Thanksgiving at Bostonist's House: Tawny Pumpkin Pie

Tawny (adj.): of a light brown to brownish orange color. That’s how Bostonist likes our Pumpkin Pie - is there any other way? In this edition of Thanksgiving at Bostonist’s House, we’ll let you in on our secret for a Pumpkin Pie that can’t be beat. We make it 100% from scratch. That means we go and pick out a pie pumpkin, sometimes called a sugar pumpkin, roast it, scoop it out, and start from there. Non-canned pumpkin makes a far superior pie, but is a little more work. We have some vegetable shortening (Crisco) in our pantry that we only pull out when we’re making our own crust from scratch, but we’re holding that tutorial until the December holidays. Fasten your seatbelts, Bostonist’s Tawny Pumpkin Pie follows:

Ingredients

• 1 9-inch unbaked Pie shell. You can buy this frozen, mix it up a Jiffy, or email us for the recipe.
  
• 2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin (you can use the can, but the real deal is best)
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/4 tsp. Ginger
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Cloves (Bostonist altered the original recipe to include this-and it’s an excellent addition)
• 1 Tbsp. Flour
• 2 Eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 cup Evaporated Milk*
• up to 2 Tbsp. Water
• 1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Directions
Preheat the oven to a hot 400 degrees.
This recipe can be made using two methods. First, the traditional. Combine Pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices, and flour in a large bowl and mix well. Add eggs and mix again. Then add the vanilla, water if needed, and the evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
Second method, the Bostonist tweak. Grab your blender. Dump in the eggs first then everything else on top in the order of your choice. Blend, mix, or frappe as needed. Pour into pie shell. The blender method is helpful when making with real pumpkin. The non-canned variety tends to be stringy when scooped from the pumpkin and running it all through a blender makes the whole pie silky smooth and easy to pour into the crust.

Bake 50 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Sometimes an hour, sometimes even more.

*Evaporated Milk often comes in a 12 oz. can. Our upcoming "Crusty Pecan Squash" will tell you what to do with the rest of that can. Alternatively, triple the recipe.

Tawny Pumpkin Pie is delish all by its lonesome, but Bostonist has found it even better when combined with a dollop of freshly whipped cream. If you’re going to roast the pumpkin, surely you can whip your own cream. We’ve recently discovered that the best way to top this pie is with your whipped cream spiked with a bit of ginger paste (or powder).

Photo essay courtesy of Bostonist’s Thanksgiving Day preparation. Slight burning around the edges is due to a long trip to the oven and an overfull pie shell.