Trick or Treat!

Hey foodies.

It is here!! Halloween is here!! Every year, we all brainstorm the spookiest outfits, makeup ideas, eat a lot of candy, and wish to carve a pumpkin. Although, it is not celebrated on a large scale in India, like in the west. We all love Halloween. It gives us a Lil excuse to dress up and party with our friends and family. 

‘All hallows eve’ or ‘Halloween’ originates from the festival of Samhain among the Celts of ancient Britain and Ireland. The celebration marks the day before the Western Christian feast of ‘all saints’ and initiates the season of ‘Allhallowtide’, which lasts three days and concludes with ‘all soul’s day’. This is considered as the beginning of winter. This day is a pivotal time as the seasons' change, but, more importantly, observers believed the boundary between this world and the next becomes very thin, enabling us to connect to the dead. Spooky enough, right! Hence, the ‘haunted’ connotations with Halloween.

Over the years, ways of celebrating Halloween have evolved. People dress up in spooky or weird outfits, children go trick o’ treating, bake tons of sugar cookies, and everything’s nice with pumpkin spice. If I ever get a chance to celebrate Halloween, I would like to be a part of the Halloween heist (B99 fans would get the reference). 

This year just to get in the feels, I tried making pumpkin pie. I’m not a big fan of a pumpkin but I loved the way my pie turned out. It is made of pumpkin, eggs, and milk traditionally. I was skeptical about this but I’m glad, I made it. 

Pumpkin pie has a nice flaky buttery crust and creamy custard filling. It is sweet and has the warmth of spices. The best part about this pie is that you can make it without an oven!! To be honest, it was a task to make this pie, from making pumpkin puree to rolling the pie dough but the efforts were worthwhile. Don’t get intimidated by this, it is simple and easy to make than I thought. So, let’s dive and see how it is made.

Pumpkin pie

Ingredients:

Pie crust:

• 1 ½ cup Flour.
• 60 grams Cold cubed butter.
• 1 Egg yolk.
• 5 to 6 tbsp Coldwater.
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar.
• 1 tsp salt.

Pumpkin pie filling:

• 1 ½ cup Pumpkin puree.
• 200 ml Condensed milk.
• 1 egg and 2 egg yolks.
• 1 tsp Cinnamon.
• 1 tsp Ginger powder.
• 1 tsp Nutmeg.
• 1 tsp Clove powder.
• 1 tsp salt.

Procedure:

Pie crust:

• In a food processor, add your flour, butter, icing sugar, and salt. Pulse into fine crumbs form. (You can also make this by hand, just rub the COLD butter into your dry ingredients until it forms a coarse breadcrumb-like consistency. And don’t worry about having uniform lumps!)
• In a separate jug, mix the egg yolks and water then add it to the dry ingredients.
• Pulse in the food processor until a dough forms, around 10 seconds. (Once again, you can do this by hand by combining everything and kneading just until the dough comes together.)
• Wrap the pastry in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax before rolling.
• Roll out your dough on a floured surface to fit your tin or pie dish. A good thickness of ¼ inch.
• With help of your rolling pin place the pie dough into the pan or pie dish. 
• Pierce it with a fork. 

Tip: If your dough is dry then add a little splash of water to it. You just need enough water to pull your dough together. Give enough time to relax the gluten. 

Pumpkin custard filling:

• Take a nice clean bowl. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, condensed milk, and mix it well.
• Add all your spices and mix them. 
• Your pumpkin filling is ready

Baking instructions:

I baked my pie in a cooker. You can bake in the oven as well.

• Take a cooker or big vessel in which your pie dish will fit. Add salt and place a small stand on which you can put the pie dish. If you’re baking it in a cooker, remove the ring and whistle.
• Preheat the cooker or vessel for 10 mins on medium-high flame.
• Blind bake the pie crust for 15 to 20 mins on low flame. 180 degrees Celsius in preheated oven for 10 to 15 mins. Timing may vary.
• After blind baking the pie crust. Add the pie filling and bake it for around 30 to 40 mins on medium-low flame. 180 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes in the oven.
• If your toothpick comes out clean, it means your pie is done.
• Don’t worry if there a wobble in the center. It going to set once chilled.
• Take the pie out and let it cool down to room temperature. Chill it in the fridge overnight or at least 3 to 4 hours. 
• Serve it with whipped cream.

This may seem a lot of effort, but it going to be worth it. Making this pie was quite an experience for me. It tasted so good and the sweet earthy flavor of pumpkin compliments so well with the spices. The pie crust was nice, buttery, and flaky.

If you try this out, do let me know in the comments below. Also, I would love to hear your feedback and suggestions so that I can be more, better at this!

Thank you for reading this out. 

Happy Halloween! On that note don’t forget to wish all the people who ghosted you this year…. Hahaha!