Grandma's Pumpkin Pie

When I started this blog, I didn't envision how long or often I would be adding recipes. I should have kept a list of the ones I'd posted. For instance, I recently posted a recipe for hot apple cider. I thought I had already written about it and looked through the archives, but didn't find it. With the holidays approaching, I wanted to post my grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe, but thought I already had. Again, I did a search through the archive and didn't find it, but did find where I had posted the hot cider recipe a few years ago. Oh well, someday when I find the time, I'll have to go through and make myself a list. Hopefully, I haven't already put this pumpkin pie recipe on here, but if I have that's okay. It's such a good recipe, it's worth seeing again.

I love heirloom recipes. You can always count on them being good. This was my maternal grandmother's recipe, who gave it to my mother, who gave it to me and I, in turn, have given it to my daughter. Hopefully, it will keep going down each generation for quite a while.

I actually make this recipe two different ways. As you can see in the instructions below, it calls for separating the egg yolks from the white and then whipping the whites to add later. Doing this makes the pie much fuller and thick. If you don't want to go to the trouble of whipping the egg whites, you can add the eggs whole. The pie won't be as thick, but the taste is the same. Also, please note that this recipe calls for deep-dish pie crusts. This makes a lot of batter and two regular pie crusts will not hold it all.

Grandma Heitz's Pumpkin Pie

2 - 15 oz. cans of pumpkin
4 eggs
3/4 C. evaporated milk
3 T. flour
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon

Separate egg yolks from egg white and set whites aside. Mix all of the other ingredients well and set them aside. Beat the eggs whites until fluffy. Add them to the pumpkin batter and mix well by hand. Pour into 2 deep-dish pie crusts. Bake at 350° f. for about an hour.