When we make pumpkin pie from scratch we usually just use the regular old pumpkin we have sitting outside with the corn stalks for decoration. Is a sugar pumpkin those smaller ones you see on sale that are advertised as "pie pumpkins?"

Would a regular pumpkin do just as well--or--is there such a difference in taste it would be wiser to buy a pie pumpkin? Thanks.

Hi Elise, I made this pie out of our jack-o-lantern (a huge sugar pie pumpkin). It was the first time I've made pumpkin pie out of a whole pumpkin and it was actually pretty easy and turned out beautifully. My husband said it was the best pumpkin pie he's ever had!

I've used regular pumpkins any size for years. All you need to do is cut the pumpkin in half scoop out the seeds and extra strings. Place the halves flesh side down on a cookie sheet. Make sure you use one with sides to trap the moisture that will render. Bake in a 350 degree oven until fork tender. I use a serving fork for that job. Remove cookie sheet from oven let set to cool slightly. Next take a metal serving spoon and scrape out the cooked pumpkin. If you find some of the pumpkin seems too firm just put it in a microwave safe dish and cook longer till tender. When ready put the pumpkin in a food processor. Run processor to get an even consistency. We usually take ziplock bags and measure out the proportions needed for recipes and freeze. We also date and put the volume amount on the bags for future baking. When the pumpkin puree defrost you will find alot of fluid, we just drain it off and use as is. The work goes fairly fast because my wife and I worked out a routine for this kitchen ritual.

In our area the Amish swear by "neck pumpkins", which look like butternut squash with a longer neck, for making pies. They are delicious.
And recently I read that the canned pumpkin sold by Libby's is actually a form of butternut squash.
So that just goes to show that whatever squash you like the taste of will work, but I think fresher is definitely better.

I plan to make this recipe for Thanksgiving using butternut squash instead of pumpkin. I prefer butternut because it is never watery and it has more flavor than most pumpkins. Kabocha makes a nice pumpkin pie too.

Another good spice is sold by the Pampered Chef. It is called Cinnamon Plus. Yum! Not sure what is in it, though, but when we run out I definitely hear about it.

I've always used sugar pumpkins and wouldn't do it any other way. They make the best pumpkin pie with an original taste and impress my guests always. I get many compliments on the flavor, you can actually taste the natural pumpkin flavor and are not overwhelmed by all the spices. The recipe creates a very creamy and delicious pie. Don't be discouraged and try it again. Make sure to get a small sweet pumpkin, I get mine from the local farm but you can get them at certain grocery stores, I know Haggen's and Alberstons carry them at certain times throughout the year.

Thanks Elise for a wonderful pumpkin pie recipe! I love pumpkin pie, and tried NUMEROUS recipes, but this one may be my favorite. It was a big hit this Thanksgiving, and I think the lemon zest was a great touch.

Wow! I made this pumpkin pie recipe with a Cinderella pumpkin. I cut it in half and put it in the oven. Scraped it and pureed it. I have never made a pumpkin pie from scratch, and let me tell you my family loved it. Great recipe!

I like to make 2 desserts for Thxgiving, one has to use pumpkin, the other apple. Thxgiving tends to be very busy the actual day you make the turkey, so to free up time, I try to make one of the desserts the day before. This is a decadent alternative to pumpkin pie and is as smooth as silk, melts in your mouth.

PUMPKIN POT DE CRÈME

Ingredients:

500 ml (2 cups) whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar, divided
5 egg yolks
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each of ginger, nutmeg and cloves
1 tsp dark rum
1/2 vanilla bean
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpie pie filling)
½ cup toasted pecans
¼ cup maple syrup

1. Put the whipping cream, two thirds of the sugar, the spices and the pumpkin puree in a medium sized saucepan. Slit the vanilla bean vertically and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds and the vanilla pod to the cream mixture. On medium low heat, slowly bring the custard mixture to a simmer. Add the rum. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.

2. Beat the egg yolks with the remaining third of sugar. Add one or two ladles of the custard to the beaten yolks and mix well. Add the egg yolk mixture back to the remaining custard. Stir well. Turn on heat and cook custard mixture a further 3 to 5 minutes, just to the simmer. Strain the custard mixture.

3. Oven should be pre-heated to 325F. Put your ramekins in a shallow rectangular pan. Divide the pumpkin custard evenly among 6 ramekins. Pour boiling water half way up the sides of the ramekins, cover loosely with a sheet of foil and bake.

4. Start checking the custards after 25 minutes. They should take anywhere from 25 to 40 minutes to bake. They should still have a “jiggle” in the center about the size of a dime. Do not fully bake the custards.

5. Remove the pan from the oven. The custards should be kept in the hot water in the baking pan for a further half an hour. The sheet of foil should still be loosely on top as well. After half an hour, the custards should have finished baking and there will no longer be a jiggle area in the center. Remove the foil cover being careful not to drip water from the foil on the custards. Remove the ramekins from the hot water and cool at room temperature a further half an hour. Now cover each ramekin with saran and refrigerate over night or up to 2 days.

6. Toast pecans at 350F for 10 minutes and coarsely chop. To serve, sprinkle each pot de crème with some chopped pecans, then put on a dollop of whipped cream, sift a bit of cocoa and cinnamon over the whipped cream, top with a truffle covered coffee bean and if desired, drizzle with 1 tsp of maple syrup.

I have been making pies for 60 years. I find that if you use sweet potatoes just as you would pumpkin and go ahead and make a pie that it is much milder and doesn't give you heartburn like regular pumpkin pie does. Also as an older person I like the pies without all that spice in them. Make up the filling and just put vanilla in them and a small amount of nutmeg on top. My mother in law made them and they were just a light yellow in color. They were delicious.

Made this the other day with canned puree - sort of a pre-Thanksgiving trial run!! The crust was the best I've ever made (and tasted). The spices seemed a little strong - the adults liked it but the kids not so much. Adding more homemade whipped cream to theirs helped;). Maybe next time I will adjust the spices a bit?

For those who might want to make this with other than pumpkin - try Hubbard squash. They are the large (sometimes huge!) grayish-skinned, warty squash at farmer's markets and in some groceries. They have an orange flesh that tastes a bit richer than butternut. Roast like other winter squash. Great in all your squash recipes, and I've found it doesn't get quite as watery when you freeze it.
Recipe sounds delish, BTW! I will be making it this week for my son's birthday. Wanted a recipe that didn't use evap. milk.

Thanks for posting this great recipe, as well as the Pâte Brisée recipe; I used them multiple times over the holidays and both turned out great! I do have to say that for the first time I made the pie, the only lemons I had were Meyers from my neighbor's tree. This gave it an odd aftertaste and the next time I made the pie I used the same quantity of vanilla (1/2t) and it was delicious. I don't know if I will ever want to take the chance on lemons again, even if I do have regular non-Meyer ones, as I made it again with vanilla and it was fantastic.

Also I should say that I am a fanatic about nutrition, so I wanted to use unrefined flour and sugar. My pie crust was made with sprouted/dried/milled whole wheat flour with 1/3 of it hard red wheat (bread wheat) and 2/3 of it a soft pastry wheat. It was out of this world; flaky, delicate and delicious. I think that the problems people have baking with whole wheat are threefold: they use bread flour, it's not fresh (milled whole grains go rancid very quickly) and they don't sprout or soak it before milling. You can get Summer's Sprouted Flours if you don't have your own mill, and keep them in the freezer so they don't go rancid. I used Rapunzel Rapadura unrefined sugar for the sweetener and used a total of 3/4 cup (instead of split between brown sugar and white sugar as listed above).

Finally, if you click on the "recommended reading" link above to Shuna Fish Lydon's blog, there is a link there to a recipe for homemade pop-tarts, and these are what I made from the leftover dough. Yum!

Pumpkin pies made with fresh sugar pumpkin puree are simply the best. To get the smoothest texture, puree the flesh in a food processor while it's still warm until it's smooth. If you want it really silky strain it after processing. If you don't have a processor, but the pulp through a food mill.

The most common reason why the filling separates from the crust is that the crust is too warm when the filling is poured in. The crust should be cool, not warm. Another reason is over baking. It's important to fully pre-bake the crust before filling it, so the filling doesn't over bake while your waiting for the crust to brown.

To pre-bake: Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes in the pie plate; line the crust with foil or a large 1.5 or 3 gallon coffee filter and fill it with dried beans; bake at 450 for 15 minutes to set the crust; then turn down the oven to 400 and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven, remove the liner with the beans and bake unlined for another 6-10 minutes until the crust is fully baked and lightly browned all over.

Don't over bake the custard! The custard should just set with just a smidgen of a wobble in the very center. It will finish baking as it cools. If the pie cracks on the surface or pulls away from the crust, it's over baked.

For the best pumpkin flavor I only use either granulated or demerara sugar, if I want a very light brown sugar note. I also lightly spice the custard base with just really good cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg (about 20 strokes on a microplane). I also liberally season w/ salt (about 2 tsp of kosher salt for 2 cups of pumpkin). If you don't use enough salt, not only will it be bland, but the pumpkin will end up taking on a bitter note during baking (which is usually covered by spices, but when spices are not used or lightly used, the bitterness is noticeable, so salt is necessary!)

I think it's a crime against pumpkin pie to use anything below half and half. If you don't want to use heavy cream, AT LEAST use half and half. Evaporated milk does not do this pie justice.

I want to try this, but do I need to pre bake my pie crust(it is handmade)?

No, not with this recipe. No pre-baking. ~Elise

If I make the crust from scratch (from your recommended recipe), do I need to bake the crust at all before placing the pie mixture inside?

Typically no, but I suppose you could if you wanted to. ~Elise

Elise, this is the new - and permanent - favorite pumpkin pie recipe for our family - thank you! I had cooked, mashed, and frozen a pie pumpkin about a month ago and was looking for a recipe to use it in that was just a bit different from the usual. When I saw the list of spices in this one, I knew I had to try it. My husband is not usually too excited about pumpkin pie, but he had three slices of this one. And my 79 year old dad, who loves any kind of pie, called me at home 20 minutes after I dropped off a few servings for him to taste, telling me it was the best he'd ever had and to please make this again for Christmas! That's high praise from dad, as my grandmother (his mom) made the best pies I've had yet. Thank you for an easy and delicious recipe.