Too much heavy cream in my pumpkin pie?

Question

I followed the recipe below but I'm concerned that it seems like a lot of cream - it's very runny. I've already mixed it up, poured one pie, and have a ton of mixture left - probably enough for 6 more pies. I only have 1 more cup of pumpkin puree - should I add it to the remaining mix? Should I add anything else? I also have another pumpkin that I could roast tomorrow and add if I have to. What should I do to save the rest of the mix?

• 2 your favorite pie crust
• 6 cups pumpkin puree, from a real pumpkin (see below)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons clove
• 2 teaspoons allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon mace or 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 8 large eggs
• 4 1/2 cups heavy cream or 4 1/2 cups evaporated milk

Roast the pumpkin and puree its flesh. Whip pumpkin with all other ingredients for about 3 minutes. Pour mixture into pie crust and bake at 425 ° F for 15 minutes. Turn oven 350 & and bake for 40 to 60 minutes until knife or toothpick comes out clean. Store in refrigerator.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/real-pumpkin-pie-from-scratch-easy-490668

Answer 1

To understand the Food.com recipe you referenced, I compared it to the Libby's recipe which sets the benchmark for pumpkin pies.

              Food.com     Libby's

Raw measurements

Pumpkin       6 c          2 c
Sugar         2 c          0.75 c
Eggs          8            2
Dairy         4.5 c        1.5 c

Pseudo-bakers percentages (eggs as ratio of cups pumpkin to eggs)

Pumpkin       100%         100%
Sugar         33%          38%
Eggs          1 : 1.33     1 : 1
Dairy         75%          75%

As you can see, other than creating a huge volume of filling per shell, the Food.com recipe you used is quite similar. The main difference is that it adds a lot more egg, so should set up more firmly.

It does seem to produce far, far too much filling for the number of shells specified, even if they are deep-dish.

I would suggest baking the extra filling in ramekins or baking dishes as pumpkin custard for any surplus after you have filled your shells.

Don't add more ingredients to the filling, though; they are approximately balanced already. Remember, pumpkin pie is a custard, and the filling will be quite liquid before it is baked.