Happy Thanksgiving, I Made Pie!

Happy Thanksgiving! I really really wish I was in the US right now - 3 day work week? Yes please!!! In preparation for my family's Thanksgiving meal this Saturday (since we don't have the public holidays off here for Thanksgiving), I tried to replicate my favorite Urth Caffe Pumpkin Pie from when I used to live in LA - a nice thick slice of creamy pumpkin pie with a cinnamon-y graham cracker crust. Although it's been a long day, I had to get this post up because this recipe is a must-share for Thanksgiving!

Since Urth's recipe is unavailable (they keep it top secret!), I referenced a couple online recipes and altered them to make my pie. The crust was tough - mine came out a bit loose and flakey, but the pie as a whole came out beautifully. Creamy, heavy on the cinnamon, and not too sweet.

Also as an alternative to most recipes out there, I chose to use fresh pumpkins instead of canned pumpkin puree. Pumpkin is actually very easy to work with, so if you're trying to make a pumpkin pie, don't be intimidated to use fresh ones. All it takes is an extra step to steam them, easy peasy :)

Here's my recipe:

The pie filling...

15 ounces of fresh pumpkin (steamed and mashed)

10 ounces of sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of salt

2 eggs (separate the yolk & whites)

The crust...

20-30 graham crackers

1 stick of butter
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
a pinch of salt

1. Crush all graham crackers till you get fine crumbs. Mix in cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Melt butter and mix the liquid butter into the crumbs

2. With the back of a spoon, pack all the crumb mixture onto a 9 inch pie pan. Line the entire bottom and sides to create a pie shell. Put aside for later use.

3. Prehead oven to 350 degrees. 

4. In a large bowl, mix mashed pumpkin, sweet condensed milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Beat in the egg yolks.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till soft peak forms. Gently fold in egg white mixture into the pumpkin mixture

6. Pour pumpkin mixture into graham cracker pie shell

7. Bake for 20-35 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the pie comes up clean 

If you're looking for a good Thanksgiving pumpkin pie recipe, I highly recommend trying this recipe out. The pie crust took quite some time (and was a bit tough to put together), but so yummy. Apart from that the pie filling was easy, and the mashed pumpkin keeps the pie healthy and fresh. So if you want a time saver - I'd say get a readymade pie crust. I will be re-making this for my actual Thanksgiving meal, but will probably use a readymade pie crust too this time. Not as yummy but definitely quicker - a girl has to buy some time to make a couple more dishes for Thanskgiving!