Pumpkin Pie is associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas today, and was indeed sometimes given as an edible gift during the Gilded Age. But did you know that Pumpkin Custard was also a featured dessert on holiday tables in the Nineteenth Century? 

Although plum pudding and mince pie reigned as the most popular Christmas desserts throughout most of the Gilded Age, by the early 1900s, other pies and puddings began to be associated with Christmas and other winter holidays. Those listed on era menus included not only pumpkin, but apple, chocolate cream pudding, cottage pudding (a custardy bread pudding with currants or other fruit such as plums, cherries, or berries), Montrose pudding (a frosty two-layer pudding combining vanilla custard and strawberry water ice), and snow pudding (a molded pudding made from lemon or vanilla flavored gelatin and frothed egg whites and served with a rich custard sauce).

Thought to have originated in Central America, pumpkins were abundant throughout North America by the time Europeans began to explore the New World and were a common ingredient in Indigenous American cuisine. Early English settlers used pumpkins in a variety of different preparations (including stewed and in puddings and pies). The meringue topping on this custardy mix of pumpkin, eggs, milk or cream, sweetener, and spices provides an elegant twist to this dessert, which frequently appeared on Gilded Age Christmas dinner menus. It is an easy and delicious riff on pumpkin pie! 

PUMPKIN CUSTARD

SERVES 10–12

• 3 eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup sugar, plus 3 tablespoons
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 3 cups (one 29-ounce can) pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 2-quart baking dish or coat with cooking spray. Set aside.

Separate eggs, reserving whites for meringue topping. Using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks with sugar on medium speed for about 1 minute. Turn mixer to low and slowly add milk, salt, cinnamon, and ginger and mix until combined. Stir in pumpkin, mixing until thick and custardy.

Spoon mixture into the baking dish and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

While the custard is baking, make the meringue topping by beating egg whites in a large glass or stainless steel bowl with an electric mixer on low until foamy, about 3–4 minutes. Slowly add 3 tablespoons sugar and keep beating, increasing speed to medium-high, until whites form fluffy, firm peaks that curl slightly at their tips when the beater is raised.

When the custard is done, remove from the oven and spread meringue over the surface, making a swirly pattern. Return to the oven and bake for 5–10 minutes or until nicely browned on top. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour, then refrigerate until ready to serve.