How to Make Pumpkin Pie Straight from the Pumpkin

Created By: unknown
Difficutly: easy
Time: 1 Hour 30 Min
Portion: 8 servings
Ingredients:

1 sugar pumpkin (approximately 6″ in diameter)

2 frozen pie crusts

4 large eggs

1 cup (250ml) milk or cream

1/2 cup (~110g) sugar

Ground cinnamon

Ground nutmeg

Directions:

1.) Cut a round cap around the stem and pop it off.
2.) Peel the outer skin from the top Peel the tough outer skin of the pumpkin with a sharp knife. Or, another way to remove the skin easily is to wait until after you have boiled the squares of pumpkin (step 5); the skin comes off much more easily after this.
3.) Scoop out the stringy insides and seeds.
4.) Cut the remaining outer shell into squares.
5.) Squares should look something like this. Boil the squares uncovered until they’re soft (the smaller the squares, the faster they’ll cook). The longer you cook, the thicker the resulting texture of the baked pie and the stronger the flavor. Cool and remove skin if you are peeling at this step.
6.) Place the squares into a blender with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste. This will become your filling.
7.) Prepare two bowls, putting a cups worth of filling in each.
8.) Add two eggs to each bowl and mix.
9.) Into the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius, Gas Mark 5).
10.) Transfer the filling from the two bowls to two pie crusts.
11.) Sprinkle gently with cinnamon.
12.) Wrap the pie crust edges in foil so that they don’t burn. Put the two pies in the oven for 45 minutes. Make sure they are on the same rack. If one gets more heat than the other, you’ll end up with one burnt pie and one uncooked one. Check on your pies after 30 minutes, to avoid burning.
13.) Let them cool at room temperature before eating. Refrigerate leftovers.

Notes:

• Line the pie crusts with a layer of thin apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon before pouring in the filling to mix things up.
• Sprinkle a teaspoon cumin powder on top of the pie before placing it in the oven for a dramatic flavor.
• As an alternative method, instead of boiling and peeling, cut the pumpkin in half at the equator. Scoop the seeds and strings, then place each half cut side down on a sheet pan in a 375 degree (190 Celsius, Gas Mark 5) oven until it is soft and a fork pierces it easily. Let it cool and scoop out the pumpkin, leaving the skin behind.
• Another alternative is to cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and fill part way with water before placing on a sheet pan and proceeding as above.
• For a different taste, replace some of the milk with egg nog. You might want to also reduce the sugar to compensate. Sprinkle nutmeg on top instead of cinnamon and you've got a taste of Christmas with your pies.