Mrs. Earline Hicks’ Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie

Note: Directions for making a pie crust and blind-baking it appear below after the pie recipe.

A timing note: The pie is best made a day in advance, cooled completely, then covered and refrigerated overnight, and served the following day.

For mixing the filling and baking the pie you will also need:

1. A blender or food processor.
2. A standing mixer and bowl or a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer.
3. A 9-inch pie pan.
4. Aluminum foil.
5. A cooling rack.

For the filling and baking the pie:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. In the bowl of the mixer or in a large mixing bowl, mix together the pumpkin and brown sugar.
3. Add the cinnamon, salt, ginger, cloves and beaten eggs and mix well.
4. Mix in the milk and then mix in the powdered gingersnaps.
5. Pour the filling into the partially baked pie shell. See the directions for the pie crust below. Fold strips of aluminum foil around the pie crust to lightly enclose the edges. An illustration is provided in the related link. Covered in this way, the crust will brown without burning.
6. Bake the pie at 450 F for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 F and continue baking the pie for 25 minutes more. Then remove it from the oven.
7. Cool the pie completely on a wire rack before cutting it into slices. As mentioned above in the timing note, the pie is best made a day in advance, covered and refrigerated overnight before serving it the following day.

You will also need for making the pie crust (in addition to the 9-inch pie pan):

1. A food processor fitted with a rotary chopping blade is not essential but is a very convenient way to mix the pastry; it may also be mixed by hand.
2. A pastry board and rolling pin.
3. A piece of parchment paper about as large as the pie pan.
4. Dried beans or a pie pan that will fit down inside the one used for the pie.
5. A cooling rack.

For the pie crust and blind-baking it:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder and pour them in the bowl of the processor. Add the butter, which has been cut into bits, and the shortening. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour by pressing the Pulse button on and off until the mixture is well combined. The butter and shortening may instead be worked into the flour by hand until it has a crumbly texture.
2. In a small cup mix together the cider vinegar and ice water. Turn on the processor and, with one hand pressed firmly down on the lid of the processor, pour the liquid slowly through the tube. Pressing down on the lid prevents any jerky motion of the processor as the dough forms. As soon as the mixture pulls away from the sides of the processor and forms a cohesive mass, turn off the machine. If making the pastry by hand, the liquid may be added gradually while stirring with a fork or wooden spoon. As soon as the dough becomes cohesive, stop mixing it.
3. Flour your hands a little. If the dough is made in the processor, remove the blade, scraping off any pastry that clings to it. Collect the dough into a ball and turn it out onto a floured pastry board. Sprinkle it with a little flour.
4. The dough rolls out well without first chilling it. But if you do not wish to roll the dough out right away, wrap it in waxed paper and refrigerate it. Chilled pastry made with a combination of shortening and butter will need to rest for about 5 minutes at room temperature before rolling it out in order for the butter to warm up a bit.
5. Roll out the dough to a size large enough to fit into the pan with a small overhang. Trim off any overhanging edges of the pastry and press all around the rim with the tines of a fork to form a decorative edge on the crust or make a crimped border with your fingers.
6. Place the parchment paper in the empty unbaked shell. Fill the parchment-lined shell with dried beans to weigh down the bottom of the pastry and prop up the sides of it during ‘blind’ baking (i.e. the preliminary baking before the filling is added). A pie pan that fits snugly inside the larger one holding the pastry may be placed on the parchment and used instead of beans for blind-baking the crust. (A photo in the related link illustrates using a pan instead of beans as a weight for the crust.)
7. Bake the shell for 12 minutes at 400 F. Then take the pie shell from the oven and remove the parchment and beans (or the parchment and smaller pie pan). Set the partially baked shell on a cooling rack to cool and use for making the pie.

Acknowledgements: This Gingersnap Pumpkin Pie recipe is adapted from Mrs. Earline Hicks’ recipe in ‘A Date With a Dish’. The pie crust recipe is an adaptation of one from The King Arthur Flour website.

A final suggestion: You may go to a free online version of Freda DeKnight’s cookbook ‘A Date With A Dish’ (1948). You’ll find this on the related link. The book was republished in 1962 under a new title (‘The Ebony Cookbook’), but Mrs. DeKnight’s vivid sketches of the personalities behind the recipes which appear in the original are omitted from the later version.)