Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie

To go along with my roasted chicken, I really wanted to make a pumpkin pie for dessert. I always use Paula Deen's recipe because I love the flavor of it, and I love how it has cream cheese in it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find canned pumpkin at my grocery store, but they did have Libby's pumpkin pie filling so I decided to use that and just adapt the recipe by adding a little more pumpkin and a little less sugar and spices. It turned out great considering I didn't have canned pumpkin, but here is the original recipe that I will use this year for thanksgiving when I can find regular canned pumpkin!

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

2 cups mashed canned pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, plus 2 eggs yolks slightly beaten

1 cup half and half

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional (I don't use this but I do add in a little pumpkin pie spice)

premade pie crust

whipped cream, for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

I would highly recommend this recipe! When I was growing up, I wasn't too fond of pumpkin pie, but I loved this recipe from the first time I tried it! Here is a link to the original recipe:

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Pie