The Best Pumpkin Pie

I like to give pumpkin a hard time.  

Because compared to sweet potatoes or squash, pumpkin isn’t really that good.  It’s not bad.  It’s just kinda meh.  What makes pumpkin pumpkin is the spices.

But I make a really good pumpkin pie.  

The secret is the sweetened condensed milk.  It gives it a real nice creaminess.  And easy because you can skip a few steps. Oh, yea.  And the bourbon.  Bourbon makes everything better.

Also use good quality spices.  I like Penzey’s and they make pumpkin pie spice which is a combination of cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and ginger.  But because the spice is what makes pumpkin pie good, you need to use quality spices.

So here’s my recipe:

• 1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin
• 1 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbs Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Penzey’s pumpkin pie
• ½ tsp. Penzey’s Vietnamese Cinnamon
• 2 Tbl REAL Maple Syrup
• 2 Tbl  Bourbon
• 1 Tsp salt (this is more than usual but because of the extra brown sugar and maple syrup a little more salt helps cut the sweetness.  TRUST ME!)

Preheat oven to 425.  Beat all the ingredients together.  Pour into unbaked 9-inch pie crust.  Good for you if you made it yourself.  I buy the pre-made crust that’s already rolled and cut and I think it tastes fine. 

Bake 15 minutes then turn the oven down to 350 and bake another 45-50 minutes.

Don’t ruin this pie by putting Cool Whip on it!

Take a cup of real whipping cream, add a tbs or more of sugar, and a capful each of vanilla extract and bourbon and whip that sucker up.  It hardly takes any time at all and it is sooooo good.