The Pug Hollow Horde Cooks: Old Fashioned Rich Pumpkin Pie

For a rich, spicy pumpkin pie that everyone will love, try this recipe. You will need a 10 inch pie pan. Anything smaller won't hold all the filling.

Cream Cheese Pie crust: Make 1 day in advance

• 1 1/3 cups of all purpose flour (if you have Celiac substitute arrowroot flour)
•  8 tbsp salted sweet cream butter, cubed and frozen
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla 
• 4 oz cream cheese cut into 4 pieces
• 1 1/2 tbsp cold water
• 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Using a food processor blend the flour, and baking powder, for 10 seconds. Add the cream cheese and process until the flour looks mealy. Add the vanilla, cold water and vinegar. Process again to mix. Add the butter. Process until the butter has been rendered to pea size at largest.

Remove the mixture from the food processor and knead until becomes a homogeneous single ball and is slightly stretchy.  Form the ball into a disk and refrigerate overnight.

Lay the ball out onto a flat floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll the disk into a large enough circle to slightly more than cover the inside of your pie tin. Trim the crust to fit the pie pan, and flute the edges lightly.

Line the crust with parchment paper, and fill 2/3 of the way with dried beans.  Chill crust for 30 minutes and then bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven, and lift out the paper and beans. Prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork, to prevent bubbles. Return the crust to the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is golden all over.

Pumpkin Pie Filling

1 small pie pumpkin - baked or steamed (see below)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup butter melted
1 cup milk
6 oz sweetened condensed milk

To cook your pumpkin: Split the pumpkin in half, and remove seeds. Wrap in foil. Bake until soft all the way through. Scoop flesh out of the rind, and puree. Reserve 1 1/2 cup of the pumpkin. Freeze the rest.

Thoroughly combine pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices. Blend end eggs, milk, condensed milk, butter and vanilla. Pour into baked pie shell. Place aluminum foil around the edges of the pie to keep the edge crust from burning.
Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes more or until a skewer poked into the center of pie comes out clean.

Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.