It is THE classic dessert par excellence for the annual Thanksgiving meal: the pumpkin pie! While the orange autumn dream in cake form is still relatively unknown in Germany and is almost regarded as exotic, in the USA the most important family festival, which is celebrated TODAY (always on the fourth Thursday in November), is next to “Gobbler” (roasted turkey), Sweet potatoes and cranberries, just like the pumpkin pie on the table.
Does vegetables taste good in cakes? Definitely! After all, countless other sweet-toothed people are in line at the bakery every day to buy a piece of carrot cake. Or let’s think of the countless recipes for zucchini brownies on the Internet! The vegetables make the cakes incredibly juicy, so that the pumpkin variety with its creamy-cinnamon, slightly spicy taste has already won over many hearts.
But why is there pumpkin pie traditionally for Thanksgiving? The origins date back to 1621 when the Pilgrim Fathers, the first English settlers, founded the Plymouth colony in what is now Massachusetts. The problem back then? The previously unknown climate and the changed conditions in agriculture were completely new to them and hardly tradable! The salvation was finally the people of Wampanoag, who rushed to help and showed the Europeans how best to grow corn or even pumpkin. With Thanksgiving today, traditional dishes are used to reflect on the times.
So why not bring the American cake to our home kitchens? You only know the pumpkin in pureed form in soups or baked on the baking sheet? Then it is high time to try the orange vegetables with the creep factor in the cake: Serve with vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream, depending on your taste, and the orange heart sweeper is ready, which tastes so wonderful after autumn walks and cozy afternoons on the couch!
Pumpkin Pie recipe (26cm shape):
For the shortcrust pastry:
- 250 g flour
- 75 g cane sugar
- 125 g butter
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 egg
For covering:
- 800 g Hokkaido pumpkin
- 200 ml milk
- 150 g cane sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/2 sachet of gingerbread spice (depending on the intensity)
For the dough:
Knead the flour with sugar, egg, salt and the flaked butter. Chill packed in cling film for 30 minutes. Grease a pie pan and dust with flour. Then roll out the dough thinly and press in the pie form up to the top edge. Bake at 175 ° C (fan oven) for 20 minutes.
For covering:
Peel, core and cut the pumpkin into small pieces. Steam in a saucepan with water for 15 minutes. Drain the water and puree the pumpkin. Let the pumpkin puree cool well. Separate the eggs and stir the egg yolks with sugar until frothy. Then add milk, gingerbread spice and salt. Gradually stir in the pumpkin puree. Beat the egg whites until stiff and carefully fold them under the puree. Spread the pumpkin mass on the pre-baked base and bake at 150 ° C (forced air) for a further 45 minutes. For all cream lovers there is a whip of cream or how about some vanilla or walnut ice cream?
Ginger bread spice
