Fake Thanksgiving 2010

Back in August, Hubby's sister L got engaged and moved to North Dakota with her fiance, S.  He's a teacher and found a job there for this school year.  Obviously we don't see L & S very often now, so it's exciting when they come back to visit.  In mid-November Hubby's sisters L & M, and his brother R, are going to Europe for 2 weeks.  This means that they'll be gone for Thanksgiving, and with E & C living in Virginia we will be the only ones around for Thanksgiving this year.  L is coming in to PA a few days before going to Europe, so we've decided that we'll have fake Thanksgiving with everyone 2 weeks before the actual holiday.  

I offered to make something for dinner and Hubby's mom asked for a couple of pumpkin pies.  Easy enough.  But I couldn't leave it at that, so I went in search of a pumpkin pie that was a little bit different (last time we were in PA for Thanksgiving I made a 4-layer Pumpkin Cake).  So while I made two regular pumpkin pies using the classic Libby recipe, I also made a Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Pie, from Pillsbury's website.I ended up using the frozen deep-dish crust from Pillsbury that comes in the aluminum tin, all you have to do is fill.  This was easier for me because I am not entirely sure where all of my pie plates are packed...  I also omitted the orange zest from the topping because we didn't have any.  

The pie tasted great and I was glad I made it the night before, because sitting in the fridge overnight seemed to make the topping yummy.  It tasted like it held a lot of the moisture into the filling, which made the pumpkin taste really creamy.  I plan to make this again for real Thanksgiving, and I'm going to use more brown sugar and a little more butter in the topping so that the pie has more of the baked crumbly goodness on top.

Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Pie

originally from the Pillsbury website

serves 8

Filling

1 can pure pumpkin (15 oz)

1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

Streusel Topping

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 tbsp AP flour

2 tbsp butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 425.  If using refrigerated pie crust, unroll into a 9-inch glass pie plate.  If using the frozen crusts in the tin, keep them in the freezer until you're ready with your filling.

In a large bowl, mix the ingredients for the filling until well-blended.  Pour into the crust-lined pie plate.

Bake 15 minutes at 425, then lower the temperature to 350 and bake for another 15 minutes.  While the pie is baking, mix the streusel ingredients in a small bowl.

Sprinkle streusel over pumpkin filling.  Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool completely, about 1 hour.  Serve with whipped cream or Cool Whip.