How do I make Pumpkin Pie from scratch?

I usually make my crust from scratch which will yeild 2 crusts for pumpkin pie or 1 full crust top and bottom for a covered type pie. If you need a recipe for the crust please feel free to pm me and I will be happy to share.

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
¾ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can Pure Pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can Evaporated Milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

It is a serious pain in the arse.

First, you have to scoop out the pumpkin. Then you have to bake it until soft. Then you have to strain it.

You’ve got a good three hours of work in before you even think about preparing a crust.

And then, if you’re me, you’ll burn yourself taking the thing out of the oven, and drop the pie on the floor.

But, it does turn out delicious. Softer than tinned pumpkin, but delicious.

What part of the pumpkin am I scooping? Just any of the fibers on the inside?

Yeah, you take out the fibres and the seeds (roast the seeds. They’re yummy) then you chop the pumpkin (by the way, make sure it’s a pie pumpkin. The jack-o-lantern ones aren’t as tasty) into chunks, place them face-down on a cookie sheet or roasting pan, and bake them until they’re soft. This takes a long time.

It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but I got my recipe from The Joy of Cooking, and they give wonderfully detailed instructions.

She is talking about all the seeds and fibers holding the seeds before you bake the pumpkin. A suggestion if you are going about making the pumpkin yourself, you want to use Sugar Pumpkins, they are smaller and more dense in pumpkins and you won’t have tons and tons of water to strain out in the end yeilding more for the size and weight of them. When baking the pumpkin you can put them in the oven whole in a pan after the seeds and pulp have been removed with abt an inch of water and cover everything with a piece of tin foil. Bake until the pumpkin becomes very soft and you can easily scoop out the pumpkin from the skin. I have made the pumpkin from actual pumpkins many many times but libby’s pure pumpkin is wonderful and much much easier to use.

Here are step-by-step instructions with pictures of how to select the pumpkin and prepare it, and then make the pies. It is so worth it. Enjoy!

Cutting up a fresh pumpkin isn’t all that hard, but if you cook the pumpkin FIRST, it is a much easier job. Take your sugar pumpkin and cut three slashes in it. Put it on a cookie sheet and bake it in a 350 degree oven until you can easily stick a knife right through the pumpkin. Take it out, cut it open, remove the seeds, and scrape the flesh away from the skin. Puree the flesh in a food processor or mash it. You can line a strainer with coffee filters, put the pumpkin puree into it, set it over a bowl, and let it drain overnight. You’ll end up with very good pumpkin puree and no added food coloring or anything else they put in the canned stuff.

As for the pie, this is the recipe I use:
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
2 eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
In a large bowl, slightly beat eggs. Add brown sugar, flour, salt, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and evaporated milk. Stir well after each addition.
Pour mixture into the unbaked pastry shell. Place a strip of aluminum foil around the edge of the crust to prevent over browning.
Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake an additional 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove the strip of foil about 20 minutes before the pie is done so that the edge of the crust will be a light golden brown. Cool pie, and refrigerate overnight for best flavor.

Always gets rave reviews at Thanksgiving dinner. :)

By the way, you will most likely have leftover pumpkin puree. It freezes well and you can add it to pancake batter or make muffins or bread with it.

For the crust:
½ cup vegetable shortening
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cold water (ice water is best)
Mix shortening, flour, and salt together with a fork or a pastry blender until very crumbly. Add as much water as needed to hold together, and mix lightly with a fork.
Roll gently on a floured pastry cloth to about an inch larger than pie plate. Fold carefully in half, lift to pie plate, and unfold. Press into pan. For a single-crust pie, trim with a small knife to about ½ inch beyond rim. Fold up, and pinch so edge of pie is raised from rim.

You can make it a little easier on yourself by using the microwave to soften the pumpkin (if it’s small enough) or any other squash/gourd.

Poke several holes through the rind with a metal skewer and microwave, in a dish, on high power, checking every 4 minutes or so. When you can easily push a dent into it with your finger, remove it, let it cool and you’re ready to go. Be careful not to overcook though. My microwave will handle a soccer-ball-sized pumpkin in about 12 minutes.

@MissAusten That’s the way I always do it. I cut off the top, then put the entire pumpkin in the oven. When a fork tells me it is soft, I cut it into four pieces lengthwise (top to bottom) and scrape off the seeds and then scrape the flesh off the skin.