Homemade Pumpkin Pie

(Courtesy of Pinterest)

Pumpkin pie is one of my all time favorite desserts. Really I love anything pumpkin; pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheescake, etc. We had an extra pumpkin that we didn't carve these year so I decided it would be fun to make a pumpkin pie from scratch. My husband was a little skeptical at first, but was quickly won over after he tasted the filling. Because I had never done pumpkin pie from scratch I browsed Google to find a recipe that looked appealing. Once I found one I tweaked it a little to fits our taste buds. My original recipe came from here and a fabulous Paula Dean recipe here.

Ingredients

Crust: I cheated and used a pre-made Pillsbury crust. They are currently on sale at Walmart for $2.50 a box and definitely worth in my opinion. Unless you have an awesome crust recipe.

Filling:
1 medium pie pumpkin. ( I had no idea there was such a thing as "pie pumpkins" and just used a regular pumpkin. I had to add extra sugar to help the taste along). You need 15 oz of puree from it. If you have more than 15 oz, freeze the extra.
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten and 2 egg yolks
1 c. packed brown sugar
* If you are using a regular pumpkin add another 1 c. white sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8th  tsp ground ginger (Ginger has a really strong taste, so less is usually more. Taste test as you add the ginger until you like the taste)
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt (I'm not a huge fan of using salt in my recipes)
1 c. evaporated milk or ( The Paula Dean recipe calls for half and half, but I didn't have any on hand.)

Instructions

Roast & Puree the Pumpkin 

Wash the pumpkin. Cut the pumpkin in half and use a metal spoon to clean out all of the seeds and strings from the inside ( I saved my seeds to cook and eat later). Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Place the pumpkin halves flesh side down on baking sheet. Bake the pumpkin at 400 for 90 mins. or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork.

When the pumpkin is done, remove the skin with your fingers or with a spoon (be careful as it is HOT!). Then in a blender or food processor blend the pumpkin until completely smooth.

 
Filling: 
If making one pie, use about half of your pumpkin puree ( 15 oz).  Cream the cream cheese. Mix the pumpkin puree with the cream cheese until blended (I have found that the whisk attachment is best for this. It will keep your cream cheese from being lumpy). Add the eggs, brown sugar, white sugar and half and half, and mix until blended. Then add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla and salt. Mix thoroughly then beat in the milk. After the cream cheese and pumpkin are blended, I use my Kitchen Aid with the paddle attachment on speed 2. Pour into the pie crust. It will be runny, but that is okay!

Preheat your over to 350* F.
To get a nice flaky put a piece of tin foil over your pie crust and fill it with about 2 lbs of beans. Cook for 10 minutes then remove the tin foil and cook for another 10-12 minutes. Pour your filling in and cook for about 50 minutes or until set.

Chill before serving. (This will store well in the fridge for about 2 days).

 This comes out tasting like a pumpkin pie, but has the texture of a cheesecake if you want a more traditional pumpkin pie texture I would recommend the following:
2 cups of pumpkin puree
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. white sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups of evaporated milk
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt 
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
Mix the ingredients according to the recipe above. 

This is the pumpkin pie without cream cheese. It is much darker and is the traditional pumpkin pie

I had some leftover filling so I took some pie crust and lined a cupcake tin and poured in the filling to make mini pumpkin pies! I cooked them for about 30-40 minutes.

Whipping Cream

If you are like me and love whipping cream with your pumpkin pie here is my own favorite homemade whipping cream recipe.

1 pint of heavy whipping cream or 1/2 pint if you don't want a lot of leftover. (I usually put my leftover in a mason jar and save for later in the fridge)
1-2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 tbsp of eggnog or 1 tsp of eggnog extract ( Optional)

Pour your whipping cream into your Kitchen Aid or mixing bowl. If you are using your kitchen aid use the whisk attachment and put on speed 2 or 3. If using a bowl you can use a hand mixer on medium. Slowly add in the powder sugar tasting as you go. Keep adding powdered sugar until it reaches your desired sweetness. If you add too much you can always add more whipping cream. Add in your cinnamon and eggnog or other flavoring before it is completely whipped. Whip until a stiff peak occurs.

YUM!

What is your favorite pumpkin treat?