Old-Fashion Pumpkin Pie

My mum owns a few cook books from the sixties, chock full of good old-fashioned recipes and complete with cute little illustrations of girls on swings, parties playing croquet, and grandmotherly women baking pies. Just like these:



Now, my pumpkin themed month wouldn't be complete without a good old-fashioned pumpkin pie, non? So for this I turned to those old cookbooks. The recipes in them are wonderful. So much more simple than most modern recipes and such simple, easy to find ingredients.

Thanks to the golden recipe from McCall's Cook Book the pie turned out a kajillion times better than any store bought one I've ever had. Which is a good thing too, since we're bringing it to my cousins for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow (with a can whipped cream of course!).

That's my mum's pretty little McCall's Cook Book right under my pretty little pie. Actually, the book's giant.



I had enough left over crust and pumpkin filling to make a little tart-type thing. With a lack of mini-pie plates I just used my tiniest springform pan. My sister and I split it and she, a person who generally likes the whipped cream more than the pie, loved it. She also noted that it looked a little like Ms Lovitt's meat pies.



The last time I made a pie I used shortening instead of lard, because the apple-pear pie was for a friend's birthday, and she's Muslim, and so couldn't eat lard. I've never noticed until I used lard again, but it's SO much easier to work with! I got my wonderfully flaky crust thanks to the recipe on the Tenderflake box :)

Pumpkin Pie
via McCall's Cook Book, 1963

Filling:
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 can (1lb) pumpkin
3 tbsp molasses
2 cans (6-oz size) evaporated milk, undiluted

9-inch unbaked pie shell
1 egg white, unbeaten

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Make filling: In large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, spices, salt, pumpkin, molasses, and evaporated milk. Stir, with wooden spoon, until mixture is smooth.
3. Lightly brush pie shell with egg white. Fill with pumpkin mixture.
4. Bake 55-60 minutes, or until tip of sharp knife inserted in centre comes out clean.
5. Let cool on wire rack. Serve garnished with whipped cream, if desired.