Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie

For Halloween, I baked a pumpkin pie to bring to a friend's house. I have baked so many pumpkin pies in my life, it's ridiculous. When I was a kid, pumpkin pie looked gross to me so I never even tried it! Now I love it, maybe more than any other kind of pie. It's delicious, fairly healthy, and super easy to make.

I had a couple of containers of sour cream in my fridge so I googled recipes for pumpkin pie using sour cream. (Every time I google some strange combination like green tomato and apple pie, someone else has already posted a recipe!! I swear, you can find a recipe for ANYTHING on the Internet!) I found numerous recipes for pumpkin pie which make use of sour cream in the crust, in the filling, and in an additional topping. All sounded good to me. I based today's recipe on one created by Kraft. I doctored it a bit, of course.

I used to make the classic pumpkin pie using evaporated milk. The filling always seemed too runny to me, and I always ended up with too much filling. Does this happen to you? I have also used condensed milk (this has LOTS of added sugar) which works great, as does canned coconut cream for those who are lactose intolerant or just enjoy something a little different. 

I was very happy with the way this pie turned out. Sour cream balances the sweetness, and the filling ends up creamy but not runny. 

Ingredients:

Chilled pie crust (make your own or purchase a premade crust)

15 oz. can pumpkin puree

8 oz. sour cream

2 large eggs, beaten

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 TB pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 450F. Blind bake pie crust for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let crust cool while you make filling. Reduce oven temperature to 350F.

Using an immersion blender, mix ingredients together in order given. Set aside pecans. Blend thoroughly. Pour filling into prefaced crust. Sprinkle pecans around the edges. Bake at 350F for 45-55 minutes. Filling should no longer be runny in the center, but will still be soft. Remove pie from oven and cool. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Makes at least 8 servings.