Pumpkin Pie Perfection

Amidst the barrage of political warfare, my ears are practically ringing from Democrats and Republicans yapping at each other, when all I want to do is watch The Real Housewives. I do find it quite the oddity, the fact that hardly any of the women on the show are actually housewives. Some are businesswomen, some are socialites and heck most aren't even married. Soon, the label, "housewife" will sit on the same shelf as dinosaurs, called extinct.

Why? Because we're busy! Therefore, here's a super easy, quick and delish pumpkin pie recipe. I got the original pie recipe here, which called for a ready-made pie crust, but get real, that stuff has nothing on the real thing. Growing up, I remember my mom making pies and she would always use the, Better Homes & Garden Cookbook, pie crust recipe "because the crust is always more flakey using shortening." And because she engrained that in my brain, we're making it with a homemade crust. 

I chose to make the double crust recipe because I have a large pie pan and like a thick crust, but also because I love "Crispies." What are Crispies, you ask? Only one of my favorite treats from childhood. All you have to do, is take the leftover dough and roll it out. You can either cut out fun shapes with a cookie cutter or just leave it in strips, as I did. Before you put the strips in the oven, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Baking time varies on how thin you make them, I baked mine about 12 mins. These are great treats for kids who are crust snatchers, like me. I enjoy them best when they're right from the oven, fresh. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 (14 ounce) Sweetened condensed milk
2 Large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.

2. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Cool. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Pastry (Double Crust Recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
6-7 tablespoons cold water

Directions:

1. Stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-size. (I don't own a pastry blender, so I blended in small chunks of shortening into my mixing bowl)

2. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push
moistened dough to side of bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon water at a time, until all dough is moistened. Divide in half. Form each half into a ball. (I saved a little bit more than half for my pie pan, so I would have enough to make the crust)

3. On lightly floured surface, flatten 1 dough ball. Roll from center to edges into 12-inch circle.

4. To transfer pastry, wrap it around rolling pin; unroll into a 9-inch plate. Ease pastry into pie plate, being careful not to stretch pastry. Transfer filling to pastry-lined pie plate. Trim pastry on outer rim of pie plate.

5. Optional: Make Crispies with the remainder of the dough (directions above)

6. Optional: To make the edge like in my picture, use your pointer fingers with your thumb, pinch the dough and lightly squeeze it into a "Z" shape. Continue all around the pie plate.