I'll be honest, there are a lot of good pumpkin pie recipes out there in the world, and there's nothing special or revolutionary about my recipe here. It's just plain simple and good, and I think you'll agree. Before I froze all of my pureed pumpkin, I wanted to make a pumpkin pie, so here it is...

I decided upon an all-butter crust because lately I just haven't been as happy with the shortening crusts I've made. The crust I came up with worked beautifully, but I will put forth one word of caution... I would use this crust with filled pies with which you bake the filling and the crust together. I would not use it for a pie where you have to bake the crust individually first... It doesn't hold up along the edges of the pie plate without the filling there to help it out.

That said, it worked beautifully for this particular pie. It turned out rich tasting and flaky, two of the best attributes for a pumpkin pie crust in my humble opinion.

Here's the recipe for this all-butter crust...

• 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 Sticks of Butter
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 2 tsp. Sugar
• 5-7 Tbsp. Ice Water

Cut up butter into small cubes, about 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch. Place butter cubes in freezer for an hour. After an hour, put butter, flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse until butter is broken apart and mixture is crumbly and fine. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time, pulsing the processor between each addition, until mixture just begins to form a dough. (Add enough water that it holds dough together, but not so much that it makes dough pasty.)

Separate dough into two balls and place one ball on a well-floured pastry cloth. Sprinkle top of dough with flour and roll out (adding a dusting of more flour if needed) until desired thickness, a little thinner than a quarter inch.

Grease a 9-inch pie plate with butter. Fold rolled dough in half, then in half again. Move to pie plate and unfold, pushing dough into the bottom and sides of the plate. Trim excess dough from around the edge of the place using a paring knife.

What I loved about this dough was that it rolled out beautifully and it was really easy to handle. Also, I didn't have to put it in the refrigerator before rolling it out. The ice cold butter ensured that it maintained its consistency and also was what gave it it's flaky texture.

For the next part of the pumpkin pie making, I became a repeat offender... I did it again... I corrupted a beautifully pure and healthy vegetable/fruit (I really don't know which pumpkin is... fruit or vegetable... when I find out I'll tell ya') by adding heavy cream to it. Just like I did in the roasted squash bisque. I just can't help myself.

Here's the instructions for making the filling and baking the pie...

• 2 Cups Pumpkin Puree
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 2 1/2 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put all ingredients in mixer and mix until smooth. Pour filling into pie crust. (Filling should only fill up about 2/3 of the pie plate... This is because the pie will puff up slightly when baking.)

Wrap outside of pie plate with aluminum foil to prevent edges of crust from over-baking. Set pie plate on baking sheet and place in oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn oven temperature down to 350 degrees and bake pie for another 30 minutes. At this point, remove foil. Continue baking pie for another 20-30 minutes, until filling is baked through and toothpick inserted into the middle of the pie comes out clean.

Allow pie to cool on cooling rack, then refrigerate for at least eight hours for best texture and flavor.

You'll end up with this little beauty...

I kept it simple and skipped scalloping the edges or any of that jazz, because sometimes there's just nothing wrong with keeping it simple.

Well, I'm about pumpkin-ed out for awhile. After making this little beauty, some other pumpkin treats, roasted seeds and devouring the roasted squash bisque, I've had about all I can handle for awhile. Luckily I've got handy freezer bags of the stuff just waiting until I get on a pumpkin/squash kick again.

And since I was naughty and added heavy cream to some of my creations, even my stretchy pants are feeling just the slightest bit more snug. Take my word for it, people... Heavy cream... It's a slippery slope.