Finally – October’s upon us! It’s time to watch Hocus Pocus reruns, dig out the sweaters from the depths of your closet and start preparing for – you guessed it – Halloween! As much as I enjoy fall, it’s really a precursor to the busiest time of year. Among all of the craziness if you’d like to actually cook some traditional holiday recipes but you have hardly any experience – that just adds to the stress. So do yourself a favor and take the next four weeks for what they truly are – a PRACTICE SESSION. The training for the marathon of the next few months. That’s why today – we’re going to learn how to make this fabulous gourmet inspired pumpkin pie filling!

You’ll blink and BAM – it’ll be the week of Thanksgiving. All of the family members that you enjoy and those that you can stand will be sitting at a table with you. Then you’ll think about how fancy a drinking game this could be every time someone chimed in with snarky comment. Or was even mildly offensive. Because who doesn’t have that crazy uncle rudy or oddball aunt beth?

The next time you come to you’ll be trying to make it to your vehicle with what seems to be two hundred pounds of gifts that are cutting the circulation off to your appendages. Once you get to said car, then you’ll realize you’re late for some Christmas pageant. Somewhere in there its actually Christmas Eve, Christmas Day.

Not only will you want your family to enjoy it during the special holidays to come. But I would imagine that any bake sales, Christmas work parties and the classic “Hey mom by the way, we’re having a _____ the last day of school and I signed you up to bring a dessert” is taken care of.

I’m by no means a gourmet chef, but I did take a pumpkin pie recipe and draw inspiration from a few different recipes. While I am not a pumpkin pie connoisseur the hubby is. As in, he’ll eat an entire one in a sitting. I’m more the type of person to coat it generously with tons of whipped cream. Heck, I think we can all be that person if its homemade. But regardless of if you’re a lover of homemade pumpkin pie filling or just want to impress the in-laws this recipe is for you!

Begin by preheating the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Making the Filling

Then start by combining all of these ingredients in a mixer (or you can hand mix them) for your gourmet inspired pumpkin pie filling. This includes the canned pumpkin puree, clovers, condensed milk, egg and egg whites, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, melted butter, half and half, vanilla and brown sugar.

Once you’ve mixed them until their consistency is smooth you’ll pour them into 1 deep dish pie crust (yes I cheated and used a frozen one) or 2 standard pie crusts.

Baking the Pumpkin Pie

If you choose to do one deep dish pie bake this at 425 degrees for fifteen minutes. Then reduce the heat and bake it for another thirty-five to forty minutes. If you choose to do two standard pumpkin pies bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for forty-five minutes to one hour.

You’ll be able to tell either option if it is done when you can insert a knife 1″ from the crust and it comes out clean.

Garnish & Cool It

Next you’ll cool it – this takes about two hours.

Then garnish it – specifically with some whipped cream! But also, why not some nutmeg?

There you go, get ready to try the absolute BEST pumpkin pie you’ve ever tasted! This famous pumpkin pie is made different simply by this gourmet inspired pumpkin pie filling!

What are some of your favorite holiday dishes to make? Does pumpkin pie make the list? Want more fall baking? Be sure to check out our banana bread and these amazing apple spice cookies!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Gourmet Inspired Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients

Frozen Crusts (1 deep dish or 2 standard pie crusts)

Filling

15 oz can pumpkin

14 oz can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Large Egg, 3 Egg Yolks

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp ground cinammon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter (melted)

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup half & half

3/4 cup brown sugar

Instructions

1. Mix all pumpkin pie filling ingredients in mixer or by hand until smooth.
2. Puncture pie crust with fork generously to give the crust room to breathe.
3. Pour pumpkin pie filling into one deep dish pie crust or two normal size pie crusts.
4. Bake two pies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes to an hour (until knife comes out clean 1 ” from crust) or bake one pie at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes (until knife comes out clean 1 ” from crust).