With Canadian Thanksgiving coming up this weekend, we decided it was a perfect opportunity to share Claudia’s special pumpkin pie recipe.

Now, there is a furious debate in our household on whether or not pumpkin pie should be eaten warmed up with vanilla ice cream or with whip cream. Now, when I say in our “household” I mean it’s a debate between my immediate family (i.e. my brother, Claudia, my Dad and me)  against the newcomers – my boyfriend and my brother’s girlfriend. My family feels that anything other than vanilla ice cream on pumpkin pie is simply absurd. The newcomers (and apparently everybody poled on our Facebook fan page) think otherwise. I still stand by my ice cream opinion.

For the best pie crust ever, you will need:

5 cups flour

1 lb Tenderflake shortening

1/2 cup water

1 tsp. salt

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 egg

For the best ever pumpkin pie filling, you will need:

1.5 cups pureed pumpkin

1 tbsp flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cloves

3 eggs

1/2 cup whipping cream

Now another debate – to use canned pumpkin or roast your own pumpkin. Claudia uses roasted pumpkin. When she told me this entire pumpkin pie blog process may take a few hours because of the roasting part, I asked “why can’t we just use canned pumpkin?”. I was given the disappointed mother look and I didn’t complain further.

The thing is, fresh roasted pumpkin tastes so much better in pie. The pie colour will be lighter because canned pumpkin actually has food colouring added to it. Who wants that?

1.5 cups pureed pumpkin usually equates to 1 small pumpkin. Cut it length wise and scoop out seeds and stringy flesh.

So fresh and so clean!

Place pumpkin cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 1 hour in a 350 F oven until flesh is browned and tender.

Roasted to perfection.

Let cool.

Scoop out all the roasted pumpkin flesh.

How could you possibly go back to canned pumpkin after seeing this fresh deliciousness?

Place in a food processor and puree until completely smooth.

Now that you have your pumpkin all sorted out, let’s make the dough for the pie crust!

Combine flour, salt, brown sugar and diced up shortening.

Cut the shortening into the dry ingredient mixture until fully incorporated.

Mix water, vinegar and egg together.

Pour into flour and shortening mixture.

Work dough with your hands and kneed slightly into a ball.

Kneading is very therapeutic after a long day.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for an hour or so.

Cold dough is easier to work with than at room temperature.

So be patient and chill – watch some football like I did. Seriously, I did.

After dough is chilled, roll it out on the counter.

Hint: Claudia uses a piece of plastic bag to aid in flipping the dough over.

Allow us to demonstrate:

Make sure your dough fits the pie pan (kinda important)

Now flip!

Shape dough around the edges of the pie pan.

Poke holes in the bottom of the pie to allow for steam to escape.

Trick #2 for great pie crust: use parchment paper and lima beans as a weight while baking so crust doesn’t shrink up!

Genius. But we can’t take credit for this idea. I saw it on the Food Network.

Bake pie crust for 15-20 minutes at 375 F until golden brown.

In the mean time beat your eggs and sugar for the pumpkin pie filling.

Next beat in your flour.

And your spices.

Place your roasted pureed pumpkin into a large sauce pot and incorporate.

Mix in your whipping cream.

Simmer filling until thick – approximately 5 – 10 minutes.

Cool your cooked pie filling slightly.

Pour thickened pumpkin pie filling into crust and bake for one hour at 350 F.

Flakey golden crust and pumpkin pie deliciousness.

Serve with whip cream if you must…

…but THIS is the way it should be served!

I think the “household” wins again.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

by | 15 Comments

15 Comments on Pumpkin Pie

  1. Baking Serendipity
    October 5, 2010 at 10:22 PM (14 years ago)

    I could totally go for a slice of pumpkin pie! We never make our first until American Thanksgiving in November, but I’m seriously tempted to splurge and start early this year 🙂

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      October 6, 2010 at 8:27 AM (14 years ago)

      I definitely think you should splurge. There is nothing wrong with you celebrating early with some pumpkin pie on Canadian Thanksgiving…we’re neighbours after all 🙂

      Reply
  2. torviewtoronto
    October 6, 2010 at 2:09 PM (14 years ago)

    lovely steps
    delicious
    check out the event in my site

    Reply
  3. kmar
    October 6, 2010 at 2:29 PM (14 years ago)

    we love!!!! pumpkin pie we will eat it with ice cream, AND whipping cream!!!!(there are 5 of us!)

    Reply
  4. Lisa
    October 7, 2010 at 5:30 PM (14 years ago)

    What a great photo tutorial. I love pumpkin pie.

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      October 7, 2010 at 8:21 PM (14 years ago)

      Thanks everybody! I’m glad you enjoyed the step-by-step posting!

      Reply
  5. Danelle
    October 7, 2010 at 9:34 PM (14 years ago)

    My hubby is Canadian. Happy Thanksgiving! And I’m so impressed you made your pie with fresh pumpkin. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Debbie
    October 7, 2010 at 10:39 PM (14 years ago)

    A friend was just asking me if I knew how to make pumpkin pie from scratch. Thanks for all the photos and step by step instructions!

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      October 18, 2010 at 5:01 PM (14 years ago)

      You’re welcome Debbie! We love reading step-by-step food blogs, so we really try hard to do the same on ours. Thanks for reading!

      Reply
  8. Prairie Story
    October 8, 2010 at 6:56 PM (14 years ago)

    I love pumpkin pie. I’m baking my grandma’s recipe tonight!! HAPPY Thanksgiving! ~Alison

    Reply
  9. Courtney
    October 16, 2010 at 7:04 PM (14 years ago)

    Yay for Canadian Thanksgiving! I love seeing foodies make real no-can pumpkin pie. Yours look perfectly delicious!

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      October 18, 2010 at 5:00 PM (14 years ago)

      Thanks Courtney! The no-can pumpkin is so simple, especially when pumpkins are easy to find!

      Reply
      • Cornelia van Heezik
        October 5, 2016 at 5:35 PM (8 years ago)

        It looks like a lovely pie, but I noticed that you did not mention that the pie mixture was to be divided, it should be divided into 5 or 6 portions. I always keep the remaining portions wrapped in cling film in the freezer. Also the “lima” beans used inside the pie crust are red kidney beans. Lima beans are flat, green and round, somewhat smaller than fava beans. Good luck with your cookbook, Cornelia, Victoria, B.C.

        Reply
  10. Alicia Topor
    August 7, 2023 at 11:43 PM (1 year ago)

    Love this receipe. Looks very similar to the one I got from my mother. I did notice the colour is lighter though. I add 1 Tbsp oil (Mazola) & then 1 Tbsp. molasses to my receipe. It makes the filling a more darker colour instead of the faded brown. By adding the oil first, the molasses pours right out of the spoon into the filling. I also can’t have whipping cream so I use an entire can of evaporated milk. I don’t precook my filling but just mix it all up with the ingredients & pour it into an unbaked pie shell. I use a deep dish pan as it does fluff up a bit when baking from the eggs. From: a former Winnipeger

    Reply

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