I know, this post is not about furniture, but I had some Facebook followers asking about my pumpkin pie recipe after posting a pic on Facebook.
Here in Australia, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving – and I actually had someone ask me “Why?” one time when I lived in the USA. So I asked them, “Why do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Where did it originate?” They proceeded to explain how the First Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after the first harvest in the new land of America … ohhh, its an American tradition.”
But no matter where we live, we can always benefit from taking the time to be thankful for all the good things we are blessed with in this life!
So, back to Thanksgiving – my husband is from the USA, and so we often try to celebrate in a small way when we can over here. I think its great to be teaching our children about their heritage and I love celebrations – WIN! Often its the last week of the kid’s school year or my husband is working, so it doesn’t always work out. But this week, we thought we’d do a little celebrating on Saturday AND put up the Christmas tree after dinner. THAT’s always exciting.
Marty’s mom gave me this Pumpkin Pie recipe when we were first married and I often use it for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It came from his grandma Nita Hankins, so this is our kids Great Grandma’s recipe being handed down the generations. I wonder where she got it from before that?
Tawny Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
dash of cinnamon, cloves, allspice
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup evaporated milk (don’t substitute)
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
I had to boil my pumpkin as we cannot buy it canned over here, which is probably how Grandma Nita did it way back in the “old days” anyway!
I had to estimate how much to cut up as I knew it would probably boil down to a bit less than the required amount if I measured it whole first, so I over estimated to be sure to have enough.
When it is soft, make sure you drain all the water out REALLY WELL before measuring the 1 and 1/4 cups needed.
I usually use Butternut Pumpkin (squash) as it has a sweeter flavour.
Method:
- Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices and flour in mixing bowl.
- Add eggs, mix well.
- Add evaporated milk, water, vanilla. Mix. (It will appear quite watery)
- Pour into ready made pie shell.
- Bake in hot oven (200C, or 400F) for approx 45-50 mins until knife comes out clean when tested.
- Cool.
- Serve topped with whipped cream (in the USA we had Cool Whip, which is the most amazing stuff and I wish they had it here, too!!)
We made our own pastry from another “Grammie” recipe:
Pie Crust:
(Makes enough for 2 double crust pies)
Ingredients:
3 cups plain flour
1 1/4 cups shortening or margerine
1 egg
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
5 tablespoons water
Method:
- Cut up shortening with flour until resembles fine breadcrumbs. A pastry cutter is great for this.
- Mix together in a separate bowl, egg, vinegar and water.
- Make a well in centre of flour mixture and add egg mixture, mixing until combined.
- Divide dough according to how many pie crusts you need.
- Knead together lightly, roll out on floured board.
My Grandma’s vintage rolling pin!
We made two pumpkin pies and an apple pie. The pumpkin pie mixture, I could have used in one large pie shell, but tried to stretch it to two. As you can see, the level could have been higher for a fuller pie.
My daughter had fun creating shapes for the top of the apple pie!
Happy Eating!
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1 Comment
Connie
December 1, 2013 at 9:38 amYour pies look so good:) Isn’t it delightful to have recipes from loved ones . . .recipes that can be passed on from generation to generation and in a way, keep that family member alive and gathered at your family meals 🙂