Mom’s Pumpkin Pie
My mom, whether she admits to it or not, is an expert pie maker. She makes every type of pie imaginable, but on 
Thanksgiving, she always makes a pumpkin pie. Since I was making other desserts, I told her I would try my hand at making the pumpkin pie this year.
First was the pie crust. She uses a recipe titled Never Fail Pie Crust for all of her pie crust, which I hoped to be true because I have never been very good at rolling dough out. To make the crust, I combined flour and salt in a bowl and then worked in shortening with my fingers until it looked like coarse crumbs. After that, I added enough cold water to get the dough to hold together. Since I cut the recipe in half, I added 3 tablespoons of water. >> I formed the dough into a disk, wrapped it in plastic wrap, and then let refrigerated it for about a half hour before rolling it out on a floured surface. I made sure I turned the dough a lot so it didn’t stick. The dough seemed a little dry because it cracked around the edges when I was rolling it, but my mom said that it’s normal for 
that to happen. Once the dough was rolled out, I put it in the pie dish, trimmed the edges, and fluted the edges. I found out later that the recipe is actually supposed to make 3 pie shells (I thought it was supposed to make two), so I guess I didn’t roll it out thin enough, but I thought it worked out pretty well for my first time. I wrapped the pie dish in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator overnight and make the pumpkin pie filling the next day.
The pie filling is actually simplier than the pie crust. My mom said I could use canned pumpkin, but she normally uses fresh butternut squash, so that’s what I used. I peeled, seeded, and cubed a butternut squash, placed it in pan with a little water, and roasted it in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes until it was tender. I 
then put the squash in the blender with enough water to puree it. Be careful not to overfill the blender with the hot squash though because it tends to expand in the blender. Once pureed, I put the squash in a bowl and whisked in milk, sugar, vanilla, flour, salt, and eggs until smooth. I poured the mixture into the unbaked pie shell and topped it with cinnamon. I baked the pie for 45 minutes, halfway between the times my mom gave me. She forgot to mention how to tell if it’s done (she told me later she tests hers with a knife), but 45 minutes seemed good. I refrigeratored the pie overnight and served it with fresh whipped cream on Thanksgiving.
I was excited about the pie, because it looked exactly like my mom’s does. I thought it tasted pretty good too, but my aunt claimed it was “too pumpkiny”. How can a pumpkin pie be too pumpkiny, I don’t know, but that was the general consensus. Turns out, my mom uses evaprated milk, which would make the pie a little creamier. I still thought it was good, but lesson learned - when you get a recipe from your mom, make sure she is very specific otherwise you end up with a too pumpkiny pumpkin pie.