I know it's a little odd to still be indulging in pumpkins and gingerbread-y things at this time of the year. January, leading into February, is usually all about the romantic chocolates and raspberries and strawberries and all things Valentine's Day, right? Well, this recipe was borne out of the necessity to get rid of leftovers.

I had the majority of a can of pumpkin puree left over from making pumpkin biscotti, and gingersnaps that had begun losing their crunch. So ... what better than to make a pumpkin pie with a gingersnap crust?

This is actually a tart, but only because my pie dish was so shallow. But the ingredients and instructions are all the same ... the pie crust recipe was taken from this Food.com recipe, and I adapted this pumpkin pie recipe.

Gingersnap Pie Crust

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of gingersnap crumbs (about 2/3rds of a package of gingersnaps)
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup of butter or margarine, melted

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Use a blender or food processor to turn the gingersnaps into crumbs, and mix crumbs with the sugar, vanilla, and melted butter.

Press the mixture into your pie pan, until the pan is evenly covered and the crust is firmly packed. (You can do this by pressing the backside of a metal spoon against the crust mixture.) Bake 10 minutes and allow to cool.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients
2 cups of pumpkin puree
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup of half-and-half or milk
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon each of: ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon of ground allspice
(You can substitute 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice for the spices above, if you have it.)

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Stir the pumpkin puree, half-and-half, and eggs together. Mix in the sugar, flour, vanilla, salt, and spices. Pour the mixture into your pre-baked pie crust, and cover the edges of the pie pan with aluminum foil to prevent overbaking.

Bake the pie for 40 minutes and remove the aluminum foil from the edges after 40 minutes. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted at the center of the pie comes out clean. Cool before serving.


The gingersnap crust really gave this pie extra dimension, and a cookie-like flavor. The pie filling itself was almost custardy, which was nice. This was a much easier endeavor than I'd expected it to be, and I might just be making my own pie crusts from now on!