Pumpkin Pie Custard Filling

[Robson Valley]

Pumpkin pie is a standard dessert for Thanksgiving and Christmas all across North America.
The secret, if there is one, is in the custard filling seasoning.
We can buy canned pumpkin pie filling. Don't do that, the spices are awful.
We can buy canned pumpkin pure' Can you?
If not, buy a "decorator" Hallowe'en-style pumpkin, gut it and bake in slabs (350F, 45 mins on a sheet)
, you will need at least 2C.
> This makes 2 x 9" standard pyrex pie plate-sized pies.

Roll out the pie dough and line the plates & trim. Line with wax paper. 2-3C dry beans and bake 400F for 10 mins. Set those aside to cool without the paper and the beans.
Then scatter 2 tbs very fine dice candied ginger in each (rice size or smaller)

Big bowl+
2C pumpkin pure'
1C sugar, mostly brown
1 tbs molasses
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cloves
(1 tsp Poudre Douce is even better. It's a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom that I'm quite sure you can't buy. It's made here in British Columbia/Victorian Epicure)
3 eggs
1 2/3C evaporated milk ( not condensed milk)
3 tbs dark rum
>> Mix all very, very well.
Ladle carefully over the ginger bits. Bake 35-40 mins at 400F or until a knife in the center comes out clean.
Large quantities of whipped cream look best.

 

[Toddy]

Thank you for the recipe

By candied ginger do you mean the stuff that's covered in sugar crystals or the almost transparent rounded lumps that comes in syrup ?
Poudre douce I do know of, it's a spice mix that goes back at least to the medieval. Usually ours has pepper of some kind in it. Grains of paradise, and galangal. Think aromatic pefferneuse for closer maybe.

Does it work to make individual tarts rather than a big pie ?
I think I could face it as tartlets but I pretty sure I'm not up for making it again as a pie. It's easy enough to make, but it doesn't disappear in short order, iimmc ?
Might look good as tartlets with piped cream cheese 'snowflakes' on top

 

[Robson Valley]

Hardly bushcraft here and not Bushcraft chatter so I moved.

Candied ginger: the translucent dry stuff with powdered sugar. I have a sealed canister of it in the spice cupboard.
Probably medieval in origin.

Poudre Douce: learn something new every day. Thanks. I do know that ours is cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom.
Decadent dusting on vanilla ice cream.

Tarts? I don't see why not. Deep dish in a muffin tin? Never considered it. I can eat my pumpkin pie all day long.
Not as much crust for the bulk of the yummy custard.
A good cream cheese icing on top? Sure! Do it.

 

[Robson Valley]

I was wrong. Easy Google to find the Epicure Poudre Douce.
Made of Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves & Ginger.
No wonder it fits the recipe so well.

 

[santaman2000]

Well----it's standard (common) above the Mason-Dixon line. On this side though we make sweet potato pie instead. Pretty much the same recipe though except for changing out the pumpkin for sweet potatoes.

 

[Robson Valley]

We can buy two really different kinds of root vegetable here, both get called sweet potato
1. Any of several species of Discorea, most of the world calls them yams.
Brown-skinned, orange inside and very tapered to pointed ends.
2. Potato shaped Ipomoea batatas, called sweet potato. Round ends, pale yellow inside very starchy and not sweet.

Never thought of subbing yams for pumpkin but I will most certainly do it.

I'm pretty sure that 1/2 the people in the store don't know what they're looking at.
I won't eat sweet potato if I can avoid it.

 

[Janne]

No thanks, to both.
The Gods gave us apples, the Godesses gave us Cinnamon.

Combination of those two -a heavenly taste!

The Brits are lucky to have the Bramley cooking apple.

 

[Toddy]

I know of yams as sweet potatoes.
Can't say I'm a fan.They make good crisps in a mixed vegetable batch.

Bramley apples are very good cookers, but we have hundreds (if not thousands) of apple varieties (and pears) and there are some wonderful cooking apples among them.
James Grieve, Codlins, Catsheads, Russets, Cox's orange pippins, Scotch Bridget, Galloway Pippins, all good, all available, just to name a few that come to mind.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

I use Granny Smith as my #1 then maybe Honey Crisp as my #2 cooking apple. Fuji maybe #3. None turns to slop.
The variety of apples here is very different from the UK. Dozens in both places.

Apple pie is where a beginner should start. Any really good dough recipe for a crust, open or topped.
Make little pies and big ones, tarts and deep dish crisp. Quite forgiving just don't burn it.
Then, you start foraging and making pies out of all sorts of wild fruits.

Hard to beat pumpkin, though. Taste unlike any others. I can bake and eat yam once a week.

I can still recall cooking real ( Ipomoea) sweet potato.
Thinking what the Hello is wrong with these things (taste and smell?)

 

[santaman2000]

True yams are rare in the US and Canada (they're a tropical plant) However sweet potatoes are often mistakenly called yams even by the grocers and the canned product often mislabeled. www.spruce.com/sweet-potatoes-vs-yams-1808067

I never use yams. Always real sweet potatoes. Usually home grown back when I was a kid but more often canned now (for pies or sweet potato casserole) or still Mississippi grown (the home of the Sweet Potato Queen) or Idaho grown for baked sweet potato.

 

[Robson Valley]

Yams are not at all rare up here. The real sweet potatoes are the rare beasts.
Bins full of yams, several different ones. I don't care for the purple ones.

The orange ones are very popular made into spicy French fries and served with mayo.
The fries are very simple, 3 mins 30 seconds @ 375 and done.

Baked with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, I can eat it ALL.

 

[santaman2000]

Yams are not at all rare up here. The real sweet potatoes are the rare beasts.
Bins full of yams, several different ones. I don't care for the purple ones.

The orange ones are very popular made into spicy French fries and served with mayo.....

If it has orange flesh, it's a sweet potato. It's hard to imagine a veg only grown in the tropics being more common than a native grown one. The fries are getting more and more popular here too but they're too mushy for me.

 

[santaman2000]

Toddy, I agree with your summation of apples: you have loads more variety than we do (and hence much better cider)

 

[santaman2000]

Mary, have you tried sweet potato casserole? Here are examples of the two most common types (pecan topped, and marshmallow topped)

First the pecan topped:

Ingredients
Filling:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for buttering the baking dish
• 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (3 to 4 large potatoes; about 1 3/4 pounds)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs

Topping:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions


Special equipment: a 2-quart baking dish

For the filling: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and butter a 2-quart baking dish.

Whisk together the butter, mashed sweet potatoes, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, salt and the eggs in a large bowl. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.

For the topping: Combine the flour, brown sugar, butter and salt in a medium bowl until moist and the mixture clumps together. Stir in the pecans and spread over the top of the sweet potatoes in an even layer. Bake until mostly set in the center and golden on top, 25 to 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Next the marshmallow topped:

Ingredients Nutrition

• 1 (40 ounce) can cut sweet potatoes, drained
• 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 (16 ounce) bag miniature marshmallows

Directions

1. Spray 1 quart baking dish with Pam.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Mash sweet potatoes in a large bowl and add brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, egg, and melted butter.
4. Mix well.
5. Place 1/2 mixture in baking dish.
6. Top with a layer of marshmallows, then add remaining mixture.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and top with remaining marshmallows.
9. Turn oven to broil and move casserole to the upper middle rack. Broil for approximately 5 minutes or until marshmallows are lightly browned.

 

[Robson Valley]

Yummy yams. I've had the pecan one, ages ago. Common names sure are confusing, yes?
Use your "sweet potato" in my pumpkin pie recipe. I expect a serious treat.

 

[santaman2000]

Exactly RV. Whatever you call them they can be delicious.

 

[Hunkyfunkster]

I made sweet potato pie for the first time last year. Might try the pumpkin one this year. Sounds like my sort of thing

 

[santaman2000]

I made sweet potato pie for the first time last year. Might try the pumpkin one this year. Sounds like my sort of thing

They're pretty easy; why not make one of each and give them a side by side comparison?