Award-Winning Pumpkin Pie
- Yield: 1 double crust or 2 Single Crusts 1x
Description
First-place pumpkin pie recipe! It’s creamy, with the perfect balance of pumpkin and yams. Warming spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg topped with a dollop of homemade whipped cream will have you coming back for seconds. Look no further; you’ve found your holiday pie!
Ingredients
Pate Brisee (Butter Pie Crust):
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 sticks chilled unsalted butter cut into 1/4-inch slices
- 1/2 cup of ice cold water
Filling:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- 3 large eggs, plus 2 large yolks
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla
- 1–15 ounce can of pumpkin puree or 1 3/4 cups of fresh pumpkin
- 1 cup drained candied yams from a can
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon of ginger
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream (use as glue) to place decorations on the pie
Fresh Whipped Cream:
- 1 1/3 cups heavy cold cream
- 3 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar
Instructions
Crust:
Directions provided use a food processor; however, an expensive pastry cutter and a large bowl will also produce a delicious crust.
- Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined.
- Add butter until the mixture begins to clump together slightly.
- Sprinkle with ice-cold water over the top and pulse until the mixture comes together, being careful not to over-mix.
- Form into 2 discs and refrigerate for approximately 1 hour or up to two days. Discs also freeze well.
- Heat oven to 400• with a rimmed cookie sheet inside to warm up.
- Remove 1 disc from the refrigerator and roll it out onto a floured work surface, leaving 1-inch overhang for pie crust, and place back into the refrigerator to firm up once again.
- After 20 minutes, remove the pie crust and scallop the edges using your fingers or a fork.
- Place a round piece of tinfoil the same size as the bottom of the pie. Place pie weights on top of the pie foil to weigh it down as you pre-bake the crust for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, remove the pie weights and foil and bake for 5-10 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove the pie crust onto a cooling rack.
Filing:
- Begin making filing by whisking heavy cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla into a large bowl and set aside.
- In a heavy bottom saucepan, combine pumpkin, yams, maple syrup, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, and over medium heat, bring to a simmer while constantly stirring until it looks almost shiny- approximately 8-10 minutes.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat source, and while constantly whisking, add the cream, milk, and egg mixture to the saucepan slowly, ensuring not to scramble the egg mixture. Once thoroughly combined, pass the mixture through a strainer over a large bowl, pressing the pumpkin through the strainer with a spatula to ensure no clumps in the pie filling.
- Re-whisk the mixture again in the bowl and pour it into the pie shell on the cookie sheet.
- Reduce heat to 300• and continue baking until the edges of the pie are set, and the thermometer reads 175 (approximately 20-30 minutes longer).
- While the pie is in the oven, roll out the remaining pie dough to create cookie-cutter decorations if desired.
- Pull the pie out of the oven when the timer has approximately 10 minutes left, and add the decorations by using a pastry brush or lightly dip the decoration in heavy cream to use as glue and place around the outer crust of the pie.
- Place the pie back into the oven to finish baking.
- Allow to cool for 2 hours.
Fresh Whipped Cream:
- With electric beaters, whip 1 1/3 cups of cold heavy cream and 3 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar for homemade fresh whipped cream.
Notes
Removing the pie 10 minutes before cooking time will allow the decorations to cook properly by lightly browning and not becoming too dark.
Heavy cream acts as a wonderful glue in the cooking world.
Want to take your whipped cream to another level? Try adding one tablespoon of brandy before whipping to add a delicious taste to the cream. You’ll never buy canned whipped cream again.
