My Culinary Trial Room

When it comes to baking, I always try to scale down the recipe. Its because a)it is just the three of us and b)if it goes the wrong way then I dont have to ditch a whole lot of ingredients. That being said, I had always wanted to try my hands on homemade pumpkin pie but something told me that this will not be sold that well in the house. And so I made pumpkin pie for two.

Let me talk about the batter first and then lets move on to the pie itself. The recipe that I have here makes more filling than needed. So I made another batch of the dough and made mini pumpkin pies for pappu's preschool. Moving on to the pie, if you are a lover of spices then pumpkin pie is your piece of cake. Its not that sweet, its not overpowering and the spices kinda tingle your palate. Allow the pie to cool completely and then stick it into the fridge overnight to get neat slices. And as for the decorations, they are totally optional but since I was in the mood I made small leaves and flowers and baked them separately and then stuck them onto the pie.

For the Crust:
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Cold butter - 2 tbsp, cut into cubes
Cold vegetable shortening - 2 tbsp, cut into cubes
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Granulated sugar - 1/2 tbsp
Ice cold water - 2 tbsp

For the filling:
Eggs - 1 + 1 egg yolk
Pumpkin puree - 7.5 oz
Whipping cream - 1/4 cup
Light brown sugar - 1/2 cup
Ground cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Ground ginger - 1/4 tsp
Ground cloves - a pinch (1/16 tsp)
Salt - 1/4 tsp

How I Made it:
Lets make the crust first. Mix flour with salt and sugar. Work the butter and shortening into the flour until it resembles pea sized peas. Add the water by tbsp just enough to bring the dough together. Form a ball, put into a ziploc bag and refrigerate for 30 mins. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl whisk together all the pumpkin filling ingredients until well combined. Grease a 6" pie plate with non stick cooking spray and set aside. Roll the dough out on a floured surface, crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. And set aside. Pour filling into the prepared pie shell and bake for 30-35 mins or until set, the center might jiggle a little. Cool for 30 minutes on a wire rack. Then, pop it into the fridge overnight.