If you want to enjoy pumpkin pie without the processed ingredients, then this is for you. This is everything you expect in a pumpkin pie — it’s creamy, pumpkin-y, and wonderful.
I avoid all things processed whenever possible. I like food made by people like me and Mamaw. I don’t like food made by companies. However, I love Libby’s Pumpkin Pie. I have always made the Libby’s Pumpkin Pie recipe. As my diet has changed, though, I have had to adapt many of my favorite recipes to include real food instead of processed foods.
You can use the pumpkin from a store, or you can use the homemade stuff. I grew a pumpkin patch this year and have been having all sorts of fun with pumpkin from the garden lately.
What I’ve learned about homemade pumpkin puree:
- Homemade pumpkin is definitely healthier, fresher, and more organic (since I know exactly how the pumpkins were grown, harvested, and handled as they became puree).
- Every blog everywhere says that homemade pumpkin puree makes a better tasting pumpkin dish.
- Homemade puree is more colorful, brighter, and less firm than the canned stuff.
- It tastes just like squash baby food.
- In the pumpkin bread contest we had earlier, the homemade stuff beat the canned variety.
- A wonderful bi-product of making pumpkin puree is a crunchy, salty, tasty snack in the form of roasted pumpkin seeds.
Just for fun, we have been having a friendly, pumpkin puree contest in our home. So far, the homemade puree is leading. In our pumpkin bread competition, the homemade pumpkin puree beat the canned stuff by a nose. The color was a bit brighter and the overall bread tasted a little sweeter. The homemade variety definitely won the first round.
Today, I am making pumpkin pie from scratch.
I’m baking two pies, which will be identical except for the origins of the pumpkin. The contest will end with a blind taste test and we’ll see if homemade pumpkin puree is superior to the canned stuff once again!
Real Pumpkin Pie Ingredients:
- 1-1/2 cups cream (I am using raw cream from my Jersey cow; you can use heavy whipping cream if you prefer)
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar (I am using organic cane juice crystals)
- cinnamon
- salt
- pumpkin
- pie crust (homemade)
Homemade Pie Crust and Pumpkin Pie Filling Directions
First, I made the pumpkin pie filling. I am basically making the Libby’s recipe with a few adaptions:
- Instead of evaporated milk, I am using raw cream.
- Instead of sugar, I am using cane juice crystals.
- Instead of using cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, I am using just cinnamon. (When pumpkin pies have too much spice, they taste like a clove cigarette to me.)
Combine cream, eggs, and sugar and whisk. Add salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin and whisk again. Done!
Next, it’s time to roll out the pie crust:
- Lay out a piece of foil.
- Sprinkle on some flour.
- Plop down your pie disk.
- Sprinkle it with more flour.
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, beginning in the center and rolling toward the edges.
To move the crust into the pie pan:
- Lift one side of the foil up and drape the pie crust over the rolling pin.
- Continue to let the pie crust drape over the pin until it is balanced and you can move the entire piece.
- Slowly unroll the pie crust off the rolling pin over the pie pan.
- Press crust gently into the pan.
- Trim off excess pie crust with a knife.
- Crimp edges if desired.
Time to pour the pie filling into the unbaked pie crusts.
Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350 for 50 minutes to 1 hour. It’s done when the edges are brown and only the very center of the pie is a little jiggly.
The long awaited moment is here. Drum roll please …
Who will be our winner, homemade pumpkin puree or the canned stuff?
I am going to burst the bubble of every homesteader raising pie pumpkins everywhere with my next words:
There wasn’t a difference.
Two pies — one from homemade pumpkin puree, one from a can — identical flavor.
Some of our taste-testers chose the homemade, some chose the canned, but everyone had the same remarks: They were both delicious. They were so similar that it took several bites from each pie to even try to pick a favorite. Three people couldn’t choose because there was so little difference.
Sorry.
I was really surprised. The pumpkin bread from the homemade puree was better; I thought the homemade-puree pie would be a landslide winner.
I can say that homemade pumpkin puree is still fresher, healthier, and more organic. I know how my pumpkins were raised and processed. I feel better about eating the homemade variety, but as far as flavor goes…
It’s a tie.
To learn more about Candi Johns, her old-fashioned recipes, farm tips, and advice, visit her biography page.
Happy Baking!
Candi
