Pumpkin Pie

Baba always cringes when I say Holi is my favorite festival. First I have the gall to pick Holi over Durga poojo and then I don't even give into small mercies by calling the festival of colors Dol, like Bengalis aught to. A daughter completely lost to the cow belt. I wonder what he'll say on knowing that even Holi is gradually losing out to Halloween, in all its gory and sweetness. Slightly transgressing, but I think I was Irish in a previous birth. My third favorite festival is St. Patrick's Day. Do I really need to explain why?

I am sure if I lived in a Halloween celebrating country as a kid, it'd be undoubtedly my favorite festival. No Santa or Krishna can beat dressing up, messing mom's kitchen in the name of pumpkin carving and stuffing one's face with candies and chocolates!

Though not a holiday itself, Halloween also marks the beginning of the holiday season, okay at least for me. The winter coats and gloves come out as do the tins of cocoa and my various baking sheets and pans. It may sound strange to many but I hardly use the oven in summer, may be a couple of times to broil some tandoori chicken but no cookies, cakes or muffins are made in my kitchen when it's hundred outside.

Every Halloween, I bake pumpkin pie to declare loud and clear the opening of the baking season in the Suman-Ray household. Bless the smell of hot butter, cinnamon and smoked paprika (yes!) that infuses every fiber of our house and thereby inspires its residents to giddy levels of food lust. We like our pumpkin pie filled with the warm spices of fall, topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream. For Halloween, I also top it with some peanut butter haystacks, to add some spookiness to an otherwise bliss-inducing humble pie.

Since I warm up my baking skills every fall with this pie, I use every culinary shortcut possible while making one. In simpler words, I use ready made Graham's cracker crust and canned mashed pumpkins. I can hear the tongues going tsk tsk. I promise I'll show you how to make a pie crust before Thanksgiving. To be honest, one fall crunched for time, I gave into sloth and used canned pumpkin pie mix. Lesson learnt in consequence: sloth is evil even when I am dressed as the Devil herself!

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

Cream cheese, softened - 8 ounce

Canned mashed pumpkin - 1 can

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Eggs - For filling :1 plus 2 yolks, for crust : 1

Half-and-half- 1 cup

Butter, softened - 1/4 cup

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp

Ginger powder - 1/2 tsp

Ground nutmeg - 1/2 tsp

Ground cloves - 1/4 tsp

Chili flakes - 1 tsp

9" pie crust - 1 ( I use Graham's, you may use your favorite)

Whipped cream for topping

Method:

Prepping the crust:

• Heat the oven to 350F.
• Lightly beat an egg with a tablespoon of cold water and brush the sides and bottom of the crust with the egg wash.
• Bake the crust in the oven for 3 minutes until the egg wash is dry. (Graham's pre-baked crust comes with instructions for baking the crust with egg wash for 5 minutes but I have noticed that browns the crust a bit too much.)
• Cool on a wire rack.

Preparing the filling:

• In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a spoon or hand mixer for 2 minutes.
• Add the pumpkin and beat until combined.
• Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined.
• Slightly beat the egg and yolks together and add to the pumpkin mix with half-and-half, softened butter. Beat until combined.
• Finally, add vanilla and all the spices. Beat until all the ingredients are well mixed.
• Be careful not to over beat. The filling shouldn't be fluffy like cake batter. If there's more air the pie will rise like a cake and then collapse, living you with what N calls a crater pie (a pit in the center). Also pay special attention to use a dry bowl and dry mixing spoon, excess moisture will cause the filling to leave the sides of the crust.

Baking:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and start baking.
• After the first 30 minutes, take the pie out of the oven and cover the crust with another layer of aluminium foil to prevent the crust from burning. Be careful not to touch the filling along the rim with the foil as it may cause the filling to leave the sides of the crust.
• Return pie to oven and bake for another 20 minutes or until the sides are set but the center is still just a little jiggly.
• Switch off the oven and leave the pie in it for another 10mins.
• Take the pie out and place on a wire rack and cool to room temperature.
• Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

Serves - 8