Muffin Top

Every year, during pumpkin season, I make a pumpkin pie using the recipe on the back of a Libby’s can, using fresh pumpkin puree. I’m a believer in basic, fresh ingredients.

And yet, this year, after making my pumpkin puree, not from a sugar pie pumpkin but a pumpkin gift from Novella’s urban farm, I took a closer look at Libby’s pumpkin pie recipe, which uses ingredients that can be cooked up in any kitchen….except for the can of evaporated milk.

Given that I had such a fresh and wonderful bounty in my pumpkin puree, I wondered if there was anything I could do to eliminate the can of evaporated milk from the ingredient list. Hrm. I wondered if I could adapt the recipe, using fresh ingredients.

And so I did an experiment, and wondered how to substitute the evaporated milk (which, when I looked up its function, is supposed to add creamy texture and richness to foods). What I did was replace it with a cup of cream, and about a 1/2 cup of whole milk. I also, out of utter anxiety, added an egg to the recipe as well, because the pumpkin puree was more watery than other pumpkin purees I’ve made in the past…and thought the egg might do well to bind the mixture/custard later. (something to keep in mind if you find your pumpkin puree is “watery”).

The result was incredible. My husband, a big fan of pumpkin pie, said it was the best pumpkin pie he’s ever had. Whether this is because of the pumpkin puree this year, or because of the fresh cream and milk, I’m not sure. I don’t run a fulltime test kitchen, though I’m curious myself.

Recipe follows after the jump…

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It’s pumpkin time!

I love pumpkins. I am not a big Halloween fan, and I don’t like to carve faces into them–I like to EAT them. And when Novella offered me one of her wonderful pumpkins after a visit to her city farm, I nodded yes. I had never seen pumpkins like hers, adorned with what looked like beautiful callouses on them (when a squash has things like that, it looks downright tasty to me). I asked for one of the smaller ones because we’re only a two person household, and how could we eat so much pumpkin?

Oh dear.

This household of two, it seems, is chock full of pumpkin eaters. (And neither one of our names is Peter, either–”Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater!”)

After admiring the pumpkin for a couple of weeks, I put it in the oven to roast, cutting it in half, and putting it (cut sides down) in a 350F oven for about an hour.

Out came a pumpkin that was a vibrant orange in the Autumn morning light. It was almost like crab or lobster–going into the boiling water a dark metallic green…and coming out altogether red and orange and edible. That’s what happened with this pumpkin. It went into the oven a pinky orange, and came out almost fluorescent, the kind of orange that road workers wear:

After cooling the pumpkins, and scooping out the seeds (oh drats! I forgot to save some BEFORE roasting the pumpkin! There goes the hope of planting these pumpkins next year), and peeling off the skin…I pureed the pumpkin.

I took a little taste of the unadorned pumpkin puree, and an involuntary smile crept over my face. This was the BEST pumpkin I have ever tasted. Thoughts of pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pie immediately leapt through my mind. Ooooooh.

If you’ve never made your own pumpkin puree, you really ought to try. If you don’t have a friend who gifts you with a wonderful pumpkin from her garden, you can use sugar pie pumpkins from the store. It’s relatively simple to do (split the pumpkin in half, put it cut sides down, roast in a 350F oven for about an hour, scoop out the seeds, peel off the skin, and puree in a food processor). Not only is it simple to do, but the result is so fabulous, you’ll cringe at the prospect of having to use canned pumpkin puree forevermore.

You’ll have to use it a lot quicker than canned pumpkin puree–but the puree does keep in the refrigerator for a few days, a week…and I’m not sure if it lasts longer than that, because I use up all that puree within a few days.