How To Make A Pumpkin Pie, in Denmark

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, made up of turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pie. Preferably, pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving is pretty much my favorite holiday. Revisionist history aside, foods eaten on Thanksgiving are just so delicious! This year, our first year away from giant turkeys and piles of mashed potatoes, we’ve been invited to an American Thanksgiving hosted by one of my husband’s co-workers. We were asked to bring something.

So, I decided to bring pumpkin pie.

My cooking and baking skills are mediocre at best. Sometimes I get lucky – if I follow a recipe to a T – but most of the time this is not my forte. But I really wanted that pumpkin pie! So, I got to work.

I ordered the pumpkin puree from My American Market. They’re located in France and they charge a fortune, but I was worried about not finding it in the store (ironically, the ethnic section at Bilka had some, but I didn’t know it until it was too late). So I ordered two 15 oz cans and paid – wait for it…. – 181 kr (that’s almost $29)!!!!!!!

Did I happen to mention how much I love pumpkin pie?

Anyways, the rest of the ingredients I got at Bilka. Bilka is as close to Target as you can get. They sell everything, including ethnic foods. They have an American section, with an ample supply of Jello and marshmallows. Not so much of any of the stuff you might actually want or need. So, I improvised.

In the United States, although I never got through the holiday without pumpkin pie, I never actually made the crust for it. I bought the crust. Sometimes I even bought the pie (from Costco. Costco…  I’m starting to miss you). But now, I had to make it!

I bought what I assumed was white flour:

Hvedemel turned out to be wheat flour (“hvid” is white and “hved” is wheat! Damn it!). Ah well… It will be a healthy crust.

I got some butter…  It’s salted, but damn, this butter is good. And they slashed their prices for the holidays! 12 kr for 250g. $1.90. (What I lost on the pumpkin puree, I made up on the butter)

I, of course, needed a pie pan to make a pie, but I looked and looked and did not find one anywhere! The closest I came to were these aluminum tart pans.

I forgot to take a picture of the crust, but here is a picture of the crust covered in foil, ready for the oven. I did not have beans, so I put in a bunch of rice…

Then I moved on to the filling. I whipped the eggs.

I put in brown sugar (or what I thought was brown sugar. Google doesn’t even know what muscovadorørsukker is) and some spices.

Cinnamon.

Ginger.

Nutmeg.

Then I put in the $15 can of pumpkin puree.

And now it was time for condensed milk…

So…  Kondenseret mælk sounds like condensed milk, right? Well…  Apparently, someone hasn’t been paying much attention in class… Sødet means sweetened!

Once I opened up the can, it was evident that this was not condensed milk. I was so distraught, I swallowed two spoonfuls of it and added about half of the can to the pumpkin mixture. Any more would have sent people into diabetic shock.

So… I improvised. I never improvise in cooking or baking. This may not end well.

I baked it and it came out looking like pumpkin pie. I wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the fridge.

Tomorrow, we will know if it tastes like pumpkin pie.