Goat milk pumpkin pie

I hope everyone who lives in the States and reads this blog had a lovely Thanksgiving. For those of you you don't, we just celebrated Thanksgiving this past Thursday. Our house was filled with old friends; I made a huge meal for 6 adults, two of which were vegetarians and one lactose intolerant. We have a very diverse group of friends with different eating needs, and it makes trying to accommodate everyone a very interesting challenge. Our meal ended with a slice of this really delicious goat milk pumpkin pie. I love love love pumpkin pie and I didn't want one of my guests to be left out of dessert by not being able to eat the pie due to the evaporated cow milk. So I switched out the evaporated cow milk with evaporated goat milk. The pie turned out just a good as ever with a lovely back note from the goat milk. I made the crust myself too. With a whole wheat crust, this is a pie you can feel good about eating.
Here's the recipe:

Crust:

• 3 whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons tablespoons cold butter cut into half inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons sucnat or evaporated cane juice
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 8 tablespoons ice cold water

Filling:

• 2 cups of fresh pumpkin puree*
• 1 can evaporated goat milk
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup of sucnat or evaporated can juice
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

Start by making your pie crust. I use a food processor to mix my crust but you can always do it by hand or in a stand mixer. This crust has more of a crumb texture then a flaky texture. In the bowl of the food processor put in the flour sugar and pinch of salt. Give a quick pulse to mix, then add in the butter and pulse until the ingredients become a coarse sandy texture. Next add in the apple cider and give a quick pulse. Then with the processor running add in the water one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. Then pour it out on you floured counter top and shape into a disk. Then cut that in half wrap each half in wax paper or plastic wrap and place in the fridge for an hour to chill.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. When the hour is up or when you are ready to start making your pie take the crust out of the fridge. If you leave it for more then an hour it might be quite firm so want to let it sit on the counter for  ten minutes or so. Next on a floured surface roll out your crust to the size of the pie plate. Place the crust on the pie plate and put holes all over the bottom using a fork.  Place pie crust in the oven and bake for 15 minutes until it just starts to turn golden. Then remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 350.

In the meantime put together the filling. Dump all the ingredients into a medium sized bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Do a quick taste test  for sweetness and spice. Then pour the liquid mix into the pie crust and put it in the oven. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. At 45 minutes check to see if it's done by giving it a little jiggle, the pie filling shouldn't move at all.  If it's done pull it out of the oven and let cook completely.  I like to serve it with maple cinnamon whipped cream and vanilla bean gelato, both of which are homemade.

*Note about pumpkin puree. Every year I buy a small to medium sized pumpkin and cut it into quarters and roast it in the oven at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes until fork tender. Then I scoop out the softened flesh and puree it in my food processor. Although you can use canned pumpkin, I highly recommend making it yourself. You'll get way better flavor and sweetness from fresh pumpkin.