Pumpkin Pie: the Basic Recipe

Jan here, giving all of you a head's up: Pumpkin Pie is too easy to resort to buying pre-baked pies from the grocery store!

Okay, I understand no time to bake. I understand last-minute changes of plans. I even understand feeling those heebie-jeebies about getting the pie crust right.

But this year I'm encouraging you to try this basic recipe. You have enough time to make it two or three times before Thanksgiving...and then won't you be the star of the gathering? Think about it - the children's eyes wide as they regard that beautiful pie - your husband's (or wife's) beaming face - your mother-in-law!!!

YES! You can do this!

Easy-Peasy-Lemon-Squeezy.

Start with the crust:

You can go here for my Never-Fail Pie Crust recipe and step-by-step instructions.

Or you can go here for Ruthy's favorite pie crust - also with step-by-step instructions.

Or, if you have to, buy the frozen pie crust from the store. But it's worth taking the time and effort to learn how to make a good pie crust!

Next is the filling:

Believe me, this is the easiest part of all. I use the recipe on the back of the Libby's Pumpkin can. Not the "Pumpkin Pie Filling" can. The pumpkin puree in the smaller can.

I did a step-by-step tutorial on pumpkin pie here.

See how easy it is? 

So, you have no excuse, do you?

And think how much your family will enjoy those practice pies as you get ready for the big day!

Let us know - Have you ever made pie from scratch? If you haven't, are you willing to try?

Jan Drexler spent her childhood dreaming of living in the Wild West and is now thrilled to call the Black Hills of South Dakota her home. When she isn’t writing she spends much of her time satisfying her cross-stitch addiction or hiking and enjoying the Black Hills with her husband of more than thirty-seven years.

Spring Fever Tonic: Rhubarb Custard Pie

How do we know spring is almost here?

You've felt it, haven't you?

On one hand, there are spring bulbs pushing their way through last year's debris, and birds arriving from the south on gentle breezes.

On the other hand, Old Man Winter is holding tight with both hands, refusing to let go.

We'll have a sunny warm afternoon one day, and the next day winter will come roaring back with a biting north wind carrying snow on its tails.

Except as the weeks go by, the wind doesn't bite quite so hard, and the snow doesn't last quite as long....

Don't worry. Spring will come. God promised, and He always keeps His promises :)

But I'm getting antsy. I can't wait to get back to the trails in the Hills!

The view east from Mt. Rushmore - in warmer weather!

Meanwhile, I have the perfect tonic for our Spring Fever.

It isn't rhubarb season for a while, but I saved some of last year's just to make this pie. 

Totally worth the wait!

This recipe is from my mother-in-law's side of the family (don't we just love old family recipes around here?). When she gave it to me, she wrote on the card "Grandma Ebenhoeh." I think she meant her mother - my husband's grandmother - but it could very well be from her mother, as well.

Edith (on the left) with one of her sisters in the Nason House.

Before she married, Grandma was called Edith. She and one of her sisters - I'm not sure which one, but she had eight of them - worked at the biggest house in town as domestics. That would have been in the early 1910's.

After she married John, and for many years after that, she was called Mama by her fourteen children (thirteen survived to adulthood).

My mother-in-law remembers that she was a wonderful cook, and the meals were always plentiful and good on their Michigan farm.

One big trial of her life was World War Two. She had five sons, and two of them enlisted early in the war. You can imagine how hard those years were for her! But they survived the war, and all thirteen children married and had families of their own.

One of her daughters is a regular visitor to the cafe - Hi, Aunt Jane!

And, believe it or not, her birthday is March 20, the first day of Spring!

This recipe is fantastic, and the perfect accompaniment - not cure, sorry - for Spring Fever.

Grandma Ebenhoeh's Rhubarb Custard Pie

Ingredients:

Unbaked 9-inch pie shell (not prebaked - not for this pie)
2 eggs, well beaten
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups rhubarb - fresh or frozen
1 Tablespoon butter

If you use frozen rhubarb, thaw it and drain the juice.

Preheat your oven to 450°.

Get your pie shell ready. If you don't already know how to make your own pie crust, here's the step-by-step demo I did a while back: Jan's pie crust demo. Or you can always cheat and buy those refrigerated or frozen crusts from the store. (I won't tell Ruthy!)

Now, this is not a pudding or cream pie, so don't prebake the crust. Just have it ready for your filling.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, and then add the rest of the ingredients - but save the rhubarb for last so you can get the rest well mixed before adding chunks of fruit.

This is your custardy goodness! Now add the rhubarb (see it in the strainer in the background?) and pour the whole kit and kaboodle into your pie crust.

Dot the top with butter, and it's ready to go in the oven.

There's one little detail I left out when I made my pie. I don't like brown crusts, so I always put strips of aluminum foil around the edge...except this time.

Brown crust. Sigh.

I got over it.

Stick the pie in your oven (450° - remember?) for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350°, and continue baking until it's done. That detail depends on your oven - anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. How do you know it's done? Do the wiggle test. Gently move the oven shelf - if the filling moves like a water bed, it isn't done.

Let your pie cool - at least to room temperature - and then serve. We ate ours plain, but wouldn't it be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream?

Now it's your turn. What is your favorite spring tonic?

Oh, and I almost forgot! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Pie Crust Blues

Tex here. A few weeks back, Ruthy did a post on quiche (click here to see it) which got me to craving quiche. So after a few days of thinking about nothing but quiche, I decided to make my own. To do this, I started with one of those refrigerated pie crusts that are already rolled out. They're good, they're easy, and...well, they're easy.

The quiche was great, the crust was great, nuf said.

So Saturday, I decided to make that mouthwatering treat again. Except I didn't have any refrigerated pie crusts. And I wasn't about to run to the store. I'll just make my own.

Epic failure.

I've tried countless times to make my own pie crust, but I can never get them to roll out right. I made sure my ingredients were cold. I wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for thirty minutes. I was careful not to add too much flour or water.

I don't get it. Why can I not do this?

Ruthy would say it's because I didn't use her never-fail pie crust (recipe here), which is probably true. Nor did I go back and look at Jan's pie crust demo (click here to see it and be a better person than me).

Sigh.

Alas, on the second try, I finally got the crust rolled out enough to fit in the pie plate. I didn't care much what it looked like because, like people, it's what on the inside that counts. So until I can master the art pie crusts there's only one thing left to do.

Let them eat cake!

(This gorgeous creation is courtesy of my daughter, Rachel and her little helper on the right.)

Pies and Generations

Jan here, getting ready for one of my favorite holidays!

What is it about Thanksgiving that brings out the best in us? We spend a whole week or more preparing for an entire day of giving thanks. And when we do it right - the giving thanks part, not the preparing part - aren't we blessed with the best day ever?

One thing I give thanks for quite often is my family - past, present and future.

This is a picture of my mom (the little girl in glasses), my grandmother (looking more stunning than I ever remember her looking!) and my uncle, Johnny, taken in 1936. These are the people who gave me my love for pies (and books, too, but that's another story).

My grandmother taught home economics before she got married, and was well prepared to be a wife and mother. Then the Great Depression hit - and Grandma used her skills to feed her family very frugally. 

My dad says one of his first memories of his mother-in-law was noticing how thin her pie crust was. She got more pies out of a batch of dough than anyone else he knew.

My mom never felt she was as good a cook as her mother, but I think she was better in the kitchen than she realized. 

This picture is her in 1940 at age eleven, with a cake she baked herself. Not bad, right?

This side of the family - my mom's side - is Church of the Brethren from way back. Like back in Germany in the 1600's.

My dad's side was Amish, became Amish-Mennonite, and then Brethren.

And that's a huge pie heritage that I inherited.

So when I was asked to review this new cookbook by Jerry and Tina Eicher, I turned to the pies, first thing. And of course there are pie recipes in an Amish Cookbook!

Since Friday, the 9th, was my Mom's 83rd birthday, I decided to make her favorite kind of pie - Custard.

It's also my favorite pie. Go figure :)

The Eicher's cookbook has a the same crust recipe as I use, but since it only makes enough for one pie, I did cheat a bit as a reviewer - I used my own pie crust recipe.

So we'll start with the crust.

Never-Fail Pie Crust

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 cup shortening

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 beaten egg

5 1/2 to 6 Tablespoons water

Blend the flour and salt in a medium bowl.

Cut in the shortening. I like to use butter, but it also makes a great pie crust with lard or vegetable shortening (i.e. Crisco). The butter gives you a better tasting crust that browns more easily, but the lard or shortening gives you a flakier crust.

Anyway, cut in the butter or shortening, and then beat the egg in a separate bowl, and add the vinegar and water. The amount of water you add will depend on the humidity on the day you make the crust. It's a good idea to start with the lesser amount, and then add more later if you need it.

Pour the liquid into the flour mixture, and mix well. The dough should be able to stick together, but not be sticky. If you aren't able to form the dough into a ball, add a bit more water. If it's too sticky, sprinkle in a little more flour.

This recipe makes enough dough for three single crust pies, or one single crust and one double crust. 

Now, you need pie plates. Here's a look at my collection.

The three on the top are ones I've had for years. The bottom three are ones that were my mom's, and I rescued them (along with a van full of other stuff) from my dad's garage sale last spring. I normally use an 8" pie plate, but one of my mom's is a 9". 

One thing I like about this custard pie recipe is that it gives you the ingredients for either an 8" or 9" pie.

Now, divide your pie crust dough into thirds, and roll out one third on a floured board or counter.

Try to keep the thickness of the dough even - but, you know what? Nobody will notice if one side is 1/8" thick and the other is 1/4" thick.

This next step is where a dough scraper comes in handy. A spatula would work, too.

Carefully lift the edges of your pie crust, lifting the crust as you loosen it, and lay it over your free hand.

When you've folded over half the dough, loosen the remaining half, but leave it on the board.

Now get one of your pie plates, and ease your folded dough onto the plate.

Carefully...carefully...fold the top half of your dough over to the other side of the pie plate.

Next it's time to ease the crust down into the plate. You don't want to just push the dough into the corners - that stretches the dough, and as it's baking, it will shrink back to its original size.

So lift and ease the dough into the plate.

Now the fun part. Do you remember the scene from Disney's Snow White movie where Snow White is making a pie and the birds carry away the scraps of the crust as she trims them off? Lift the pie plate up, angle a table knife along the edge of the plate and slice around the edge of the pie. Sorry, I can't guarantee cute birds will show up!

Final step: crimp the edges, and your pie crust is ready. 

How do you crimp the edges? Pinch the dough between your index fingers and thumbs of both hands, more along the crust and repeat the motion, over and over until you've gone all the way around.

Yes, it takes practice.

Yes, it's a skill worth developing :)

Now for the filling!!!!

Old-Time Custard Pie

Ingredients for an 8" pie:

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 3/4 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Beat eggs slightly; beat in remaining ingredients. Pour into pastry-lined plate. Bake 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until knife inserted halfway between crust and center comes out clean, 10-20 minutes longer.

As you can see, I didn't get a picture before the vultures descended.

And yes, it tasted that good!

My mom would love a bite, but since she lives 1000 miles east of the Black Hills, I'll just have to eat her piece.

She won't mind. Really.

Oh, and remember that my pie crust recipe makes enough dough for three pies? I rolled out the crust, put it in pie plates, and stuck the other two in the freezer.

Next week? Pumpkin Pie !