Pumpkin Pie

 I only make pumpkin pie around this time of year and it is one of my favorites! The filling is really nothing special, I use the recipe that can be found on the can of Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin with just a few alterations.

Here is the recipe as I make it:

1/3 cup Agave Syrup

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Approx. 1/8 tsp ground cloves

2 large eggs

1 can Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 can (12 fl. oz) Carnation Fat Free Evaporated Milk

1 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) pie shell 

Combine all ingredients except the pie shell in a blender and blend well.

Pour into pie shell

Bake in preheated 425* oven for 15 mins. Reduce temp to 350* and bake 40-50 mins or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  

Typically I think most people make pumpkin pie too sweet so I cut the amount of sugar in half. I also reduce the amount of cloves by about half too. Another choice I make, that makes the pie lighter, is I use fat free evaporated milk. Those are the only alterations I make. For the pie shell, I use my oil crust recipe that can be found here: Pie Tutorial

The thing that I think makes my pumpkin pie special is how I dress the pie up with a leaf edge. It is easy to do, it just takes a little extra time. When I divide up my pie dough I make one of the balls a little bigger than I would if I were making a 2 crust pie. This will make a slightly thicker bottom crust plus you don't need as much dough for the leaf edge as you would if you were making a top crust for a fruit pie. I roll out the big ball and place it in the pie plate as usual.

I roll up the extra, hanging over dough and form a ledge that I will place the leaves on.

Just a note about the pie plate. Kaitlin commented in my pie tutorial that a pie plate with a lip will give the crust something to sit on. I guess I really never gave it much thought and my "go to" pie plates have this feature.

Anyway... The next step is to roll out the second dough ball to make the leaves. I use a leaf shaped cookie cutter and cut as many leaves as will fit on the dough. I don't worry about how many I'll need because I always end up with more than enough. Once the leaves are cut I use a table knife and lightly score the leaf veins in the dough being careful to only score the dough and not cut all the way through.

Now I use the knife to pick up the leaves and place them on the pie shell, overlapping them slightly.

I add the filling and the pie is almost ready to put in the oven. I learned the hard way that if you don't protect the pie edge, it will burn so it's important to cover your edge before it goes in the oven. There are commercially made rings that are for this purpose but it's not necessary to own one. It is easy to construct your own barrier from strips of aluminum foil. Just tear off a few strips about 3 to 4 inches wide and loosely cover the lip of your pie plate and your leaf edge. When you do this be careful that the aluminum foil doesn't dip into your filling... still leave it loose however. I happen to have a mangled piece of aluminum that I saved years ago from something (I don't remember what) that I purchased from the freezer section at the grocery store. It works much like the commercially made rings would. I just place it on top of my pie plate before putting it in the oven.

      

I will bake the pie for the maximum amount of time, a total of 65 minutes... plus if it looks like it could bake longer without burning or getting too brown, I'll leave it in for another 10 or 15 minutes just for good measure. That way I feel confident that it is done and I won't need to "mar" the pie surface by testing it with a knife. In the photo below I had an oopsy-doodle moment and accidentally dipped my aluminum protector in the pie. Oh well... it was still very tasty! 

Now here is a little bonus that the kids enjoy! Actually, I'm pretty much of a fan too... I ball up the unused pie dough and roll it out as if I were making a crust. I put it on a square of aluminum foil and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar. I bake this along with the pie for the first 15 minutes (while the oven is set for 425*). I remove it from the oven when I turn down the temperature to 350*. YUM!  ...a little treat!  

Pie Tutorial

This year has been an unbelievable year for apples… in fact I think I’ll be referring to 2012 as the year of the apple! My trees are overburdened to the point that a couple of them lost limbs! Needless to say the abundance of produce has translated into an abundance of pie at my house. I was on vacation from work in September and I made a pie EVERY DAY! Pie was the last thing we ate before calling it a day and we had what was left over with tea or coffee for our breakfast every morning. I have to confess that it has also translated into an increase in waistlines for Frizzlecuff (my husband) and me. My two sons, Surly & Virtual, could eat pie all day for months and never see any effect… I’m jealous. Anyway, here is how I go about making a healthy oil based whole wheat pie crust and apple/blackberry pie filling… A note about blackberries; they grow wild here in Oregon and are considered a weed by many. Frizzlecuff has been known to annihilate his fair share of the brambles that grow in hedgerows and over buildings on our property but... he hasn't eliminated all of them! They are rather hearty and tenacious and it’s a good thing that they produce such a flavorful, sweet, juicy fruit or none would be found around our acreage. By the way, it was a bumper crop for blackberries this year too.

        

I've gathered the ingredients for the filling which I will make before I make the crust. You will need:

Juice of 1 lemon with as much seedless pulp you can manage to get

 1 1/4  cup cold water

5 cups of cored and cubed apples with the peel on (4-5 apples depending on the size)

 Heaping 1/3 cup Minute Tapioca

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/3 cup agave syrup

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups fresh blackberries rinsed and drained

Put the lemon juice with pulp and water in a large sauce pan or Dutch oven. As you core and cube the apples, stir them into the lemon juice mixture so that they don’t turn brown. Once all the apples are in the pot, add and stir in the cinnamon, tapioca and agave syrup. Cook on the stove top until the mixture is bubbly and the tapioca has thickened the juices.

Stir in the vanilla and blackberries and set aside. (Off the heat) I take the time now to pre-heat my oven to 425*F.

Now for the crust… you will need:

1 3/4 cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup cold water

1/2 cup extra light olive oil

In a bowl, mix the flour and salt together with a fork. Add simultaneously, the oil and water. Mix together with the fork until all the flour is incorporated.

Form the dough into two balls, one slightly larger than the other. The bigger ball will be the bottom crust and the smaller ball will be the top crust. Now it’s time to roll out the crust and to do this you will need 3 pieces of waxed paper.

Lightly dampen your counter top with a wet rag or sponge and adhere one piece of waxed paper to the counter top by placing it on the moist surface. Once the paper is down, place the larger of the two balls of dough in the center of the paper and slightly flatten into a circle of dough. Place a second piece of waxed paper on top of the dough and roll out into a large circle.

Peel off the top piece of waxed paper and set aside to use again when you roll out the top crust. You can easily pick up the bottom crust with the paper underneath it. Flip the dough over so the paper is on top as you carefully place it in your pie plate trying to get it as centered as you can. You should have a little bit of overhang of dough on your pie plate after you carefully press it all the way down into the plate. Slowly peel off the waxed paper being aware of the fact that the folds and creases along the sides will want to tear. If it does don’t worry, you can press the dough together to heal a small tear without too much trouble.

Repeat the same method for the top crust. Use a fresh piece of waxed paper on the counter surface and use your recycled piece again on top. Once the top piece of waxed paper is removed you can cut your pie vents anyway you choose. I have a “signature” top that I use for all my crusted pies. You can use cookie cutters, a knife, or a fork, whatever inspires your creativity. My Mother-in-Law used to cut a tree design into the top of her pies with a knife and used a fork to seal the edges of the pie. Anyway, once this is done it is time to add the filling to the pie plate, put the top crust on and seal the edges.

In this final picture before the pie goes in the oven, I have sprinkled the top with cinnamon sugar

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Bake the pie for 10 minutes at 425*F then reduce the temperature to 350*F and bake for another 30 minutes. I think it is a good idea to place aluminum foil or a cookie sheet on the shelf underneath the shelf your pie is sitting on in the oven. (I've never tried placing it directly underneath the pie on the same shelf because I’m afraid it would change how the pie bakes.) A strategically placed barrier could save you the oven clean-up of potential overflowing filling. (This happens to me all the time!) You can eat your pie hot but be aware that the hotter the pie the more "runny" the filling will be. Tapioca needs to cool before it truly sets up. I find my pies to be the perfect consistency when at room temperature.  

Well, that’s it, that’s how I make pie. Perhaps in future posts I’ll cover different fillings. For now anyway it’s apple/blackberry pie.

BON APPETITE!