How to Make a Pumpkin Pie from a Real Pumpkin

Ingredients

• 1 medium sugar pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie (or a pre-made pie crust. I like the Pillsbury ones you can find in the dairy section of the grocery store)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• lightly beaten
• 1 cup honey
• warmed slightly for easy pouring and mixing
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

To Roast/Prepare the Pumpkin:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Cut pumpkin in half, and remove seeds. Lightly oil the cut surface. Place cut side down on a jelly roll pan lined with foil and lightly oiled. Bake until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork (usually about a half hour to 45 minutes). Cool until just warm. Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the peel. Either mash, or puree in small batches in a blender or food processor.

For the Pie:
Increase oven preheat temperature to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

In large bowl, blend together 2 cups pumpkin puree, spices, and salt. Beat in eggs, honey, milk, and cream. Pour filling into pie shell.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes at the new temperature, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge of pie comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Helpful tips from Yours Truly: As with any recipe, you can make it your own with an adjustment to spices and other ingredients. I've found that reducing the amount of honey to 3/4 or so allows the pumpkin flavor to come out more in this recipe, and also makes it less sweet, so if you add sweetened whipped cream, you're not overwhelmed.

** IF YOUR PUMPKIN IS WATERY ** Sometimes I find that fresh pumpkin, once prepared and pureed, can be a little watery. Wrapping cooked pumpkin in cheesecloth will help squeeze out the moisture. If you don't have cheesecloth (I don't, sadly), sometimes just taking a wad of paper towels and pressing into your pumpkin mixture can help. I've gone through a lot of them before and it feels kind of wasteful, though. So cheesecloth is definitely the way to go if you have some.