A pie is probably one of my favorite things to bake... and pumpkin pie is right up there at the top of the list. Up until a couple years ago I made my pumpkin pies using a can of pureed pumpkin. I think way back a very long time ago I attempted to make a pumpkin pie from a really fresh pumpkin, directly from my garden. The pumpkins were great, but the process was tedious and quite messy... and I seem to remember them being too watery. I determined at that point that there was no way I would ever make a pumpkin pie from a whole pumpkin again.
Moving ahead to just a couple years ago, I read an article somewhere online about cooking a whole pumpkin in a crockpot. Of course that was preceded by discovering a recipe for Homemade Fresh Pumpkin Pie. I decided I would have to give fresh pumpkin a try... just this once. I proceeded to do a search to find the best way to cook a whole pumpkin... I found a technique I would not have thought to try... using a crockpot. It has been a couple years, maybe three since I discovered this new method of cooking the pumpkin. It is in my head... and I did think I made note of the process and/or link... but when I went to double check, because it is only in the Fall of the year when the pumpkins start showing up at the store that I need to remember. I cannot send you to a link, because none of them I found in my recent search are done like the one I use. That is when I decided I needed to document how I do this process.
Now this is absolutely the easiest possible technique. You buy a "pie pumpkin", also known as sugar pumpkins. I have a couple different size crockpots... the one I use for this is one of the smaller ones and these "pie pumpkins" fit perfectly. I had to cut the stem end down a bit so the lid would sit properly. After I wash the pumpkin, I put the pumpkin in the crockpot and put the lid on. I did not add any water and I did not pierce the pumpkin. Put the pumpkin in and close the lid. Turn the crockpot to High and walk away. 
I needed to look for a note somewhere to determine if I needed to use the high or low setting... but I don't think it really matters. Supposedly the lid will start to jiggle when it is time to give it a check. I didn't hear the jiggle, but I did check after exactly two hours and it was done perfectly. I pierced the pumpkin with a fork and it was done. If I had put it on low it just would have taken a little longer. At this point I removed the lid and shut the crockpot off. When the pumpkin was cooled a little, I removed it to a cookie sheet where I cut the pumpkin in half to let it cool enough to handle while I scooped the seeds out.
Next step is to scoop the pumpkin out. There is very little waste as the seeds are already cooked. When I am done I swoosh some water in the cup with the seeds and separate the seeds out to spread on a parchment lined cookie sheet and sprinkle some salt on them. They dry a little while I go to the pie stage of the process. When I turn the oven on to preheat, I put the seed cookie sheet in and by the time the oven is heated up, the seeds are pretty much ready to come out.
Back to the pumpkin... I use a hand electric mixer to puree the pumpkin to a smooth consistency. The recipe (link is above) for the pie calls for 2 cups of cooked pumpkin and there is usually close to 3 cups from this size pumpkin. By the way, the recipe that is linked to above includes a pie crust recipe... that part of the recipe I do not use. I have my Grandmother's recipe for pie crust that is Tried and True. There is no way that I would buy a can of pumpkin again... unless there was just not any fresh pumpkins to be found and I had used up all that I had frozen. Freezing the pureed pumpkin in 2 cup packages makes it easy to make a pumpkin pie when it just feels like a pumpkin pie day.
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