I’m going to be straight with you. I may or may not have googled where the accent mark in “pumpkin purée” goes before posting this recipe. I mean come on, two e’s? How many does the word really need??
Purée rant aside, let’s get back to the real topic here: pumpkin pie!
To make a long story short, I’ve been trying to figure out ways to minimize food waste in our house these past few months. We compost and feed a lot of leftovers that don’t get eaten to our beloved flock of chickens, but it still feels like so much just goes to waste in the typical American household. This year at our pumpkin carving party, I took matters into my own hands in the form of pumpkin hoarding. It seemed a little silly to me that in the 90 degree heat we’ve been having that our loving carved creations would just melt once the sun came up. Seizing the opportunity to blame the weather, I took our pumpkins inside after the first day and decided to just put them on the chopping block. Literally.
It turns out, there is a bit of a difference between a carving pumpkin (your typical Jack-o-Lantern) and a baking pumpkin. Baking or pie pumpkins are usually smaller, sweeter, and have thicker flesh. Carving pumpkins are larger, less sweet, and have thinner flesh so that you can easily stab through it with your carving tools. After a bit of googling, I decided that I could make it work with what I had, which I why I have two recipes listed below – one for pie pumpkins and the other for the carving variety. This way, you can use whatever you might have on hand!
Pie Pumpkins
Ingredients List:
- 2-4 pie pumpkins
Kitchen Tools: baking sheet, food processor, aluminum foil, fine mesh strainer
Baking:
Preheat oven to 375*F. Slice each pumpkin into 4 wedges. Place pumpkin on baking sheet and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake for 45-60 minutes until a fork goes through the flesh with no resistance.
Prep Work:
Spoon the pumpkin flesh out of the skin and into your food processor. Pulse until smooth. Spoon purée into your fine mesh sieve. Over a sink, press down on your puree with a spatula until you have removed as much water as you can. You will most likely have to work in batches.
Transfer the pumpkin purée into a storage container and refrigerate until ready to use.
Carving Pumpkins
Ingredients List:
- 2 medium carving pumpkins
Kitchen Tools: baking sheet, food processor, aluminum foil, fine mesh strainer
Baking:
Preheat oven to 375*F. Slice each pumpkin into 4 wedges. Place pumpkin on baking sheet and cover tightly with aluminum foil.
Bake for 45-60 minutes until a fork goes through the flesh with no resistance.
Prep Work:
Spoon the pumpkin flesh out of the skin and into your food processor. Pulse until smooth. Spoon purée into your fine mesh sieve. Over a sink, press down on your purée with a spatula until you have removed as much water as you can. You will most likely have to work in batches.
Transfer the pumpkin purée into a storage container and refrigerate until ready to use.
Tips + Tricks
- Carving pumpkins contain much more water than pie pumpkins, so if you choose to use a carver, make sure you strain out as much water as possible.
- If you don’t have a fine mesh strainer, use a cotton dish towel! Just hold the four corners of the dish towel closed with one hand and squeeze the water out of the pumpkin purée with the other.
- Pie pumpkins tend to be sweeter than carving pumpkins, so be sure to taste your filling for sweetness when making pumpkin pie. I didn’t find that the carvers needed more sugar, but feel free to sweeten to your liking.
- The typical pumpkin pie filling that you find in a store is made with pie pumpkins, which is why these are the more traditional route.
