Even though I am not American or actually resident of any of the "western" countries, I like some of their traditions. And by traditions I mean food. Mostly. (Well, you know me, I love food! Sorry, not sorry...) Every autumn, I was charmed by their pumpkin pie, but I wasn't sure whether I can make it, because, well, pumpkins are not the easiest thing to work with. I gained courage to do so recently and I have almost immediately fallen in love with the pie.
I tried to make this recipe from both, butternut squash and hokkaido pumpkin, so that I can decide which one is better. However, I haven't found any difference between these two in the final product, I mean the butternut squash tastes sweet itself, but in the end, it doesn't make big difference. However, I decided to weight both of them before and after I made puree and there is a bit difference:
However, if you decide to bake the seeds (delicious, btw), I would say that use rate is pretty much the same.
Ingredients:
For dough:
300g all purpose flour
100g confectioner's sugar
200g unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
For filling:
120g sugar
750g pumpkin puree
110g butter
2 whole eggs
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
First you need to prepare pumpkin puree - peel that orange evil thing (once you will try to peel it, you will understand why I call it evil) and remove the seeds. Cut it into smaller pieces and boil those - 20 minutes did the job for me. Then blend it until it has smooth texture and your puree is ready.
While cooking the pumpkin, prepare the dough. This step is simple, just work the ingredients together until you have compact and non-sticky dough. Let it sit in the fridge until you are finished with your puree.
Once you have prepared puree, roll the dough and place it in your non-stick (or buttered) pie form. You can also prepare some decorative pieces, such as leaves etc. but leave these aside for now.
Time to make the filling! Add all the ingredients to the mixing bowl (don't forget that butter should be at room temperature) and mix it until everything is smooth and well combined (blender is the best, you generally want it to have smooth texture). Pour the mixture evenly into the pie form, that you have already placed the dough.
Wrap the whole thing in aluminium foil and bake for 15 minutes on 175°C, then remove foil and continue baking. I bake it for next half an hour and then I usually add decorations, if I got some, and then I bake it for another half an hour. However, if you are not going to be fancy and add decorations, an hour should be fine. You will always want to try the pie before taking it out of the oven - stab knife in the middle of it and when it comes out clean, the pie is all good and ready to go.
NOTE (to self): DO NOT EAT THE PIE WHILE HOT, LET IS SIT FOR AT LEAST 2 HOURS!!! Not only you will burn your tongue, but the pie is kind of fragile at this point and you don't want the pie to break apart, do you??
