For my twenty-second installment in my ‘Thirty Days of Thankfulness‘ I thought I’d share one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions: Baking an old-fashioned pumpkin pie with a slight twist. I have no idea why it’s called an ‘old-fashioned’ recipe; that’s just what my mother always called it.
The changes I’ve made to her recipe include eliminating egg yolks and using fat free half & half instead of condensed or evaporated milk (these two changes were to accommodate my husband’s dietary restrictions). I’ve even used the Splenda version of brown sugar in previous years in an attempt to reduce the sugar footprint of the pie (back when my husband’s doctors were concerned about blood sugar levels). But my favorite ingredient has to be the dark molasses; sometimes I include three tablespoons instead of just two.
So while my pies are baking in the over, I’ll provide you with the recipe for your own Thanksgiving experimentation:
New-Age Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Pie
2 pie crusts (9-inch)
2 15-oz cans pumpkin
1 1/2 c brown sugar
3/4 c egg whites
3 T butter, melted
8 oz fat free half & half
2 T dark molasses
4 t pumpkin pie spice
1 1/4 t salt (optional) … I did not add this ingredient to my pies.
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry, flute. Mix ingredients with a hand beater or on low speed in a mixer until combined. Pour filling into pastry shells.
Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, and continue baking at that temperature for an additional 45 minutes.
Makes two 9-inch pies.
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My husband and I hit the road tomorrow, heading south on I-35 to join our adult children and their significant others for our third annual North Texas Thanksgiving family gathering. Since we are staying with our daughter tomorrow night, and her Internet provider screams along about as fast as early 90s dial-up, you might not hear from me until Thanksgiving, when we’ll be at my son’s apartment enjoying the fruits of our cooking, baking and smoking.
I wish all of you safe travels tomorrow and wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.
