Easy As... — by Guest Mom Girl con Queso

It's Pie Month at Blog con Queso. Because every month we celebrate recipes featuring and/or pertaining to something especially delicious. And this month, it's pie. 'Tis the season after all. Because with Thanksgiving right around the corner, now's the time of year to brush off your great grandmother's recipes and make a few. Pies. Because they're yummy. And they're easy.

And I've found that one of the best pie making motivators is a great pie dish.



I have a few Emile Henry pie dishes. And they're great.

But what I really want is something that looks like this.



I found this photo a while back at a pottery exhibit. But this dish was already gone. Urgh. So now, whenever I'm in a pottery shop, which frankly isn't that often at all, I always look for something like this. Something substantial. Something that looks like something my great grandmother would have used to make pies. But, to quote Bono, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

I guess finding the right pie plate is about as challenging of a quest as finding the perfect pie recipe.

Have you found either?

When it comes to pumpkin pie, I think I have.

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Below is my husband's favorite pumpkin pie recipe…and believe me, the man appreciates a good pumpkin pie.

I have a friend who made this recipe with a homemade graham cracker pie crust, and she liked that quite a lot. However, I usually don't make my own pie crusts, because, well, that's just better for everyone. I usually do use the Pillsbury refrigerated crusts that you unroll and set. I then cut small leaf shapes out of an extra pie crust to use for decoration on the top of the pie. I coat each cut leaf with an egg whites/water mixture and pop them in the oven for a few minutes until they're baked golden brown. After the pie is baked, I arrange those on top.

What's most interesting about this recipe is that you use softened vanilla ice cream instead of condensed milk. It's good. I'm telling you. But be prepared, it always quickly disappears.

James' Favorite Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients
* 1 1/2 pints vanilla ice cream, softened
* 3 eggs
* 1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie shells

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place ice cream near the warm oven to soften. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs. Stir in the pumpkin puree, sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Mix in soft ice cream until smooth. Pour filling into two 9 inch pie shells. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake an additional 30 to 40 minutes, or until filling is set.

Note
To use fresh pumpkin, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Wash, and halve pie pumpkin(s). Scoop out seeds. Place pumpkin halves cut side down in baking pan. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until pumpkins are soft to the touch. Remove from oven, and let cool. Scrape out pumpkin meat, and puree in food processor or blender. (This can be done several weeks in advance and the puree stored in the freezer.)

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"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." Dr. Carl Sagan