If you are not a pastry person (I’m not!), go ahead: buy the frozen crust. This is my favourite pie, so I try to figure out ways to stretch Thanksgiving and Halloween to enjoy it a few more times.
Serves 6 to 8
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1 store-bought frozen deep-dish pie shell (e.g. Tenderflake)
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2 eggs, separated
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1 cup sugar
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1 tsp ground ginger
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1/2 tsp cinnamon
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1/2 tsp salt
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1 cup canned pumpkin purée
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1 cup whole milk
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1 tsp butter melted
Preheat oven to 400F. Thaw pie shell at room temperature for 10-15 min.
In a large bowl, beat egg yolks until light. Stir in sugar, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Stir in pumpkin, milk and butter.
In a separate bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites into pumpkin mixture until just incorporated. Don’t over-mic
Place pie shell on a baking sheet and spread filling in shell.
Bake until crust lightly browns, about 25 min. Turn oven down to 350F and bake another 25 to 30 min or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a splash of maple syrup.
Cook’s notes:
This pie is rich, so you can stretch it to feed 8 people - especially after a turkey dinner!
This recipe doubles really well. I buy a package of 2 pie shells, and since the recipe asks for less than half a 28oz can of pumpkin, I double it, bake both pies and freeze one.
Even after doubling the recipe, you may be left with a little bit of leftover pumpkin. Use it in a pumpkin soup or add it to a carrot soup.