Pantry Pumpkin Pie!

Okay, so happy belated thanksgiving.  This will be handy next year :)

With a bit of whip cream, perfect
(actually, after I took the photo i covered
it in the stuff...)



I'm sick, I've had a terrible cold but also a terribly busy weekend, which may have exacerbated my symptoms...but dammit I was on dessert duty, and what is tradition without a little pumpkin pie?  I was going to buy the pie but doing an audit of my pantry, I had all of the ingredients here already, so why not?

So, I'll confess, this is about as shortcut-homemade as you can do it.  It's not from scratch (really).  I've done it before.  I've roasted, peeled, pitted, pureed, strained the pumpkin, ground my spices, got the homemade pastry going (which I kind of suck at btw) and whipped some heavy cream (no cans here!) but you know what?  It's great, but I would be inclined to argue not really worth the work.

PANTRY PUMPKIN PIE (makes 2 pies)



Inspired by the recipe from the ED Smith pumpkin can with a few tips from the joyofbaking.com website.  I call it that because most of the stuff came from my pantry. :)



Some ingredients used...



2 frozen deep dish pie shells

1 can of pumpkin (it's about 7 hundred something mls)

1 can of 2% evaporated milk

1 1/3 C of light brown sugar packed

4 eggs

2t of cinnamon
1t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves ground
1C or so of gingersnap cookies, ground. (use a minichop or if you're really angry, put them in a Ziploc bag and smash em, you can have some bigger chunks there)

Preheat oven to 450

Crack your 4 eggs and whisk them up until beat (but not frothy)
Add the sugar and spices, whisk until combined
Add the milk and pumpkin, stir until well blended.



Ginger crumbs should coat bottom of crust



Take your frozen shells (not thawed, you want them cold) and divide the gingersnap cookie crumbs onto the bottom of the two shells

Place the pie shells on a very large cookie sheet (that fits in your oven people, measure before!)

Divide the pumpkin custard between the two shells evenly

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes

Reduce the temperature to 325 and bake for approx 40 minutes more



Fresh from the oven! The puffiness
 eventually goes  down...



The custard should be slightly risen, and a toothpick in the centre should not come out soupy when you test it.  Don't worry if you need an extra 5 in the oven, you should be fine.

Remove the pies from the oven and place on cooling racks for approx 2 hours or so.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to use

You can make these pies a few days in advance, just keep them in the fridge.

Enjoy with some fake whip cream from a can or a gigantic dollop of coolwhip.

YUMMY!!!  I would do it again just like this, my family really enjoyed these.  For a lighter colored filling, use half white sugar and half brown.