Happy Thanksgiving: Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favourite holidays as I loved the family gathering and also the food. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and of course pumpkin pie. And while two of the previous items were not gluten free I would suffer all the pains just to have a taste of my mom's stuffing with gravy and pie for dessert. I have since forgone the stuffing as I have tried to make gluten free stuffings and they are just not the same, so I now unhappily decline the stuffing as it is just not worth it. But I knew this year that I could do a gluten free pumpkin pie as I have the perfect gluten free pie crust down pat. See my previous posting for the crust recipe and step by step instructions. 

                                               

All I needed was the perfect pumpkin pie filling, the one I remembered from childhood. Thankfully I have my grandmothers copy of the Women of Unifarm Cookbook (Alberta Farm Women) from 1972, which my mother also has. I remember making last years crustless pumpkin pie from this recipe and it tasted the same as mom's, well with one slight difference that will remain a secret between her and I. So I set out to make my first gluten free pumpkin pie today. Boy was it ever easy and the results are wonderful. I think it will be even better after a night in the fridge to completely set, if it makes it that far. 

                                               

Sometimes the older the recipe the less you have to change to make it wonderful. It was so simple. Just pumpkin, spices and the egg/milk custard for the filling. The only thing I changed was I omitted the flour from the original filling recipe as my mom had mentioned last year that she doesn't put it in. It did take considerably longer for the pie to bake so that the centre was set, 10-15 minutes more. And I rotated the pie a couple times for the crust to bake evenly. 

I loved the technique of starting at a higher temperature then lowering it. The crust was nice and crisp all the way to the bottom and not burnt around the edges. I will try this again.

                                               

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie (submitted to cookbook by Mrs. Jean Leskow)

Crust: 

recipe found on the posting The Perfect Gluten Free Pastry

Filling:

2 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg (or 1/3 freshly ground whole nutmeg)

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

3/4 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

Line 9" pie plate with pastry. Make hugh standing rim, flute. Chill in freezer while preparing filling. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Melt butter, stir into pumpkin with spices. Beat eggs till light, stir in sugar and salt with milk. Add pumpkin mixture, beat until smooth. Pour into pie shell. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 30-40 minutes longer, or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean.