Crustless Pumpkin Pie

[unicornduke]

This pumpkin pie is a little different than standard pumpkin pies. It is delicious and tasty and it was developed as a crustless pie. I think it's probably best to make in a pie plate that is not aluminum. The recipe is from Carol Deppe's The Resilient Gardener.

 

Makes 2 pies in 10 inch pie plates

 

Ingredients

6 cups cooked mashed winter squash - sweeter non-stringy squash is better for this

2 cup eggs

2 cups heavy cream

1 to 3 cups brown sugar, to taste depending on how sweet the squash is

4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Pinch cloves

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

 

Directions

Measure and combine squash, spice mix, vanilla, sugar, salt in a very large stainless steel bowl.

Add eggs and beat for a few seconds

Add cream and blend into a smooth batter

Pour into two pie plates

Bake 350 for 45-60 minutes (should be risen almost in a dome, it will be done baking when it no longer jiggles)

Remove pies from oven and cool on rack (will sink to flat)

Cover pies and refrigerate for a day

 

The hardest part is the last step. You can eat it immediately but it tastes better the longer it sits. You can make this recipe without a stand mixer or hand mixer, just be ready to do some vigorous beating.

Comments

[dragonlady7]

MY BODY IS READY

oh man i think i have some frozen squash! i'd hate to use canned pumpkin (which we all know is squash anyway) but i might have to.

wait 2 cup eggs-- is that just supposed to be 2 eggs, or do you crack eggs until you've got 2 cups?

hilarious irony: i forgot to get eggs last time i was at the farm and now i have like, a scant dozen to get me through the next two weeks. whoops.

[unicornduke]

Lmao, then maybe don't make this recipe because it is 2 cups of eggs. I mean, you could halve it. I think I used 8 or 9 eggs when I made it last week and it was for 5 cups worth. Lots of eggs. So damn good though. I've been eating it for breakfast and stuff. So good

[dragonlady7]

Yeah... I was skimming and was like ohh that's doable, but then I was like, isn't this basically a custard, don't you need a lot more than 2 eggs, and then I read it closer and was like oh right gotcha.

I mean... a crustless pie... is basically a custard, right? Not to be reductive. It does sound fantastic.
Maybe I'll have to (*shudder*) buy eggs...

[unicornduke]

I mean, pumpkin pie is a custard pie, so you remove the crust, then custard.....

I don't know if most custards set up so much though. hmmm.

we could just say that it is made in a pie plate so therefore pie lol

if you halve it, it might only be 5 eggs or so.... but then you only have one pie.

[graydon]

Hardly anyone in my family (including me!) could eat this, which makes me sad. That's an impressive recipe!

[unicornduke]

awww, that's too bad! It's a basic custard so depending on what the issue was, you might be able to sub in.... I'm guessing the eggs and the cream are the problems

[graydon]

It's the dairy. Eggs are fine, thankfully, but dairy is Right Out.

(It's kinda annoying to have robust lactase persistence and a food intolerance to dairy-in-the-general-case.)

I've never found a really good custard substitute solution; there's stuff that uses coconut but pumpkin-coconut's an acquired taste. I'd rather go with bacon-pumpkin, honestly.

[unicornduke]

interesting that cream can't really be subbed for. I would have thought someone would have come up with something. That must be very irritating!

[graydon]

Cream is a very specific wet fat; it's hard to fake. The non-dairy, non-soy substitutes are coconut cream (taste issues, doesn't set on its own) and cashew cream (really doesn't set on its own); I'm scared of trying "let's add a lot of tapioca to pumpkin" because I figure the first four tries would approximate pumpkin spice ballistic gelatin.

Kinda like gluten-free bread; you can get something that's enjoyable to eat, but gluten is what makes the sponge and allows leavened bread, it's not really substitutable so you can get actual bread in gluten-free baking. Much the same with how custards or ganache or any of the other milk puddings set.

[unicornduke]

Makes a lot of sense! pumpkin spice ballistic gelatin sjdfklasjdkgladjsklgjl

[tielan]

OOOH. I still have two pumpkins that we haven't eaten. (TBH, we aren't huge on pumpkins in our household, but they're one of the things that I can actually grow...)

[unicornduke]

I'm not huge on pumpkins either except in baked goods. You definitely should make it :)