No Ordinary Pumpkin Pie

So around this time of year, Americans start craving the essentials of fall food - gravy, stuffing, cranberries, and pie. Not being able to wait until Thanksgiving, a few weeks ago I found myself pouring over recipes for pie: chocolate, pecan, key lime... I was having a hard time not drooling on Betty Crocker's glossy photos. I think my feelings would be best expressed with this meme:

(By the way, I am not usually one to follow trending among 

the masses, but I really do love this meme. It expresses a brand 

of extremity which I can relate to so very much.)

Somewhere, tucked into a manila envelope I found a stack of clipped recipes, and there was my golden ticket. It is a habit of mine to change recipes, so I am sharing with you the results of a delicious experiment:

No Ordinary Pumpkin Pie

9-inch graham cracker crust

1 can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

2 T maple syrup

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg, & ginger)

Topping:

1/4 C packed brown sugar

1/4 C chopped or fine ground pecans

2 T flour

2 T cold butter/margarine

Toast the graham cracker crust according to package directions. In a large bowl, beat filling ingredients with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the topping ingredients, cutting in the butter until crumbly. Remove pie from oven & reduce temperature to 350. Sprinkle topping over pie & place back in oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool completely, about 2 hours. This pie is best served warm!! It's still great after it's been refrigerated, but nothing quite beats it when it is warm and crunchy with whipped cream pooling down the sides... Seriously, you will want to eat the whole thing in one sitting. I won't judge you if you do.