Listen up party people, it’s pumpkin time if you haven’t noticed by every muffin mix, coffee drink, and local “patch” popping up in front of your fall-loving face. It’s so pumpkin-arrific that my 3-year-old saw a picture of a pumpkin pie and said, “Can I have that?” This is a kid who won’t touch a vegetable or fruit so I decided feeding him pumpkin in the form of pie was a freaking great idea. Whatever it takes, dude.

While I love the cheesecake variety of pumpkin pie, and love even more a pie with a sweet potato and bourbon twist, I decided to go classic with this pie. Also, I decided to go lazy because g-dammit, I am still not willing to make a homemade gluten-free pie crust. I’m just not. If you want to learn how to roll out a super sticky gluten-free crust and make little dough designs, you’re going to have to go elsewhere. Not unlike snakes, making a gluten-free pie crust is something I have a completely irrational fear of getting involved with, and I’m just not gonna’ do it. Graham cracker? You bet. Anything other than a dough you have to roll out? ON IT. But I’m rejecting this notion of traditional crust that must be made by my own hands. The ones from Whole Foods work like a charm. Go shopping.

One totally Brooklyn thing I did do, however, was buy a lil’ sweet pumpkin and roast it up and puree that baby instead of using canned puree. Although as my sister-in-law pointed out, roasting a pumpkin and giving it the old puree doesn’t taste any different than buying pumpkin puree in a can. But if I’m not making the pie crust, I feel like I must do something else artisnal-y.

This recipe needs a 15 ounce can, so you can either do that or roast a small pie pumpkin and use the innards (seeds and strings removed). Using fresh nutmeg will really make the flavor more complex, and I highly recommend it.

Get it.

Gluten-Free Classic Pumpkin Pie

adapted from Food Network Magazine

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 1 hours, 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 gluten-free pie crust
15 ounce pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Bake pre-made pie crust at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and prepare the filling, leaving oven heated at 350.

2. Whisk together pumpkin, cream, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt. Do not over mix.

3. Pour mixture into cooked pie shell and bake for one hour, until middle does not jiggle. Cool, and serve.

Makes: 10 servings