Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Yesterday, I shared how I made pumpkin purée and today I'm using it to make Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie (this is the first time I have used pumpkin purée rather than canned pumpkin).  I am using a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Doubleday Cookbook; every time I make something from this book it is a success.  I'm hopeful it turns out well, because we are having friends over for dinner!

Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

This is a picture of the recipe from the cookbook...you can click on the picture and make it larger to see the recipe easily.

So here are my ingredients...

...there are a few changes in what the recipe calls for (I had every intention to follow it exactly, but I didn't have maple flavoring).  Let's hope my thought process ends up with a good result; I used 1/4 cup of pure maple syrup and eliminated that same amount of milk/cream (to keep the liquid ratio the same) and I put a little less brown sugar than was called for (trying to balance the sweetness from the syrup).  I also added 1/8 tsp (rather than 1/4 tsp) almond extract instead of the maple I didn't have.  The other thing I realized when I was putting things together is I only had heavy cream and 2% milk (rather than the light cream and milk), so I'm hoping the heavy cream is balanced with the 2%...another experiment! 

The recipe says to brush the crust (I used rolled up prepared crust) with egg white and chill for an hour.  I have not idea why this is important, but I did it.  Does anyone out there know why this is done?  I've heard of brushing the crust with egg white to the top crust to help it brown, but the shell?...before it cooks?...and in the fridge for an hour?...

I blended the purée and brown sugar...looks pretty, doesn't it?

Then I added the spices, then the syrup, then the milk/cream and finally the eggs.  The filling was quite liquidy, something I was not expecting.  I figured out why the recipe says to make a high fluted edge...this was a lot of filling!  I also now understand why the recipe suggests pouring the filling into the crust on the oven rack; the pie pan was so full it was hard to move!

In the oven it went, 450 degrees for 10 minutes.  I checked my oven after a few minutes because it runs hot, so I wanted to be sure the oven thermometer showed 450.  It did, but OH NO, the crust is burning and there is a spot in the middle of the pie...what the h***?! 

I've always wondered what the preheat setting is for, why bother?  But after studying the situation over time, I realized preheat caused both the upper and lower elements to work, heating up the oven more quickly.  Makes sense to use it, so I did today.  The thing is, you have to remember to put the oven on bake!

OK, deep breath.  I can fix this.  So I put tin foil around the edge to protect my high fluted crust and hoped for the best.

I had about 5 minutes before the 30 minute timer rang, so I pulled the tin foil off for the remainder of the cooking time (just stuck my hand in there and pulled it off...no problem).  Timer goes off @ 30 min, I check the pie by wiggling the pan a bit, and yes, you guessed it, another OH NO!  The entire middle is still extremely soft...not complete liquid but definitely not close to being done.  I put it back in the oven for 10 minutes, check it again, and still soft.  So I put the tin foil back the crust (now I am concerned it is going to burn to a crisp), and the pie goes in the oven again.  Another 15 minutes. And another 15 minutes. Finally the knife comes out clean!  Only a few burnt spots, not bad after all that!

I'll make fresh whipped cream for it and put a little maple syrup in it for flavor, yum!

As I mentioned earlier, we are having our friends Art and Bob over for dinner (Bob is our friend I've written about before, who lost his family home in the Peaks Creek disaster).  I'm making Tourtière (a French meat pie flavored with cinnamon, clove and nutmeg, really good), homemade mashed potatoes with skins, and green beans almondine.  Of course there will be wine.  And then Old Fashioned Pumpkin Pie.  I'm confident the meal will be good, let's hope the pie tastes as good as it looks!  

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise