I love growing sugar pumpkins in my garden. I harvest them in the fall, and use them to make pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving. Sugar pumpkins are smaller and more tender than a large carving pumpkin. If you want to learn more about sugar pumpkins, Bon Appétit has a great article.
Here’s my pumpkin pie recipe, starting with a fresh pumpkin. You can substitute canned pumpkin if you don’t want to do this step. (But you should REALLY give it a try!) For the pie crust, here’s the link.
Makes 2 pies
Ingredients for filling
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized sugar pumpkin or canned pumpkin, use 3 cups of pureé
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 2 cups whipping cream or half and half
- vanilla ice cream or whipping cream for topping
Directions
- Cut the top off the pumpkin, and cut pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds, cut it into pieces.
- Place it on a steaming rack. Place rack into a medium sized pan, add about an inch of water in the bottom of the pot and cover with a lid. Bring it to a boil, and reduce heat once it boils. Steam it until it’s soft when tested with a fork, about 20 minutes.
- Remove pumpkin to a colander, to cool. Then peel the skin off with a paring knife. Place the pumpkin back into the colander and squeeze out any excess water.
- Place the cooked pumpkin into a food processor or blender, and puree the pumpkin. Now you’re ready to make pie filling.
- Now you are ready to make the filling. Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Place eggs in a medium-sized bowl, and whisk until blended. Add pumpkin puree, and honey. Stir well. Add spices, mix well. Now slowly add in cream.
- Roll out pie crusts into two 9 inch pie pans, according to pie crust recipe.
- Add half the filling into each pie tin.
- Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour in hot oven. Pie is done when the center rises up, and pie is firm when lightly shaken. Remove from oven and let cool.
