Chef Panda: Homemade pumpkin pie

Made two pumpkin pies--my favourite--nearly from scratch today. Admittedly, purchased the graham crackers pre-made.

Best thing of doing it this way: low cal substitutions!


1 medium sugar pumpkin makes enough pumpkin puree for 2 pumpkin pies


Graham cracker crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crush low cal / low-fat graham crackers--enough for 3 cups of crumbs. Use 1 & 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs per pie crust. Blend each 1 1/2 cup crumb portion with 3.5 tablespoons low-cal / low-fat plain yogurt. Add in 2 tablespoons brown sugar.

I did not add the cocoa powder as the recipe recommended, but turned out just fine as is. Also increased the amount of yogurt used.


Spread the graham, yogurt mix into pie pan. Bake for 5 minutes. Take out & let cool waiting for the pumpkin filling.


Pumpkin filling: Oven is still at 350. I tried cutting a raw pumpkin and had a hell of a time. Instead, pierce pumpkin a few times, stick it into the oven at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes. It will be much easier to cut then. Take out and let cool. Cut into pieces, remove seeds, and remove flesh. If you find the insides are still hard, just stick the cut up pieces into the microwave for a few minutes. Need to get the pumpkin flesh into a puree-able consistency.

Again, I altered the recipe a bit.

Up the oven temp to 400 degrees. Mix 2 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree, 1 1/2 tbsps. "pumpkin spice" (or 1 tsp. of nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon), 3/4 cups honey, 3/4 cup skim milk, 1/4 cup whipping cream, 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites, and 1 tsp. salt.

Pour into the graham cracker crust! It will be quite runny but never fear! It will cook up well.


The edges of my crust burned a bit, but I don't mind carcinogens :P. To avoid this, just cover the edges with a little foil.

Anyway, this is THE BEST PUMPKIN PIE EVER! So much better than canned purees and healthier too!