Autumn is Here, Let’s Get Baking!

But see, in our open clearings, how golden the melons lie; Enrich them with sweets and spices, and give us the pumpkin-pie!

Margaret Junkin-Preston

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I love Autumn, it’s one of my favourite times of the year! As the days get shorter and the temperature drops, I always get an enthusiastic urge to bake; cakes, pies and puddings at this time of the year are like a cuddle, they’re comfort, they’re joy, they’re warmth, they’re home. There is nothing like the smell of a wonderful bake as it develops in the oven so, this week I’m going to give you one of my favourite bakes.

I also mentioned a few weeks ago that I was once very fortunate to share Thanksgiving with a wonderful family I’d got to know whilst working in Cleveland. I’d not experienced a Thanksgiving before and came away, joyful, happy and above all… thankful.

My friends mum did most of the cooking and baking and there were several things I’d never eaten before, corn casserole, candied yams, creamed green bean casserole and perhaps surprising to you North American folk, as it seems to be a bit of a staple… Pumpkin pie! Yes, I’d manged to get to my mid-twenties having never sampled this classic pud but, I made up for it by having seconds and another slice the following day! It’s still not really a thing in the UK however, ever since I’ve tried to recreate that wonderful taste that lingered for a long time!

I’m sure many of your have your very own traditional recipe, handed down through generation to generation, sadly I don’t have that heritage so having experimented, this is my favourite recipe!

What you’ll need

9 or 10inch Pie or Flan Dish
Cookie cutters - a few different leaf shapes
Baking beans / lentils
Baking paper

Ingredients:

For the sweet pastry:

400g of plain white flour
80g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
230g unsalted butter
2 large eggs - beaten
1 egg (for the egg wash)

For the pie filling:

750g pumpkin peeled and cut into small chunks
140g dark muscovado sugar
1/2tsp of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 - 1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg (or 1 tsp ground)
2 eggs beaten
25g melted butter
100ml milk
75ml double cream

Start by making your pastry. Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Slowly add the 2 eggs, then add the flour and salt, and mix until a ball is formed. Don’t over mix otherwise the pastry will become hard when baked.

Flatten into a fat disc and then chill in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up.

Pre-heat your oven to 180°C. Roll out half of the dough, on a generous dusting of flour, to a thickness of about 5mm and use a rolling pin to transfer the pastry into your pie dish. If the pastry breaks up, you can just patch it up by pressing pieces of pastry with your fingertips into the dish. Try to handle it as little as possible.

Lay a piece of baking paper over the pastry shell, then fill it with baking beans or lentils (this helps it keep its shape) then bake for 15 minutes at 180°C, beat one egg for your egg wash. Remove the dish from the oven, take out the baking beans and paper, then reduce the oven temperature down to 160°C. Brush your pastry with the egg wash, make sure to leave some for later. Bake for a further 5 minutes. Leave the pastry shell to cool.

Roll out the other half of your dough (to about 5mm thick) and use the leaf cutters to cut some pastry leaves. Use a knife to create the indents of the veins. Put aside some of the leaves to go around the edges of the pie crust (about 15). Bake the rest of the leaves in the same was as you baked the shell above, including the egg wash. Bake until they start to turn brown. Allow the leaves to cool.

For the filling:

Increase the oven’s temperature back to 180°C. Meanwhile, cook the pumpkin or squash for about 20 mins in boiling water until very tender. Drain well and then allow to cool, then puree well until smooth. In a bowl mix together the dark muscovado sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add in the beaten eggs, melted butter, milk and cream. Then add the pumpkin puree and combine well.

Pour the mixture into the pie shell until it nearly reaches the top (you may end up with some left over).

Brush the rim of the shell with some of your egg wash once more. Then lay the reserved uncooked pastry leaves around the edge. Brush the leaves with the rest of the egg wash. Bake the pie at 180°C for 10 mins, then drop the temperature to 140°C and bake for a further 40-45 minutes until the filling has just set. Leave to cool and then decorate with the cooked pastry leaves.

You can eat this hot or cold, personally, I like to let it cool to room temperature then serve with a warm Madagascan Vanilla Custard or if you prefer it cold, simply serve with extra thick double cream!

What’s on this week?