A Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Pies and Cakes (1966)

About the Recipe

It’s pumpkin pie season, friends! I love this time of the year. I love a creamy, spicy pumpkin pie with a crisp, flaky crust. When my son asked me to make some, I very happily went to my cookbook stack. I have to say – this might be my favorite of all the pumpkin pies I’ve ever made.

I love that this one kind of free-hands pumpkin pie spice. Like it a little more gingery? Great! Add more ginger! Want a little more soft heat? Throw in more nutmeg. The spice world is your oyster!

The recipe is a winner, but as always a few quick thoughts and tips to help drive success:

• If you’re not interested in the choose-your-own-adventure with the spices, use about 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice
• I used a classic Crisco pie crust for this one. Take note of the time to chill the dough. It’s not to firm up the Crisco, it’s to give the flour a little time to hydrate. Your dough will be much easier to work with.
• How to not get a crack in your pie: When you bake the pie, bake it until the outer inch to two inches of the filling are set. The middle should be a little jiggly still. Turn off your oven, but don’t take out the pie! Crack the oven open (I hold it open with a wooden spoon) and let the pie and the oven cool down together. The middle of your pie will set, and you won’t get a crack.

Enjoy and happy fall!

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t salt
1 to 1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cloves
3 slightly beaten eggs
1 1/4 cups milk
1 6-ounce can (2/3 cup) evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9-inch pastry shell

Directions:

Combine first 7 ingredients. Blend in eggs, milk, and evaporated milk. Pour into pastry shell (have edges crimped high because amount of filling is generous). Bake in hot oven (400*) 50 minutes, or till knife insterted halfway between center and edge come out clean. Cool.