Pumpkin Cream Pie

This pie is a family favorite disaster.

the famous Pumpkin Cream Pie!

I have been working on perfecting this pie for a couple of years now and

I can honestly say. . . 

I believe we have arrived!  

. . . Perfect results every time

This quest actually began as Grandma’s pie.  

My memories are of Thanksgiving dinner and the endless talk about how amazingly wonderful Grandma’s Pumpkin Cream Pie is.  None of that pasty baked custard stuff people are used to.

No  No  No. . . this is creamy goodness with no oven required

except for the crust which is baked in advance.

anyway every year the main topic of conversation centered around this pie.  Then every year they would complain about how it wouldn’t "set up this time”, it’s good. . . just, well. . . runny, sort of like a thick soup.

let’s just say. . . .

. . . it was a bit temperamental

Every year the conversation went a bit like this:

cook over double boiler so it doesn't scorch or cook too fast

maybe it needs more thickener

forget the double boiler, it needs more heat

perhaps it didn't cook long enough

I think it cooked too long. . . 

the list of reasons and discussion for failure seemed to endlessly evolve around these same points each Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember. . .

                                         as a child. . .

                                                             teen. . .

                                                                    pre-adult. . .

                                      adult. . . . 

so following the tradition for Pumpkin Cream Pie

a couple of years ago I set out to figure out what was wrong and fix it.

I have studied the science of thickeners

what they do, why some work, and some don’t

read

I have tested - making pumpkin pie

researched

run trials, making more pumpkin pie

studied

and tried various methods and have finally come to the final product. . .

Seriously, I made pumpkin pie in July, trying to figure this out, knowing, believing, having hope and faith that there was a solution to making this famous pie work.

Perfect Pumpkin Cream Pie. . . Consistently!

                                There you have it . . . 

Pumpkin Cream Pie!
(click here for recipe)

. . .  No longer to be known as the annual disaster

Happy Thanksgiving