There is literally nothing that ties me to my American, Appalachian/Cherokke/Melungeon heritage more strongly than pumpkin pie. Maybe apple pie is the quintessential pie that defines my home country (as American as apple pie, they say) but for me, it has got to be pumpkin with its ties to Thanksgiving and Native American customs and lore. After all, other countries eat apple pie but you never, never find pumpkin pie here in the UK. Apple is delicious, sweet, crisp, syrupy, whereas pumpkin is velvety, rich, deeply spiced. Perhaps that’s why I prefer pumpkin!
I have been forced to use tinned pumpkin before and let me tell you, here in the UK, that can be a scavenger hunt! Waitrose is usually the only place I can find it and even then, every other ex-pat American in the local area will have been there before you around Thanksgiving and Christmas!
I’m lucky because I grow my own pumpkins at the allotment, which means I can process and freeze them, using the method I describe here in the pumpkin soup prep section.
I have followed this basic recipe, from a cookbook my mother received as a wedding gift before I was born, for my entire life. I do make alterations and add things. Sometimes I use 3 tsp of mixed spice instead of the individual spices. Sometimes, I use half brown and half white sugar. Sometimes I add a shot of Cointreau or amaretto to the mix, too or some orange zest. And sometimes, I bake it with a crushed digestive base (or graham crackers if I’m lucky enough to find any here in the UK). But you cannot go wrong with the basic recipe.
Ingredients
1 ½ cups or 355 mil of pureed pumpkin
¾ cup or 178 mil of sugar – for sweetness of life, attracting positivity and good things to you
½ tsp salt – for protection
1 ¼ tsp cinnamon – for deeper spirituality and psychic awareness, success
1 tsp ginger – for money and success
½ tsp nutmeg – for luck and money
½ tsp ground cloves – protection, healing, or money
3 eggs
1 ¼ cup or 296 mil milk
6 oz or 178 mil of evaporated milk
1×9 inch pastry shell
Blend together the ingredients. It is a very wet filling and also, very generous so you might get more than one pie out of it. Pop into an oven preheated to 200 C/400 F for about 45 minutes. Resist the urge to open the oven to check progress until then. It can cause the pie to sink in the middle. Still delicious but not as visually pleasing. The pie is done when you can insert a knife or a toothpick into the centre and it comes out clean.
Serve with whipped cream, heavy cream, or ice cream.