There is nothing better than a slice of homemade pumpkin pie, a dollop of whipped cream and a cup or two of coffee.
Around my place, it's easy to know when the holiday season is starting to ramp up- Mom starts complaining about the size of her kitchen; “it’s too small” “I need another oven” or “get the heck out of here! I’m trying to cook!”. This year, I started thinking about how I could help contribute to the holiday fare without taking up precious kitchen space.
I'll grill it! After several trial grilling sessions, I settled on Maple Grilling Planks as the wood flavor best for my purpose. My pumpkin was lightly infused with subtle, sweet maple wood smoke flavor. And Mom was so impressed by my “out of the kitchen” thinking- we had a very nice, planked pumpkin pie breakfast together.
Ingredients:
- 2 c. cooked pumpkin
- Maple Planks
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1 TBS. cinnamon
- 2 tsp. ground ginger
- ½ c. real maple syrup
- 1/4 c. brown sugar (if you like your pies sweeter, add ¼ c more sugar)
- 2 eggs
Directions:
- Pick up a sugar pumpkin from your local grocery store, farmers market, or neighbor’s pumpkin patch. Sugar pumpkins are smaller and have a stronger pumpkin flavor than a carving pumpkin. You’re also going to need a few maple grilling planks (soaked).
- Preheat grill to medium heat (300 degrees). Scrub, split and seed your sugar pumpkin. Put aside your seeds to bake them off in your oven with a little salt and have a delicious snack. Cover pre-soaked planks and seeded pumpkin halves with aluminum foil. The pumpkin flesh should be face down on the planks- aids in absorbing smoke and maple infused water vapor. The stick in on the grill!
- Smoke for 15-25 mins. and carefully remove planks and pumpkin from grill. A knife should easily slide though the pumpkin. Open the tin foil and let the pumpkin to cool down. Scoop out the pumpkin meat being careful not to include the skin. I recommend using a food processor to make the pumpkin smooth and creamy. You now have pumpkin for a pie filling!
- Add all ingredients, excluding the eggs. Fold together and taste. If the balance of spices is to your liking, add eggs. If not, please feel free to add more or less of any of the spices for your family’s taste.
- Pour filling into pie crust. Home-made or store-bought, it's your choice.
- Bake for 35 to 40 mins. at 400 degrees. Allow to cool, then top with something good or enjoy this pie as a stand-alone. Enjoy!