When I was a teen, we hosted a French foreign exchange student for a month during the summer. During the stay my parents decided to have a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner to share the cuisine. He loved the turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy. He did not eat the corn because “that is what you feed to the animals”. Once dinner was over the pumpkin pie came out. All of us dove into it and when he took his first bite the expression on his face turned to one of horror. He looked like he thought we were trying to poison him. He dove for the sink to spit it out and wash out his mouth. Obviously the texture and combination of fall spices was just too much for him to absorb. We ate on. Here with her own pumpkin pie story is Maggie….

My mom might kill me for posting this recipe. For years, she insisted that her mother passed it along to her as “secret”. Once she finally gave it to me, she disclosed that her mom, although a good baker, probably got the recipe from the side of a can in the 1940’s. Who knows? Regardless, this is my favorite pumpkin pie ever. It has such a good balance of pumpkin, spice and the vanilla just makes it perfect. I don’t care for pumpkin pies that have cloves, nutmeg, or any spices other than cinnamon and vanilla.; probably because I grew up with this recipe. I don’t think I even tasted pumpkin pie other than my mom’s until I was in college. Now I just never even bother. Nothing compares.

This is so good, I think the rest of the world needs to try it. Here you go, world wide web! Sorry Mom!

Pumpkin Pie

What you need:

1 large can of pumpkin (NOT pie filling- just pumpkin)

3T cornstarch

1t cinnamon (can increase a little if you wish)

4 eggs

2t pure vanilla

1 can evaporated milk

@1 ½ cups milk

1 ½ cups sugar

What you do:

Using a stand mixer or with a hand mixer combine pumpkin, cornstarch and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl until well blended. Add eggs and mix until fully smooth. Mix in vanilla. Open the evaporated milk and pour it into the empty pumpkin can. Fill the remainder of the can with milk and blend this into the pumpkin mixture. Finally, add the sugar and mix well until smooth.

Pour into your prepared pie crusts. Bake for about 30-45 minutes until filling is set. This makes three 9” pies. The filling keeps for about a week or so in the frig, so if you don’t want to bake all three pies at once, put it in a jar and save for later.

I sometimes just bake the filling alone in buttered ramekins for pumpkin custard. My daughter prefers it this way. I got tired of throwing away her entire crust scooped clean of filling!

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