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Carrot Pie (fake pumpkin pie)

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Most people will not guess this is carrot pie–it passes as a pretty good pumpkin pie. The recipe is for a 8 or 9 inch pie pan, but you will have MORE than enough.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups (1.25 lbs.) of raw, peeled carrots
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

Instructions

Carrot Pie
Carrot Pie

  1. Peel the carrots. Cut into small pieces.
  2. Put the carrots in a pan of water (enough to cover the carrots and provide a little room for them to swim around). Bring the water to a boil. Reduce heat and cook on a low boil/simmer for 20 minutes. Alternatively, you can steam the carrots to preserve more of the nutrients
  3. Puree the cooked carrots. A blender on a high setting works well (see my comment below). Apparently a food processor works well too. You could try hand crushing with a potato masher, or hand mixer, but I’m not sure you would be able to achieve the silky smooth texture you are looking for. TIP: I wasn’t able to really puree the carrots alone, so I added the can of evaporated milk to the carrots, while still in the blender.
  4. Make the pie crust. For obvious reasons, the hand made pie crust is greatly preferred (see my comment below).
  5. Mix the rest of the pie contents thoroughly, using a hand mixer or a spatula/spoon with a lot of effort.
  6. Pour the mixture into a pie pan. You will have plenty to fill it to the brim, and probably some left over. Feel free to use the leftover mixture in a second, smaller, pie or “crustless” pie.
  7. Bake at 400 F for the first 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F, and bake for another 45 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The center of the pie may puff up quite a bit during baking. It should settle back down as the pie cools.
  8. Serve warm, or refrigerate until you are ready to eat.

Culinary Tradition
USA (traditional)
My Rating (out of 5 stars)
★★★★★

COMMENTS:

  • I prefer to use the “old school” methods and equipment, when possible. However, a food processor or blender seems necessary to achieve the silky smooth texture we are looking for. Crushing the carrots by hand probably will not yield the same results.
  • If you are going to the trouble of making this recipe, rather than using the pumpkin pie filling from a can or (gasp) buying a frozen pie, then you owe it to yourself and your family to make the pie crust. It’s not that difficult.
  • Some people might compare this recipe to the Sweet Potato Pie (another one of my favorites), found at http://k-line.org/9/2010/03/16/sweet-potato-pie/. While the look is similar, most people won’t confuse the taste of Sweet Potato Pie with Carrot Pie or Pumpkin Pie.


Timesaving alternative to Sweet Potato Pie

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If you love sweet potato pie (who doesn’t), try out the new AND IMPROVED recipe. Actually, it’s the same recipe, but the filling preparation has a suggestion to using the microwave oven in lieu of the regular oven to shave about 45 minutes off the prepartion time.


Recipe: Old fashioned Cream Pie (Grandma Truex, modified)

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Old fashioned Cream Pie.
Grandma Truex’ Recipe (modified)

Summary: A fast, easy and delicious pie, with no top crust

Ingredients

Grandma and Grandpa Truex
Grace and Will Truex. This is her recipe, modified.

  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 6 Tablespoons flour
  • 1 1/4 cup sugar, half white and half brown (i.e. about 5/8 cup of each)
  • 1 egg*
  • 1 1/3 cup milk*
  • sprinkle a bit of cinnamon (optional)*

Instructions

  1. Dab butter in an unbaked pie shell.
  2. Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl. Add the egg.
  3. Slowly add the milk as you stir. Add enough to make a paste first, and then gradually add in the rest of the milk. If you add the milk too quickly, it will not all dissolve, and you’ll get a crusty layer on top of the cream when it bakes. Mix well.
  4. Poor in the pie shell. Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top (optional).
  5. Bake at 390 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake until thick. After about another 20 or 30 minutes (50-60 minutes total, from when first placed in oven), a toothpick should come out clean. Refrigerate after it cools. Some people like to eat cream pie warm. I prefer it after it’s been in the refrigerator for a day.

*[note, the original recipe called for 1 1/3 cup milk & cream (half milk and half cream), with no egg. Instead, I use all milk and add an egg. Also, the original recipe did not call for any cinnamon.]

CulinaryTradition: USA (Traditional)

My rating: 5.0 stars
*****