This is my great great grandma's pumpkin pie recipe. It turns one pound of pumpkin puree (or one 14-15oz can of pumpkin) into two pies. Because it stretches the pumpkin out, the texture is a bit thinner. I usually whip the egg whites to get some more air into it, but you don't have to, and it will taste delicious anyway.
The Effort version involves whipped egg whites; the Non-Effort version is a dump, stir, pour & bake recipe. The photo has the Effort version I made today.
To stay true to the spirit of the recipe, you must follow one rule:
Do not make your own pie crust.
The copy I saw had get pie crust from Lucille written across the top. Nobody knows who Lucille is; my great aunt's best guess was that it was a neighbor. For the past few generations, nobody, even my grandmother, has made this recipe with their own pie crust. This recipe is yours to do with what you will, but please-- don't make your own pie crust!
Recipe and some notes:
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of pumpkin puree, or a 14-15oz can of it
- 1 and 1/3 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt, scant, and a pinch for beating eggs later (if needed)
- 2 tsp ginger
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp nutmeg Note: this spice ratio is the real star of the pie! Use it in other baked goods for Great Success.
- 2 TBS molasses (black)
- 2 cups milk, whole preferred (use whatever you have-- almond milk will work too), lightly warmed to take the chill of the fridge off
- 4 eggs Note: The whites can be separated & whipped to stiff glossy peaks and added separately, or the eggs can be beaten whole with a fork until they look like they would for scrambled eggs, and added to the batter without whipping. Both make good pies, but the whipped one will be airier and the whole beaten egg one will be more like custard.
- 2 x pie shells for 9" pie pans, preferably from someone named Lucille, but store-bought is fine. If using frozen pie crusts, let them come up to room temperature before using. Butter, lard, oil, and graham cracker crusts all do well here.
Materials:
- 2 x 9" pie pans, light metal preferred, but glass or ceramic is OK too. No dark pans!
- Whatever you need make your pie pans release your pie crusts (varies)
- Something to cover the pie crusts if needed: two pie shields or some crumpled foil is fine
- Mixing spoon
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cup
- 3qt or larger bowl
- If whipping egg whites: 1qt metal bowl, egg beater, spatula for folding eggs into batter
- Optional but useful: kitchen scale
Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 410F.
- Prepare pie shells.
- Add all the ingredients except the eggs to the large bowl. Mix well, then consider your eggs. Either add the beaten whole-egg mixture or whip the whites, as per the Effort Version instructions below. In the end, everything should end up homogenized in a nice brown slurry.
- Pour equal amounts of batter (should be about 650g) into each pie shell.
- Bake, uncovered, at 410F for 10 minutes.
- Lower temperature to 350F and bake for 30-40 minutes more. Cover the pie crusts with if you need to; sometimes they get burnt. The pie should be a little jiggly in the middle and the edges should have bubbles for the custard-y non-effort version, but will be puffed up all along the whole surface for the effort version.
- Leave to cool in the oven, with door propped open and the oven off, for about 30 minutes. This will keep it from being too watery, and stop it from falling quite as much as it could.
- Serve warm, or cool on counter & refrigerate when cool enough to handle without hot pads.
Effort Version: Let's Beat Egg Whites!
Follow all the steps above, but when it gets to the eggs:
- Add the yolks to the big bowl & mix them in thoroughly.
- Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt. Get them to stiff glossy peaks.
- Mix 1/4 of the egg whites thoroughly into the pie mix.
- Fold the rest, gently, into the pie mix.
- Follow the rest of the recipe as written.
