enough for this recipe.) You're going for small little chunks of shortening, coated in flour. This will give you a yummy, flaky crust.
That's ice water in the little bowl. You want the ingredients, especially the water, to be VERY cold here. I measure the ice water from the little bowl into the big bowl. The idea is to keep the shortening from all schmearing in on itself. You're mixing, but not over-mixing. Handle this as little as possible. Add the water in one tablespoon at a time ....
Until the dough starts to come together.
(Keep that extra ice water around: you're going to still need it. Just set it aside for now.)
Cram it all into a ball, adding a bit of flour if you need to.
Then divide it in half, and shape it into two balls that you'll then flatten into discs.
Even flatter than that. At this point, you can chill the dough in the fridge, over night or maybe another day if you need to. Or start rolling now.
Flour the counter evenly, flour the rolling pin too, and roll from the center to the edges, alternating and rotating which direction you come from and are going. My girls used to think it was funny to roll the rolling pin roll right off the edge of the dough -- but don't do that. Lift it off as you reach the outer edges.
Take another look at that last photo. Can you see how the dough kind of looks marbled? And it has swirls of whiter areas and yellower areas? That is the shortening in it. THAT is the look you want in the dough. That is what will give you a really nice, flaky-textured crust.
So, some people have really cool marble slabs to roll out pastry.
Some of us just use the counter!
Check the size by comparing it with one of your pie plates.
(Metal is fine too, I just prefer glass because all pies get sliced in the pie plate, and I hate when non-stick bakeware gets scratched by knives. So -- it's glass for me!)
There are a few different ways to transfer the dough from the counter to the pie plate. Some people fold the dough circle into fourths, and then unfold it in the pie dish. That never works for me. I prefer to roll it up gently onto the rolling pin, and then unroll it over the pie plate.
Rolled up .... and unrolled:
(It was a crazy-sunny morning when I took these photos. You almost need shades to get past the brightness on the counter!!
Then ease the dough down into the dish, and into the angled corners at the bottom. It's definitely better to have rolled it too large, than too small. Don't be tempted to pull or stretch the dough to get it to the edges: it will shrink right back when it's baked.
Your pie edges probably look like some variation of that uneveness, huh!
There will be places where it was larger-than-needed, and gaps where it's not quite there. THIS ALWAYS HAPPENS. Now you go back and patch it.
With extra pieces from the too-big part, you want to patch the not-big-enough part. That reserved ice water is the "glue". I take an appropriately-sized piece, and pinch the edges of the patch so it's rather thin, then moisten the pastry with ice water (just use fingers -- you're all floury anyway!!) and stick them together, smoothing as you go. The water seals the deal, and keeps the filling from leaking through the crust where you patched it.
Once it's all filled in and smooth, finish trimming the extra dough from the edges of the pie plate. Some people use a knife for that, but my mom always used her hands to press the dough, hard, against the plate edge, and let the excess fall off:
(If I didn't have the camera in one hand, you'd see my other hand on the opposite side of the pie plate, pressing inward. Then imagine rotating the plate and continuing until it has all the excess pastry dough off.)
If you get the hang of it, and can manage it, it's even better if you can have enough dough to kind of "hook" it over the plate edges -- this really keeps the dough from wanting to shrink as it bakes.
There are a ton of different ways to edge the dough to make it pretty. I do mine just the way my momma showed me how:
It's kind of a cross between a rolled ruffle and a pinched point.
You can pinch a rope look, or press fork tines into it, or make little cutouts -- it's your choice. I have my technique down so I could do it with my eyes closed. Works for me!!
At this point, make the second crust and then set them both aside while you mix the custard-filling for the pumpkin pie. (A custard is an egg-milk combination)
At the bottom of this post is the full recipe with quantities, and also instructions for doing a baked pie shell. But the pumpkin filling goes into an UN-BAKED shell.
Now grab a BIG bowl and all the ingredients for the filling:
My biggest blue Pyrex mixing bowl is barely big enough.
AND............ make sure your can of pumpkin is PUMPKIN, -------- I know that sounds weird and stupid to say, but just make sure it's not "Pumpkin Pie Filling".
Once, my mom had gone over and over this recipe with a friend who was trying it out for the first time. Mom swore up and down that these pies would be perfect, and she couldn't figure out what this lady's problem was, or why her pies didn't ever turn out. So the next time the lady went to make them, Mom went to her house to watch and help her out. Sure enough, she had bought a similar-sized can of something called "Pumpkin Pie Filling" or "Pumpkin Pie Mix". (I don't recall the exact title. It was definitely the wrong stuff, though.
You could also TOTALLY do fresh stewed pumpkin for these pies.... but it's one of the few times that fresh is not really worth it. Fresh doesn't taste THAT different from canned, and it's a LOT of work for a home cook.
One more story??
When I was a kid, once when my brother, Sterling, was walking our dog, Major, (a twice-a-day duty for us kids!!) .... he came home with a HUMONGOUS pumpkin. Sterling was nice enough to write out his story for me -- here it is in his words:
"I was 14 or 15 at the time … I was walking Major along the trail between Skyline and the housing tract headed toward Sky Crest center. … That was a common trail that I took …
About 1/4 mile down the trail, there was an old man who had a huge garden in his back yard, that spilled out past his property line on to the area near the trail. As I often did, I stopped and talked with him each day … we talked about his garden and stuff I was doing in school …
He was a nice old man.
Around mid Oct. his pumpkins were pretty big and too much for his family … He gave me one of the medium sized ones … (It was almost 3x the size of a Basketball) over 2’ in diameter… I lugged that monster home and asked Mom to make pies with it …. She made 15 (or 19?) pumpkin pies …. Completely filled the freezer …
I don’t think she made ANY pumpkin pies for 2 or 3 years after that ...."
* - * - * - * - *
I have no idea how he managed to get that thing home, and I remember being very impressed by it. Mom was never one to be wasteful of ANYTHING, even if it was free. The house smelled like pumpkin for DAYS, and Mom repeatedly said she was, "so sick of pumpkin" after that.
I was too young to understand the time and work involved in all that. I just knew I was in heaven, thinking we now had FIFTEEN of my favorite pies in the freezer!!!
Poor Mom!!!
How about that recipe now, huh??
In theory, you can dump in all in the bowl at once and mix it together, but I have found that it's better to mix the sugar and spice together first, and it helps keep the spice from lumping and clumping.
THEN dump it all together:
Mom always used an old-fashioned hand-cranked egg beater to mix the custard.
I don't have an egg beater, so I use the lowest speed on my electric mixer. Just remember that you're not trying to incorporate air into this thing -- you want it creamy, not fluffy. So don't overmix if you're using an electric mixer like me.
It's pretty runny, so be careful as you pour it into your prepared unbaked pie shells.
I keep the pies close to the oven door, so it will be easier to slide those babies carefully into the oven, and so they don't spill (THAT makes an awful burned-sugar smell! Ask me how I know!!)
Bake as directed. I usually put aluminum pie shields over the crust to keep it from over-browning -- but you may find that step unnecessary, especially if you're making 3 smaller pies -- you can cut down on bake time that way.
Pies are done when they test clean -- I use a toothpick, not a knife as Grandma used to do. You can kind of see it coming, too: the filling will puff up around the edges as it cooks, and start puffing in the center.
Like that!!
Let them cool completely.
Personally, I like pumpkin pie to be cold, and topped with whipped cream.
In cold months (and when my fridge is full!) I set them outside to cool:
You can see that the puffiness has gone down as they cooled off.
So, the secret ingredient??
Shhhh...... it's lemon extract. So don't skip it -- it's not optional.
Lemon kind of takes away the "twang"of the pumpkin, and it makes all the difference in the world for these pies. Once, I ran out of the extract, so I subbed in some lemon juice instead, .... and that still worked.
Crucial, I tell you!!
Ok -- here come the recipes.....
Pie Crust
(Makes two 10-inch pie shells, or three 8"-9" shells)
3 cups flour
1 1/2 t. salt
1 cup + 3 T. butter-flavor shortening
6-7 T. cold water
Cut shortening into flour and salt until particles are pea-sized. Sprinkle in ice-cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl. Gather pastry into a ball, then shape into two flattened rounds. May be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored in refrigerator (use next day).
Roll pastry on floured counter. Use rolling pin to transfer pastry to pie plate, easing into corners. Don't pull or stretch it to fit -- the pastry will shrink when cooked. Trim overhanging pastry, If it's a single-crust pie, shape the decorative edge now. If it's a double-crust pie, wait to shape the edge until after the top crust is on.
Fill the unbaked pie shell and bake as directed.
Just in case you were wondering ......
For a Baked Pie Shell: Heat oven to 475 degrees. Prick bottom and sides thoroughly with fork to reduce bubbles. Place foil inside the pie shell, and add pie weights or dry beans. Bake until light brown, about 10 minutes. Cool.
(That would be like for a chocolate cream pie, or a lemon meringue pie -- remember my friend, Enid -- whose lemon meringue pie recipe I use?)
And be like Grandma: don't waste any leftover scraps of pastry -- bake them on a cookie sheet (same temperature) until lightly browned, then sprinkle 'em with cinnamon-sugar. Mmmmmm....... it kinda makes you want to have leftover scraps on purpose!!
I hope the pie recipe hasn't been overshadowed by the crust recipe.
Grandma Mary Newton Davidson's Pumpkin Pie
(Makes two 10" deep dish pies, or three 8" or 9" pies)
1 large 29-oz. can pumpkin
5 large eggs
2 cans (13-oz.) evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed)
3 cups sugar
3 Tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon lemon extract*** -- required! not optional!!
Combine all ingredients in a LARGE mixing bowl. Beat with egg beater (lowest speed on an electric mixer) until smooth. Fill uncooked pie shells and shield edges with foil. Bake at 375̊, removing foil after 30 minutes. Total cooking time is about 1 hour. Pie is done when a knife inserted in the center of pie comes out clean.
Keep refrigerated. Freezes well. Even when you have 15 pies!
Boy, this kinda makes me want to go bake some pies now!!
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