Pumpkin Pie is my 3rd favorite dessert, all of which are pies, and all of which are my favorites, I think, because I only get them during part of the year. Which isn’t to say that I wouldn’t happily eat Pumpkin Pie in the middle of summer – I have, and I will again. But I especially love it with pumpkin from a local pumpkin patch, which I try to always have a bit of in my freezer. If not, the stuff out of the can works just fine as well. You can get a 29-oz can in the grocery store which is perfect for this recipe. Why a pound of homemade puree and only 29 ounces of canned? Is there some difference in the water content, or the way the canned stuff is packaged, or how strong the flavor is? No, I just didn’t want to package my homemade puree in 14.5-oz packages when so many recipes call for 16 ounces, and truthfully, the 1.5 ounces extra per pie is barely making a difference.

“But you’re a recipe blog, and you’re using your own homemade pumpkin puree, but then you go and use a premade pumpkin pie spice instead of grinding your own clove, nutmeg, cinammon, and ginger?!” I’ve tried, dear reader. I’ve tried every proportion I can find and not one of them tastes as good as the stuff out of the jar. This doesn’t make any sense – I usually like to toast and grind spices myself if at all possible, but in this application, I go for the premade stuff every time.

Is it entirely possible that the stuff out of the jar just tastes like my childhood pies and doesn’t actually have a better flavor? Sure is.

Am I going to change the recipe? Absolutely not.

You can use whatever pie crust you want for this recipe. I’m partial to this Pie Crust recipe myself, but if you buy a premade crust, there’s no shame in that either. Some recipes will suggest you partially bake the pie crust first but we don’t do that here, just pour the filling right into the uncooked pie crust. Part of cooking it at the higher temperature then lowering it to finish is about getting the crust done to the right temperature first and then letting the filling cook.

Oh, and a little tip from me to you: mix the filling up and put it in a container with a pouring spout – most mixers have one already on the bowl so this is a perfect tool for the job. When the oven is preheated, put your pie plates with the crust in them in the oven on the rack without the filling. Then pour the filling right into the crust and then slide the rack into the oven. No more trying to balance the pie plate full of liquid over to the oven without spilling.