Saturday, October 17, 2009

Sugar Pumpkin

So one of my very best friends, Ryan was in town and he asked me if I have ever made a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin. And I had not. So on Monday I roasted a pumpkin with him and we made a pie. It was really quite easy. Just took a good chunk of time. But with good company and some hard apple cider time is not wasted.

So we took two pie pumpkins or sugar pumpkins, whatever you want to call them. Cut them in half, removed the stem and seeds and all the stringy flesh, cut them in half again. Placed them in a roasting pan after a hand massage with butter and a sprinkle of salt and loosely covered them with foil. They were roasted at about 375 F for about 70 minutes. After about 40 minutes I ended up pouring about 1/3 cup of water into each pan because I felt like they were not getting soft enough.
I removed them from the oven and Ryan and I peeled back the skin. We pureed the hell of them in a food processor with no extra liquid. Both of these pumpkins made enough puree for two pies and I have some leftover in the freezer, probably enough for another pie. So only one pumpkin is necessary.

For the pie crust!
about 8 oz of ginger snap cookies, made into crumbs
3 Tablespoons of white sugar
7 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

Combine ingredients and press into pie dish. Bake for 4 minutes at about 350 F.

For pie filling
15 oz of pumpkin puree!!!!! Made from a real punkin'
1 1/4 cups of whipping cream! WHOA! I know, it was in the fridge though
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 cage free eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Combine ingredients. This is really thin, but does thicken in oven. Pour into pie crust. Bake for 60 minutes at 350 F.

Let cool.
Serve with fresh whipped cream!

Whiskey whipped cream:
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 shot of your favorite whiskey I used Basil Hayden which is phenomenal

Beat with hand mixer until stiff!

This turned out crazy amazing!
This was the most fun I've had baking in a while. My camera is on the fritz, but I shall attach one I took with my cell phone....tacky I know but it still looks tempting.....