Spider webs, bats, witches, rats, pumpkins and scarecrows, it's finally Halloween! Time to pick your costumes, paint your faces and join the party, but hold your horses for a moment, aren't you forgetting something? Time to carve your pumpkin lantern (here's mine), only this year instead of throwing away its inside skin we'll make a sweet pie out of it.
So whaddaya say, will some sweet Halloween pumpkin pie treat satisfy your need to trick?
This pie, or pita as we call it in Greece, requires some delicacy when you're dealing with filo pastry. Besides that, it's fairly easy to make and can be served as desert, breakfast or even with a cuppa.
Ingredients
- Filo pastry sheets (preferably 8 but 6 will do as well)
- 500gr pumpkin skin
- 1/2 lt of milk
- 250gr of sugar
- 3 tablespoons custard powder
- 3-5 tablespoons finely ground breadcrumbs
- Cinnamon
- Icing sugar to serve
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
Preparation
Grate the skin of the pumpkin and if it's excessively moist use a colander to remove most of the juices. Place it in the pot on high temperature, add your sugar and cinnamon and allow it to come to a quick boil. Lower your temperature and while the mixture is slowly simmering add the custard powder in your milk and stir vigorously, to prevent the creation of lumps. Slowly add to the pot while stirring continuously. Time for the breadcrumbs, which will lock all the wonderful flavours of the slow cooking pumpkin together. Add 3-5 tablespoons to help the mixture become more solid, depending on the amount of juices in your pot. Don't overdo it, you don't want your pie filling to be dry. Keep simmering until it's nice and of good consistency. Leave it aside to cool down for about 30 minutes.
Preheat your over to 180C.
Grease the tin you'll be using to bake your pie a very thin layer of olive oil. If you have 8 sheets of filo then layer 5 of them at the bottom of the tin, greasing lightly every single one of them as you do (if you have 6 then use 4). Place your filling inside and use the rest of your sheets to cover your pie and make a case. Bake in the over for 30 minutes or until your pie is crispy and golden.
Leave it to cool and serve with icing sugar and some cinnamon on top.
And that's all! Didn't I say it's an easy recipe? It's one of my favourite desert pies and the epitome of autumn. And although we don't celebrate Halloween in Greece (we have a very familiar celebration a few weeks before Easter where we get to dress up in costumes, we call it "Apokries" or "Karnavalia"), we do have this in our autumn menus.
I really hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you think of the pie if you get to bake one yourself. And get some photos for me to see as well!
Until next time,
Dora
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