SERVES 12+
Video is under the Continue Reading
You will need:
a round 12″ cake tin
one pack/portion of shortcrust pastry
450g pumpkin or butternut squash, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 large eggs, and 1 egg yolk
75g soft dark (demerara) brown sugar
275ml double cream
1 tsp of:
- ground cinnamon
- nutmeg
- allspice
- ground cloves
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/gas mark 4 (160 for a fan oven).
2. Roll the pastry out to be 1 1/2 inches thick: basically you want it large enough to fit into your cake tin with a slight overlap. Put it into the cake tin (you may want to grease the tin if you’re worried you won’t be able to get the pie out later!)
3. Steam the pumpkin until it is soft enough to stick a sharp knife into it with ease. Then get a course sieve and press the pumpkin lightly to remove any excess liquid.
4. Lightly whisk the eggs and yolk together in a large bowl.
5. Place the sugar, spices and cream in a pan. Bring it to a gentle simmer, stirring gently. Add the eggs and whisk.
6. Add the pumpkin, whilst still stirring, until it is all mixed together, then pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for 35-40 minutes. By then it should be a darker orange/brown and puffed up around the edges. Poke it with your finger if you’re unsure: it should be slightly springy.
7. Remove and cool on a wire rack, or eat hot with some ice cream or custard.
NB: You can use the homemade pastry I’ll be describing in the mince pies section, or just buy some for this. Depends on how easy you want it to be. Also, if you know that pumpkins in your area (like most of the UK, for example) have terrible, bland tasting pumpkins, use butternut squash for a good flavour.

