I Baked a Fairytale Pumpkin Pie and It Was Amazing.
An easy Thanksgiving recipe with photos
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If you’ve never baked a pumpkin pie from scratch, you have no idea how fast and easy it is — and how much more delicious!
I was never a pumpkin pie fan. (I know, the horror!) I love pie — all sorts of pie, but pumpkin was pretty close to the bottom of the list. I mean, how do you compare pumpkin to peanut butter pie, or deep dish apple?
Wow. I had no idea how wrong I was. My kiddo loves pumpkin pie, so every year I’d pick up canned pumpkin at the Safeway and make a pie with that.
Truly. I had no clue.
Ever heard of fairytale pumpkins? They come in all sorts of fun pastel colors. There’s pink pumpkins and white ones, peach pumpkins and blue ones.
I read that blue pumpkins (Jarrahdale) make the best pie so we went hunting. Score, we found one.
I thought I was in for a day of work, but no. It was amazingly easy. And we created a new Thanksgiving tradition in the process. It’s that easy.
Seriously — the hardest part is cutting the pumpkin. I just used a paring knife. Not hard at all. Who knew? 5–10 minutes and it’s ready for the oven.
Part 1: Baking the pumpkin
Cut the whole pumpkin up into wedges. It’s easiest if you cut it in half and then cut each half into wedges. You don’t have to cut along the indents, but you can if that works. Ideally, each wedge should not be wider than your hand. Mine are a bit narrower than my hand. 3 fingers-ish.
I know. So precise. Not! Wing it. It’s okay.
Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and butter it lightly. Then cut away the seed part and plonk the wedges on the cookie sheet.
Bake 40–50 minutes at 375°F
(I flipped them half way through the baking time.)
If your wedges are wider than mine, you might need to bake a bit longer. To test if they’re done, just poke with a knife or skewer. If it goes through really easily, they’re done. Cool a few minutes.
Part 2: Making puree was super easy, too.
When the wedges cool off, grab a wooden spoon or soup spoon and just push the pumpkin off the peel. It slides off really easy. Dump it all in a bowl and mash with a wooden spoon.
If you have kids, let them push the pumpkin off the peel with the side of their hands. It’s delightfully like using finger paint. Solid, but not.
Now you need to puree it. Use a food processor if you have one. I don’t, so I used an immersion blender. A few pulses and the whole thing was puree.
Here’s the magic trick to make the puree nice and thick. Heap it all into a fine strainer so the excess liquid can drip out. If you’re not going to bake the pie right away, just set the whole thing in the fridge to drip.
Part 3: Baking the pie
I cheated and used a piecrust mix. Frozen is fast, too. Making pie crust takes way longer than making pie.
The entire recipe mixes up in 2 parts. No fussy steps, I promise.
Preheat the oven to 375°F
The recipe
— 2 cups pumpkin puree
— 3 large eggs
— 1.25 cups packed brown sugar
— 1.25 Tablespoon cornstarch
— 1/2 teaspoon salt
— 1.5 tsp cinnamon
— 1/2 teaspoon ginger
— 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
— 1/8 teaspoon cloves (ground)
— 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
— 1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
— 1/4 cup milk
Part 1: Put the puree, eggs and brown sugar in a bowl. Whisk or beat.
Part 2: Add everything else. Whisk or beat.
Yep. It’s that easy.
Note: You’ll notice there’s black pepper in it. I promise, you will not taste it. No one will know it’s there but you. It’s a tip I read from a chef. It makes the taste of the pumpkin more intense, without actually tasting the pepper.
Little tip: Cover the crust with aluminum foil so it doesn’t burn to a crisp. Uncover for the last 10 minutes so it can brown, but not burn.
Bake 55 minutes at 375°F
Cool for 2 hours. If you’re in a hurry like I always am, cool a few minutes and then pop it in the fridge to speed up the cooling.
Garnish as desired.
I used whipped cream and cinnamon. Of course. Tada!
For Suzanne V. — because you love pie like I do. And Denise Garratt because you have to try this. So good.
“Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed
every corner of your life.” — Rumi
