November Recipe 2008

Pumpkin Pie

Suitable for Vegetarians
Serve this delicious classic American dessert with either ice cream or crème fraîche
Serves 8
Ready in 1 hour and 10 minutes
Allow cooling time as the fruit can be very hot if eaten straight from the oven

Ingredients
300g ready-made shortcrust pastry
A little plain flour for rolling out
250g pumpkin purée
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
100g light brown soft sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 large eggs
150ml pot single cream
Roasted pumpkin seeds, to decorate

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Get all your ingredients and baking equipment assembled on your works surface.
2. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and line a greased 20cm tin. Prick the base, line with greaseproof paper, and weigh it down with dried beans or rice.
3. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and beans, return the pastry base to the oven for 5 minutes, then remove and set aside.
4. Mix the pumpkin purée with the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, sugar and maple syrup.
5. Whisk the eggs and cream together in a large bowl until evenly mixed. Whisk in the pumpkin purée mixture and pour carefully into the pastry case.
6. Bake the pie for 30 minutes or until just set in the centre. Cool and decorate with pumpkin seeds.
Just as delicious cold.