Classic pumpkin pie gets an update with a spiced pastry crust, a sprinkle of orange zest, and a dash of rum. Sometimes the slightest changes have great effect!
HOW TO AVOID BURNT PIE CRUST
I don’t know if you’re in this habit but tenting your crusts with tin foil for most of the bake drastically cuts down on singed edges. Just fold a long piece of foil in half lengthwise and gently wrap around the crust before baking. You can remove halfway through or so and allow the crust to get golden brown just as the center sets.
I Love pumpkin pie with a MASSIVE dollop of whipped cream, but for an all out stunner that’s really easy to make try topping your pie with a giant pile of meringue! If you want to know the secret to cutting this the key is buttering your knife. The fat cuts right through the meringue.
A FEW TIPS
- You can easily make the pie dough in a food processor with a few pulses but making it the old fashioned way is pretty fun, just a little more messy.
- Try warming the pie filling in a pot over medium low heat before adding to the pie shell. Make sure to stir constantly. Doing this will help the pie bake faster and more evenly.
- Feel free to adjust the spice profile and alcohol type/level to your liking.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Add in spices. Whisk together. Grate in chilled butter and drizzle in ice cold water. Mix using a fork. Knead 3-4 times and shape into a disk.
- Wrap in plastic and chill for about 30 minutes. Divide dough in half and roll out. One half is for the pie’s base and the other is for the decorative leaves. I used a stamping pastry cutter for my leaves but any method is fine.
- Place your circle of dough onto the pie plate, trim the edge, and brush it with a bit of egg wash and place the leaves. I like to save a few leaves to place in the center. They bake quite quickly so keep an eye on them.
- Cover dough with parchment paper and place pie wights on top.
- Since the pie will be baking a while and I don’t want there do be singed edges I tent the pie with aluminum foil before baking at 425F for about 10 minutes.
- Poke the bottom and sides with a fork, add the foil back on and return to oven for about 5 minutes.
- Combine all the filling ingredients in a large bowl.
- Whisk together and I recommend transferring the filling into a pot and warming over low heat, stirring constantly. Adding warm pie fillings into an oven will let your pie bake quicker and more evenly.
- Add the warmed pie filling to your blind-baked shell reduce to 350F and bake until set.
Ingredients
For the Pie Crust:
- 2 ½ cups flour plus more for rolling
- 4 tbs granulated sugar
- ½ tsp Sea salt
- 16 tbs unsalted butter chilled
- 4 tbs ce water
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp all-spice
- ½ tsp Ginger
- 1 pc egg (for the egg wash)
For the Filling:
- 1 can pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
- ½ cup brown sugar (light, packed)
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp grated orange zest
- 2 pcs extra-large eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1 cup Heavy cream
- ½ cup Whole milk
- 2 tbs dark rum such as Mount Gay
Servings:
Instructions
For the Pie Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Add in spices. Whisk together. Grate in chilled butter and drizzle in ice cold water. Mix using a fork. Roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cut the dough in half, set one half to the side. With a rolling pin, flatten out on a well-floured board, into a circle at least 1 inch larger than the pie pan, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough so it doesn't stick to the board. (You should see bits of butter in the dough.) Fold the dough in half, ease it into the pie pan without stretching at all and unfold to fit the pan. With a small sharp paring knife, cut the dough 1 inch larger around than the pan. Fold the edge under and crimp the edge with either your fingers or the tines of a fork.
For the Leaves:
- Roll out the remaining dough to a thickness of approximately 1/4 an inch onto a well-floured board. Press leaf cookie cutter into dough to create cut outs. You can also use a small knife to cut leaf shapes out or make a stencil of card paper to use as a guide if you would like a more uniform set of leaves. Cut 6-8 extra leaves and bake separately so you can arrange them on the center of the pie after baking. Using an egg wash (one egg beaten with tbsp water), attach leaves to the perimeter of the crust, overlapping to create a wreath look. Line pie pan with the unbaked pie crust and place it on a sheet pan. Line the crust with parchment paper. Fill the paper three-quarters full with the beans and bake the crust for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and paper (save the beans for another time), prick the crust all over, including the sides, with the tines of a fork, and bake for another 5 minutes and remove from oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
For the Filling:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, orange zest, eggs, cream, milk, and rum. Pour the filling into the baked pie shell. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until the filling is just set in the middle and knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely. Place extra leaves on the center of the pie and serve with whipped cream.
Recipe Notes
- You can easily make the pie dough in a food processor with a few pulses but making it the old fashioned way is pretty fun, just a little messy.
- Try warming the pie filling in a saucepan before adding to the pie shell.
- Feel free to adjust the spice profile and alcohol type/level to your liking.
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