Pumpkin or Squash Pie with Pecans

Steps

for the crust

• Pre-heat the oven at 200°C
• Add in a bowl:
  • the flour
  • the sugar
  • the salt
• Stir well with a whisk
• Cut the cold butter in small cubes
• Add it into the mix of flour
• Rub the butter with the flour between your fingers and try to form a ball
• While you continue the process, the ball is going to form itself, if not add just a little bit of ice water
• Form a disk and cover it up with plastic wrap
• Place the disk onto a dish and put it into the refrigerator for 1h
• Start preparing the filling (see below)
• Once the time of resting is passed, take the dough out of the refrigerator
• Work the dough with your fingers a little bit to soften it a bit
• Open the dough with a rolling pin and place it into a tin that has the size of half a tart (*) or into 2-4 small tart tins
• Cover it with parchment paper and place some weights on top (like beans or ceramic balls) to cook it like this
• Cook the crust for 30’
• Take it out of the oven and remove the weights and the parchment paper
• Take it aside

for the filling

• Preheat the oven at 180°C
• Slice the squash or the pumpkin in a way to have 500gr with the skin on and the grains
• Remove the grains with a tablespoon
• Slice the squash or the pumpkin in slices of 1cm width
• Remove the skin with a peeler
• Place some parchment paper onto a tray going into the oven
• Place on top the squash/pumpkin slices
• Sprinkle on top 1 tablespoon of caster sugar and ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
• Bake for 30’
• At the end put the slices into a bowl and mix them with a stick blender, or in an electric chopper, you will get a squash/pumpkin puree
• In a bowl, add:
  • the rapadura sugar or the brown sugar
  • the fleur de sel or coarse salt
  • ¼ teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • the nutmeg
• Stir everything together with a whisk
• Add the egg and stir well with the whisk
• Add the squash/pumpkin puree little by little and by batches and stir with the whisk after each addition
• Add the milk little by little and stir well until it’s absorbed
• Add the cream and do the same thing until it’s absorbed as well
• Add the vanilla extract and stir
• Pour the batter onto the baked crust
• Cook for 20’
• Take the pie out of the oven and place some pecans on top to decorate and cover the top
• Bake for another 20’
• To be eaten lukewarm with some vanilla ice cream if you like!
• So good and so delicate!
• :-)

Inspiration

The recipe of Martha Stewart on a pumpkin pie with pecans for those who cannot choose between pumpkin pies and pecan pies ;-) 

(*) the half tart size tin is very useful to make small tarts or pies ;-)