Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping and rolling out the dough
- 3 tablespoons organic sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons ice water
- 1 sweet or cheese pumpkin, or butternut squash (about 2 and ¼ pounds)
- One 14-ounce can non-GMO condensed milk
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
Preparation
To make the pie dough:
Mix the flour, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the butter and mix to coat the butter with the flour mixture. Using your fingertips, quickly rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. (Or, instead of your fingertips, use a pastry blender.) Stir the yolks and ice water together in a small bowl. Using a fork, add and stir in enough of the yolk mixture until the dough clumps together. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead a few times until it is smooth. Shape the dough into a thick disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until the dough is chilled but not hard, 1 to 2 hours.
Begin making the filling.
If you're carving a jack-o'-lantern, cut off the top of the pumpkin to make a lid, then use a large spoon to scrape enough of the inner flesh to measure 6 packed cups, leaving the shell intact. If you are just making pie, cut the pumpkin into quarters and scrape out the seeds. Using a sturdy vegetable peeler, peel the pumpkin, and cut the flesh into chunks about 1 and ½ inches square. Place the chunks (or scraped-out flesh) into a large saucepan and add enough cold water to barely cover them. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer until the pumpkin is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the pumpkin well in a wire sieve. Using a spatula, firmly press the pumpkin to extract excess moisture. Once the pumpkin has cooled, transfer it to a blender and puree until smooth with a thickness similar to canned pumpkin; 2 pounds of pumpkin should yield about 2 cups of puree.
Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Place a large rimmed baking sheet on the rack to heat.
Unwrap the dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12 to 13 inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie pan. If the dough breaks, just patch it together. Fold the dough itself under so the edge of the fold is flush with the edge of the pan. Flute the dough. Refrigerate the dough-lined pan to chill for 20 to 30 minutes.
Whisk the cooled pumpkin, condensed milk, eggs, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, vanilla and ginger together. Pour the filling into the dough-lined pan and place on the hot baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking until a knife inserted into the center of the filling comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool. Cut into wedges and serve.
