pumpkin pie, please!

i am very ready for fall! this weather has put me in the mood for everything fall--from decorating to baking. so here i am wanting some pumpkin pie--micah's favorite! the first fall we were married (way back in'07!) i found a really good recipe from paula dean--i love her! it called for cream cheese in the mix, so i thought it had to be yummy! and it was! even though i've only made this pie a few times, it is really, super good. you can always buy a premade pie shell, but homemade is so much better, cheaper and easy. here's my mom's recipe for the best pie crust ever!!

1 cup flour, 1/3 cup shortening (i use butter flavor) 1 tsp. salt, 3-4 tablespoons cold water. yep. that's it!

cut shortening into flour/salt mixture until it looks like below. then add water (i only used 3 T) combine until it all comes together.

flour your work surface and roll out dough

this part can be kinda tricky because your dough might stick. after you have rolled out your dough, start with one end of the pie dough and lay over your roller. continue to roll until you've rolled it all around your roller. then unroll over your pie dish.

take a knife and trim around the edges, then crimp

with my leftover dough, i cut out different shapes to put on top of the pie.

set aside pie dough

here are the ingredients for the pie

1 cup sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon--i didn't measure

1/2 stick melted butter

1 egg + 2 egg yolks--slightly beaten

1 cup half & half

1 can pumpkin (15 oz)

1 block cream cheese--room temperature

          beat cream cheese, then add pumpkin. beat. add sugar. beat.     

add eggs, half & half and melted butter. beat. last, add your cinnamon, stirring until incorporated.

pour into your pie dough. i always have quite a bit left over, so i use small baking dishes to make crustless pie

ready to bake! 350 for 50 minutes or until center is set

 tag loves to look at what goodies are in the oven. then won't stop saying, "bite, please?" over and over

:)

 finished!

 now wait forever while it cools..

 the best part is the small pies don't take as long to bake so they are cool enough to eat. warm delicious pie!

 and now it's all gone :) good thing there's another mini pie and better yet, whole pie!