Page 69 - United States of Pie

Pumpkin Pie

The saying should be “as American as pumpkin pie,” because
while apples are thought to have originated as far east as China, it is
the pumpkin that is indigenous to North America. Native Americans
used dried pumpkin as a jerky-like substance to snack on throughout
the long winters, as well as cutting and drying strips of pumpkin and

weaving them into mats. When the first European settlers came to
the New World, they too began to cook and bake with this new crop.
They found pumpkins texturally similar to the winter squashes they
had been cooking in Europe, so they baked, boiled, mashed, and
flavored the pumpkin. Recipes for winter squash pie were developed
into pumpkin pie—and a favorite of holiday tables was born!
This recipe uses freshly roasted sugar pumpkin pulp, but you can

use commercially canned pumpkin purée, if you must. Making your
own pumpkin purée could not be any simpler, and it makes for a rich
and supremely smooth filling. It also freezes beautifully, so you could
roast a few sugar pumpkins at the beginning of the season and eat
pumpkin pie all year long!

½ recipe Standard Pie Dough or

Sour Cream Pie Dough

1¼ cups pumpkin purée, preferably homemade
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour