On our drive home from the Columbus airport, Todd asked me if I wanted to stop at the grocery store to shop for Thanksgiving. I told him we could go to buy the turkey but I didn't have my Thanksgiving shopping list ready and I didn't want to wander around the store going through a mental list of "Do I need this or do I need that?" We bought the turkey, some celery and chicken broth (those were on the way to the meat counter) and passed a table filled with boxes and boxes of pies. Todd took notice of this display and said, "Patrick requested pumpkin pie for dessert. Should we get one?"
"Sure."
"Oh we can wait 'til tomorrow and you can pick one up when you do your big shopping trip."
Tomorrow arrived and I went shopping around noon with my well-organized list. I got to the pie table and there were no more pumpkin pies. (WHAT?). I thought, "I'll just buy a couple pie crusts and make pumpkin pie." I am not a pie baker but I have my mom's pumpkin pie recipe, it's an easy one, so why not?
I had to search through a few old recipe books and finally found Mom's handwritten recipe. As you can tell, it's old, well-used, and the paper is getting brittle. It's my favorite pumpkin pie recipe because the ratio of spices is just right. So many times it seems like one of the spices dominates, but not in this case.
Mom smiles from above.
A tattered, stained recipe...
Tradition endures.
Back to baking the pies. I bought off-brand pie crusts and pre-baked them before putting the pumpkin pie filling in. Those crusts shrunk. Oy. Whatever...I poured the pumpkin pie mixture into them and then into the oven for baking. Not the best looking pies but nothing that a big dollop of whipped cream can't take care of.
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Pumpkin Pie
1 1/2 c. pumpkin
1 1/2 c. sugar (not quite)
1 1/2 c. milk
Pinch of salt (1/2 t.)
2 eggs
1 T. flour
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. allspice
1/8 t. nutmeg
1/8/ t. ginger
Bake at 450° for 10 minutes. Reduce to 350° and bake 35 - 45 minutes.
Sharp knife inserted in middle should come out clean.
I think my sister has mom's handwritten book, I brought home the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook from the late 1960's.
ReplyDeleteMy mom had an old BH&G cookbook - perhaps the same one - but it had fallen apart. One of the siblings pitched it when we cleaned out her house to sell.
DeleteI'm sitting here smiling as I read this. I have so many recipes that look just like that handwritten one. I've of course typed them out to keep in my personal cook book but I won't throw away the hand written ones.
ReplyDeleteThose handwritten ones are treasures.
ReplyDeleteWhipped cream covers a multitude of sins! 😉
ReplyDelete