Have you ever had a pie that you really really loved... I L-O-V-E pumpkin pie... I have for a long time... years upon years... Sure there was a time I did not care for it... but I was a kid then... so I blame it on undeveloped taste buds. I mean... come on at that age I used to think it was perfectly fine to microwave a grilled cheese sandwich... not much grilling going on there!

Anyway... so I have a love for pumpkin pie. One day a few years back I discovered something else that was a nice addition to my pumpkin pie and it was gingersnap crust... yes it was a very welcome addition. I thought to myself... This is it... pumpkin pie can not get any better then with a gingersnap crust...

I was wrong... I was so so SO wrong! This past Thanksgiving I came across a recipe that sounded as if it could have a chance at being good. It was for Apple Butter Pumpkin pie... I thought... Why not... I will give it a whirl. Then it hit me...

Have you ever watched the cartoon bit where the person is walking and they step on a rake and it comes up and smacks them in the face... Whenever I say an idea hit me... That is what I think of... but that is neither here nor there... so back to the point...

It hit me... Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie with a Gingersnap crust! It sounded brilliant... So I took my two recipes... did a little tweaking of them to mesh them together and made the pie... We had it on Thanksgiving... I was a little worried about it... Would it be good... What if it was a disaster and no one would ever trust my cooking/baking again... Well I dished it out and.... oh yeah... you guessed it... It was a hit! So I figured... hey what a great recipe to open my new blog with... so here it is!

Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie W/ Gingersnap Crust

Ingredients for crust:

1 3/4 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons white sugar

Ingredients for pie filling:
1 cup apple butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk

Directions for crust:

Preheat oven to 325F. Combine cookie crumbs, granulated sugar, and melted butter in a 9 inch pie pan. Press into sides. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool completely.

Directions for Pie:

Preheat oven to 425F. In a large bowl, combine the apple butter, pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add eggs. Gradually beat in milk until smooth. Pour into prepared crust.
Bake at 425F for 35-40 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack.

**I have never found any store that sells gingersnap crumbs... so you will have to make your own... Now I have tried many different ways of crushing the cookies to make the crumbs myself... and I will tell you the EASY way... I know you will be tempted to use a blender... or some other mechanical doo-dad you have in your kitchen... but don't... All you need are two things... First a Ziplock Freezer bag (you want the gallon size freezer bag because it is big and thick... so the cookies don't rip the plastic) and second you will need a rolling pin. Now here is what you do... Put about 8-10 little cookies in the bag... take most of the air out... zip it shuts... give each cookies a good whack with the rolling pin to break it into smaller chunks... then take the rolling pin and roll the cookie bits out... it turns into a nice crumb... no big pieces at all... Once you have them all crumbled... put them in your measuring cup and grab a few more and do it again until you get the right amount for the recipe. :)

Well I hope you all enjoy this little recipe... I know I sure did! Also... Here are two pictures of the pie for your viewing pleasure... One with whipped cream for those who like it... and one with no whipped cream because sometimes there are a few freaks out there... like my brother... who don't like the stuff! ;)