Since I have an insane amount of pumpkin purée filling my freezer, I’ve started in on the pie making!

I decided to try a new recipe, since I wasn’t that happy w/the one I had been using.  I just Googled “pumpkin pie recipe,” and came across one from Paula Deen‘s site.  I have so much confidence that this one will work out, especially since it uses cream cheese, half-n-half, and loads of sugar.  How could it not, really?!

Anyway, I made a crust, rather than buying one- I’m still really happy w/the addition of butter into my old pie recipe, it’s so good!

Next came the blind-baking:  baking the crust a bit before adding the filling.  Also, this is when I encountered the weirdest baking term ever:  pie weight.  Sorry??  No idea.  I followed the recipe, bc it said to use pie weights or dried beans (opted for dried beans), and went ahead.  But, immediately after, I Googled “pie weights.”  (Love Google!)  Apparently, one uses pie weights (which look like dried beans, actually) to ensure that, when blind-baking, the crust doesn’t bubbled or curl.  Interesting…

After that, I followed the recipe for the filling- using 2 cups of my purée, which after I got rid of the excess water, needed to use a third bag from the freezer!  At this point, though, I have a hard time believing that it’ll actually taste like pumpkin pie, bc…it’s yellow, for one thing, thanks to the cream cheese, and for another…meh, I don’t know.  I’m sure it’ll be good, but just kinda doubt that it’ll taste…right.  Why am I doubting this- it’s Paula Deen!  😉

Into the oven for 50 minutes:

I’ll be back when it’s ready!

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Just took it out of the oven, and…it looks great!  Also- the house smells really good, which is always nice.

I stuck a butter knife into the center of the pie, just to see if it seemed done- needed about 5 more minutes, bc there was a lot of sticking, but after that…perfect!  Can’t wait to try it- I’ll have more of a verdict after the taste test, but so far, seems great!

Yum!

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I have to say that, despite its yummy appearance, that I am not a huge fan of this pie!  It’s just…ugh, it’s like a pumpkin pie for people that don’t like pumpkin pie!  I mean, there aren’t really any of the traditional pumpkin-pie flavors in it, and those are the ones I love- flavors like cloves and allspice.

But, this has been pretty helpful- I think the next time I make pumpkin pie, I’ll merge the two recipes.  For instance, I think I might use the half-n-half instead of regular milk as I had w/the old recipe, and I think I’ll use the 2 cups of pumpkin, instead of the one, as I had before.  But, I will definitely use the spices from my old recipe next time!

Oh well- this was just a first attempt!  I have plenty of pumpkin to keep practicing with! 🙂

* On the upside, the kids loved it! *