A Tale of Two Pies, Part Two:
If you’re going to eat sugar, butter, flour, and cream, you’d better do it right. This is my go-to recipe for the best Pumpkin Pie I know. Let’s get straight to the recipe.
Pumpkin Pie with Sweetened Condensed Milk and an All-Butter Crust
Ingredients
All-Butter Crust
- Enough for two single-crust pies
- 2 1/2 cups Flour + more for rolling
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 14 tbs unsalted butter cubed & cold [1 cup = 16tbsp | so, you'll be using 1 cup - 2 tbs]
- 1/2 cup ice water
- + 2-3 tbs ice water as needed
Pumpkin Pie Filling
- Enough for one single crust pie
- 1 HALF of a large can of pumpkin puree [398 ml of a 796 ml can / 13.25 of a 25.5 oz can]
- 1 [300 ml / 10 oz] can sweetened condensed milk
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Ginger
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom
- 1/4 tsp Cloves
- [Optional] a shot of Courvoisier or Whiskey
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Put the flour, salt, and butter into a large mixing bowl.
- With your fingers [preferred] or a pastry blender, press the mixture together until the bits resemble a mix of peas and crumbs.
- Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of ice water over the top of the mixture and stir with a fork.
- Squeeze the dough together to see if it holds.
- By the tablespoon, add ice water, stir, and test again, until a dough is formed.
- Divide the dough into two balls, press those into discs, wrap in plastic and refrigerate.
- Refrigerate for at least an hour.
- The second, extra disc can be reserved for another use or placed, wrapped, in a freezer safe container and frozen.
The Blind Bake
- Heat the oven to 425.
- Roll one disc of dough on a floured surface (between two sheets of parchment paper, if you like).
- Fit into pie plate, and return to refrigerator until the oven is heated.
- Prick the crust with the tines of a fork, careful not to stab it all the way through.
- Place a large piece of parchment in the pie shell.
- Weigh down with pie weights or dried beans.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes and make the filling.
- Leave the oven at 425 upon removing the crust.
Filling + Bake
- In a bowl, whisk all of the filling ingredients until smooth.
- Fill the hot pie crust with the filling and place in the oven.
- Lower the temperature to 350 and bake 45-55 minutes, or until the pie filling is set in the middle and jiggles just slightly. You can also test it by placing a knife in the centre. Though, that might ruin the look.
- Cool the pie on a wire rack.
- Refrigerate for an hour.
- Serve plain or with tons of whipped cream.
Notes
You can create "maple leaves" or any other cutouts you'd like to top your pie by cutting out pie dough scraps with cookie cutters, making "veins" on them with a sharp knife, and drizzling a bit of sugar and cinnamon on top. Then, place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet in a 350 oven for 10+ minutes, keeping a close eye on them to make sure they don't burn on the bottom. Place them on top of the baked pie.
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