When we were living on the family farm, my husband Scott grew beautiful heirloom Pumpkins and that’s when we fell in love with made from scratch Pumpkin pie for our Holiday dessert. The smell of baking pumpkin pie circulating through the house, is the ultimate aroma therapy in my world.  Making the puree is simple.  Cut the pumpkin, remove seeds and bake, until soft.  Puree in food processor adding a bit of liquid as needed. To make the custard for pie, add spices, sugar and eggs.  Bake and enjoy!  See recipe below.  Bonus treat, roast the seeds for a fun snack, see next post for details.

Pumpkin (squash)  Puree

Any size pumpkin or winter squash can be baked and made into a puree.  It can be used in soups, stews, sauces, or custard as in pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin is a type of winter squash.

• Wash pumpkin and cut into pieces.  The one pictured above was about 3 lbs. I just chopped it in half with a cleaver.
• Bake at 325-350 until tender when pierced with a fork.  Mine took about an hour or so.
• Let cool.  Scoop out flesh and place in food processor or blender.  Another option is to use a potato ricer, or food mill.  Add cream, milk or water to get a creamy consistency.
• Store in refrigerator 4 to 5 days, or freeze up to a year.

Pumpkin pie filling or custard

1 three lb. pumpkin gave me about 2 cups of puree.  I used a sugar pumpkin from the Farmer’s Market, some people use Halloween pumpkins that have not been cut and made in to jack-o-lanterns.

• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 &1/2 cup heavy whipping cream I used *Straus
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar  (yes! real sugar, this is a once a year food)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt I used *Real Salt, unrefined sea salt
• 2 eggs plus 1 more yolk
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger, best fresh grated as shown.  The ginger was dried after peeling.
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, best fresh grated as shown.  Be sure to get some of the outer layer of the nutmeg because that is actually a spice called mace and even that tiny bit is a really big flavor.
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

Blend everything and pour into unbaked pie crust as shown.

See recipe,  Pie Crust made with Home-made Lard

Pre-heat oven to 425. Bake 15 minutes at 425, then turn down to 350.  Pie should take around an hour or so total time, but it’s done when you stick a butter knife in the middle and it comes out clean.  Let cool then refrigerate.  Serve chilled with home-made whip cream.