PHILADELPHIA PUMPKIN PIE
NANA’S BISCUIT PASTRY
Australians don’t celebrate Thanks Giving Day, an autumn festival in the USA, but during my farm childhood I frequently ate Gramma Pie, made with trombone shaped gramma pumpkins. Sometimes we just ate gramma with custard for dessert. It was boiled in water until soft, sugar and lemon juice were added and it was mashed before serving. Anyone who has eaten boiled gramma will remember the unique flavour of this form of pumpkin.
My granddaughter, Ashlea McIver, is working in China assisting with the care of handicapped, orphan children in a home where most of the care-givers are from the USA. Ashlea has appealed to me for a Pumpkin Pie recipe that she can make to surprise them for Thanks Giving Day. She says pumpkins are plentiful and inexpensive in the Chinese markets. These Chinese pumpkins may not be the same type as pumpkin as used in the USA, but neither do I use the traditional American pumpkin for this pie.
Fay's homegrown pumpkin
I don’t remember where or from whom I acquired the Philadelphia Pumpkin Pie recipe, but I have always made it using a biscuit pastry the recipe for which was given to me by Ashlea’s Great-grandmother, Eldorene McIver. Nanna, as she was known, seldom made just one pie or tart, so this recipe creates a generous quantity of pastry.
NANA’S SWEET BISCUIT PASTRY
3 cups flour, ½ teaspoon bi-carbonate soda, 1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar, 9 tablespoons sugar, 7 tablespoons of butter, 3 eggs
Method: Nana used to make this pastry by sifting the dry ingredients, rubbing in the butter, then adding the beaten eggs.
I find it easier to cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater, add the eggs and then the four sifted with the bi-carbonate soda and Cream of Tartar.
The important thing is not to overwork pastry. As soon as it will bind together form it into a soft ball. Sprinkle sifted flour lightly over your baking sheet, centre the pastry ball, sprinkle with a little more flour and roll out.
If the pastry sticks to your rolling pin, add more flour.
Roll out the pastry
Lift the pastry
If you possess a pastry sheet like this it is very easy to use it to begin rolling the pastry around the rolling pin so it is then possible to lift the pastry up and over your pie plate. Cut away excess pastry with a sharp knife and use a fork to press a decorative edging. This recipe provides sufficient pastry to fill two pie plates and leave some scraps. These can be rolled out again and cut into plain biscuits for the children.
Pastry in the pie plate
Biscuit shapes
PHILADELPHIA PUMPKIN PIE
2 cups cooked pumpkin, ¾ cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cornflour, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon mixed spice,
1 tablespoon melted butter, 3 small eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 tablespoon sherry, 25-27cm unbaked pastry case
Method: Combine pumpkin, sugar, cornflour, salt and spice. Beat eggs lightly and blend into mixture. Add melted butter, milk and sherry. Carefully pour into pastry case. Bake in a a hot oven for 5 minutes, reduce heat and continue baking until the filling sets firmly like a baked custard.
In Australia an open filled pie like this would be called a tart. Only when the filling has an additional layer of pastry placed over the top prior to baking, is it called a pie.
Ashlea, good luck with your baking.
