Traditional Pumpkin Pie

Bake sale recipe #2! It's PUMPKIN TIME!!!

Every year I wait for late September/October to roll around. Yeah, the weather is getting cooler and Halloween can be fun, but what I'm really waiting for is super special treats that are only--say it with me--seasonal.

Pumpkin Spice frozen yogurt at Red Mango.

Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino at Starbucks (with soymilk, please)

Pumpkin breads, pumpkin cakes, and quite possibly best of all...Libby's canned pumpkin returns to grocery stores so that I can make Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie!

Of course, what would even the most traditional holiday recipe be without a little experimentation? I could just follow the recipe on the can every single time, but I've made variations of this recipe with pumpkin butter, with different spices, and even with sweet potato! But if you need a go-to Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie recipe, this one really can't be beat!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white sugar
1 and 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (a substitution that Libby's recommends instead of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves--I prefer the pumpkin pie spice since it has a little bit of nutmeg in the mix, which goes exceptionally well with pumpkin)
2 eggs
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin (make sure it is 100% pumpkin and nothing else!)
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk (not condensed milk, which I tend to keep calling it accidentally. Also, I prefer to use Nestle brand fat-free if possible, or at least 2%).
2 empty 9-inch pie shells (I like using whole wheat crusts from Whole Foods, but any 9-inch pie shell will do. You can also make your own! But I don't have a recipe for that yet...). 

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine the sugar and spice in a small bowl and mix well.

2.) In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then stir in the pumpkin and the sugar mixture. Gradually stir in the milk.

3.) Pour into the pie shells, filling them as much as possible (if you're using a deep-dish pie crust that Libby's recommends, you might only get one pie out of this). Line the edges of the pies with crumpled foil to protect the outer rim of the crust from burning (a pie crust shield will also work for this if you spray it with nonstick cooking spray first so it won't stay stuck to your pie after baking).

4.) Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 40-50 minutes (I find that 10 minutes, then 40 minutes works well for cooking without burning, but oven temperatures do vary). Cool pies about two hours before serving, or refrigerate overnight. (To me, they taste best cold, straight from the fridge, with a dollop of soy whipped cream).

My twist this year for the bake sale was a fun idea to decorate the pie that wouldn't melt in the fridge the way whipped cream eventually does. I wanted to use one of the leaf-shaped cookie cutters I got from Williams-Sonoma as well, but didn't have any extra pie crust to use them to decorate the edges (also, I'd tried this before at Thanksgiving one year--the pie dough leaves ended up falling into the filling or burning...). If only there was something I could cut into the shape of a leaf that wouldn't perish and could still look pretty. I searched my cabinets, trying to come up with something. Then I spotted a product I'd bought recently for future s'mores experiments: Kraft Jet-Puffed StackerMallows. That's right, flat marshmallows!

The results:

Ah, I love this season.