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!
Rantings of an Amateur Chef 
Pumpkin pie sounds wonderful on a cold, raw day here in Vermont!
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I love the no crust idea! it’s not that the two of us here don’t like pie crust, but we tend to stay away from a lot of pastry, and pumpkin custard sounds delicious
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Yes, it is a time for a pumpkin pie. Thank you for sharing this.
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Your blog (cook book) is inspiring. I cook myself but not as good as you. Mostly Malaysian/Chinese/Malay with a dash of Western. Good for myself and family but not to be served to the public LOL.
I have a request/idea for you to consider. How about crafting up a slew of easy simple delicious meals for backpacking travellers on the go? Would be interesting yes?
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Your crust looks beautiful. It must taste as good as the pie.
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perfect for fall weather!
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that looks great!!
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Plain pumpkin that you spice yourself is the key to a great pie – this one looks amazing!
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We VERY rarely see canned pumpkin here in the UK – if you had to prepare pumpkin from scratch how would you go about it? Roast and puree maybe?
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Mashed Pumpkin: Use 1 1/2 pounds of skin-on, raw pumpkin to yield 2 cups of mashed. Halve pumpkin and scoop out seeds and stringy portions. Cut pumpkin into chunks. In saucepan over medium heat, in 1 inch of boiling water heat the pumpkin to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. Drain, cool and remove the peel. Return pumpkin to the saucepan and mash with a potato masher.
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Awesome! thank you very much for that 🙂
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my mum used to make an amazing pumpkin pie every halloween. unfortunately i never got the recipe off her before she died. im going to have give this one a go i think! but like Lisa above, Im in the uk so how much fresh pumpkin would you suggest??
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See reply to Lisa for preparing fresh pumpkin!
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Canned pumpkin is such a staple (readily available year round) in the US that I have never tried using fresh, but now I might just give it a shot. However, canned pumpkin is quite good, so I’ve just never bothered to take the time to make my own. I’ll let you know if I notice a big difference. I can say that in the US, we eat pumpkin-everything! I don’t think I’d make cookies, pies, cakes, muffins, rolls, and one of my fave- PUMPKIN PANCAKES if I had to rely on cooking down fresh pumpkin! Bummer!
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That is a beautiful pie.
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Looks lovely.
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For the pumpkin pie filling I used the recipe on the back of the Libby’s can ( here is the same recipe posted online ), only instead of a can of evaporated milk I used one cup of Silk original soy creamer (in the red carton).
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Thanks for sharing and tell Mom, “thanks” as well! It sounds so good that I’m going to try it – and I don’t even cook! ha ha! Well done and a nice little story to go with it! Take care! xo
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