Huxtable Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie

I grew up eating sweet potato pie during the holidays. As a matter of fact, my mother put me in charge of the baking two sweet potato pies this Thanksgiving. During the ninth episode of the sixth season, Denise, Olivia and Rudy were the pie makers. They had everything they needed for their pies...except for canned pumpkin. Unfortunately, Cliff was sent out in the wintery rain to pick up their canned pumpkin, eggs for the cornbread and nutmeg for the egg nog. He flubbed each time and had to retrieve the missing items from the store.

"You've got sweet potato pie. People don't know the difference between pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie. You just put some whipped cream on the thing and then they've got pumpkin pie." -Heathcliff Huxtable

Cliff was sent out multiple times, in the rain, to get ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner in S6E09.
He even dropped the eggs! 

Here are some shots from the episode! 

Denise courageously invited Olivia's mom, Paula, to dinner at the last minute.

Rudy, Denise and Olivia baked wonderful pies for Thanksgiving in S6E09.

I thought it'd be a fun idea to take a whack at the girls' pumpkin pie. As an homage to Heathcliff's multiple treks in the rain, I made it a point to add plenty of fresh nutmeg!

THE HUXTABLE FAMILY'S PUMPKIN PIE (and crust)

*I made two pies from these filling and crust recipes! (16 servings)*

Crust Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup butter *2 sticks cubed and chilled for at least 15 minutes*

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
6-8 tbsp ice water
a few sprinkles of nutmeg

Crust Preparation:

1. Cut butter into cubes and let chill in the freezer for 15 minutes

2. Sift flour, salt and sugar.
3. Cut butter into flour until piecey. You can use a food processor or a fork or your fingers. 
4. Add water one tablespoon at a time and continue to mix. 
5. When the mixture sticks together, you'll know it's finished. If not, add a bit more water until it sticks. 
6. Sprinkle four onto a clean surface, pour out your mixture and roll to form a ball with your hands. 
7. Separate the dough into two balls. Flatten them out into disks, wrap them in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Shots of my pie dough adventure!

8. Reflour your surface and roll out the one ball of dough with a floured rolling pin. Your flattened dough should be 1/8-inch thick and 11- to 12-inches across.

9. Place dough on top of your pie dish and gently press it into the corners. Your dough should hang over the edges of the dish. Remove any extra dough. If any edges to your dish are spotty and are dough-less, simply press any extra dough to cover those spots.

10. Pinch your edges to create a clean design.

11. Repeat the rolling out process for the rest of your dough.

After I rolled out my dough, I placed it in the pie pan and poured in my filling.

Filling Ingredients:

1-1/2 can of pumpkin puree *you're more than welcome to whip up your own fresh puree*

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg *preferably freshly ground*
1 tsp all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk 

2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Filling Preparation:

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
1. Combine the pumpkin puree, sugar, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour. 

2. Next, mix in eggs, milk, water and vanilla extract. 

3. Pour mixture into 2 prepared pie dough dishes.

One of my unbaked pies. I love how my pie dough turned out! 

4. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Then, bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes. You'll know your pies are finished when the centers aren't jiggly.

The finished product!

It was a easy as pumpkin pie!

Crust recipe was inspired by a recipe by Elise Bauer. Creative changes were made.
Pie recipe was inspired by a recipe by Diana Rattray. Creative changes were made.