Recipe: Little House Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Little House Homemade Pumpkin Pie
From: Mike Richman
Source: Slightly altered from The Little House Cookbook:

2 cups stewed pumpkin (slightly drier consistency than applesauce)
2 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cups of whole milk or half-and-half
pinch salt
pinch pepper
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

9 inch pie pan filled with your favorite crust
(We usually cheat and use Pillsbury All-Ready)

Cut pumpkin into slices 2 inches thick and pare off the skin. Dice the skinned pumpkin into 2 inch cubes, add to a skillet, and add enough water to steam. For a 10 pound pumpkin in a 12 inch skillet, we used 1 cup of water. Cover the skillet and steam on a medium heat for several hours. Keep an eye on the amount of water remaining and when it becomes soft mash it down. Remove the cover from skillet and then when it reaches the texture of applesauce, let it dry out another 10 minutes on a low heat. Measure out 2 cups and put into a bowl. Add 2 T butter to warm pumpkin puree and let it melt.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F).

In another bowl, beat the eggs well and beat in brown sugar, milk, salt, pepper, maple syrup, spices and finally the pumpkin mixture. Pour this into the pie shell and place in center oven rack at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake until the custard is firm. This should take a total of 40 minutes in all. Cool and serve.