Five Spice Pumpkin Pie

Step 1

Pre-heat the oven to 200c. Cut the pumpkin into 2-3 large pieces and remove the seeds. Place the pumpkin onto a baking tray and roast for 25-30 minutes or until tender.

Step 2

Remove the pumpkin from the oven and leave to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, carefully remove the skin and scoop the pumpkin flesh into a food processor. Whizz until smooth and then pour into a fine sieve or into a piece of muslin and place over a bowl for at least one hour.

Step 3

To make your pastry, sift the flour into a mixing bowl and stir through the salt. Rub in the cold butter with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs and then stir through the sugar. Mix the egg yolk with 2 tbsp cold water and sprinkle over the mixture. Stir the mixture with a knife until it starts to come together. Add more water 1 tbsp at a time if necessary.

Step 4

Finally, bring the mixture together with your hands and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out until you have a thickness of around ½ cm. Line either a 20cm tart tin or cut into 4 pieces and line 4 individual 8cm tart tins. Cover with clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Step 5

If you have turned off your oven, pre-heat to 200c. Take the pastry cases out of the fridge and lightly prick the bases with a fork 2-3 times, then line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans.

Step 6

Bake the pastry cases for 15 minutes or until the edges have just started to brown and then remove the greaseproof paper and beans. Bake for a further 5-10 minutes until the base is pale golden. Remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 180c.

Step 7

Whilst the pastry is baking, make the filling by putting 250g of the pumpkin puree into a large bowl and adding the maple syrup and spices. Stir in the beaten eggs and then gradually add the evaporated milk until the mixture is really creamy and thick. You may not need all of the evaporated milk. Pour into the pastry cases.

Step 8

If cooking a 20cm tart, bake for around 35-40 minutes or 15-20 minutes for the smaller cases. Check the pie is not browning too quickly and cover loosely with foil if it becomes too brown but the filling hasn’t set. You are looking for the filling to still be slightly wobbly when gently shaken, but feel firm when lightly pressed in the middle. Remove from the oven and cool in the tins for at least 1 hour before removing from the tins.

Step 9

Mix the icing sugar with 1 tsp cold water until you have a thick but runny icing. Drizzle over the top of the pies before serving.