Pumpkin pie
Josh tells us about his pumpkin pie recipe and the lengths he went to recreate the perfect Thanksgiving classic after relocating from the US to Australia.
Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Pumpkin puree
1/2 of a Butternut pumpkin preferred (technically any pumpkin works, though).
(Should make approximately 1 3/4 of a cup of puree.)
Graham cracker crust
1 1/2 cups ground up graham crackers
1/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons melted olive oil spread (or butter, or similar)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
(If you can't find graham crackers, you can use any other simple biscuit. Nice biscuits would work well. Digestive biscuits are also an option. My easiest substitute recommendation would be Teddy Bear biscuits as they're the closest I've found to graham cracker. You can use the chocolate Teddy Bear biscuits if you want something different, too!)
Pumpkin pie
1 3/4 cup of butternut squash puree (above)
1 graham cracker crust (above)
1 tin sweetened condensed milk (~400g)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground sea salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 big eggs (the ones that come in either the 700g or 800g cartons are both fine)
(Optional) 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
Pumpkin puree
Roast half of a butternut pumpkin face down in oven at 200c for approximately 1 hour or until tender. Remove pumpkin from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Remove seeds and scoop insides out into a collander over a bowl. Let sit for at least one hour or until most of the water has drained and the pumpkin has cooled. Mix well until smooth,
creamy consistency.
(Butternut is easier to work with as it has less water to drain. Kent or other pumpkins may work, but have much more water so may need to be left for longer or overnight.)
Graham cracker crust
Preheat oven to 175c for 10 minutes while doing the rest.
Make sure the biscuits you're using are ground up well (like sand). Combine everything in a bowl and mix well. Use your hands for mixing; it's much easier.
Once mixed, it should have the consistency of wet sand.
Spoon the mixture into a pie tin (quiche tin also works) with the intent of spreading it evenly throughout. Use the underside of the spoon to flatten, or else use the bottom of something similarly flat to press/flatten the mixture evenly against the bottom and the sides of your tin. It should all be relatively universally flat once you're done.
Carefully put the pie tin with the graham cracker crust mixture into the oven for 10 minutes at 175c and then carefully remove. Let sit for at least 10 minutes before using.
You can use this crust for all sorts of other things, too. If you're using for a no bake recipe, you technically don't have to bake the crust, but for a recipe that goes in the oven it will come out better if you prebake/parbake the crust as indicated above first (otherwise it may get soggy).
Pumpkin pie
Preheat oven to ~190c for 10 minutes while doing the rest. (doesn't have to be super precise, but err on the side of caution and have it slightly above 190 instead of below.)
Mix pumpkin puree, condensed milk, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extra, butter, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt and cloves (and pepper if adding) in a medium to large bowl until fully mixed. Consistency should be thick but soupy (like custard). This will set/become a solid custard later when cooking, so if it looks really soupy then don't worry about it because it's probably correct.
Slowly pour mixture into your premade graham cracker pie crust.
Place on middle rack in the oven. If you're worried about spillage, you can put it on a baking sheet first and then place it on the middle rack, or else just place it directly on the middle rack if you're feeling confident about your abilities. Either way is fine.
Bake for 25 minutes at 190c. Again, this is hard to get precise on many ovens, but go slightly higher instead of lower if you're unsure. At this point the pumpkin custard in the middle should have domed up a little, which is how you know it's going well.
Lower oven temperature to 175c (much easier temperature!). Continue baking for 25 more minutes. Pie should be wobbly in the middle now, which means it's done. If you're unsure, you can continue baking at 175c for a few more minutes until very slight dark spots appear on the top of the pie. These won't affect the overall taste, but if you see these you know 100% that the pie is done.
Remove pie from oven and let sit for 10 minutes.
At this point you can technically eat it, but pumpkin pie is generally best served cold, so preferably you'd put it in the fridge for a couple hours (or better yet, overnight), and then cut/serve it.
The taste will be drastically different after letting it chill. Feel free to try it warm one time and chilled another for a completely different experience. You'll probably prefer chilled, but who knows? As long as you enjoy it, that's what's important!
