Autumn. Some call it Fall. It is the one that many people enjoy very much. Pavements covered with brightly-coloured fall leaves, varieties of nuts, chill in the air, Halloween, seasonal moodiness, and the days get shorter....Still nothing express AUTUMN better and more than a piece of delicious spiced pumpkin pie in the afternoon.

1. Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl. Add the butter. Rub into the flour with a fork until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add in ice water to the flour mixture and gently mixing dough after each addition until dough forms a ball. Wrap the ball of dough with greaseproof wrapper and chill it for 30 minutes.
   
2. Take out the dough and place it between 2 baking paper and roll out to a circle about 3mm thick. Place it onto a 9-inch heart-shaped baking tin, draping it gently. With the fingertips, ease the dough into the tin, gently pressing it smoothly over the bottom without stretching it. Trim the excess.
   
3. Prick the bottom of the pastry case all over with a fork. Return to the fridge for anther 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
   
   
4. Lay a baking paper or tin foil on the pastry case and put enough dried beans to cover the bottom thickly. Bake the case in a preheated oven 180/350F for 18 minutes, remove the paper or foil and beans. Prick the bottom again with a fork. Return to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. (Bake custard and cream filling can make pastry soggy, so the cases for these tarts are often given an initial baking before the filling is added. Such prebaking is referred to as baking blind. The purpose of using weights is to prevent the bottom of the pastry case from rising too much and becoming distorted, thus keeping its neat shape.)
   
5. Mix all the ingredients, except nuts, for the filling until all well-combined and pour into pie crust. Then sprinkle the top with pine nuts. Bake in a preheated 180C/350F oven for 45 minutes.

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