Mmm pie. Pumpkin pie is such a quintessential fall pie that I thought this was an excellent second pie. I was very happy with the filling, but wasn't thrilled with this crust paired with this pie, which lead to 2 more pies. The recipe is from my favorite baking site, joyofbaking.com.Now the crust is what you call pate brisee, french for short dough, because of the high ratio of fat to flour. The most important thing to remember is that butter needs to be really cold. I didn't have access to a food processor when I was making this, so I actually used a frozen stick of butter and then grated it using a cheese grater. This allowed me to be able to combine the flour with the butter and ice water without over mixing, which leads to a tough less flaky crust.
After you make the crust you make the filling. I actually made the dough the day before and then rolled it out and formed it into the crust the day of. You do need to make the dough at least an hour before, to give it time to rest. The filling is actually very simple, if you're using canned pumpkin. You simply combine the pumpkin puree with the spices and other ingredients and barely stir to combine. You don't want to overmix this. Just as with other custardy desserts like cheese cake, if you over mix it will crack when it's in the oven.
So there you have it, pumpkin pie. The crust was tasty but this is really a tart crust. I wasn't happy with having it paired with the pumpkin. So the second time I made it (for thanksgiving), I used the crust I saw Alton Brown make in an episode of Good Eats. This was a gingersnap crust, and was yummy but burnt a little. I think I would have been ok if I'd put the pie on a better baking sheet. I actually made this pie one more time for the season, for a sad occasion (the death of a friend), but I didn't have much time so I actually bought a frozen pie crust to save time. I think this one also turned out nicely, and by then I had a very good grasp on the recipe.
Next year when I make pumpkin pie, I think I'll also attempt making it from an actual pumpkin, using the instructions from Alton Brown's recipe. Do you have a favorite pie crust recipe, or a favorite pumpkin pie recipe? Please share!
Pumpkin Pie
Im guilty of buying ready-made crust, but I love pumpkin pie. I came across your site from the foodieblogroll and I'd love to guide Foodista readers to your site. I hope you could add this pumpkin pie widget at the end of this post so we could add you in our list of food bloggers who blogged about recipes for pumpkin pie,Thanks!
Hi Alisa,
Thanks for the comment! I definitely felt a little bit guilty of buying a ready-made crust, but it was good in that it showed me that I definitely needed a different kind of crust for this pie. I'll post soon about my apple pie experience, where I took on making the crust myself!
Sure, I'd love to add the pumpkin pie widget!
Kami