mindspew.blog

Cozy Halloween has been had and I realized that if I’m gonna have a wholeass cooking section here, and as the pie posts on my socials always get such positive reactions, I might as well include the pumpkin pie recipe I use every year. Pumpkin pie is usually more associated with Thanksgiving but let’s be real, it belongs in the pumpkincentric holiday just as much if not more, plus if you’re gutting pumpkins then you’d better be using said guts. ..ok I use the tinned kind because I don’t really have anywhere to put real jack o’lanterns but whatever, you get it lol, soups and pies and toasty seeds all ’round.

Now, I’m no kitchen wiz, the vast majority of the recipes I post will likely be basic and simple as hell unless I suddenly find a big stash of confidence and perhaps a blender.. This recipe utilizes tinned solid-pack pumpkin and pre-made dough, so it’s great for shaky bakers and parents who have sugar-charged goblins to keep track of. Waaay back in the day I used to order a bunch of cans of Libby’s (thankfully the UK seems to be getting the hint and tinned pumpkin can actually be found in stores nowadays), so the recipe is lifted from the back of the can and from browsing around it seems pretty standard.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 can (12 fl.oz) evaporated milk
• 1 9-inch pie shell or *pastry in a 9-inch pie dish (generally around 1.5-inches deep)

*I use Jus-Rol shortcrust, make sure to check if your pastry needs time to get to room temp before you use it and be prepared to patch the sides a bit if it doesn’t quite cover the sides lol.

Directions:

• Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl.
• Beat eggs in a large bowl.
• Stir in pumpkin and sugar spice mixture.
• Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
• Pour into pastry/pie shell.
• Bake in preheated oven at 425°F (218°C) for 15 minutes.
• Reduce temperature to 350°F (176°C) and continue baking for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the middle comes out clean.
• Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.
• Eat the bastard!

If you use pre-mixed dough like I do, you’ll have a small handful of it left over which I like using to make little cinnamon sugar bats or similar crispy nibbles, just cut out whatever shape you want keeping it about as thin as the pie shell, brush with some egg white (I just dip the brush in the spent eggshells, so keep those handy ’til everything’s done) and sprinkle with some sugar and cinnamon. I throw them in the top shelf of the oven for the last 10 or so minutes of the pie’s cooking time, but you’ll wanna keep an eye on them so they don’t go mad.

Bam, simple as heck pie.

Also, the film playing in the ingredient pic is Spaced Invaders (1990) and I feel like not enough people know of or appreciate it’s brilliance lol. It’s a quirky, family friendly bit of Halloweeny sci-fi fun and I loved it as a kid, Kathy’s alien costume was major goals and frankly Brian’s duck costume wasn’t half bad either, his mom did good. Squeeze it into your Halloween viewing somewhere between The Monster Squad and Ernest Scared Stupid, if you don’t enjoy it then fuckit, go make delicious pie instead.