Anna with her Oma and baby sister Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. We have a whole day to spend with our family and friends and eat lots and lots of delicious food. Of course, it is a day to be grateful, and I am grateful to be spending it with people I love. They, in turn, are grateful that I am bringing my Oma's pumpkin pie!
My Oma was an amazing woman, and she also made amazing pumpkin pie. Here is her recipe, to share with your loved ones on Thanksgiving Day.
First, get your pumpkin! Go to the farmers market and pick out a cheese pumpkin, preferably - or any small to medium food pumpkin. (You can settle for pumpkin in a can but it isn't nearly as good!)
Second, your pie crust. The easiest way to get a pie crust is to buy it from the store. The best way to get a pie crust is to make it from scratch. It’s not too hard either, especially if you have the food processor out already. This makes enough for two pie crusts:
Make your Pumpkin Filling - the ingredients below are enough for one pie. (Just double the filling recipe for two pies.)
My Oma was an amazing woman, and she also made amazing pumpkin pie. Here is her recipe, to share with your loved ones on Thanksgiving Day.
First, get your pumpkin! Go to the farmers market and pick out a cheese pumpkin, preferably - or any small to medium food pumpkin. (You can settle for pumpkin in a can but it isn't nearly as good!)
Second, your pie crust. The easiest way to get a pie crust is to buy it from the store. The best way to get a pie crust is to make it from scratch. It’s not too hard either, especially if you have the food processor out already. This makes enough for two pie crusts:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup chilled leaf lard or shortening (or coconut oil, my substitution of choice)
- 2 Tbsp chilled butter
- 4 to 5 Tbsp water
Make your Pumpkin Filling - the ingredients below are enough for one pie. (Just double the filling recipe for two pies.)
- 1.5 cup pumpkin
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground clove
First – Cook your pumpkin. Preheat oven to 350. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp. Save the seeds if you want to make roasted pumpkin seeds later. With a knife, pierce the pumpkin all the way through in a couple places. Put two halves face down an a baking sheet and put into the oven. Cook at 350 for about a half an hour or until you can easily insert knife into flesh of pumpkin.
Conveniently, if you’re going to be making your pie right away the oven is now preheated for you.
Next – Prepare your pumpkin. Spoon out the delicious pumpkin and discard the shell. The easiest way is to puree in a food processor. Ideally, you run it through a Foley Food Mill – this purees the pumpkin and gets rid of all the stringy bits – but if your mother gave away your Foley Food Mill a food processor is just as good.
Then you make the pie crust. If you are only making one pie, divide the recipe in half. Sift the flour and salt together and separately combine the shortening and butter. Then cut half of the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender. If you don't have a lot of time and you've already cleaned the food processor, you can mix it all in there real quick! Sometimes I need more water to get the pie crust to hold together than the recipe call s for.
Put the pie dough into the freezer to cool off.
Mix the pumpkin pie filling. First mix all the dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients. Make sure sugar is mixed in and not sitting on the bottom of the bowl.
Now we're back to the pie crust. There’s a couple tricks to rolling out a pie crust. The first trick is to do it while it’s cold and the second trick is to not over handle the dough. Using two pieces of waxed paper or saran wrap, roll the dough between them until you have enough to cover the bottom of the pie plate. Take off the top piece of saran wrap and carefully flip it onto the pie plate. Don’t forget to pull off the second piece of saran wrap! Make sure the whole pie dish is covered. Use the extra bits that hand over the edge to make a pinched top. If you’re a crust lover it might look like this. My mom, Barbara is the pie crust expert!
Conveniently, if you’re going to be making your pie right away the oven is now preheated for you.
Next – Prepare your pumpkin. Spoon out the delicious pumpkin and discard the shell. The easiest way is to puree in a food processor. Ideally, you run it through a Foley Food Mill – this purees the pumpkin and gets rid of all the stringy bits – but if your mother gave away your Foley Food Mill a food processor is just as good.
Then you make the pie crust. If you are only making one pie, divide the recipe in half. Sift the flour and salt together and separately combine the shortening and butter. Then cut half of the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender. If you don't have a lot of time and you've already cleaned the food processor, you can mix it all in there real quick! Sometimes I need more water to get the pie crust to hold together than the recipe call s for.
Put the pie dough into the freezer to cool off.
Mix the pumpkin pie filling. First mix all the dry ingredients. Then add the wet ingredients. Make sure sugar is mixed in and not sitting on the bottom of the bowl.
Now we're back to the pie crust. There’s a couple tricks to rolling out a pie crust. The first trick is to do it while it’s cold and the second trick is to not over handle the dough. Using two pieces of waxed paper or saran wrap, roll the dough between them until you have enough to cover the bottom of the pie plate. Take off the top piece of saran wrap and carefully flip it onto the pie plate. Don’t forget to pull off the second piece of saran wrap! Make sure the whole pie dish is covered. Use the extra bits that hand over the edge to make a pinched top. If you’re a crust lover it might look like this. My mom, Barbara is the pie crust expert!
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Finally – Pour your pie filling into your pie plate and put it in the oven.
This pie takes forever to cook! Put it in a 350 degree oven for an hour. Be prepared for it to take an hour and a half….
After it has baked an hour, check the pie every 5 minutes.
You know its done when you wiggle the pie dish and the middle doesn’t jiggle. You can also stick a toothpick in the middle and check that it comes out clean.
The hardest part is now to resist eating the pie before you eat dinner.
I hope you enjoy my Oma's recipe. Let me know how it turns out!
~ Anna Stange
Find out more about me on our About Us Page by clicking Here!
This pie takes forever to cook! Put it in a 350 degree oven for an hour. Be prepared for it to take an hour and a half….
After it has baked an hour, check the pie every 5 minutes.
You know its done when you wiggle the pie dish and the middle doesn’t jiggle. You can also stick a toothpick in the middle and check that it comes out clean.
The hardest part is now to resist eating the pie before you eat dinner.
I hope you enjoy my Oma's recipe. Let me know how it turns out!
~ Anna Stange
Find out more about me on our About Us Page by clicking Here!
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