Last week it was a reduced egg loaf of banana bread. This week I wanted to try using half the eggs in a pumpkin pie.
This is a hybrid cornstarch pudding-baked egg custard pie. My thought was if I could combine a pumpkin pudding with some egg the pie might just work out with a single egg. I modified the recipe on the label for Libby's canned pumpkin. There's less milk, slightly more pumpkin, and less sugar, plus the tablespoon of cornstarch.
The process to making the filling is two-step, cooking a milk and cornstarch pudding on the stove then combining with the rest of the filling ingredients.
What I used:
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/4 cups milk or half and half (I used soy milk)
2 cups pumpkin puree (I used home-cooked and pureed pumpkin)
1 large egg
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked
In a medium saucepan, whisk together cornstarch and milk. Cook over Low-Med, stirring constantly, until thickened and has bubbled for 1 full minute (about 4-6 minutes total cook time). Remove from heat. Quickly mix in the pumpkin puree before the milk or cream mixture cools.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg, then mix in sugar, spices, and salt. With an electric mixer, combine the egg/sugar/spices with the pumpkin/milk/cornstarch puree.
Pour into an unbaked pie shell.
Bake for 15 minutes at 425 (if a metal pie plate, 400 if glass). Reduce oven to 350 (if metal, 325 if glass). Bake an additional 35 minutes or so, or until crust edges are golden and center of pie looks set.
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just out of the oven |
As you can see, the top of the pie has those traditional cracks in the surface that an egg custard pumpkin pie customarily has when first removing from the oven.
Cool on the counter for 1 hour, then transfer to the refrigerator and chill for 2 hours to finalize the set.
The cornstarch helps thicken and firm up the filling, so slices can have a more clean cut (like lemon meringue pie). When I've tried adding either flour or cornstarch directly to the uncooked filling, it has settled to the bottom of the pie, creating a thickened layer at the bottom. This new way with cooking the milk and cornstarch until thickened stabilized the cornstarch in the custard filling.
Here's a photo of a slice of pie after chilling 1 hour (I was impatient). The pie sliced nicely and came out of the pie plate intact. It's texture is soft and pudding to custard-like.
I think this is a success. The pie looks good and tastes delicious. The texture of the filling is great. And with eggs about 50 cents each right now, this is a money-saver to use one less egg.
Have you tried baking with fewer eggs than recipes call for? What has worked and what has not worked? Next, I will be trying to use half the eggs in a batch of brownies. I'm not sure how those will turn out.
I have not tried baking with fewer eggs, but I am curiously watching as you experiment for us. I will be particularly interested in the brownies.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteI'll let you know how brownies turn out. I'm a little unsure of reduced-egg brownies, as I think the eggs contribute to the texture, but we'll have to see.
I regularly use less eggs and less sugar and have yet to have any issues. Every little thing I do to help us stretch finances is a challenge for me and sometimes almost fun! I plan to try this pie recipe. Thanks for trying it first!
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda,
DeleteThanks for sharing your experience. That's good to know that you've been able to modify baking recipes and had them turn out well. You're right, every little bit helps. I hope you like how the pie turns out.
Great information! I occasionally use fewer eggs than are called for in a recipe, but I don't think I've tried anything custardy before. I just kinda guesstimate the liquid and starchy amounts. It's nice of you to give a more scientific explanation of what you did. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
DeleteI baked some chocolate chip cookies over the weekend with extra flour plus some applesauce, to stretch the batch while using the 1 egg called for. I kind of did a guesstimate of the applesauce and extra flour to get it right. They turned out really good. Not the same as if I'd followed the recipe exactly, but good as they were.
My conclusion -- I think as long as we're okay with not exactly how baking would normally turn out, we can bake successfully using less eggs and/or less sugar.