To pumpkin pie or not to pumpkin pie, that is the question. Well, I have the answer, definitely to pumpkin pie! That is, the right pumpkin pie. That is my pumpkin pie. If you’re going to be in the pumpkin pie camp you must, yes, you must make this pumpkin pie! It’s full of pumpkin flavor with warm spices that you can taste but don’t overtake you. The filling is set just right, and the texture is luxurious, not lumpy or overly wet, but holds its custardy own! All lying in a simple, perfect, no frills, all butter crust browned to perfection! Oh yeah and then it’s topped off with mesmerizing, marshmallowy toasted swiss meringue! It’s pie season y’all and I got your Holiday pie covered!
There once was a time when I was in the not to pumpkin pie camp. I know, blasphemy, right? Mostly due to the fact I was younger, my sophisticated tastes hadn’t been fully developed, among other un-fully developed things. I am still waiting on some of those developments… 🙂 Any who, I digress. As a kid it was a bit too pumpkiny, slimy, cold, texture was never quite right. You know, just didn’t jive with my senses. However, as I got older, I started to appreciate some of those flavors more. But it still has to be the right amounts of spices, flavors, texture, etc. Otherwise I am reverted to childhood and wrinkle my nose at the bite of an off PP (that would be Pumpkin Pie).
This was my second attempt at the PPP (that would be Perfect Pumpkin Pie). I made it last year. I think I was trying to be too fancy and throw in too many strong flavor profiles that just were fighting for the lead actress role. The result was not good. I mean it wasn’t terrible, but definitely not a keeper. I did a ginger snap crust with a maple and bourbon custard. Sounds good, but the ginger in the crust overpowered the whole pie and the texture of the filling was off. So, I had to scrap that recipe. I am not a quitter so this time I attempted a more traditional PP, with a few little twists, but nothing too avante garde. Turns out, in this instance, simpler is better. This one is definitely a keeper!
As I mentioned, the crust is super simple and comes together in under 10 minutes. I use all butter in this crust and it works. For the pumpkin custard, I did a combo of heavy cream and evaporated milk, brown sugar and sorghum syrup to give it that molassesy goodness. I kept the spices pretty traditional, more cinnamon than ginger though, a tiny pinch of cloves. I love allspice and cardamom, so they had to go in and for that little somthin’ somthin’, a pinch of freshly ground pink peppercorn. DING, DING, DING, we got a winner. Blue Ribbon winner!
You could just stop there after baking and serve this baby as is, it really doesn’t need anything else. But come on, do any of us really need all the extras in our life?? YES! So, to really take this PPP over the edge, I made a Swiss meringue (my favorite nationality of meringues) to top the cooled pie with.
Golden brown crust! Not over browned thanks to my handy dandy pie collar. You can make your own though with tinfoil, but these are super cheap.
Are those stiff peaks or are you just happy to see me?! 😉
I love the marhmallowy cloud of the Swiss meringue and of course I had to toast it, I just had to. Love that toasty flavor and love that toasty look! No need for a centerpiece for your Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving table, just use this pie on top a beautiful cake stand and bada bing, bada boom, centerpiece!
All sliced up and ready to go.
Pumpkin and spice and everything nice is what this filling is made of!
The easy as pie… 🙂 crust holds up beautifully to all that pumpkiny custard filling.
More gratuitous (in a good way) pie pics. 🙂
So, let’s embrace pie season starting with this pumpkin pie! I think you need to make a test run this weekend before the holidays. Perfect weather for staying in, baking, eating (lots o’ pie) and drinking (lots o’ wine) on the couch, under your faux fur throw in your footie pjs!
Happy Weekending and PPPing (Perfect Pumpkin Pieing) It!
Diane
- For the Crust:
- One single 9 inch pie dough
- 1 ½ Cups AP flour
- 8 tbsp. Unsalted grass-fed butter cubed and cold
- 1 tbsp. Confectioners sugar
- ½ tsp. Salt
- 1½ tsp. Vinegar
- 3 to 6 tbsp. Cold water
- For the Filling:
- 1 can pumpkin puree
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup sorghum syrup
- 1 tbsp. plus 1½ tsp. cornstarch
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- ¼ cup evaporated milk
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1½ tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. Cardamom
- ¼ tsp. nutmeg
- ⅛ tsp. Mace
- ⅛ tsp. ground pink peppercorn
- ⅛ tsp. allspice
- ⅛ tsp. ginger
- ⅛ tsp. cloves
- For the Swiss Meringue:
- 5 large egg whites
- ½ tsp. of salt
- 1½ cups of granulated sugar
- For the Crust:
- In the bowl of the food processor fitted with the s-blade add the dry ingredients and pulse a few times to combine. Sprinkle the butter over the top of the dry ingredients and pulse about 20 to 30 times until there are pebbles of butter incorporated throughout the flour. Don't pulse too fine. Add the vinegar and then with the motor running, add the cold water one tablespoon at time until the dough just comes to together and forms a ball. Some loose crumbs are ok, you press back into the dough.
- Dump onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press any loose crumbs in and wrap in the plastic wrap and press into a disk. Pop in the fridge for at least an hour and half to 3 days before rolling.
- Par-bake the Crust:
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and take the chilled dough out of the fridge and allow to sit at room temp for 15 minutes so it's easier to roll out.
- On a floured work surface, gently roll out the dough to about a 10 inch circle around ¼ of inch thick. I like to roll out on a piece of parchment paper to just flip into the pie pan.
- Carefully place your dough round into your pie pan and crimp the edges of the crust with a fork or pinch between your fingers. Pop in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
- Place a piece of parchment paper over the crust and fill with pie weights. Add the pie collar around the edges of the pie plate to protect the crust. If you don't have a pie collar make a tinfoil round and place over the edges. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment paper and weights and bake another 3-5 minutes more. Remove from oven on cooling rack while you prepare the filling.
- For the Filling:
- In a large mixing bowl add the eggs, sugars, cornstarch and pumpkin and whisk to fully combine. Add the cream, evaporated milk and the vanilla and whisk to combine. Add all the spices and whisk to fully incorporate.
- Place the par-baked crust on a baking sheet and carefully pour the filling into the warm crust. You will have a little left over. Place baking sheet with pie in the oven and bake for 55 to 65 minutes. The edges should be set a cracked a little and when you gently shake the pie, the middle should slightly jiggle but be set.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely at room temp for 2 hours. Place in the fridge in air-tight container overnight.
- For the Swiss Meringue:
- Separate whites from yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Pour sugar and salt in bowl with the egg whites.
- Place bowl over, not touching, a pot with simmering water.
- Whisk constantly until sugar has completely dissolved around 160 degrees. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you can tell it’s done when you rub a little of the mixture between your fingers and it is completely smooth with no graininess. Should take about 10 minutes.
- Then return bowl to stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.
- Begin beating the eggs and sugar until whites are glossy and stiff peaks have formed.
- The bowl should be cool to the touch, this will take around 10 minutes.
- Liberally apply meringue to the top of the chilled pie. Using a kitchen torch, gently torch the meringue untiled golden brown. If you don't have a torch, you can pop the pie under the broiler for a few minutes. Don't walk away, watch carefully, can burn quickly.
- Best served with the meringue day of. Can be stored with the meringue covered in in airtight in the fridge for up to one day. Longer than that and the meringue will start to weep, meaning the moisture from the pumpkin pie will start to melt the sugars in the meringue and will begin to slip off the pie.
- Enjoy!
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