Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie + Crust from scratch!

This past weekend, due to time and family constraints, or rather family having time constraints for the actual Thanksgiving, I celebrated the holiday early, along with a feast of foods.

Unfortunately things were so hecticly delicious, that most foods didn't survive for photos or writing down the ingredients to post recipes....all but one very important meal: pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is a dessert and also a meal in my opinion..but you can debate and dispute about it below in the comment box if you wish!

Please note 1 very important thing. The very first thing you should do if you are making the pumpkin puree from scratch like in this recipe is to prepare the puree. The longer the boiled pumpkin drains, the better. You can even do it overnight if you want.

Prep & Cook time: approximately 2+ hours

Servings: 1 pie

Filling Ingredients 

2 cups of boiled and drained pumpkin (approx. 1/2 of a pie pumpkin)

¼ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon molasses

2 tablespoons almond milk

½ tsp vanilla extract

3 teaspoons cornstarch

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp cloves

Directions:

1.         Start preparing the pumpkin before the dough. Slice your pie pumpkin in half, scoop out the gut (seeds and stringy bits). Depending on the size of your pumpkin, half would make approximately 2 cups that you need for this recipe. Chop into large pieces and boil it for 10 or so minutes until soft.

2.   Drain pumpkin cubes and once cool enough to handle, start taking the skin off so you are only left with the pumpkin “meat”. Place all of the pumpkin “meat”/goo in a strainer or cheese cloth and let drain over sink or in a bowl. 

 3.        When it is drained, add pumpkin meat to a blender or food processor with the molasses, vanilla, almond milk first and then all the dry ingredients. Stir around with your spatula and then pulse and blend it until it looks like a puree consistency.

Pie Crust Ingredients

1 cup flour

Pinch of salt

½ vegetable shortening

2 tablespoons of water

1 tablespoon margarine

Directions:

1.       Put the flour and salt into a bowl, and let shortening sit out from fridge for a few minutes.

2.       Cube the shortening into tiny cubes and slowly add them into the bowl while mixing in with a spatula.

3.       When all the shortening is worked into the flour, you should have a very crumbly floury texture. Add 2 tablespoons of cold water, and working it in with the spatula. You can use your hands to start forming the dough into a ball.

4.       Once the ball is formed and everything is incorporated, place in fridge for about an hour or less.

5.       After an hour, take out the dough ball. Flour a flat surface that you want to roll your dough on and flour your rolling pin. Flatten the ball into a disk and start rolling from the centre outwards in all directions until you get a large enough square to cover your pie pan. 

1.       

Pie Assembly:

1.  Take your pie pan with the crust already in it and rub margarine all over the crust and sides. 
2. Pour the filling into the pan as even as possible and gently pick up and drop the pie on a flat surface from a short height. Doing this carefully will even out the filling puree into all of the crust and get rid of air pockets.
3. Bake at 350 Farenheit for about 30-40 minutes and let cool for 30 minutes or longer to set.