I can’t think of autumn without thinking back to third grade. Our school had an itinerant cooking teacher. I have forgotten her name but not her lesson in making something she called pumpkin pudding. It was really pie without a crust; it held together like pie, only sans crust. The easier to cook with 20 kids in a makeshift kitchen, I suppose, but every one of us ended up licking the bowl.
I have spent years trying to duplicate the homemade taste, and I think I’ve come pretty close. Since I have passed along my pumpkin passion to my family, I am cajoled into whipping up pies weekly, sometimes daily, and – if I hoard enough pumpkin –all year long. But I am a working mom, and that means I streamline food preparation like crazy. So I recently tried putting all the ingredients in a blender and leaving out the crust.
The blender blades whip enough air into the filling to make it bake light and evenly. Foregoing crust makes it healthier. It has turned out to be a good hack for blending homemade goodness and modern schedule.
RECIPE: QUICK CRUSTLESS PUMPKIN PIE
Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour, 5 minutes
Ingredients:
1 15-oz. can pumpkin puree (or two cups fresh, pureed sugar pumpkin, drained well)
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk (or two cups scalded whole milk, cooled)
2/3 cup white sugar, 1/3 light brown sugar
1 t vanilla (optional)
1 t salt
2 eggsSpice:
1 T commercial pumpkin pie spice OR
My Favorite Mix: ½ T ground cinnamon, 1 t ginger, ½ t allspice, ¼ t cloves and ¼ t nutmeg. Prepare in advance in batches and store in small baggies or jars.
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Line up your ingredients on the counter next to the blender.
3. Stir spices into pumpkin so they won’t clump, along with salt.
4. Spoon pumpkin into blender. Add eggs. Mix for 15 seconds.
5. Add milk and vanilla. Blend for 15 seconds.
6. Add sugar. Mix for 30 seconds.
7. Scrape down sides of blender and mix again for 30 seconds or so.
8. Pour into a buttered 8” ceramic baking dish, glass pie plate or ramekins.
Baking:
1. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
3. Let cool.
Notes
When you bake it without a crust, there’s no stress over burned edges or soggy bottoms. You probably won’t miss crust if you’re a pumpkin purist; but if you do, by all means, use one.
Substituting Fresh Ingredients
Is it blasphemy to use canned pumpkin? I do try to use fresh – using two cups fresh in place of one can. Drain it in a lined colander for an hour before using to reduce moisture. I also like to scald two cups of whole milk to replace evaporated milk. It’s old-school and foolproof.
The taste difference when using fresh ingredients is striking; but if you’re time-starved, my Working Mom’s Pumpkin Pie is fast, mess-free, and guaranteed to evoke a great childhood memory.
This piece was originally published on Behind the Blue
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About the Author
Marie Hickman is a working single mom and blogger who focuses on midlife parenting, personal finance, cooking and travel. She is a featured author of the Valpak family of savings blogs. Her work has also appeared in Sammiches and Psych Meds, The Washington Post, Scary Mommy, Club Mid, BLUNT Moms, Mamalode and The Penny Hoarder. Follow her on Twitter at @MrsHickman777.