Finally, after many years I now have a pumpkin pie recipe.  I only made apple pies until now, but since this pumpkin pie recipe is so easy I’m sure it will appear at my holiday dinner table for many years to come.  Are you ready to try making a homemade pie crust – it’s not that hard.  Otherwise go ahead and use a factory made frozen pie crust, which comes out just fine. This pumpkin pie recipe is adapted from the one on the label of Libby’s canned pumpkin.  I use more of the spices because to me that is where all the taste of a pumpkin pie comes from.  Ingredients: ¾ cup sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground ginger ½ teaspoon ground cloves ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg 2 eggs, beaten 15 ounces canned pumpkin (I use one whole 15 ounce can of Libby’s Pure Pumpkin) 12 ounces evaporated milk (I use one whole 12 ounce can Carnation evaporated milk) 1 frozen pie shell, or a homemade crust in a glass pie plate  9 x 1¾ inches (inside measure) 1 extra egg, beaten, for a wash to apply to the crust I use fresh ginger and cloves and grind them in a mortar and pestle like I do with my Thai recipe spices.  But you can buy both ginger and cloves pre-ground.  Just mix everything together well, except for the evaporated milk.  Then add the evaporated milk gradually until everything is well combined.  Take the extra beaten egg and brush it all along the rim of the pie crust.  This will keep the rim from burning and give the crust a bake shop look that you will be very impressed with. Then pour the mixture into the pie shell. For stability, and to prevent spills, be sure to place the pie shell on a baking sheet before putting it in the oven.  Bake 50-70 minutes at 350 degrees until done.  Extra step:  For a flakier bottom crust, pre-heat the cookie sheet alone for a few minutes before placing the unbaked pie on it to bake in the oven.  Otherwise, the bottom of the crust will become soggy as it bakes.  This really works! You will have to monitor the pie because your oven may be cooler or hotter than mine.  It may take over an hour for the pie filling to cook through completely.  You can test to see if the pie is done by sticking a knife in the middle and seeing if it comes out nearly clean, which indicates that the filling has turned mostly solid.  The knife can come out a little bit wet because the filling will still cook a little and become a little more solid as the pie cools. If the top of the crust starts to brown too much, or burn, try placing a sheet of aluminum foil over the pie to shelter the crust.  Some recipes call for cooking the pie at over 400 degrees for the first few minutes.  They say that is to set the crust shape for crusts that have a high fat content, some crusts may slump in the pan.  But when cooked at 400+ degrees with my pie crusts it just burns the crust so I skip all that.    Just cook it at 350 until it is done.  Serve with whipped cream! Notes on evaporated milk:  Evaporated milk is just regular whole milk with over half the water removed, to make baked goods creamier.  So I don't think using skim milk will work very well.  If you can find powdered milk, you could follow the directions for reconstituting it, but only add 40% of the water called for on the package.  Or, you could use buttermilk if you have it.  Finally, you could try making evaporated milk by simmering whole milk until about 60% of the volume is reduced.  Be careful to simmer slowly as the milk will easily scald and burn.
Pumpkin Pie
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