Birthdays and Punkin Pie

A day before my birthday post:

I love fall. piles of leaves, crisp weather, apples, thanksgiving, my birthday, and of course pumpkin pie.


Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

for the pie crust:
2 cups all purpose flour (I used a homemade GF mix)
1/2 c cold butter
1/2 c cold water

put the flour in a mixing bowl. add the butter (cut into chunks) knead with your hands and add water as necessary until you can form a ball. let rest in refrigerator while you make the filling.

for the filling:
2 cups cooked pumpkin (or 1 can)
- see below for instructions on cooking a fresh pumpkin
1 teaspoon each of ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, allpice and cloves (or 4-5 teaspoons of "pumpkin pie spice")
12 oz can of evaporated milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3/4 cup of sugar
3 eggs

Mix all ingredients together and whisk until smooth.

roll out pie crust (approximately 1cm larger than your dish) into your dish. (make sure to butter the pie dish to avoid sticking). poke holes with a fork to avoid air bubbles.
pour pumpkin mixture into dish.

cook at 200 degrees celsius (400 degrees fahrenheit) for 45-60 minutes. sticking a knife into the middle should come out clean when cooked.

optional: cover the edges of your crust with foil if you are afraid of the pie crust burning.


Cooking fresh pumpkin
cut the pumpkin in half (if you dont want it to explode in your oven--its happened to me...not a fun clean-up), scoop out the seeds, lay face down on a baking sheet. cook at 350 degrees fahrenheit/180 degrees celsius for 30 minutes or until soft (check after 20 minutes).
peel the skin off and let cool. puree the pumpkin (it works great with a hand mixer)
at this point, you can easily freeze it for later.


What's the ratio of a pumpkin's circumference to its diameter?
Pumpkin Pi (3.1428571428571428571428571428571)