JO'S PUMPKIN PIE

My extended family always had celebration dinners at my brother-in-law's farm that included Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Fourth of July, Labor Day and any other time we felt like celebrating...a birth, a graduation, a wedding or just a family reunion. The family extended to all my siblings, their husbands and wives and all their children. This could be quite a crowd and often as many as 25 or 30. In order to lighten the burden of cooking for my sister, everyone brought something. The food was pretty  traditional and any deviation outside the norm was eyed with a certain suspicion. I once tried to introduce a cranberry/apple/walnut pie but that was not a success. "Too strange," they said.

This pumpkin pie, however, was a family standard and was always served at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Its origins are lost in the family history but it's always been known as "Jo's Pie," a reference to my brother's wife, Joanna, who must have made it for its induction into our standards. So, here is an introduction to Jo's Pie.

JO'S PUMPKIN PIE

makes one 9-inch pie

 

uncooked pastry for one 9-inch pie

 

2 T butter

1 1/2 C canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 t ginger

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t mace

1 C milk

1/4 t cloves

2 eggs

1 T flour

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C granulated sugar

1/2 t salt

 

1. Preheat oven to 450.

 

2. Melt butter and stir into pumpkin with spices. Beat eggs and stir with flour, sugars, salt and milk. Stir pumpkin mixture into egg mixture. Pour into prepared pie shell.

 

3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake for 45 minutes more.