SAMANTHA HILLMAN’S MOST PERFECT THANKSGIVING PUMPKIN PIE.

I’ve never met a pumpkin pie I didn’t like, and this one, in particular, is impossible to ruin, as all you’re really doing is whisking up the filling. Here I’ve controversially used a store-bought crust (a Whole Foods pre-made frozen pie shell, if you will), because I think the beauty of pumpkin pie is the simplicity of it, and because I can never get the crust quite right anyway. They shrink and they split and they crumble on me. I’ve overworked all the dough I’ve ever kneaded and burnt every shell I’ve blind-baked. Good pie crust demands patience, dexterity, and a willingness to scrape flour off walls that I lack. So eventually I decided to fuck that step off entirely and separate the joy that is baking a pie filling from the hell that is ruining its case. And because I’m not about to make a crustless pumpkin pie, like some sort of murderer, here we are. With a cleaner kitchen, more time, and a bought one. 

The filling is the hero anyway, and this one errs on the custardy side more than the pumpkin-y side. Partly because it can take a second to get around the whole vegetables-for-dessert thing, but mostly because I, like many, cannot be trusted around half-cans of condensed milk - and this recipe uses the entire thing. If you’re truly committed to homemade pastry, and honestly, good for you, there’s plenty of good recipes online, and probably even better ones handwritten and stashed in your nana’s / mum’s cooking notes. Use one of them. Better yet, get your nana/mum to make it for you. 

To make the filling, take these ingredients:

2 cups of pumpkin puree

One can of condensed milk 

1/4 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup 

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of good vanilla extract

1/3 cup double cream

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

And whisk them together in a bowl until very smooth and thick. 

Taste it (honestly the raw egg won’t kill you, but if you’re particularly paranoid you can whisk them in after the tasting step), to suss out if you need any more spices or salt and adjust accordingly. A good rule of thumb is that if it tastes good as a batter you’re on the right track. 

If you’ve made your own crust, stop bragging and spread it into a lightly buttered 9-inch pyrex pan. You may want to blind bake that, depending on the recipe. If you do, allow it to cool, and for god’s sake don’t let it brown. 

If you’ve bought a pie shell, this is a safe space, and fortunately, many frozen ones (or at least the Whole Foods ones) don’t need blind-baking at all. Simply pour the filling into it, and bake at 350 for around 45-60 minutes. It will probably be good2go at around 55 minutes, but ovens can be as temperamental as pie dough, and if yours happens to runs hot you’ll want to check on that early so as not to over-bake it. 

Seeing as the pie will continue to cook after you remove it from the oven, you want the edges of the filling to be set and slightly puffed, and the middle bit to still be a little bit jiggly. When that’s the case, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool and set for a couple of hours. Serve with lots of whipped cream, and if you feel like it, lie about making the crust. 

ENJOY!