My first pumpkin pie...

Thursday night came and went with a lot of fanfare. I deliberately chose not to turn on the computer, so I would not be distracted from the many tasks at hand. I walked in the door around 5:45 or so, and immediately set to work building a fire. My sweet husband had scooped and dumped the ashes and restocked the firewood, so I was all set. So kind! Next I worked on supper: mashed potatoes and a meat-free sausage (Grain Meat Co makes really great flavors, including Apple - Sage, which is what I had). I read part of my book while eating, taking my time, wanting not to rush into the pie baking. These are practice pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. Not wanting to fail miserably baking them for the first time on Thanksgiving morning, I decided I better try my luck now. In addition to generously stocking the wood pile for me, Thomas also picked up a few more pumpkins from his parents, so I could cook them up for the real pies. I started then by preheating the oven and baking pumpkins. I figured they would be done by the time I was ready to slide pumpkin pies in, as well as partially preheating the oven. Then I pulled out the mixer. I got everything ready and went to town. Now my first mistake may have been my own nostalgia. My mom sent me my Great Grandma Wojcik's Pumpkin Pie Recipe. I realized that when we had gone through Grandma's recipe box after she passed away, I had already copied some of the favorites. For the pumpkin pie, she had duplicate recipe cards, so I actually have one of hers. What I failed to realize is that following the print out from my mom would have been a lot simpler. Apron tied tight, I started with the eggs. One, two, three - had a problem. The third egg I cracked had two mini yolks. Shoot...phone a friend time! I called Marie. I know she is an excellent baker, and if in a real pinch, she probably would have driven the mile to come over and help me out. But first the phone call: is it okay if there are two little yolks in one egg? Do I still add the fourth egg? Should I fish them out and add a normal yolk instead? Evidently it is much more common than I realize; though I love to cook eggs and do at least weekly, I have never seen a double yolk egg.

The two mini yolks on the right were really cute and little.

The fourth egg and the sugar went in. Next, the recipe calls for a "#2 1/2 (large) can pumpkin". When baking the pumpkin bread last week, the equivalent was 2 1/2 cups fresh pumpkin. On my grandma's recipe card on the same line as this ingredient it listed "3 1/2- 4 cups". Subconsciously knowing better, I had pureed 4 cups of pumpkin, so I added it all. Second mistake... I added all the rest of the ingredients. My third mistake, albeit a little one, was turning the mixer up to high. It is a powerful mixer and will splash a mostly liquid recipe all over. The pumpkins in the oven were not quite ready to come out, but I figured it would be okay to turn the heat to begin preheating for the pie. The recipe card lists two different temperatures and times. I had no idea if this was normal, so I made my second phone-a-friend call. "Marie, the recipe says 15 minutes at 475 or 45 minutes at 400. Is this a choice or do I do both?" She advised me that, indeed, it is not a choice. She also thought the temperatures seem really high, especially for our elevation. She recommended not setting it so high, in case the pumpkin would cook too fast on the outside. I made my adjustments and pulled out the frozen pie shells from the freezer. Yes, I went to such great lengths to make a homemade pumpkin pie, and I used pre-made frozen crust! My friend Arzella told me once, and Arzella can really bake, that you cannot usually tell the difference between a store bought and a homemade crust, so why bother? It's more effort than it is worth. I figured at the very least I could cheat this way on the practice versions. The crust wrapper said to preheat the cookie sheet and proclaimed the advantage of using a cookie sheet for carrying it in and out of the oven, as well as catching overflow, so in it went. Then it was time. I set the pie pans on the hot cookie sheet and began to fill. There was a lot more filling after the two crusts were filled to the brim. I had seen Marie use ramekins to bake the extra filling. Sans crust, it was still a delicious treat. In fact, I still had one of her ramekins from getting to bring home a pumpkin custard treat. I also had a mini bread pan in the dish rack from when I made pumpkin bread for the first time the week before. I filled it with pumpkin custard to the brim, too. The ramekin fit on the cookie sheet with the pies, and I slid it into the oven. The little mini loaf went on the shelf below. I set the timer for fifteen minutes and went back to my book. The oven smelled good at first. Then there was a burning smell. It looked like the crust was going to char at the high temperature, and I was nervous not to turn it down. I made my third phone-a-friend call to Marie pleading what to do about the crust and was it too late to wrap foil around the edges or should I just let the edges burn and then break them off later...oh the woe and worry... Marie confirmed my suspicion that it would be difficult at this stage to try to foil the edges and suggested I bake it at 350 for the last 45 minutes. The buzzer rang, and I adjusted the temperature and the timer once again. This time I fixed a cocktail before going back to my book. With the oven hot and the fireplace sizzlin', it was warm in the house. I needed a cold drink to calm my fears, though I could still smell something burning. A full fifteen minutes after the buzzer sounder, I finally thought the custard was set enough to pull the pies out. I guess the higher temperature would have been okay. The crusts looked great. The custard was fine. The mini loaf pan on the bottom shelf had boiled over and left charred sugar and pumpkin crusted down the edges and on the bottom of the oven. Why it wasn't the edges burning at all...just my big mistake of adding an extra cup and a half of pumpkin that necessitated baking it in anything I could get my hands on. Alas, Tori, alas... So the baked pumpkin was peeled and back in the fridge. The counter and dishes were cleaned. The pies cooled. I had finished my book. I was tired! I left a note for Thomas to help himself to the little blue ramekin of custard when he got home from work, but it was still there when I awoke in the morning, so I ate it for breakfast. Not bad... We split the mini loaf of custard after lunch on Friday, and I will take a pie to Julie's birthday party tonight. All in all I learned a lot. I think I will be ready for Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks!

It all turned out okay. Still more squash to bake and turn into a delectable dish.