Ash standing beside a golden baked pumpkin pie with rustic 1800s crust style, smiling in vintage autumn attire.

Ancient Pumpkin Pie Recipe – Old-Fashioned Fall Dessert from the Past

Want to know what the first Pumpkin pie looked like? You might be shocked! It doesn’t have any crust on! So embarrassing. 

I recently shared all about pumpkin history, and everyone was curious about how I made my interpretation of the first known version of pumpkin pie, so I promised I would share. 

It’s very different from what we enjoy today, but it is fascinating to see how it all started. If you want to know a full history, visit my post all about pumpkin pie history by clicking below :

PUMPKIN PIE HISTORY

For now, let me show you how it’s made. It’s remarkably simple, you just need to start by cleaning the seeds out of a baking pumpkin, then set that aside as you make the custard filling. 

Pour a cup of heavy cream in a small mixing sauce pan and add vanilla bean powder (or extract if you don’t have powder), salt, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, then warm it to just under a boil (around 180°). Remove it from the heat and lightly whisk a whole egg and two egg yolks with honey. Then, slowly add a spoonful at a time of the hot spiced cream, tempering the eggs so they don’t get too hot too quickly, whisking the whole time until they are combined. 

Now, just pour the custard into the cavity of your pumpkin. Avoid completely filling the pumpkin, leave an inch or so space for the custard to rise as it bakes for about an hour. I used a small pumpkin, but don’t be surprised if yours takes longer if it’s bigger. 

That’s it! I recommend letting it cool fully before serving, and it does lack a bit of texture, so I sprinkled chopped pecans on top of each serving. 

Early colonists had so many limitations, including limit access to ovens, or flour, or even baking dishes, so I think it’s a remarkably clever, and as much as I still love modern pumpkin pie, you have to respect the ingenuity and resourcefulness it takes to create something like this. And the presentation is striking, isn’t it? 

So, what do you think of pumpkin pie in its earliest form? Would you try it? If you do, you absolutely have to let me know your thoughts.  

KITCHENWARE USED IN THIS RECIPE

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Ancient Pumpkin Pie Recipe – Old-Fashioned Fall Dessert from the Past

Ash standing beside a golden baked pumpkin pie with rustic 1800s crust style, smiling in vintage autumn attire
Old-fashioned pumpkin pie baked with an 1800s-style filling and flaky crust

This ancient pumpkin pie recipe uses cooked pumpkin, sugar, and spices for a flavorful, rustic dessert inspired by recipes passed down for generations. A true taste of early American kitchens.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon cloves
  • 2 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
  • 1 unbaked 9" pie crust

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until smooth.
  2. Pour mixture into the unbaked pie crust.
  3. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350°F and bake 45 minutes longer.
  4. Pie is done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool before serving.

From the Spiral Bound Foodie kitchen — preserving vintage recipes one dish at a time.

Ancient Pumpkin Pie Recipe – Old-Fashioned Fall Dessert from the Past

Spiral Bound Foodie

Servings

8

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

1 hours

Pumpkin pie didn’t always look or taste like it does today! See what the very first pumpkin pie was made of. 

Ancient Pumpkin Pie Recipe – Old-Fashioned Fall Dessert from the Past

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cream
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (1/4 tsp vanilla powder)
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg 
  • 1/8 tsp ginger
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon 
  • 1/8 tsp cloves
  • (or sub 3/4 tsp pumpkin spice for nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, cloves)
  • 1/2 cup Honey
  • 1 egg 2 egg yolks

Directions

  1. *Note before starting. This recipe makes just over 1 1/2 cups of custard, which should be enough to fill a small pumpkin, but since there is no standard size of pumpkin, you might want to measure how much you’ll need, then multiply the recipe as much as yours will require. To do that, I recommend filling the empty cavity of your pumpkin with water, then pouring that water into a measuring cup. That should tell you how much custard you’ll need to make. 

  2. Preheat oven to 400°.

  3. Cut the top of a baking pumpkin off and scoop out the seeds and pulp. Set aside.

  4. Combine the cream, salt, vanilla powder, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a small saucepan over low to medium heat. Warm to just under a boil (around 180° F), stirring constantly. Remove from heat. 

  5. Lightly whisk eggs with honey.

  6. Slowly add a spoonful of the hot cream to the eggs, whisking well between each spoonful, so the eggs are tempered and not heated too quickly.

  7. Pour the cream egg mixture into the pumpkin cavity, leaving about an inch of room at top for the custard to rise.

  8. Place in oven and bake about an hour, or until custard is firm. The size of your pumpkin may affect the bake time, so look for visual cues to know when it’s done. The custard should puff and rise out of the top of the pumpkin, and it will not be liquid anymore, though it will still have a jiggle.

  9. Cool before cutting the pumpkin in wedges to serve, and sprinkle each individual serving with crushed nuts. 

  10. *Note, I simply sliced wedges of the whole pumpkin, and avoided eating the skin. There wouldn’t be any harm in it, it’s just not a nice texture. 

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