I love Pumpkin Pie and if I had my way, I would have it every week! But I have to admit, it somehow tastes better when the air is crisp and cold and the leaves are falling. The smell of pumpkin, cinnamon, mace, and other spices warms the house in a way no other scent can.
I remember one year I was hosting our daughter, Beth, and her family plus some, and everyone seemed to want a different dessert. Cassidy and Pawpaw wanted pecan pie, Chey and Beth wanted cherry and of course, the traditionalists wanted Pumpkin. Now, I don't know if Beth remembered Grandma Clarke's Pumpkin pie or not but it's where I got my recipe from.
Anyway, I had all three pies cooling on the dining room table. I hadn't turned my back but a moment and, when I went to check on the pies and there it was- the utter destruction of the holiday desserts! The exterior side crusts had been meticulously nibbled off the edge of all three pies and, smack in the middle of the pumpkin pie was a single paw print.
Both of my dachshunds, Oscar (the smaller and older of the two) and Poko (the younger and bigger of the two) sat on the floor, looking up at me with wide eyes as if to say "Mr. Nobody did it, not us!"
"Which one of you did this?" I asked with my hands on my hips. Still innocent looks but then Oscar backed up, looking at Poko. Poko didn't seem to see anything wrong with leaving his calling card in the middle of the pie!
I ended up rebaking all three pies and from that point on, any time I saw a small pie I thought: there's a Pokos Pie!
Well, like my Mama before me, my choice for making a Pumpkin pie is LIBBY'S pumpkin. Not the premade mixed stuff, no, the real stuff. I use Mom's little twist though: Mace!
- 3/4 Cup Granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1/8 tsp Mace
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin 15 oz
- 1 Can NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk 12 fl oz
- 1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie shell (4-cup volume)
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Mix the sugar and spices and salt
- Beat your eggs very well (this is key for the consistency)
- Gradually stir in the evaporated milk (and yes use the REAL Carnation!)
- Whisk the spices into the liquid.
- Pour into the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes.
- Lower the oven to 350 and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove and cool on a wire rack.
I like to cover the sides of my pie with a pie wrap so the crust doesn't burn and remove it for the last 10 minutes of baking.
UPDATE: Poko I has long since passed away. He obtained a severed nerve in his back jumping off of a
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four-foot-high patio in hot pursuit of a squirrel. We took him to the veterinary surgeon who said that normally there's no repairing them and poor Poko would have severe problems the rest of his life including encroaching pain. He was already shivering with pain. So we had to let him go. That was in 2016. Oscar would live on, until June 2021, and pass away at the age of eighteen.
But new fur babies came into our lives and, when we moved to Alabama we were blessed first with Rockwell "Rocky" Walker, a Dorgi (Dachshund Corgi mix) in 2024 a little fella who was originally named Cocoa (just like Poko I) and we decided to rename him Poko as in Poko II. He's a miniature long hair-smoothie mixed dox.
And guess what he did for his first pie experience? YOU GOT IT! I made a half-and-half pie (half cherry half apple) and a Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving and, well, I guess the paw doesn't print far from the pie with any pup named Poko!